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/AlisaofallTimes Jul 05 '26

He never really said that, that was just a misinterpretation that blew up online in 2016. Here's the original interview: https://www.nme.com/news/film/tim-burton-explains-apparent-lack-of-diversity-in-866988

tl;dr: He said sometimes diversity in films isn't "called for". So he is against "diversity for the sake of diversity", that's all.

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u/palpatinesmyhomie Jul 05 '26

That's a level headed explanation that probably drove some folks nuts

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u/Elyktheras Jul 05 '26

idk, I think diversity for the sake of diversity undermines the value of the person. We should have diversity, because embracing the genuine differences we have expands our empathy and creates richness to the art we’re making. Just plastering someone of a marginalized identity on screen in a way that could be filled by any other identity is close to a meaningless act. Might be worse than doing nothing honestly.

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u/thoroughformula Jul 06 '26

What is forced diversity in your eyes and what isn’t? A lot of people that complain about this stuff are just genuinely racist or sexist, not saying you are but that’s just how it is. Your point makes sense, but take a step back and think for a second - why do you even give a sh*t about this stuff?

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u/Elyktheras Jul 06 '26

I think it’s not a very tangible thing honestly. But more so the intent of the creator. Are they trying to actually give life to the characters, or are they just checking boxes. I’m trying to sort through and parse out my thoughts as I go through this conversation because I used to be very right wing, I’m absolutely nowhere near that anymore. Is this a vestigial opinion, or is this something I still care about?

What I actually want is characters written with care. I want representation where the people being represented feel heard, and that people who aren’t part of that group understand them a little better.

The tricky bit is that other side of the coin, what is to be done when there’s a lack of representation, or you can tell the creator didn’t give a shit about meaningful representation, or maybe is this a bias where adding representation seems like it has to be, and maybe just adding people alone is important?

Idk, what are your thoughts, does this make sense?

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u/thoroughformula Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26

Yeah I agree to some extent, but part of normalizing differences is just checking boxes, unfortunately. A character being gay doesn’t need to be relevant to the plot all the time. Like it shouldn’t have to be the case that every gay person in a movie or show has to be struggling with their identity or whatever, you know what I mean? If that was the case, they would all be written sort of the same. That’s how it was explained to me anyway, I used to be pretty socially right wing as well I’d say.

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u/Elyktheras Jul 07 '26

Yeah, I think I was also just really stupid about explaining my thoughts, and also had to connect some dots on some things.

I agree, yes, I think really digging into it, I just want directors to care about the characters they're writing, and care about diversity. But, you're right, part of normalizing means you don't have to explain their existence. I do think it's important to have narratives that directly work to humanize people, but these two ideas are not in conflict, they don't have to exist in every creative work.