Ghostbusters is still haunted by negative racial tropes

What the movie got wrong

Opinion – By Tanya D.

I remember the original Ghostbusters movie. I was a teenager when it was released, and I saw it in the theater. It was fantastic for a little nerdling like me to see science and cool stuff and people who won through smarts rather than brute force.

Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddemore wasn’t a scientist. He wasn’t one of the smart guys who saved folks. That’s what bothered me when I saw the first film the most: seeing a black person on screen, but not seeing them be fully part of the story. We’ve gotten the same old tropes 30 years later, and it’s still a problem. This is why I’m not cheering the reboot with the same unbridled glee as other folks.

THIS IS A TREND

The original Ghostbusters wasn’t an anomaly in this…

Although I’ve been laying low this summer to prep for my next full-length album and get my life back in order after a hectic semester, I haven’t completely dropped off the map. This past week I had the opportunity to chat with my homie Tanya DePass as well as her co-host David Reeves  on the 1-Year Anniversary episode of their Fresh out of Tokens podcast! For those unfamiliar Fresh out of Tokens is a “bi-weekly podcast addressing issues of diversity, inclusion, intersectionality and feminism in gaming.” We talked about all of these topics and more in this very special episode so tune in right here. And to support Tanya personally on Patreon you can head here and you can also support I Need Diverse Games by heading here.

“It’s easy to fall prey to the myth that a good creator is an unhealthy and haggard one. Nothing is further from the truth.” @Finickii

Before I started freelancing, I thought the career path sounded very glamourous. You make your own hours, work from wherever you want, and even decide which projects to take on. (Spoiler alert: it’s definitely not that easy.) As it turns out, you also have to be the one to motivate yourself to work, which can be particularly difficult when you’re struggling with intrusive thoughts and plenty of self-doubt. And when you’re freelancing as a journalist? It can be even harder to parse through all of the reactions to any piece you might publish.

Recently, I spoke at PAX East alongside a few super stellar women in the industry, and we touched on the subject of burnout a bit. Our panel, “How I Got Into Games Journalism,”…