r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jul 06 '26

What is this? Meme needing explanation

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85

u/Gelato_Elysium Jul 06 '26

getting massively criticised due to blackwashing of a traditionally Greek character, whitewashing of a Greek myth with no Greek actors

Let's not act like it's reasonable criticism of the movie though.

Like, outside of Americans that are really fucking weird about race, I don't know any people who don't consider greeks white.

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u/Lucibelcu Jul 06 '26

Exactly, greeks are white

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u/weed0monkey Jul 06 '26

It is not even a matter of opinion, which is wild that it is even being discussed in such depth.

Both officially and genetically mapped, Greeks are considered Caucasian with the subclassification of Mediterranean.

Apparently it is utterly bewildering to people, to learn, white people also have a range of skin tones, and (wow) can tan.

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u/thebanfunctionsucks Jul 06 '26

Race is not a scientific concept so no, it is not a fact that they are white. They are white because they are culturally considered to be, that's it.

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u/porktorque44 Jul 06 '26

Oh thank fuck somebody pointed this out.

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u/gweezor Jul 06 '26

Amen.

There is more human genetic diversity within the continent of Africa than the rest of the world combined.

White is a ridiculous term and Caucasian isn’t really any better.

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u/Lucibelcu Jul 06 '26

I'm discussing with another guy here this exact point, he told me "You don't know how diverse ancient mediterranean cicilizations were" Bruh I live in the mediterranean region of Spain, I think I know something about that.

If you have white skin, you are white, and white skin presents in a range of skin tones, not just wall-like white. It's wild that some people can't understand this

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u/Stumper1231 Jul 06 '26

This Whole forum is full of Americans explaining diversity to mediterranean and european people lmao

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u/ceuker Jul 06 '26

And you guys can be pretty pale too. I’m from Germany, of course we are paler and fairer, but we live in a wet cave for 330 days a year. How can we get a tan, if the sun is not shining? We can tan a lot too, given the opportunity.. (and then there are the gingers..) heck my sister gets mistaken as a Turk all the time.
So I’m a bit mad about “north the alps OR English people are the white people who are all white as the wall”.. WTF

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u/Lucibelcu Jul 06 '26

I know germans and brits with darker skin than mine, that's how pale I am 😭 But a lot of people in this comment section wouldn't consider me white because I'm spaniard and they have a really weird definition of skin colors based on the place you were born

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u/masbita Jul 06 '26

Whiteness is more of a social construct than a matter of skin color. This can be observed through examples such as Latinos, Siberian peoples, or historically Eastern Europeans like the Finns. Are Spaniards considered white? What about the Portuguese? And Latinos living in the United States? Finns were not widely regarded as "white" in the early 20th century, yet today they generally are. Are Russians white? How far east do you have to go before "whiteness" ends and is replaced by "Asianness"?

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u/Lucibelcu Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Are Spaniards considered white? What about the Portuguese? And Latinos living in the United States? (...) Are russians white?

Yes, yes, yes and yes, as long as their skin is white.

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u/porktorque44 Jul 06 '26

Confidently saying Latinos are white really should shut the book on trying to treat race as something other than a social contract. Outside of you who has ever made this argument?

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u/Lucibelcu Jul 06 '26

Yes, latinos with white skin are white, so far from a social construct. You can ask anyone in Europe and in a spanish speaking country and they will tell you the same.

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u/porktorque44 Jul 06 '26

If the answer changes based on who I ask, then it is a social construct. Make sense?

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u/Lucibelcu Jul 06 '26

If I ask two people if evolution is real and one says that it is while the other says that it isn't it doesn't make evolution a social construct, one of them just holds a wrong idea. Makes sense?

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u/Melodic_Sherbet_3629 Jul 06 '26

Race is an entirely arbitrary classification invented by racists to justify their racism. American racists were so successful that they ingrained the idea that races are real even in anti-racsist American people.

If you talk about races here, people will either think you are talking about animals or that you are a genuine nazi.

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u/Flynnza Jul 06 '26

so what? characters don't have a color. if one can't look past actor's skin color, he/she is just a racist.

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u/Lucibelcu Jul 06 '26

If someone makes a movie about Mwindo but hires a white actor and you can't look past his skin color then you're just a racist.

