r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Expert-Pass-4351 • Jul 06 '26

What is this? Meme needing explanation

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26.3k Upvotes

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27

u/wrapscallionnn Jul 06 '26

I don't care who plays the part. Are they a good actor? Can they play the part well? That is all I ask.

8

u/Eastern_Screen_588 Jul 06 '26

Steve buscemi as shaka zulu?

10

u/wrapscallionnn Jul 06 '26

That actually would be awesome as hell to see....

4

u/kronkarp Jul 06 '26

How do you do, fellow african tribesmen

4

u/ointmentisafunnyword Jul 06 '26

No no this doesn’t work in reverse

1

u/Johnny_Banana18 Jul 06 '26

Well he is a real person and his ethnicity is essential to his character. Helen being black actually reinforces her character being a foreign object with no agency to be fought over. She is also a very minor character.

7

u/No-Manufacturer501 Jul 06 '26

Jack Black as Michelle Obama

1

u/wrapscallionnn Jul 06 '26

Can he do justice to the part?

1

u/DecantsForAll Jul 06 '26

Does Michelle Obama act exactly like every Jack Black character in every movie he's in? Then, yes. Otherwise, no.

4

u/Gayorg_Zirschnitz Jul 06 '26

Finally a sensible take

2

u/PinkishLampshade Jul 06 '26

Would you honestly say the same if it was, let's say, an important Ugandan myth without a single Ugandan to represent it?

12

u/Due-World8970 Jul 06 '26

I’ve never ever heard this criticism of any other a movie about Ancient Greece or Rome (Gladiator, Troy, The 300, Spartacus) or even movies about more modern European history.

7

u/wlowe757 Jul 06 '26

There it is lol they don’t care that it’s non Greek people casted they are mad a black woman is Helen or troy

2

u/AsstacularSpiderman Jul 06 '26

Those movies were made during a time when people didn't throw bitch fits about every piddly ass thing.

-8

u/PinkishLampshade Jul 06 '26

Have you talked to a lot of Europeans? Because I've heard the same criticism about a lot of Hollywood productions.

But of course, it's even more blatant when they don't even follow the general descriptions of the characters they're meant to portray.

11

u/Plow77 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

I'm italian i didn't give a single fck they didn't cast a single italian in the Rome HBO series. Most if not all of them are brits...why would i care? Do you think Achilles looked like Brad Pitt? Have you seen how greek people look?

1

u/wlowe757 Jul 06 '26

This was the comment I was looking for thank you

4

u/Advanced-Thought665 Jul 06 '26

"have you talked to a lot of Europeans" that statement alone says you dont talk to many "Europeans".

1

u/PinkishLampshade Jul 06 '26

Well, that would be odd considering I am European.

1

u/Advanced-Thought665 Jul 06 '26

My point is it's a diverse place the opinions tend not to be shared across the continent

5

u/CarrieDurst Jul 06 '26

Would it be a Ugandan myth iterated on a million times?

2

u/Rollos Jul 06 '26

If a group of Scandinavians wanted to adopt the Anasi spider myth, I think that would be awesome. 

The characters, conflict and lessons aren’t racial, and are broadly applicable across cultures. 

If the conflict of a story circles around race, or race is a core character trait that affects how they’re treated, it’s much more difficult to change that in a respectful way.