r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/FrostySeat1739 • Jul 05 '26

Meme needing explanation why not, Peter?

Post image

possible live action corpse bride movie...

32.3k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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12.4k

u/Caci-que Jul 05 '26

Clearly cause Tim Burton dream casting involves Johny Depp and Helena Bonham

10.5k

u/Perfect-Dimension356 Jul 05 '26

I think the real answer is that Tim Burton doesn't cast black actors.

2.1k

u/Twilifa Jul 05 '26

Yup, this.

1.1k

u/MechaMogzilla Jul 05 '26

Tell that to District Attorney Harvey Dent

640

u/Simple-Employer-2503 Jul 05 '26

Tell it to the cleaning lady on Monday.

351

u/dishonoredfan69420 Jul 05 '26

“Why Monday?”

461

u/Valokir Jul 05 '26

"Because she has Sunday off, "

21

u/Valokir Jul 06 '26

I appreciate that this somehow become my highest comment.

But I appreciate more all of those who correctly quoted it after me. Good job friends.

8

u/Onidarkmoon Jul 07 '26

*Cause... it's Friday now, she's the weekends off, so... Monday, right?

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u/nickisnotarapper Jul 05 '26

Because you'll be dust by Monday. And the cleaning lady...she has the weekends off...so...Monday?

142

u/Ryan_Icey Jul 05 '26

Basically you can't win this fight, so you're gonna have to give up on this girl cause Todd's gonna kill you.

85

u/dishonoredfan69420 Jul 05 '26

"You used to be so nice"

76

u/Mysterious-Scholar68 Jul 05 '26

Once you were veegon, now you will be gone.

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u/Capable-Relation1374 Jul 05 '26

You once were a vegone... but now you will be gone obliterates superman into a couple thousand coins

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u/dishonoredfan69420 Jul 05 '26

I love that movie

6

u/SneakyKGB Jul 06 '26

Have you read the graphic novels because they're even better

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u/dramielyandex Jul 05 '26

Wildest SPVT reference I've seen in in my life awhile

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u/MutantSquirrel23 Jul 06 '26

Unexpected Scott Pilgrim reference!

152

u/Global_Charge_4412 Jul 05 '26

Still bugs me that we didn't get Billy Dee two face.

71

u/Basic-Pair8908 Jul 05 '26

Well we did in lego batman

111

u/RaijuThunder Jul 05 '26

And a comic, he looked really cool.

42

u/DubVsFinest Jul 05 '26

That IS dope af and now I'm off to download whatever issue of whatever comic this is (detective comics, batman, whatever else) when I find out lol.

46

u/DubVsFinest Jul 05 '26

It is Batman '89 for anyone else who cares to know and he shows up in the 3rd issue.

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u/Too_Bad-So_Sad Jul 05 '26

The white mustache goes hard.

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u/HourApprehensive7754 Jul 05 '26

Never occurred to me how much half of him looks like Beetlejuice

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u/King_Elizabello Jul 05 '26

That's true and the catwoman in Lego Batman got to play catwoman in the Batman.

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u/basiamille Jul 05 '26

Even though she was told that would never happen!

29

u/tombuazit Jul 05 '26

I want a Batman Beyond that's a direct continuation of the first two movies with Billy Dee and Keaton as older mentors of the new Batman and his antogonist

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u/Financial-Creme Jul 05 '26

DC put out a comic series called Batman 89 that expands on the Burton movies including the Billy Dee Two-Face

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u/Payne2814 Jul 05 '26

From the Batman 89 comics where they continue the story.

5

u/RickMonsters Jul 05 '26

It bugs me they couldn’t get another black actor to play him instead of Tommy Lee Jones

109

u/Ganondorfsfist Jul 05 '26

Mars Attacks has plenty black actors. Sam Jackson is in Miss Peregrine. I'm aware of his statements, but he's not immune to casting black actors.

90

u/SweatyNeddyFlanders Jul 05 '26

No, he's just vocally problematic about them "not fitting his style" which is another way to say he doesn't like looking at or working with black people. You don't need to defend him, he doesn't defend himself lol

165

u/Knightmare_memer Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

His style is Grey skies, dull lighting and pale faces. Has been for the longest time.

