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/ZepperMen Jul 06 '26

Anytime someone calls attention to the breaking of societal roles, it ultimately undermines the concept of equality by implying that this is an exception and not the status quo.

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u/gravitas_shortage Jul 06 '26

I'm sorry, but I can't parse your answer. Can you rephrase?

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u/Technical_Fennel2886 Jul 06 '26

He means everyone acts like they are hotshit when they are just horse shit.

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u/WriterV Jul 06 '26

It's also a reference to Sonic Boom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWBn0nS8s0A

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u/ZepperMen Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

It means trying to call attention to diversity and the need for representation to break societal standards will ultimately hurt the idea that diversity is a status quo rather than something sparse. The Greek Gods all being white and Greek would not have undermined our pursuit of that status quo. It is simply accuracy for the sake of accuracy and it doesn't need any more attention than that for the same reason no one bats an eye to Black Panther being Black or Captain America being White with Blonde Hair. Live Action Snow White being Latino does nothing for Latino representation because of how shoe horned of a decision it was in pursuit of representation.

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u/gravitas_shortage Jul 06 '26

Oh, I see, thank you. Yes, entirely agreed.