Ghostbusters 2016 & Black female Stereotypes

NO.....Just NO!

I’m not a fan of the new Ghostbusters reboot. The Original 1984 Ghostbusters was a major part of my childhood. I not only watched the movie, but watched the cartoon every weekday afternoon on Channel 5 and Saturday morning on ABC. And even though I was 15, I had ALL the Real Ghostbusters toys. And I still have them to this day.

1984’s Ghostbusters was also one of the major influences on my writing. Much of the dark humor in The Temptation of John Haynes is partially inspired by the film.

When I look at the 2016 reboot it disgusts me. It looks like a poorly done Saturday Night Live sketch filled with feminist claptrap and girl power clichés. It’s a shallow film that doesn’t capture the spirit of the original film nor does it understand the nuances of the story or the commentary made in between the lines of the comedy of the original.

The four female Ghostbusters are poor caricatures of the original quad. There’s a nerdy one, a fat one, a stupid one and a Black one. Not to mention a Mangina version of Janine Melnitz, the secretary. And while the three white girls are an insult, the Black female they chose for the role of Winston Zeddmore’s female counterpart is extremely offensive. This hulking Black woman is practically the size of Ernie Hudson (who is over six feet tall himself) and her voice is about two octaves lower than his.

Damn. Just Damn. If this isn’t cooning I don’t know what is.

Worse, this Black female is a loud obnoxious neck-rolling eye snapping Lawd Jesus mammy stereotype. Yeah, I know Ghostbusters is comedy. But this female’s portrayal is not funny. It’s a slap in the face to the subtle and subdued portrayal Ernie Hudson gave in the 1984 Ghostbusters.

What most people don’t know is that the portrayal of Black women as unattractive is subtle form of racism that Hollywood Movie studios use to make white women appear more appealing to viewers. Hollywood movie studios don’t want Americans thinking of Black women as beautiful. So they make efforts to minimize a Black woman’s beauty so the White women will appear to be more attractive than they are.

This is why the movie studios push the fat mammies, loudmouth ball-busting sapphires, and jezebels as the standard for Black females in their movies and TV shows. And why they make black women appear to be hard and masculine. The whole idea of an attractive, soft, feminine Black woman makes White liberals in Hollywood uncomfortable because it’s bad for business. If Black women are following their own beauty standard they won’t be buying products made by White and nonblack companies like Korean hair weaves, bleaching creams, and hair care products.

In contrast to the fat, ugly, and pathetic looking White women in Sony’s 2016 Ghostbusters the Black female looks like the ugliest person in the room. She looks like a she-beast, a chick with a dick.

And along with her grotesque appearance is her even uglier attitude. Her Lawd Jesus over-the-top mammy behavior pretty much repulses anyone and prevents the viewer from seeing her as likeable. She’s a minstrel in a comedy of errors that shows the world how incompetent most feminist girl power types are onscreen and how racist they are in real life.  

Unfortunately this isn’t the first time this stereotype about Black women has been perpetuated. In Captain America: Civil War There’s a scene where the Black Widow is confronted by one of the Panther’s aggressive masculine acting female bodyguards. Not to mention the scene early the movie when Tony Stark is confronted by a Skrong Independent Black female.

When it comes to Black women on film White Liberal Hollywood has no interest in presenting our softest, most feminine and attractive sistas to the forefront as a standard of beauty. No, the idea of a truly beautiful Black woman makes White women insecure. And the idea of a strong woman who has the strength of character to stand by her Black man makes them terrified. So they trot out big fat black mammies like the one featured in Ghostbusters reboot and Gabourney Sidbe and say they’re making efforts to present a positive image of Black women in the media. It’s no different than what Hollywood did in the 1930s when they passed over our most beautiful women like Nina Mae Mckinney, Fredi Washington, and countless other Black beauties and put them in a second best category while pushing big fat Black mammies like Louise Beavers and Hattie McDaniel as the standard for Black women.

Yeah, Sony is launching an All-Female Ghostbusters. But I won’t be going to see it. The portrayals of Black women in this film set the race back a hundred years. The only way to stop Hollywood from presenting these negative images of Black people is to vote with my wallet and that’s just what I’m going to do.