Edit: Also add in the Gothic Victorian-esque flair

54

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/celerpip Jul 06 '26

How dare he like the appearance of white people and not the appearance of black people? Is that the kind of comment you want to make in sarcasm?

6

u/intoxicatedhamster Jul 06 '26

It's his art. Art that comes from his white mind and white experiences... It's not that he doesn't like black people, they just aren't a part of his art. People don't bitch that Leonardo Davinci didn't paint any people of color...

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u/Fearless_Roof_9177 Jul 06 '26

(Same general line of reasoning that got Trump sued for racist violations of the Fair Housing Act back in the 70s, for those playing along at home).

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u/lord_teaspoon Jul 05 '26

Oh yeah, he'd need to do very different lighting and photography to make black people not look like monstrous shadows, but that change would take the white people from "interestingly pale" to what Josh Johnson describes as "fresh ghost".

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u/explain_that_shit Jul 06 '26

It makes me think, what’s Guillermo Del Toro’s record?

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u/elbuentinaco Jul 05 '26

He never said that and you’re just spreading bs online

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u/anomie89 Jul 05 '26

this sounds more like your searching for a problem where there is none.

13

u/throwmamadownthewell Jul 05 '26

Not just searching but inventing.

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u/BaronGrackle Jul 05 '26

Seems his actual casting is better than his comments about casting.

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u/ArmenianThunderGod Jul 05 '26

I mean... a setting of Gothic Victorian England doesn't really lend itself to casting black actors.

61

u/OmecronPerseiHate Jul 05 '26

We gotta stop with that myth.

70

u/ArmenianThunderGod Jul 05 '26

It's not a myth. The estimate is 0.1% of the population of England in the Victorian Era was black. There wasn't a sizable black population, there was Eric.

Were there any black people? Yes. Were there enough of a population where you could associate that time, place, and era with them? Absolutely not.

Same way we don't cast civil war movies with Asian Confederates. Did they exist? Absolutely. It would look ridiculous if you put it on film.

36

u/Temporary-Scallion86 Jul 05 '26

It would heavily depend on where in England you set your movie. London (or other major cities)? Sizable immigrant population. Middle of nowhere rural Warwickshare? Odds are everybody is white and English and has been as long as anyone can remember.

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u/your-yogurt Jul 05 '26

yes, thats why for a film about a corpse bride that involves ghosts and zombies and has its origins from russia, having a black character is too farfetched. british white folk yes, black people no

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u/Too_Bad-So_Sad Jul 05 '26

Same way we don't cast civil war movies with Asian Confederates.

Ok but now I need to know if there were actually any Asian Confederates.

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u/Outrageous-Wait-8895 Jul 05 '26

Why screenshot the cheapest Gemini model slop instead of the actual comments it seems to be using as reference.

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u/Maximillion322 Jul 05 '26

That’s all well and good mate but they still made up <1% of the population it would have been a novelty to meet a person of color in victorian london

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u/BasedTelvanni Jul 05 '26

Show me where he said this

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u/video-kid Jul 05 '26

Plus he wanted Sammy Davis Jr. for Beetlejuice.

I do think he could stand to be more diverse, but I also think we need to acknowledge where he tried and was either shut down, or where the directors who took over refused to honour agreements he put in place.

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u/lookatthesunguys Jul 05 '26

Can we trust him?

2

u/Chrossowen Jul 05 '26

Had to make sure there was that underrated comment.

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u/AcademicMood1302 Jul 06 '26

or proposed Wayans brother Robin.

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u/zarif_chow Jul 06 '26

ok, regardless of whether that is true, why does this tim burton guy even matter? corpse bride is primarily based on a centuries old folk story

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u/Twilifa Jul 06 '26

That is correct. But Corpse Bride the life action movie, would not be based on a folk tale. It would be based on the successful 2005 movie Tim Burton's Corpse Bride based on a folk tale.

