lightskintwin
Banned
It's an American Adaptation of Death Note. It's set in Seattle, and the characters are Light Turner, Mia Sutton, and L, along with Watari, James Turner, and Ryuk.
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Netflix Death Note Trailer. Release August 25th.
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It's an American Adaptation of Death Note. It's set in Seattle, and the characters are Light Turner, Mia Sutton, and L, along with Watari, James Turner, and Ryuk.
Also I didn't see anybody post this picture that Netflix released of the film.
L looks good. They shouldn't shy away from his stupid sitting habits.
There is already a Death Note movie with Asian actors. I wonder if they would be even allowed to go that way by the owner as it would impact their ability to remake it there.
Yes.
Yuuuuuup. This guy looks like a person who would not be popular and more of a shunned loser.
Light is supposed to be a golden boy.
Turin Turambar
Member
Why do you think this version takes place in another country?
Hint: same reason of why GITS main actress is American.
I get that reference.
beyond_death
Member
This looks fine. I forgot they were making this but I'm very curious to see more.
link on the discussion i can't find it online./
cj_iwakura
Member
MsKrisp
Member
Excited for Dafoe, not sure how I feel otherwise. This trailer is... meh.
I'm fine with this being an American version of this, and a white actor being cast appropriately. But this Asian actor claims he wasn't allowed to audition for Light because they were specifically not looking for Asians:
http://www.deathnotenews.com/news/e...asian-actors-considered-for-light-yagami-role
If his claim is true, that's fucked up. That's not a matter of being entitled but not even having the chance to be considered. (there would still be controversy, of course.)
I'm fine with this being an American version of this, and a white actor being cast appropriately. But this Asian actor claims he wasn't allowed to audition for Light because they were specifically not looking for Asians:
http://www.deathnotenews.com/news/e...asian-actors-considered-for-light-yagami-role
If his claim is true, that's fucked up. That's not a matter of being entitled but not even having the chance to be considered. (there would still be controversy, of course.)
cj_iwakura
Member
I mentioned it on the last page, and it leads to an interesting alternate scenario.
MsKrisp
Member
Ah, I missed that. If that's really the case, I can get on board--that's a great way to adapt for an American story. I hope it's not another instance of Asians not being good enough to play lead in American media.
cj_iwakura
Member
I have more faith in Wingard than that.
lightskintwin
Banned
It's not fucked up, it happens all the time; that's how casting works. The producers already had a vision of who they wanted to cast. Plus it reinforces my post you quoted that a Hollywood studio/production doesn't buy an Asian property to adapt it to America/The West only to cast Asians.
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UnemployedVillain
Member
Literally pulling justification out of his ass. I will bet money it won't be anything like he speculated, but I'll give it a shot
RipperGrim
Member
I have seen the most fucking ridiculous complaints about this show. L being a black dude has caused people to complain once again about things being too politically correct and yet fail to even acknowledge the fact that White people are playing Asian roles as anything to complain about. Honestly one of the dumbest things I have seen in a while.
Mexen
Member
The only positive for me (and this holds true for GitS live action) is more people will experience the universe and some will, maybe, make the jump to the original material. Death Note is incredibly good and more people need to read the manga or watch the anime. Even the Japanese movies are great.
jack_package_200
Banned
Watched the trailer again. I still have some hope.
I also get the impression from various online discussion (not on GAF) that a portion of the complaining about the white washing is coming from a group that isn't at all familiar with the actual source material and saw the trailer as an excuse to rant on about white washing in Hollywood.
Its an adaptation. Things change to suit the adaptation and to suit the region its being made in. When Unforgiven was remade in Japan, they didn't just make a straight western, they adapted it to the Meiji era and changed the cowboys to swordsmen. This isn't Ghost in the Shell (2017) where they appropriate all the Japanese iconography and culture of the original movie and transplant a random white lady into the lead role.
BTW the Japanese adaptation of Unforgiven is great. Go watch it.
Light, as a character, comes from a place of absolute privilege and makes reasonable sense as white in the United States. Loving family with no money troubles. A father who works for the police. Light naturally excels at everything he does. And hes absolutely bored of his life.
Maybe Light is a weeb? Or people on the internet give him his name?
I imagine they just wanted to keep his recognizable serial killer name from the source material in this adaptation. I personally would have just tried "Killer" in Latin or some other non-english language.
I also get the impression from various online discussion (not on GAF) that a portion of the complaining about the white washing is coming from a group that isn't at all familiar with the actual source material and saw the trailer as an excuse to rant on about white washing in Hollywood.
Its an adaptation. Things change to suit the adaptation and to suit the region its being made in. When Unforgiven was remade in Japan, they didn't just make a straight western, they adapted it to the Meiji era and changed the cowboys to swordsmen. This isn't Ghost in the Shell (2017) where they appropriate all the Japanese iconography and culture of the original movie and transplant a random white lady into the lead role.