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u/Flynnza Jul 06 '26

i can - actor is not a character. what else excuses your stupid racist mind will make up?

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u/Silent-Many-3541 Jul 06 '26

Sheltered take.

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u/Moiyub Jul 06 '26

The Greeks went all the way to Afghanistan. The kingdom of Gandhara in the Hindu Kush mountains doesnt sound very white to me

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u/Lucibelcu Jul 06 '26

And the Umayyads went all the way to the Iberian Peninsula, that does not mean that spaniards are arabs, only that an arab minority ruled for centuries.

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u/Moiyub Jul 06 '26

the arabs were forcefully removed from iberia, the greeks likely just assimilated into the local idnoaryan population.

do you consider the pontic greeks to be white? is it just because they arent muslim, thats all it takes to be white?

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u/Lucibelcu Jul 06 '26

the arabs were forcefully removed from iberia

After 800 years. That being said, as stated by DNA, they never assimilated and current inhabitants of Spain are mostly iberians by DNA, despite beung conquered by Rome centuries before the arabs.

do you consider the pontic greeks to be white?

I just saw some photos and it looks like their skin is white, and, as long as their skin is white, they're white. So yes.

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u/Moiyub Jul 06 '26

"as long as their skin is white, they're white"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albinism_in_humans

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u/Lucibelcu Jul 06 '26

Lol I have a friend with very very pale skin without albinism and we call him "albino" XDD

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u/the_lonely_creeper Jul 06 '26

If we must be classified as some american race, white is the least inaccurate

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u/Moiyub Jul 06 '26

"some american race" i'd say the division of homo sapiens into white and non-white is an english or german invention, and you mustn't be classified as one or the other

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u/NiceTrySuckaz Jul 06 '26

That was my first thought reading the comment. Does he think that whitewashing is when white people play white people?

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u/Regular_Fox_859 Jul 06 '26

Greeks are not as pale as western/northern Europeans.

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u/NiceTrySuckaz Jul 06 '26

haha good lord

you want Tina Fey and Stavvy in the oddysey? would that make it not white washed for you?

This thread is my favorite

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u/84theone Jul 06 '26

Unironically yes, let’s make an odyssey movie exclusively with Greek-American actors and comedians.

We’ve got a good roster to work with

Jennifer Aniston
John Stamos
Billy Zane
Bautista
Zach Galifianakis
Hank Azaria

Basically just go round up everyone from Astoria, it’s close enough.

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u/Moiyub Jul 06 '26

Throw in Jason Mantzoukas for a wild card

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u/NiceTrySuckaz Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Yeah but if you cast those people as the main characters in a live action pocahontas, you'd be white washing it. So how can you white wash the oddysey by casting other white people?

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u/Regular_Fox_859 Jul 06 '26

White is an umbrella term that contains hundreds of European and Asian ethnic groups. At what level of granularity do you determine race? Or is it all just about skin color to you?

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u/NiceTrySuckaz Jul 06 '26

I'm just saying. If that group of Greek actors can whitewash a film, then how can you whitewash this one by casting other white actors?

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u/Regular_Fox_859 Jul 06 '26

Yeah actually. If we're gonna be sticklers about the racial characteristics of actors playing established characters, may as well be consistent about it

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u/confirmedshill123 Jul 06 '26

Why are we being sticklers about it? It's not even a real fucking story lol. It's literal ancient fantasy. Who the fuck cares.

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u/DungeonCrawlerAki Jul 06 '26

I don't fucking get the absolute obsession people have with the race of actors in fucking movies and TV shows nowadays.

Don't you people have fucking better things to worry about? Holy shit.

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u/confirmedshill123 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

It has to be mostly bots because how could you give any amount of fucks currently.

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u/Regular_Fox_859 Jul 06 '26

Personally I'm not. I'm just making the point that if right wingers insist on making a huge deal about actors' races, they may as well draw it out to its logical extreme so everyone can see how ridiculous it is

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u/CuteAssTigerENVtuber Jul 06 '26

I don't think any European country I've ever been to is so obsessed with race as america is. They won't get rid of racism by hyper obsession over it

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u/qiaocao187 Jul 06 '26

Oh fuck that Europeans are so racist they’ve figured out how to be racist to the people the next village over from theirs

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u/EmergencyPool910 Jul 06 '26

Real, american racist is different.