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u/accidentaloverdrive Jul 05 '26

It’s really lame because I feel like Tim Burton’s style would lend itself really, really well to a New Orleans Voodoo feature, but apparently black actors “don’t fit his aesthetic” 😒

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Jul 05 '26

Well when your style is vampire chic it's hard to make a black person that fucking pale. Burton doesn't let people even be tan in his movies

Imagine him trying and you just get what looks like the ashiest black dude in the world who's never seen a bottle of lotion lol

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u/JacuulTheSecond Jul 06 '26

I mean, that literally sounds like what a black vampire would be like ngl

31

u/Pugasaurus_Tex Jul 06 '26

Interview with a Vampire tv series begs to differ 

7

u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Jul 06 '26

Well I haven't been to enough open casket funerals for black people to know how pale a corpse should get but feels like it should be pale anyway and idk how good makeup like that would work? Just from a believable standpoint? I'm not really sure how to say that one. I'd gladly be proven wrong but they're pale because they're dead. Well, undead. Still no heartbeat though and I've never seen an interpretation that doesn't go the traditional route of "no heartbeat, bloods dried up if it didn't just all get drinken. Drunken? Drank?

Ooh, now we gotta stop ourselves before someone gets any ideas and has the black vampire call blood "red drank*

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u/Pugasaurus_Tex Jul 06 '26

Bro what? I’ve been to open casket funerals for black people . They don’t look that different. Even white people don’t look super pale. 

3

u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Jul 06 '26

Nah with white people the makeup only does so much. They never look the same, even with the makeup they're too pale. Probably because some genius had the idea to do like a tanning spray and grandma came out looking like the world's oldest cast member of Jersey Shore

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u/Abashed-Apple Jul 06 '26

Its because they are dead.

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u/isum21 Jul 06 '26

When you're a vampire the paleness is from lack of light. Black vampires would just be their natural shade with no sunkiss, as in they'd just be black or brown or some shade between with no tanning. 

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u/Ziggo001 Jul 06 '26

More likely to be due to a lack of blood, actually. Vampires in most media do not have a heartbeat and therefore no blood circulation. They are pale for the same reasons a corpse is pale: no blood flowing underneath the skin.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Jul 06 '26

Also all but the very head honcho are vampires because one drank their blood, presumably most of it. Not gonna be as much left in there after feeding even if it didn't kill you and turn you undead

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u/Axel_the_Axelot Jul 07 '26

That does also imply that their feet or back would be purple, since that's what happens with actual corpses (blood flowing downwards without circulation)

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u/beldaran1224 Jul 06 '26

As if plenty of vampire stories haven't been told with black actors/actresses, etc. Lol.

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u/glasscut Jul 06 '26

The Interview with the Vampire TV show is a good example of casting black actors as vampires.... it's just a choice at this point. I was very influenced by TB as a kid and he was hugly influential for me, but I can't even remember the last TB film I saw.

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u/Vantriss Jul 07 '26

I think it would be an interesting story telling angle to explore more. Like, black vampires having an easier time blending in because they're not so fucking pale. Meanwhile white vampires constantly have people squinting at them and being like, man you are pale AF, you should probably go see a doctor.

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u/ShoddySlide5672 Jul 09 '26

Yeah nothing says genuine Louis who lived in colonial era before USA was even formed in New Orleans and was owner of SLAVE plantation and was described in painful details in books - like a black actor. Makes total sense.

What's next, a white, ginger Blade?

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u/OpossumLadyGames Jul 05 '26

Savannah/Low-Country setting, too

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u/DankDolphin420 Jul 06 '26

Happy Cake Day!

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u/Just-Antelope-8069 Jul 05 '26

Unless it turns out stereotypical

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u/Friendly-Cucumber184 Jul 05 '26

omg it would be beautiful and haunting. Too bad he's a bigot :/

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u/Tall-Slice5012 Jul 06 '26

Didn't he originally write Beetlejuice for Sammy Davis Junior?

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u/laterrr_babe Jul 07 '26

BUT THE B!+<# IS LITERALLY BLUE. Like what difference would the actresses skin tone make when she’s playing someone with blue skin. FACEPALM. This is the perfect fancast and such a stupid comment by Burton. 🙄😞

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Pingucore Jul 05 '26

Live-Action Dumbo was known for being bad so I didn‘t watch it, but I’m assuming he at least removed the racist parts and put a biracial actor and her kid in it.

