Last week, the movie trailer for the new Netflix live-action adaptation of the anime Death Note was released. Growing up, Death Note was one of my favorite series and I watched and read the story more times than I can count. With that being said, you would think that I would be excited for the release of the upcoming movie, but let me tell you, I was not happy. I was livid. (Image: Google) For some context, Death Note is a Japanese manga and anime that was released in the mid-2000’s. The story takes place in Japan and follows the protagonist, Light Yagami, who finds a mysterious notebook called the death note that allows him to take someone’s life by writing their name down in the pages of the notebook. Light is written as an extremely complex character. He is a charismatic, smart, attractive, and a seemingly friendly Japanese high school student who strives to work in law enforcement. After discovering the death note, Light uses its powers to begin ridding Japan of its criminals as well as people he deems as corrupt or evil and doesn’t deserve to live. That being said, things are quite different in the Netflix adaptation. In the upcoming movie, Light Yagami is portrayed by Nat Wolff, an American actor. Right from that start, everything goes downhill. Netflix’s adaptation of Death Note is clearly and unabashedly white-washed with a predominantly Caucasian cast. Starting from the casting of the protagonist to the rest of the supporting characters, there is no mistake that the film has an issue with representation. (Images: Netflix) Some people argued that this change is due to the fact that the movie is set to take place in the U.S. However, I would have to disagree. In the new film, Light Yagami is renamed as Light “Turner.” If the writers wanted the story to be adapted to fit the U.S., they could have easily made a spinoff or created a new character. They could have also, I don’t know, maybe hired Asian-American actors? Instead, they decided to make the main character white and give him an Americanized name while keeping the plot. I can only imagine how this change will negatively affect the story, as it takes away the Japanese cultural background and context that heavily influences the characters and drives the plot in the Death Note series. The fact that Netflix of all platforms – a platform that created a culturally sensitive and diverse show like “Sense 8”) – would pull this stunt baffled me. I immediately took to social media to express my frustration with the casting after seeing the trailer. When I shared the revamped Death Note trailer with a status that expressed my discontent, I received lots of support and similar comments from friends and strangers who also saw problems with the adaption. But then, I received this comment. After seeing this comment, from one of my own acquaintances no less, I was furious. I went through stages of feeling genuinely confused as to why she would say this, then feeling angered by her insensitivity, to finally feeling motivated and confident enough to reply to her comment and speak my mind. I am a pretty sensitive and non-confrontational person. It was always ingrained into me to steer clear of conflict and to “be the better person.” One thing that I learned over the past few years is that sometimes, just avoiding conflict doesn’t mean that you’re being the better person. Sometimes, you need to stand up and speak up for your beliefs and the right for your thoughts and feelings to be validated. So this is what I said. I had a conversation with a friend recently about how tiring, frustrating, and upsetting it can be at times when we’re “fighting ignorant trolls on the internet” or just trying to inform someone about things that they might not necessarily see eye to eye on or be informed about. This is especially the case with topics such as feminism and issues surrounding people of color/ minorities. We came to the conclusion that no matter how difficult or frustrating it gets, it’s important now more than ever, to stand up for ourselves and call things out, such as discrimination, sexism, white-washing, etc., when we see and experience it. Unless people voice their concerns and opinions regarding societal injustices, nothing will ever change. Stand up for yourself, your thoughts, and your rights. If someone says something that is wrong, call them out and inform them. It’s okay to feel uncomfortable doing so. We’re all learning. PS. Death Note already had three well-produced movies featuring Japanese actors in JAPAN. We really don’t need another one. :-) @World: YOU. SERIOUSLY. NEED. TO STOP. WHITEWASHING. EVERYTHING. (Image: Google) Check out the movie trailers for the original Japanese adaptation (2006) and the new Netflix adaptation (2017) below and let me know what you think!
2 Comments
Farid-ul-Haq
4/4/2017 03:28:33 pm
Agreed. I get that Hollywood wanted to make an adaptation but as you said they could've created an original character instead of naming him Light Turner....They could've had the actual Light Yagami from the manga make a cameo in the film to show that the U.S. version was some sort of spin-off....but yeah, turning the protagonist into Light Turner (a white dude) and then going on from there for a Death Note film that is set in the U.S. is whitewashing....it's similar to what they did with Ghost in a Shell....SPOILERS!!!
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Avid Film Fan
4/9/2017 06:42:03 pm
This is such a stupid article. When they remake BREAKING BAD in Columbia or UNFORGIVEN in Japan, they recast using local talent. Is THE DEPARTED racist too? This article makes no sense.
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