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Why Oceans Female Remake is Important

Bye bye Brad Pitt, hello Sandra Bullock. An all female ensemble cast is set to take on Oceans Eight, a new film in the canon of the Oceans Trilogy. It hasn’t been determined whether the film will be a prequel or feature any of the former heroes but the lineup is stellar on it’s own. With every win comes the backlash and this all female remake has internet bros up in arms.

The eclectic mix of badass women includes Rihanna, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kalig, Anne Hathaway, Sandra Bullock and internet rapper Awkwafina (hot tip: practice saying that at home before dropping into conversation). One last heroic woman is yet to be named but chatter is already swirling about who it should be. Filming begins in October and the director taking on the project directed the Hunger Games.

Don’t start screaming girl power just yet, internet bro’s, trolls and all things that go bump in the online night are well, let’s just say not happy. The hashtag #AFeministMovie is circulating on Twitter where anti-feminist users share satirical female movie titles.  Yep, they’re just as disgusting as you imagined, here’s some of the one’s we can actually share.

 These tweets and the thousands of others typify an argument that feminists hate men. Drawing on gross stereotypes and gender standards, but hey don’t get offended that just confirms the stereotype of feminists lacking a sense of humour. Twitter has begun to censor the worst of them. Those up in arms at the reboot point to Ghosbusters as evidence of film remakes being miserable failures. A flawed argument when in fact the Oceans franchise is a remake of Sinatra classics.

Perhaps they mean films with all girl lead roles do poorly? False, all female led films do great look at Pitch Perfect, Bridesmaids, Mean Girls. Bonus all three of these films were written by wonderful women trained in the art of slapstick, Elizabeth Banks, Kristen Wig and Tina Fey respectively killed it. One thing’s for sure no one is complaining about the gender-flipped Splash remake featuring Channing Tatum as a mer-man. Gender-flipping seems to be ok for the internet bro’s then.

Rising above the churn of internet undercurrents films that show strong female leads are crucial for younger generations. Representation, being able to tune in and see someone aspirational, real is something we all deserve. Katniss Everdeen, Imperator Furiosa (Mad Max), Sarah Connor, Leia, Xena, Hit-girl these heroines reject gender archetypes on screen with an almighty roar. These all-powerful female has only begun now to trickle into PG/M rated films, until now it hasn’t been palatable for the mass audience. No damsel in distress? But what’s a girl to do without a man?!

Badass women banding together shouldn’t spark discussion it should be met with excitement as any all-star cast would. Can you imagine a world in which the never-ending list of stars in the new Avengers film was criticised? Unlikely. The women starring are all esteemed in their own right Cate, Anne and Sandra have an Oscar each,  the wonderfully wacky Helena Bonham Carter a double Oscar nominee, Rihanna is a Grammy winning goddess, Mindy Kaling writes and stars in her own show and Awkwafina is a satirical rapper with a huge online fan base. Unique, powerful and eclectic, maybe remaking a successful franchise (Karate Kid, Planet of the Apes, the Italian Job) isn’t such a good idea but an all female cast certainly is.

Image source: The Hollywood Reporter

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