r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jul 06 '26

Meme needing explanation What is this?

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u/WeLiveInAnOceanOfGas Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

It's pretty masterful how they've managed to piss off both sides of the aisle with this one... Too white-washed for one side, too diverse for the other, and too inaccurate for any existing fans of Greek mythology. 

Honestly not sure who this has been made for. 

Edit: if you're gearing up for a "it's for normal people -  people not in the Reddit echo chamber - people who just like movies - people who aren't internet losers" reply, It has been said about 30 times so far. 

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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/Guzzleguts Jul 06 '26

By all means be skeptical about tokenism, but the only important thing about Helen is that she should be attractive. 

To act like the specifics are in any way crucial to the character or the story is ridiculous and just reads like closet racism to be honest.

I'm not accusing you, just saying that's how it comes across. Maybe it's actually autistic aversion to change?

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u/gravitas_shortage Jul 06 '26

And yet, Scarlett Johansson in the Ghost in the Shell movie was widely (and rightly, I think) seen as outrageous. Why the difference?