If you're into anime, the name "Death Note" is probably as familiar to you as your own. Most anime fans have seen "Death Note" at some point in their lives, or they've at least heard of it from others and might have it on their watch lists. It's one of those staple animes that everyone has to watch at some point or another, even though this June will mark the tenth anniversary of its series finale. By now, it's basically a classic.
For those of you who aren't familiar with "Death Note," all you really need to know is that it's about a notebook (literally called the death note) that kills anyone whose name is written inside it. In the original anime, a high schooler named Light Yagami stumbles upon this lethal notebook and decides that he's going to become the new god of our world, snuffing out criminals with nothing more than a pen and some deadly magic. Of course, as you can imagine, that plan escalate way out of hand, but we aren't here to talk about Light's descent into madness.
No, today we're talking about the Netflix remake of "Death Note," folks.
On March 22nd, Netflix released their teaser trailer for a live action movie that is supposed to embody all the suspense and drama of the original "Death Note" story. The movie itself is set for release on August 25th of this year, and many fans are excited to see one of their favorite animes brought back into the spotlight.
There's just one little problem.
"Death Note" is a series set explicitly in Japan, which means that, of course, its main characters and the culture they stem from are Japanese. The death note falls into Light Yagami's hands because of a Shinigami, or Japanese death god, named Ryuk. Everything within the story centers on Japanese cultural beliefs and values.
The Netflix version seems to have forgotten this.
In this new film adaptation, all of the main characters are white. Light Yagami isn't even allowed to keep his original name, with his American alias being Light Turner instead. The setting has been uprooted from Japan and plopped down in Seattle, with copious shots of the Space Needle thrown in just to remind us of that fact. For whatever reason, Ryuk the Shinigami gets to keep his name, although he's being played by Willem Dafoe, who is about as far from Japanese as a person can get.
This is just the latest rendition of anime whitewashing to hit America, riding on the coattails of the recent "Ghost in the Shell" movie with Scarlett Johansson occupying its lead role. I've seen people defending these casting decisions because, apparently, viewers in Japan don't actually mind the changes and have given Western producers the go-ahead. I'm not sure where these people get their information from, but regardless, they seem to be missing the point here.
Even if people in Japan have no qualms with us Westernizing their shows, their mainstream media is far different from ours. They're used to seeing themselves represented everywhere because they're the stars of their own culture. Japanese Americans don't have that privilege.
Japanese Americans-- and Asian Americans in general-- are steeped in a culture where they are lucky to ever see someone who looks like them in their favorite TV show or movie. Not only is whitewashing "Death Note" and other anime remakes completely erasing the culture they come from, but it's also denying Asian Americans the chance to feel like they have a place in American culture. It's systematically denying Asian American actors the chance to succeed in Hollywood or anywhere else in American media. Edward Zo, an Asian American actor and YouTuber, was actually turned away from the "Death Note" auditions because he was "too Asian," and they weren't looking for someone like that to play Light.
The casting department of Netflix's "Death Note," a Japanese series with Japanese characters set in Japan, didn't want any Asian Americans to play their main character.
There is something incredibly wrong with this picture.
Given how few opportunities there are for Asian American actors to land any roles, it would seem that a film intended to be centered explicitly on an Asian country would finally give Asian Americans a chance. Not if systemic racism has anything to say about it, though.
God forbid we have anyone but the lead singer of the Naked Brothers Band star in one of our movies.
So many other animes exist that have characters and settings who are actually white to begin with. "Attack On Titan" and "Fullmetal Alchemist" would be perfect examples of shows where it would make sense to cast white actors for live action remakes. Neither of those are set in Japan or rooted in Japanese culture, and they have main characters with names like Eren Jaeger and Edward Elroy. Look at that, the directors of those movies wouldn't even have to come up with new surnames.
Taking a show that originally had nothing to do with white people and suddenly making it all about white Americans is inexcusable. "American" should not equal "white," even though far too many people in our country like to pretend it does. Asian Americans deserve to see themselves represented in our media as much as anyone else does. Sure, set "Death Note" in Seattle if it really makes you happy. That's no excuse to completely exclude Asian Americans from the story; whether you like it or not, they're still Americans.
It'd be nice if moviemakers remembered that once in a while.