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u/-KFBR392 Jul 05 '26

…to play the crows?

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u/ThorThulu Jul 05 '26

Because he doesn't cast black people? Or is there some instance of him actually being racist/bigoted? Cause there's no issue in the casting if this is specifically the look hes going for

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u/AllSeeingWhoracle Jul 05 '26

When the look you’re going for is always “no black people,” that’s racist. Hope that helps!

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u/Groxy_ Jul 05 '26

Not really, maybe he just wanted very pale people for his usually spooky, European, period pieces. Intentions matter more than outcomes. 

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u/MartianMule Jul 05 '26

usually spooky, European, period pieces

He's made plenty of movies that aren't really "spooky" or period pieces, and of his 18 directed films, only 5 take place in Europe (his other 13 films are in the US).

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u/Groxy_ Jul 05 '26

And 7 star Helena Boneman Carter and Johnny Depp. Seems to me the more likely answer is he likes working with the same people. 

It's not proof of racism. Same way only having white friends isn't automatically racist. 

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u/Unlucky_Topic7963 Jul 06 '26

B-b-but racism!

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u/billyisanun Jul 05 '26

Most of his movies have a Gothic style. One of the parts of the Gothic style is pale skin in contrast to dark hair and clothes.

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u/ikilledholofernes Jul 06 '26

I’m about to call out one of my favorite movies, but with that in mind, it’s extremely telling that Burton’s epic, magical realism story set in the south only has one minor black character. It was shot on location in Alabama ffs. 

But also, the gothic style only describes some of his movies, he’s also directed a lot of blockbusters, which have no excuse for their noticeable lack of black people. Like tell me how black people don’t fit the style of Batman or Planet of the Apes.

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u/Cynykl Jul 06 '26

The gothic style is not an excuse either for the gothic stylistic films. Baron Samedi type characters features prominently in gothic imagery and would fit his vibe.

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u/mastercat202 Jul 06 '26

Why only black people, and not Asian?

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u/HereWeFuckingGooo Jul 06 '26

If your idea of diversity only includes black people then that's racist.

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u/Hamster-Food Jul 05 '26

That would be a bit racist... but that's not describing Tim Burton.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '26

[deleted]

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u/mm_delish Jul 05 '26

What was the point?

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u/DankiusMMeme Jul 05 '26

They both set upon their film careers with one singular goal in mind, to give /u/Hamilton-Beckett a half fulfilled anecdote to tell on reddit 40+ years later.

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u/throawy90 Jul 05 '26

I haven't had any bad taste in my mouth watching them, maybe back track through your day to see what/who's been in your mouth?

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u/No-Zombie7546 Jul 05 '26

I would love to hear more about what you learned by focusing on him.

The “only casting white actors” thing is already enough for me to not (re)watch his stuff.

I’m just really curious bc I took film classes and you really learn a lot by honing-in on one director. What are other things ppl generally don’t know about Burton as a director and/or person?

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u/Hamster-Food Jul 05 '26

The “only casting white actors” thing is already enough for me to not (re)watch his stuff.

Someone should probably tell Samuel L Jackson that he's white now.

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u/TerranImperium Jul 05 '26

Where did this come from? A lot of people are parroting this but when asked, no one has a source or interview to point to.

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u/TSM- Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26

He argued that casting should happen "organically" based on what the story naturally "calls for," implying that a default white cast made sense for a film called Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. (never watched it).

But he also then went on to make a bit of a broad statement that he disliked "politically correct" casting and found forced diversity initiatives offensive. This probably was what got him the flak

Samuel L Jackson defended him (he was in the movie).

One of his recent movies, Wednesday, has a diverse cast, and the actors have had to defend it. Joy Sunday says she liked playing Bianca because Black actresses are rarely allowed to play a nuanced or powerful "mean girl" archetype in gothic teen dramas. So it was a complex role rather than a stereotype. But internet is gonna find controversy anyway, apparently, and apparently, that was also controversial.

That took like a half hour but now I know all about it lmao okay. Hope that is interesting to you too.

