Netflix’s Death Note adaptation draws backlash for whitewashing Japanese manga adaptation
The action is relocated to Seattle, with a white lead named Light Turner instead of Light Yagami in the original
Netflix is at the centre of another controversy surrounding the depiction of Asians in its productions.
The streaming giant released the trailer for Death Note on Wednesday, and the English-language adaptation of the popular Japanese manga of the same name has since drawn backlash online for what some are calling another example of Hollywood whitewashing an Asian story.
The film, directed by Blair Witch ’s Adam Wingard, stars Nat Wolff, Margaret Qualley, Lakeith Stanfield, Paul Nakauchi, Shea Whigham and Willem Dafoe. It follows a high school student who finds a notebook that has the power to kill anyone whose name is written in it. The student, whose name in the original source material is Light Yagami, uses it to wield his own brand of vigilante justice, killing off criminals.
Death Note originated in a Japanese manga, but the Netflix movie is not the first time it has been adapted to another medium: It has been remade into an anime TV series, video games, several live-action Japanese films and even a musical. The Netflix adaptation relocates the action to Seattle, and the main character has been renamed “Light Turner”.
Response from fans and others online has been mixed. Some are comparing it to recent examples of whitewashing in films such as Ghost in the Shell, which stars Scarlett Johansson in a part written as Asian in the source material.
