Ghostbusters poster 1984 vs 2016

Transgressive Appropriation

Examine how the poster for the remake of Ghostbusters confronts dominant ideologies regarding masculinity and feminity :

→ The 1984 poster foregrounds 3 masculine figures as the main characters, suggesting that what they're about to do is viewed as a job for men. Back then, the society had an exact view of what a "woman's role" and what a "man's role" was, how women are "supposed" to behave, how they are "supposed" to be and what they are or aren't "supposed" to do. From this poster, we can tell that the main characters are supposed to be brave and fight some ghosts - something pictured as the opposite of what a woman would've done (or would've been allowed to do in 1984), but rather something that men should do - fight fearlessly and save the day.
→ However, the 2016 poster for the remake of Ghostbusters presents 4 of the main characters as female characters - showing the evolution of how the women are viewed. This highlights how much the film industry changed and developed (and not only the film industry but in the society in general) - Women can be whatever they want to be, they can be heroic, fight and win.