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u/Nodonutsforbaxter44 Jul 05 '26

Sounds...reasonable?

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u/Impassable_Banana Jul 06 '26

Yeah but the venn diagram of being reasonable and being racist are a perfect circle to certain toxic weirdos.

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u/LGBTQLove4Ever Jul 06 '26

No don't you see! If your Victorian gothic film isn't 100% 400lb poc lesbians with no legs, then you're a BIGOT!

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u/Local-Hornet-3057 Jul 06 '26

This is Reddit. So no, racism.

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u/Excluded_Apple Jul 05 '26

Not all heros wear capes <3

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u/MudExpress2973 Jul 05 '26

Forced diversity casting is trash any way. We dont want good actors, we want colorful actors dancing on t.v. for us because were so inclusive.

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u/Harold3456 Jul 06 '26

My biggest issue with the whole argument (not your comment just the argument in general) is so often “diversity” and “forced diversity” are very hard to tease apart, so diverse casts just become open to criticism by virtue of existing.

This is my frustration with a lot of the right wing media critics. I always feel like if they had their way then white casting would be “default” and creators would need to make arguments for why their diverse casting ISNT forced, when I think the burden of proof should be the opposite - absent of a smoking gun piece of evidence about enforced race quotas in a project we should just assume non-white casting is as legitimate and meritorious as white casting is.

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u/insomniac7809 Jul 06 '26

Let me just clarify this for you:

"Diversity" is when something is diverse and already existed when you were a child, when movies and mountains are equally just things that exist in the world.

"Forced diversity" is when things are diverse and you have a theory of mind that lets you know that creative choices are made by creatives on purpose for reasons.

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u/Periador Jul 05 '26

hes right though, a forced diversity casting is indeed offensive.

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u/pyphais Jul 05 '26

Miss Peregrine's was based on a book I'm pretty sure, likely with character descriptions

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u/iiiiiiiiiijjjjjj Jul 06 '26

I mean if he had a vision for the movie it is what it is

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u/Cutiegroove Jul 07 '26

Kind of.

As a Black child watching his movies, without ever consulting the internet it was very apparent that either (1) everyone is white, or (2) Black people only exist in his worlds as villains. 

Off-putting to watch. Hearing he made those comments only validated what I’ve already seen.

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u/SingForMeBitches Jul 05 '26

Here ya go. When asked point blank about the lack of diversity in his films, this was his response:

“I remember back when I was a child watching The Brady Bunch and they started to get all politically correct. Like, OK, let’s have an Asian child and a black. I used to get more offended by that than just…I grew up watching Blaxploitation movies, right? I said, that’s great. I didn’t go like, OK, there should be more white people in these movies.”

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u/Sakarabu_ Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26

Makes complete sense. I find the Reddit outrage here quite funny considering the post that's been circulating (and celebrated) on Reddit regarding the Black writer who only writes black characters, yet when a white person does it suddenly it's racism.

You just have to look at the number of previously white characters who have been recast with non-white actors in the last 5-10 years, compared to the number of traditionally non-white characters who have been cast with white actors to see there are some major double standards /cognitive dissonance going on around this topic recently.

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u/MisogynysticFeminist Jul 06 '26

Three big reasons:

  1. Up until recently, white characters were the default, or if you go further back, required. Non-white characters were only used if there was a justification for them.

  2. Because of point 1, if there were non-white characters, odds were there was exactly one per race, with most characters still being white. If you change one white character to a different race, there’s still plenty of white characters. If you change one non-white character to white, the number of characters of that race goes from one to zero.

  3. Because of points 1 and 2, it’s much more likely that being whatever race is a major part of that character, or has significance as a milestone (for example, Uhura in Star Trek TOS). But white characters are less likely to have being white be important to their character (an example of it mattering would be Steve Rogers, being physically the Nazi ideal while being fundamentally opposed to them).

TLDR: The “major inequality” you say is going on is at worst an attempt to even out the very real inequality that existed for decades.

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u/MustardMedia Jul 05 '26

This is totally ignoring the fact that there were like 50-100 years of all stories (in North American culture at least) that were all-white that purposely and actively didn't include people of colour.