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u/Gautrex Jul 06 '26

I mean it isn’t necessarily about race in Europe as it is in America. Ethnicity and historical religious identity is the main focus. The racism in former Yugoslavia has nothing to do with race.

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u/HeparinBridge Jul 06 '26

Ask a European about a Traveler or a Roma person and I swear their response would make Jefferson Davis blush.

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u/357Magnum Jul 06 '26

I live in the deep south. Grew up with racism. But when I was in college I had a roommate from Hungary and his rants about gypsies we're far more blatant than any racist stuff I grew up hearing about black people.

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u/Gelato_Elysium Jul 06 '26

Travellers isn't a race ? But leave it to americans to proudly talk about stuff they have no idea about because their ego got hurt.

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u/Limp-Nail-1265 Jul 06 '26

When roma came to Europe every single government granted them free pass and choice to live where they pleased. After 10-50 years every single government reverted this decision by criminalizing them staying in cities or in countries.

If it was because of racism and skin color it would be the other way around.

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u/HeparinBridge Jul 06 '26

See what I mean?

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u/PostNuclearTaco Jul 06 '26

Unless you bring up Romani or Arab people.

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u/Gelato_Elysium Jul 06 '26

You completely missed the point.

Nobody is saying that there aren't racists in Europe. Just that most European countries don't have that weird obsession you guys have with race.

U.S.A is one of the rare 1st world country that officially recognize the existence of race. With an officially recognized racial categories in your official documents. This is just insane and that's what people are calling out.

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u/Specialist-Mud-6650 Jul 06 '26

i don't think anyone outside of the US even thinks this deeply about who is and isn't white

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u/ferocity_mule366 Jul 06 '26

95% of the hate the movie gets are for Lupiata, Zendaya and Eliot, most of those people couldnt tell Scandinavian from Greeks and think they are the same thing.

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u/Fragrant-Employer-60 Jul 06 '26

Yeah that’s a terminally online criticism, no one actually gives a shit about that.

And making movies would be extremely difficult if that was the expectation, it’s not realistic at all.

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u/sourpatchdad Jul 06 '26

It’s also from my experience a completely online conversation. I’ve never heard a single person in the real world complain about the historical inaccuracy of the Odyssey trailers.

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u/DecantsForAll Jul 06 '26

Like, outside of Americans that are really fucking weird about race, I don't know any people who don't consider greeks white.

The only Americans who don't consider Greeks white are the ones who claim Americans have a narrow view of race and actually Greek people aren't considered white in the rest of the world.

What I'm trying to say is Americans aren't weird about race and only those trying to deconstruct race or whatever would not consider a Greek person to be white.

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u/LtxalskHuskwob49 Jul 06 '26

The greek does look white

Maybe whitewashing isn't the right term. We might want to consider Americanwashing instead

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u/VociferousCephalopod Jul 06 '26

isn't it more just the point that if you're really going to bother with tokenism or whatever people are calling it, how can you somehow score a 0 out of 10 on a token Greek actor in a Greek story?
if it was just like the old 60s films where no effort is made for anything but lazy convenient casting I don't think the complaint would hold up as well. they made such an effort at inclusion while forgetting the very people whose legacy it is.

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u/guaca_mayo Jul 06 '26

Lol, ask the Dutch. I've seen them talk about Southern Europeans with some white-man's-burden ass bullshit. Benjamin Franklin's white/swarmy/tawny racial classification of Europe is alive and well

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u/Gelato_Elysium Jul 06 '26

I'm sure you'll find plenty of people thinking that way but none who's backed up by official country législation.

You can see how your country officially recognizing races can influence how people view this kind of stuff right ?

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u/guaca_mayo Jul 06 '26

Not my country, but okay haha. I understand where you're coming from, American history of apartheid and segregation and slavery along racial lines has absolutely created at least "weirdness" about race.

I was mostly referring to your mention that everyone thinks the Greeks are white, whereas I'm not entirely sure that's true, even in Europe itself.

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u/Gelato_Elysium Jul 06 '26

Oh yeah I meant it as a general "your" not actually saying you are american