BTW the Japanese adaptation of Unforgiven is great. Go watch it.
Light, as a character, comes from a place of absolute privilege and makes reasonable sense as white in the United States. Loving family with no money troubles. A father who works for the police. Light naturally excels at everything he does. And hes absolutely bored of his life.
Maybe Light is a weeb? Or people on the internet give him his name?
I imagine they just wanted to keep his recognizable serial killer name from the source material in this adaptation. I personally would have just tried "Killer" in Latin or some other non-english language.
Pops Maellard
Member
I thought the series took place in Japan..?
Killer Queen
Banned
The argument doesn't work with ghost in the shell either.
jack_package_200
Banned
I wasn't excusing Ghost in the Shell. In fact, I was throwing it under the bus.
It does.
But the series as a whole seems very Western-oriented and it makes a lot more sense to move the setting to America. If she wants Japanese actors, watch the Japanese live action movie?
Killer Queen
Banned
Exactly. There's a logical in universe reason for the major to be white that's existed since the series inception. In addition to the fact that apparently the world of the movie is apparently quite multicultural rather than racially homogeneous. Which is why shitting on Ghost in the shell for having a white actress makes no sense if you're going to let Death Note slide. There seem to be a fair few non Japanese people living in new Japan, in addition to the fact that she's a cyborg with an entirely robotic body. So why does it matter. If you're going to complain about non Asian American leads, fine but this is a poor choice of material to do it with, just as much as it is for Death Note. If it was the great Wall then you have a leg to stand on, or even Iron Fist would work better, because the character itself is very influenced by Asian culture(?). It doesn't work for Ghost in the Shell.
Honestly I would've preferred a Japanese actress for Major far more than ScarJo, since i kind of dislike her as an actor. But this continued line of attack is weak.
UnemployedVillain
Member
No, just no. There is no reason and claiming "multicultural society" is bullshit. It's especially more bullshit if you've seen the artbook for the movie. There is no justifiable reason for the Major to be white. Even if it was set in the US there are Asian cops so there is still no justifiable reason.
You guys realize there are Asian people in the US, right? There are Asian cops. There are Asian highschool students. Literally any ridiculous reason you can come up with to try and justify whitewashing for American adaptations, the same exact reasons could be used to justify Asian actors being used instead.
When did this argument start? We got almost the same comment in a GITS thread
It's like some weird way of dismissing fans complaining as not being "real" fans
Nose Master
Member
This looks like shit, but I'll watch for Dafoe.
jack_package_200
Banned
Am I not allowed to make an observation? I mentioned that I saw comments that seemed ignorant of the source material and only wanted to condemn the film for casting white actors in a role that was once played by japanese actors.
It wasn't a dismissal of criticism of the film.
I guess I will keep my observations to myself next time.
lightskintwin
Banned
I'm all for more Asian American representation, but if an American/Western production company buy the rights to a Japanese property that the Japanese owners agree to and are properly compensated knowing the intent of it being adapted to America and casting Americans in the leads which is obviously going to be more skewed to White, it's not White Washing. That's the whole point of Adaptations.
If they decided to cast Michelle Rodriguez as the Major, would that have still been "Whitewashing"?
Is Rosa Salazar being cast as the lead character Alita in the Japanese property Battle Angel: Alita that's being adapted to the West "Whitewashing"?
Of course it isn't, because you're stretching that term to mean something completely different than what it was intended.
Now that doesn't mean we shouldn't encourage more diversity, but we need to be careful in how we label things so that we don't look contradictory or silly in the future.
l o l
Light is the worst thing about that show and his performance was pretty universally panned. The show is ok, but don't watch it for Light.
More acting doesn't mean better acting.
Killer Queen
Banned
I'm not saying they couldn't be asian, I'm saying in this instance, it doesn't really matter. You're free to have you're own opinion in it, but saying Asian people exist isn't an argument, or a point dismissing any other argument. I'm not justifying white washing, at the end of the day, it happened, everyone knows why. I'm saying in these two instances, it makes no difference to the material.
There are many justifiable reasons, at least in the context of "this is reality and this is how things work" and its entirely reasonable within both the source material and the film itself.
You're free to not like it and have issues with it. But that doesn't make that line of attack against this film in particular any less weak. No one is saying, pretending or even alluding to that Asian people don't exist outside of Asian countries, you've extrapolated that all on your own. So if you're going to be upset about words you put into the mouths of others, that's on you.
Really the only justifiable reason you need Is that it's an adaptation of a material that's being created largely to cater to a different and larger audience. Thus the studio got a popular actor to star in the role to put people in seats. So the film was built around that.