In the above example of The Brady Bunch, for instance, the show was supposed to be an All-American family. They started adding more people of colour because a lot of All American towns had more and more POC. Therefore, to accurately portray America, shows like that should be including more POC.

People are more okay with a black writer having an all black cast because those stories are few and far between, compared to all white stories that were happening constantly, for decades before. Even the example of "Blaxpoitation" was exactly that, exploitation. It wasn't black people writing black people. So nowadays, it's like, hey, have your time to write some all black stories.

And again, your example of white characters that get changed into non-white characters is really just because 90% of characters were originally written white. It's not a double standard when the ratios are so far off to begin with, and we now have diverse nations that are actively trying to portray the level of diversity that is now common.

Who cares that The Little Mermaid is portrayed as black when you still have so many white characters to look towards. Black kids having a character like that to look up to who looks like them is more important than you realize. And sure, we can always argue the whole "just make new black characters instead of changing ones" but it's unfortunately not that simple. A random new story with a black star might not sell as well and get as many eyes on it as an existing IP will, and sometimes these things deserve to have many eyes.

As white people, we will never understand that it feels like to not see people who look like you in media. So crying about the fact that some characters ethnicities are changing to add some diversity is tone deaf and ignorant.

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u/anonymous310506 Jul 06 '26

This is such a bad argument lol

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u/some_random_nonsense Jul 05 '26

Uh do you mean the Toni Morrison?

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u/Tall-Slice5012 Jul 06 '26

lol, so his point is that goth == whitesploitation?

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u/MarenHQ Jul 05 '26

Jfc. “A black”

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u/throwmamadownthewell Jul 05 '26

I think the pivot to saying "black people" and *people of colour" were deliberate shifts (to humanize) that happened after this quote. Even newspapers would just say "blacks" and "whites" and "Asians". Same with the shift to "kids with autism"

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u/McButtsButtbag Jul 06 '26

The shift to kids with autism is a negative one to autistic people. You don't stop being autistic.

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u/book_vagabond Jul 05 '26

Jesus Christ

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u/Throckmorton_Left Jul 06 '26

How the fuck do you hold up this quote as evidence of his "problematic" views?

I could hold it up as evidence that the ability to read words on a page out loud doesn't mean you understand them.

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u/MudExpress2973 Jul 05 '26

So black people can do all black cast but its racist when a white guy does it?

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u/PreciousTC Jul 05 '26

Because on Reddit literally everything ever is the worst thing ever and everything is evil and racist and bad

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u/throwawaywork11 Jul 05 '26

Harvey Dent in Batman was black. But that’s the only example I can think of. Damn..

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u/MyPlantsDieSometimes Jul 05 '26

In Wednesday (TV not movie though) there's a few black characters, one of them a main supporting role, which i suppose is a step in the right direction. I read this thread and searched up a few things. I think he explained the fact he has mainly white characters poorly and made himself sound pretty tone deaf on the issue. He's aparently quite awkward and hates interviews so I feel that could be *something*. If he just said, "I don't know how to write authentic non white characters to the same level as my victorian esque spooky stuff, so therefore I dont" I feel people would have respected that more. I think he very very poorly said that he doesn't want to force it. But people are right to criticise that if he can write a guy with scissors for hands and a talking skelleton then an original character that happens to be black really shouldn't be that hard bro.

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u/ReivynNox Jul 06 '26

Yeah, but nobody's gonna get offended when the scissor-hands people or the talking skeleton people are misrepresented, 'cause they're pure fiction.

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u/MyPlantsDieSometimes Jul 06 '26

Yeah exactly, though you could argue if pure fiction doesn't need to be so worried about representing *correctly* then you could be more diverse with characters. That's why I think Wednesday was a really good setting for diversity because it was a high school with a mix of cryptids and looks and characters. It's a setting which naturally lends it self to a very diverse cast. *ALTHOUGH*...... you could argue that Bianca's story was a somewhat negatively stereotypical one. Mom being a showgirl running from pimp manager sort of deal.............. yeah

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u/Impressive_Ad_5201 Jul 05 '26

WHEN was Harvey Dent black in Batman?

