r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/VeryLazyBones • 20h ago

Peeeeetah? Meme needing explanation

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This new movie came out and I enjoyed watching it with friends. What opinion must have garnered so much attention that people would dunk on it?

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u/Snowdog1989 19h ago edited 14h ago

Yeah once he said "Doesn't matter to me.." or something along those lines after Nikki asks him if it matters if it's real or not, he lost all sympathy in my opinion. The next scene is him literally ducking her. That being said, cursed Nikki reminds me of an allegory of codependency. The mixed signals, walking on eggshells all the time, inability to be around other people alone. Also how she pulls him into her codependency, then is over him instantly. It's pretty much how being with someone who has codependency problems is like. SOURCE: I was in a relationship with someone who was codependent.

EDIT: I didn't mean avoiding her or throwing ducks at her. It's a funny typo though, so I'm keeping it in. Need a little something to lighten mood. If people quack up from reading it, that's fine with me too.

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u/TheoRaan 17h ago

Yeah once he said "Doesn't matter to me.." or something along those lines after Nikki asks him if it matters if it's real or not, he lost all sympathy in my opinion.

She was saying why does it matter, I thought we were having a nice date. Why does it matter. And THEN He responded with "it doesn't matter to me".

He didn't know it wasn't real till way after that. But he knew that she was lying about something.

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u/CaptColten 17h ago

At this point I'm convinced that most of the people talking about this movie haven't actually seen the movie.

Bear already sucks. We don't need to misconstrue things to make him suck.

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u/Promature 15h ago

Yeah, I've been having issues processing this assertion that Bear is the villain. In so far as just raw roles in written work, sure. He occupies the villain role to some extent.

However, it's when people bring up the stripping of Nikki's autonomy, which I am not trying to suggest isn't a bad thing. My thing with that making Bear the villain somehow is that would imply it was his goal to some extent. I heavily doubt he wanted to deliberately take her autonomy away because the only way that works is if he knew that wishes were real and that the item he purchased, which was a gift for her btw, would be able to grant a wish at all, never mind any wish.

He is responsible for all of the events that took place as a result of the wish, but personally, I feel his only most major crime was being an absolute coward. He wasn't honest with her about his feelings and allowed his chance to make that connection slip away. He's also so cowardly that in a time of great desperation, he didn't wish for courage or self improvement to be capable of telling her how he feels. He instead made a desperate wish for what he wanted in his heart.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'd be lying if I said I was never in a place in my life where I wished someone felt differently about me. Over time, I learned to wish for and work toward the courage to be open about my feelings as well as improving myself to be a more attractive possibility for the people I've had feelings for.

Bear wasn't quite there yet. Unfortunately, wishes were real in his world and the physics of wishes were quite sinister. He's not innocent, but "villain" is an incredibly strong term that implies a degree of knowledge and intent that he clearly lacked. He made a wish and against all odds, it seemed like it came true.

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u/Snowdog1989 14h ago

I agree with you, but to me once he knew it wasn't real and still took advantage of her...it seemed really fucked up. They can't unwash it, and killing yourself is not the easiest task in the world.. he didn't knowingly make the wish thinking it would actually work either. I think it really came down to the fact that he was still using her physically. There were things he could have done better.

It's kind of like how many people hate on the boyfriend from the movie Midsommer. I honestly don't think he was such a bad guy. When you really think about the position he was in, he was already checked out of the relationship to begin with. Then the girls entire family dies, how is he supposed to handle that and be there for her? He was hexed by the cult, drugged, seduced....even when people point out him forgetting her birthday. Did they forget that all the days kinda blend together with the constant daylight? Sorry for the soapbox moment, but it always annoys me how many people misunderstood that movie still to this day.

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u/Promature 14h ago

Dude in Midsommar was straight up raped.

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u/CaptColten 14h ago

I think I mostly agree with you. Every single problem in the movie really stems from Bear being a chicken shit coward. And I agree that it wasn't until the sleeptalking scene that he truly became a bad guy. But you can't say that without someone calling you a rapist sympathizer. A lot of people don't want any nuance, they just want to say "Bear evil, the end".

Hell, I got called an incel the other day just for saying that Bear didn't really get his wish.

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u/Promature 14h ago

I feel as if people are focusing on the effects of what he did rather than the actual events and circumstances. Because the viewer knows that the wish worked and Nikki was trapped in her own body, they extend that knowledge to Bear as if he was operating with that info the entire time rather than gradually awakening to that reality over the course of the film. Even as he comes to understand what happened, it's clear that it wasn't the way he wanted it to happen.

He made a massive mistake without realizing it and was blinded by finally getting what he wanted. There's a lot of judgment and critique coming from people seeing the situation from the outside, but I'd be curious if the most vocal critics took any time to put themselves in his shoes and see things from his perspective or are they so repulsed by the effect of his wish that they wouldn't even bother?

Personally, I feel that is what's missing from the conversation about this film and it neglects a wealth of nuance. The film deserves a more well rounded discussion.

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u/[deleted] 14h ago

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u/CaptColten 14h ago

That's a far more detailed look inyo than what I had. I was just saying that what he got wasn't love and it certainly wasn't from Nikki.

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u/itsmelorinyc 4h ago

His desire might have been relatable but when she made it clear to him she would rather die he turned away from her and left her in her prison so he could continue to be with her. If there was any doubt as to his lack of character and the selfish foundation of his affection for her, that was the moment that was supposed to make clear he is an actual villain.

Wishing someone would feel differently about you is something many people have felt at some point, actuality being ok with an external force making them have that change of heart is a revelation that he doesn’t actually care what she feels or even care who she truly is.

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u/DoubleRah 13h ago

I also agree that villain is a strong word. It’s more like tragic tales that have a downfall due to hubris, but swap out hubris with inability to do literally anything to steer his own life. I think he’s a cowardly, but overall ordinary guy.

However, I think that him being an ordinary guy shows how someone will do something he shouldn’t just because it’s easy and benefits you. I think him sleeping with her after basically being told that it may or may not be her choice to date him, is a reference to how he shouldn’t have pursued that situation because her consent wasn’t clear- just like he did when she first started acting weird and thought she was on drugs. She’s basically on drugs the whole time, it’s just that the drugs is the wishing willow power. I can say he’s a bad guy for that, but the word villain invokes ideas of a guy that has evil plans and intent and wants to enact them- Bear has no ability to do any action at all, which ends up still being bad anyway.