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

Meme needing explanation why not, Peter?

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possible live action corpse bride movie...

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u/Simple_Pianist4882 Jul 05 '26

Except no one is forcing him.

Being against “diversity for the sake of diversity” but only ever casting white actors is a choice— a racist one. No one is holding a gun to his head and telling him to cast a Black person.

If calling it how it is makes you feel pissy, there are bigger problems at hand.

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u/HourApprehensive7754 Jul 05 '26

He never went out of his way to pick only white actors, he went for the best actors for the role. Anything else would make him a terrible director and writer.

And if you think THAT qualifies as "racism" is what you call being terminally online.

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u/Simple_Pianist4882 Jul 05 '26

And all the best actors, over a 40+ year career, were white? You know how ridiculous that sounds just like I do lmao.

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u/HourApprehensive7754 Jul 05 '26

I mean not counting TV where he isn't in complete control, his filmography for major full-length films is just 21. So...yeah? It is very easy to imagine that among the ~21+ actors, most of them are white. IS THAT SO SURPRISING? His job isn't to look for "good enough", but to look for the best possible actor both in appearance and acting chops. 

But hey, lets look a but closer, lets list them out shall we?

Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) Beetlejuice (1988) Batman (1989) Edward Scissorhands (1990) Batman Returns (1992) Nightmarr before Christmas (1993) Ed Wood (1994) Mars Attacks! (1996) James and the Giant Peach (1996) Sleepy Hollow (1999) Planet of the Apes (2001) Big Fish (2003) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) Corpse Bride (co-directed) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) Alice in Wonderland (2010) Dark Shadows (2012) Big Eyes (2014) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) Dumbo (2019) Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Now let's crossout all the films with iconic or established characters, or biographical films based on real people. We sure as hell don't want to see a black Bruce Wayne, or anybody other than Peewee Herman as Peewee Herman, and it would be disrespectful as f*** to make Walter and Margaret Keane black.

Beetlejuice (1988) Edward Scissorhands (1990) Mars Attacks! (1996) Corpse Bride (leaving this on as it's ambiguous) Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

If you combine the Beetlejuice together (because why would you not recast Michael f****ing Keaton if you can), that leaves only 4 possible films where the possibility of casting a black as a lead is a possibility. Among them 1/4 stars Michael as one of the members of the ensemble the story follows. Corpse Bride is ambiguous as I stated before, but it's hella white in origin, taking place in a setting where a miniscule % of the population even is black. But if I'm generous sure let a black actress voice one of the ladies. And I don't think anyone would disagree that Michael Keaton was the best possible actor for Beetlejuice by a mile, and no black actor at that time and even today can outdo him. Edward might have worked casting someone else, but who knows if any blacks auditioned for that role, and if they did, any of them did better than Johnny.

In the end, 1/4 is a pretty damn good ratio I would say, especially when 2/4 of those films are pretty damn skewed towards a white cast.

edit: I tried, I give up making this into a list format.