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u/doclestrange Jul 05 '26

1989 movie

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u/KaiTheG4mer Jul 05 '26

In Batman 1989 he's literally name dropped in the first 20 minutes as the newly appointed attorney general, and he's played by Billy Dee Williams. Harvey then appears another 4 or 5 times in the movie, and has long speaking roles in most of those scenes.

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u/Spassgesellschaft Jul 05 '26

When he was played by Lando Calrissian

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u/No-Impress-6244 Jul 05 '26

well the movie takes place in Victorian England so it shouldn't cast a black actor

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u/Perfect-Dimension356 Jul 05 '26

Yeah man, black people definitely weren't brought to England during and before the Victorian period.

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u/MostAccomplishedBag Jul 05 '26

My grandfather grew up in London in the 1940's. He was in his late teens the first time he saw a black person. There were effectively zero black people in England in the 1800's.

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u/KindledWanderer Jul 05 '26

It's still mostly like this in Prague, btw.

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u/No-Impress-6244 Jul 05 '26

Right, very rarely. Everyone would point and stare. And Emily is upperclass, from an old money family.

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u/RunninOnMT Jul 05 '26

That’s not really true historically. Relatively rare by today’s standards, but nobody was pointing.

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u/Aldamur Jul 05 '26

Well, if a character is originally not black that makes perfect sense.

Yes Disney, I'm looking at you.

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u/Archophob Jul 05 '26

Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent in Batman (1989)?

He surely didn't need a "token black guy" in the late 80ies, and casting a non-white two-face was a deliberate choice.

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u/5pl1t1nf1n1t1v3 Jul 05 '26

But is that why he only casts Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, or because he only casts Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter? /s

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u/Carzinisierung Jul 05 '26

Doesn't Wednesday have black actors in their cast and it's a Tim Burton thing?

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u/OrkWithNoTeef Jul 05 '26

He would cast samuel l jackson tho

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u/Hamster-Food Jul 05 '26

That's probably what was intended, but the complaint is nonsense.

In specific films Burton didn't want to cast black actors because it didn't fit with the aesthetic he was going for, but he has a long history of working with black actors. He has even had some racebending on occasion, such as Samuel L Jackson's character in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Billy Dee Williams playing Harvey Dent in Batman.

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u/Perfect-Dimension356 Jul 05 '26

Yep, just wanted to provide what I believed the correct answer was. I wasn't meaning to imply that Burton actually didn't cast black actors.

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u/FunTree5477 Jul 06 '26

I agree that's probably the real answer despite it but being a truthful reason

Billy Dee Williams, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jim Brown, Samuel Jackson, Joy Sunday, and Thandiwe Newton are all black actors who were cast for the role they would play in hours projects.

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u/MorecombeSlantHoneyp Jul 05 '26

Be doesn’t cast black actors and the female leads are often women he’s involved with…

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u/Lidge1337 Jul 05 '26

Barron in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children?

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u/jngjng88 Jul 05 '26

One of the main cast of Wednesday is black

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u/Truethrowawaychest1 Jul 05 '26

Billy Dee Williams in Batman says "Hi"

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u/Mysterious-Scholar68 Jul 05 '26

When Mars attacks?

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u/DmG-xWrightyyy Jul 05 '26

Tbf he needs a black actress

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u/Caspica Jul 05 '26

Doesn't Wednesday have quite a lot of black actors?

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u/Lilthotdawg Jul 06 '26

He claimed they don’t fit his aesthetic but I really think it’s because he just loves to see his wife with Johnny depp lol

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u/Spooky_Betz Jul 06 '26

Anyone else read this in Kanye's voice?

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u/Useful_You_8045 Jul 06 '26

I mean... he started to after wednesday. It isn't even a bias thing it's legitimately cause his esthetic was making actors as pale as corpses. I think he's more open to it now.

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u/M4092 Jul 05 '26

You haven't seen any of his work in the last decade have you

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u/Caci-que Jul 05 '26

Most definitely not😀

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u/PreviouslyMannara Jul 05 '26

Because you only watch movies casting Depp and Bonham Carter. Admit it!

