I bet some of you have been scratching your heads about the upcoming Ghostbusters movie. Why, oh why, have they made the lead actors all women? Well, quite frankly, because it does not hurt suspension of disbelief to make the leads female. This kind of story is just as plausible with female characters driving the story. Hollywood has been told time and again that there should be more women star vehicles and now they are responding. But the main reason they are responding is that women stars will work for less money.
Expect to see more women in every type of show if this Ghostbusters experiment pays off. The title 3 Women and a Baby may have tipped you off to one scenario. But 3 Men and a Baby almost instantly brings an image of incompetence in managing a tot. I think, to produce the same effect, they are going to have to name this movie 3 Self Centred Women and a Baby and must have a script that matches.
I expect this to be a woman’s golden age in film. Women will be starring in all kinds of movies, with all kinds of plots and I expect them to do just as well as any cast of men. Guaranteed money makers will be tried first, like Star Wars Episode XIII or Back to the Future IV (where the future will have to have much more than just 21st century hoverboards).
After the success of these sure things, women will be tried out in riskier and riskier films. Sure some of these are destined to fail, but when it is found that women have as many successes as the male actors they replaced, something will happen to make male stars have as much renewed appeal as the women. You see the women will start asking for more money. They will eventually want as much as any man might demand.
So we will come right back to a level playing field. The golden age of women actors will be gone – where they starred in just about everything. But maybe there will be no animosity and women will have as much chance as a male in playing a lead role in the distant future. And it might be for the same amount of money.
