13/∞ reasons to give Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016) a chance this Halloween:

1) It’s a fun science fiction/fantasy action comedy, perfect for spooky season and overall more family-friendly than the originals

#gbatc

2) #GBATC was the first time I ever saw a fat heroine whose appearance and size is literally never remarked on

3) #GBATC is one of a tiny handful of sff/action movies where the female stars (and stunt performers!) were allowed to wear clothing and shoes that were safe and they were comfortable in

4) #GBATC possesses 0% male gaze

5) #GBATC doesn’t alter the storyline of the first 2 films—it’s clearly a different timeline/universe, of which there are a lot in the greater #Ghostbusters world (not to gatekeep, but that's a hint that at least some of the so-called GB fans who hated it weren’t that into GB)

6) #GBATC actually did fine at the box office and in reviews

7) It has several fun moments for fans of the original movies (which, for the record, I watched at a formative age and loved as a kid)

8) #GBATC was a queer awakening for a huge number of people

9) Its enthusiasm for science improves the narrative (e.g. the proton packs undergo a clear iterative design process!)—and I know several young women who decided to study physics as a result

(also I love the realism of their cluttered lab, designed with help from MIT scientists)

10) A lot of the special effects were practical effects done in-camera (OK, this is probably just a me thing, I'm not sure anyone else cares. Also, to be fair, there's a really dodgy CG scene toward the end)

11) It was co-written by Katie Dippold of “when I dressed as the babadook but my friend's house had more of a grown ups drinking wine vibe” fame https://twitter.com/katiedippold/status/748582543583121408

12) It’s the only—ONLY—film I’ve ever seen where the Big Heroic Horns kick in on the score and ALL the heroes on the field are women!

I cry at the climactic battle scene every time, and I know I’m not alone in doing that

13) The fascist manbaby corner of the internet gets big mad every time someone says they like #GBATC—for a while they’d succeeded in keeping people quiet, because they showered abuse on anyone who dared even mention the film without condemning it

(I’m not exaggerating when I say “fascist manbabies”: the organized campaign against GBATC in 2016 literally came from the same shitty corners of the internet as the “alt-right”, and they managed to win and keep control of the narrative. I will never not be mad about this.)

I'd never claim everyone's going to love this movie. First off, tastes differ and that’s 100% OK. (In fact, if I ran the world, the cast would be more diverse and the story would flow differently.) And it’s a popcorn flick, so if you hate those you’ll probably hate this.

But if you picked up on the vague "I heard that movie was terrible" sentiment that the manbabies managed to embed in a lot of people's minds, and the movie otherwise sounds like something you might like? Please give it a chance.

If you’re Hollywood’s target demo—straight men, basically— #GBATC likely won’t feel special and may even make you feel uncomfortable.

For a lot of women and girls (and several nonbinary friends!), it’s the first time we’ve *ever* felt seen by a film

and I think that's significant

(even given that, is Ghostbusters the most important thing I could be talking about right now? Absolutely not, and I'm OK with that. Sometimes we just need to look away from the dumpster fire for a little while.)

(bonus reason: #Ghostbusters2016 is the film where, encouraged to improvise, Chris Hemsworth learned for the first time that he could do comedy)

Wow, it took almost 30 minutes from the first tweet in the thread to a pissy RT (thanks!) from a cranky manbaby They've really gotten lazy

(babies, if I block you it's 'cause you're boring)