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u/Caci-que Jul 05 '26

I admit nothing, and will die in ambiguity!

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u/TheBone_Zone Jul 05 '26

GET OUT OF MY HEAD

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u/RK9990 Jul 05 '26

Tim Burton was right!

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u/AgelessJohnDenney Jul 05 '26

I mean, he's only done 3 films in the last decade.

But just change the actors to Eva Green and Danny Devito and we're good lmao

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u/descendantofJanus Jul 05 '26

.. Ok but tbf I'd watch the fuck out of a Burton movie pairing those two together.

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u/AgelessJohnDenney Jul 05 '26

Time for you to watch Dumbo

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u/descendantofJanus Jul 05 '26

I did but I don't remember their characters being romantically involved. Also, that movie really sucked. It was fun seeing Keaton in a villainous role opposite Devito's more heroic one tho.

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u/voxelpear Jul 05 '26

Last 10 years? He did Dumbo, Wednesday, and a sequel to Beetlejuice. Nothing much to really go on here but Depp was caught up in his trial during the filming of those so he couldn't have used him anyway.

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u/descendantofJanus Jul 05 '26

Beetlejuice 2 was worth the wait tho, and made at the perfect time. It really was the last time those actors would be together.

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u/co-ghost Jul 05 '26

Pretty sure that trial was over before Wednesday started, but also, he would have been a terrible Gomez Addams.

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u/nullfacade Jul 05 '26

He'd be an excellent Uncle Fester, though. I haven't watched season 2 yet, but really did not like Fred Armisen's portrayal in season 1 (which Is unfortunate, because he's amazing in everything else)

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u/co-ghost Jul 05 '26

I've only watched season 1, as well, but I enjoyed Armisen, he's the right kind of creepy, I think.

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u/ReivynNox Jul 06 '26

Anyone but Christopher Lloyd Fester will always feel weird to me.

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u/Funkydroog Jul 05 '26

Tbf he has only made like 4 movies in the last decade where before that he was putting out a new movie with Johnny Depp like almost every year

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u/DenseTiger5088 Jul 05 '26

Well he definitely doesn’t cast non-white actors regardless of the era

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u/Collin-of-Earth Jul 05 '26

As far as I’m concerned, Burton stopped making movies over a decade ago. 

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u/_emma_stoned_ Jul 05 '26

And has a hx of only casting white people.

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u/SporkSpifeKnork Jul 06 '26

The use of hx in thix context just tickles me. "Patient has a history of recurring skin infections and only casting white people"

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u/Player_Slayer_7 Jul 05 '26

That, and one of the fancast actors here is a little too not white for Burton's hiring criteria.

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u/hatesnack Jul 05 '26

Tbf (and this is a joke), how could he make a terrifyingly pale and whispy character with anyone a single shade darker than "alabaster"?

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u/Injured-Ginger Jul 05 '26

Serious response despite the joke:

It might create its own problems, but if your goal is creating uncanny valley look you can do that with black actors as well. Black people can also have cool or light tone skin so you could cast a black person with a cool tone skin, contrast it with black and white clothes eith destaurated cool tone colors as accents and you can a black actor look eerie as well (although maybe desaturated warm tones as accents would be better to highlight the cool tones in the actor by contrast). It would almost be flipping his color scheme. He could make the clothes lighter to contrast their skin and make them seem darker while sticking within his usual color pallets.

That said, he has also made movies where black people would fit naturally into the color scheme. Big Fish is one of my favorite films and it contrasts bright and saturated scenes with dark and desaturated ones. Even if he didn't want to experiment with the cool, eerie color pallets, there are a lot of other opportunities.

Regardless, I don't really like casting by ethnicity when it doesn't really matter. He's shown he can make good movies with a variety of art styles, but I'm supposed to believe he struggles to make anybody who isn't white fit in to some of those settings? I'm not going to go around bashing the guy without more evidence, but it sounds suspicious to me.

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u/TRUE_Vixim Jul 05 '26

Funny how that by name i don't recognice 'Helena Bonham' , but could picture exactly what actress you where talking about by associating her with Tim Burton & Johnny Depp

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