As for Death Note, it now takes place in a culturally different country, the united states, and if they're using the "White Privilege" angle for Light, then it's entirely justifiable, because it's an adaptation of the source material that's taking liberties to do something different and tell the same story from a different angle. There's also the angle of race issues in America, which could be why L is now black, to play upon said issues and the dichotomy between L and Light and the differences in their situations and positions when living in the United States.
Bottom line is: The race of these characters in their current iteration has no bearing on the story, and thus nothing is lost story wise should their races be changed, arguing otherwise is moot. In the case of Ghost in the Shell, you know very well why her race was changed. But in the context of the movie, and series in general, it's of little importance. As for Death Note, the race of the characters could now play an important part in the stories undertones and it now might add an interesting dimension to the story and a look at the division in America among races.
So no, it doesn't work in reverse.
UnemployedVillain
Member
What are you even talking about? No one said either of those cases were whitewashing. You're literally citing arguments, no one made in the first place. The main actor for Death Note is Nat Wolff, who's white, so why are you bringing up other people and properties?
I didn't stretch anything, but you yourself don't even seem to know what whitewashing means. This
Is a completely illogical statement. There is a thing called Asian Americans. They exist in the US. Many of them are HS students. Many of them are actors perfectly capable of playing HS students. This is taking a character who had no reason not to be Asian and casting him as white because that's what is always done, using the same tired reasoning that it's the US so they have to be white (which makes no sense, because no, they don't).
lightskintwin
Banned
It's a Japanese property. Are you suggesting that Asian Americans, no matter their ethnicity, have some sort of claim to being cast in this JAPANESE property even if it's completely adapted to America otherwise it's whitewashing?
UnemployedVillain
Member
No, I'm saying that Asian American actors already have it hard enough trying to get roles because there's always one excuse or another for the main character not to be Asian, so when an adaptation with an Asian main character comes along, one where they can actually cast one, instead of doing so they go ahead and change the race because reasons. How am I the only one who sees an issue with this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills
This Death Note adaptation is like The Departed. They're not changing one character's ethnicity, they are changing the entire setting. If they kept this as a story in Japan, and had a bunch of Asian supporting cast but the main character is white, you would have a great point, but this is no different from the American version of The Ring.
UnemployedVillain
Member
Like I said (or at least meant, if it wasn't clear), I agree that there's no reason Light has to be Asian. The races of the characters are integral to the story and the setting doesn't really require it to take place in Japan. I'm just saying, if they're adapting this to a US audience why couldn't they adapt Light as an Asian American male? That's all I'm saying.
Killer Queen
Banned
No one said you're the only one that has an issue with it. You're just being ignorant to reality and the situations of both films.
If you're going to complain about Asian representation, do it where it's more applicable, like Iron Fist and The Great Wall, there are many other properties both past and present that are far more deserving of the flak than either of these films.
And stop being so dense. The fact that you're completely unable to counter any of my points but are going to continue your attack on these films says that you don't actually care all that much and are just looking for situations to complain about.
lightskintwin
Banned
I'm sympathetic to Asian American actors trying to make it in Hollywood, but your still discounting the ADAPTATION part of it, and still believing that the character is still Japanese which you're conveniently making it into some homogeneous Asian, instead of the character being adapted to a White American and being cast as such, while another lead was adapted to be a Black American and being cast as such.
I understand people being sensitive due to the lack of Asian American representation, but you can't then become territorial over commercial properties that are foreign primarily coming from one Asian country (JAPAN), being bought and adapted to the West by Hollywood Studios and Production companies and casting Americans even if none of the leads cast are Asian American.
One of the producers of the Death Note did the American version of The Ring and The Grunge. He's probably confused as fuck over the controversy. LOL
I might be being dense here but yes they did change the whole setting to America, but asian-americans exist though right? I dont think the argument that they changed the setting to america is the be all end all. By no means i dont think people are entitled to being casted in films like this and i also understand that production already has a vision of what their product to turn out like but totally not auditioning asian american because reasons imo is not valid.
I usually stray away from these arguments since im pretty ill informed but as an asian living in north america im fully aware that his is an issue i should be versed in.
I mean, is there any specific indication that he -couldn't- be Asian American? L is black in this one, so they clearly don't have an issue with minorities as leads. Were they specifically looking for a white guy to play Light, or did it end up that way because in an open casting you're likely to end up with a white guy if you're looking for an American lead? Like, that's definitely a representation problem, but that's different from Asians being excluded from consideration in the first place. If it was an exclusive white casting, I agree that sort of thing should be discouraged, if not, I don't see a strong argument for how an adaptation like this should specifically go for an Asian American lead. That seems even less natural a direction to me.
Doctor Decimate
Member
While I think there is potential for an interesting race angle to this film, you'd sorta have to think they'd be shouting it from the rooftops to counter the bad PR if nothing else. I don't really see any reason to give them the benefit of the doubt.
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