Andrew mentioned the plans recently discussed for a Ghostbusters reboot, directed by Paul Feig that would gender-swap the roles, and make the eponymous busters of ghosts women. This is a pretty cool idea, though it is just that at this time. Whether it would work on-screen or not would depend on the film that is eventually made, if it is made at all.

If Deadline.com gets their way, it will definitely not be made.

I’m picking on Deadline here because they deserve it, but also because it’s worth looking at how certain properties get protected by fans, to an exclusive, harmful effect. A lot of people LOVE Ghostbusters (including me) just like a lot of people love a lot of film properties and are hesitant to see them changed in any way.

Here are two responses care of the gents at Deadline to the news that maybe the job of Ghostbuster could be held by a woman:

1. Don’t touch Ghostbusters because Ghostbusters is mine

There is the potential fiscal upside: we are seeing a recognition that women will come to the movies if there is something in it for them…The ones who feel a level of ownership of the classic 1984 guy comedy Ghostbusters, the ones who endured a disappointing sequel and waited years for Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) to finally say he was not going to answer the call for a third film so we could get to this point? I feel slimed…
Does that give them the right to take Ghostbusters from knuckle-dragging Neanderthals like me who have little else going for us but our all-time top 10 or 20 favorite guy movies, and the prospect of a revamp that feels like the original guy version of one of the films on that list?

FYI to Mike Fleming Jr, Film Chauvinist: You have no ownership of Ghostbusters. That it ranks among the greatest comedies ever, and that you (and I) love it dearly, gives you (or I) a zero percent right to decide what should be done with Ghostbusters. I appreciate how much you love the film, and share that love for it. But it isn’t ours.

Also, you have little going for you other than your 10 favorite movies? That’s a problem that won’t be solved by making Ghostbusters into a bro-comedy starring Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill. Also also, the joke about how you’re a knuckle-dragging neandertal is funny and all, but self-decrepating chauvinism is still chauvinism.

(Quick aside: If you want to keep any remake of Ghostbusters in the spirit of the original, it makes much more sense to have Paul Feig directing Kristen Wiig or Maya Rudolph or Amy Poehler picking up the Proton Pack than Seth Rogen or Jonah Hill. Those women are the direct descendants of Ghostbusters style comedy. The Apatow crew is another world entirely).

2. Gender-swapping roles failed once and you should not do it ever.

It seemed like a great idea at the time, which was 1984, right in the heart of the Age of Second-Wave Feminism: Recast the greatest guy-comedy of all time, Neil Simon‘s The Odd Couple…What could be more hilarious?
As it turned out, waterboarding is more hilarious. Working for Apple in China is more hilarious….
Yeah, yeah, women have played Hamlet, Brutus, Prospero and Peter Pan. Fine. But watch it, pal, when you’re dealing with a real classic and keep your damned hands off of Oscar, Felix … and Dr. Peter Venkman.

This argument is the classic fallacy of defensiveness. You want to do something new? Well someone did something similar once and that failed, so. Yeah. Put another way, a production of the Odd Couple was bad in 1984, so making Ghostbusters with women in 2014 is a terrible idea.

How this logic works is beyond me.

For the record, Deadline readers are split on the idea. They have a poll on their homepage asking “Would You Watch A Female Version Of ‘Ghostbusters‘?” As of this writing, the response is 50% for YES, and 50% for NO.