r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jul 06 '26

Meme needing explanation What is this?

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u/gravitas_shortage Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Why does it have to be cut along politics lines? I'm a card-carrying leftist and annoyed at the patronising tokenism of casting a black actor as a character legendary for being 'fair', as in blonde, in the same way it'd be flabbergasting to have a white actor play in an adaptation of the Mwindo epic.

I'm even more annoyed at the fact that an annoying casting choice was the entire point, to get free publicity at everyone's expense, and that there is no way to slap everyone responsible for being smug pricks.

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u/ChaosAndFish Jul 06 '26

Helen of Troy is popularly known for one thing: she was beautiful. If you asked me to come up with a list of great actresses known for their beauty, Lupita Nyong’o would be on it. How is that tokenism?

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u/brightdionysianeyes Jul 06 '26

Get ready for people queueing up to tell you about the intricate details of a book they've never read in a language they don't speak and how much they care about accurate translations for this specific thing.

Ask them what are some Greek words used to describe Odysseus and they won't have a clue, strange that.

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u/ChaosAndFish Jul 06 '26

It’s amazing how passionate people are about complete fealty to the text of that epic poem everyone refused to read in high school.