Perhaps surprisingly, I agree with you Paley. Firstly the speech was appallingly badly researched:
- Dr Who - a non-human, neither male nor female human but Galifreyan with the possibility of many aspects. Appearence seems driven by its fondness for earth, and possibly reflects the time periods it has mostly visited where it made sense to take a male aspect.
- Ghostbusters - A job. Not a person.
- Luke Skywalker - not replaced. There were some Starwars films with a lead female character as a princess, and then some films with a lead female character as a Jedi
The Equalizer I will concede is a straightforward gender flip of a not particularly famous or detailed ex-spy.
He could have made a better point by suggesting that instead of a female James Bond, it would be better to establish a new film series built around the concept of a female secret agent. If you wanted to share the Bond universe, how about a female love child, now 21 and enrolled into Her Majesties Secret Service?
But lets make good films with female protagonists rather than just sticking women in old film franchises. Build new and better heroes.
Of course none of this actually fits with the narrative that he was trying to bleat on about. It's not as though boys have nothing left.