Forum - View topicINTEREST: Netflix's Death Note the Next Target of Whitewashing Claims
|
Goto page Previous Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mr.Shonen
Posts: 269 Location: Brooklyn, NY |
|
|||||
I tried searching but also couldn't find an article like it but I do find that the line rings a bit true. When it comes to diversity issues usually the ones who dominate the conversations on social media and with the articles are most often African American. They would write from the perspective of an African American lense so it always felt like so long as something had enough African Americans it was "diverse" despite completely forgetting other non-white minorities. For example I believe it was last year's Oscars which Chris Rock hosted and he made a speech about the controversy and it was through a AA perspective. Then there were some people of other races/ethnicities who felt excluded. This resulted in AA on twitter attacking these other minorities who felt that THEIR voice wasn't being heard with #Notyourmule. Following the #Oscarssowhite situation over the past few years, while digging through the website for articles, I would mostly see articlres that would place the issue as a black vs white thing and that was it. Rarely did an article mention Latinos, Asianso, Natives, Middle Eastern Standard, etc... Thankfully after these oscars people are realizing these groups are just as underrepresented if not more.
Pretty much applies to all forms of society and I think a lot of people in the diversity fight forget that. |
||||||
|
||||||
Mr. sickVisionz
 Posts: 2173 |
|
|||||
|
This is a total adaptation. It's not set in Japan, they've added new events, the names are different and when they didn't the actor is Asian, casting is diverse. Chill out. This isn't whitewashing anymore than Japanese Cinderella having Japanese actors.
|
||||||
|
||||||
Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
|
|||||
|
Y'know I'm REALLY getting sick and tired of this crap.
Okay let's go back a bit. Remember when 'Death Note' was first announced? Well...there was never any mention that they were going to have ASIAN actors. It was going to be done for Western audience and that's what us who were thinking rationally back then figured. Basically the discussion everyone was wondering how they would adapt a manga where the cast is Asian, writer, artist...etc... was going to translate if done by some director in the West. Hell, wasn't it already assumed that "Light" being a "white" dude anyway. Didn't they have people they were planning to cast. That was 10 years ago. And guess what? NOBODY batted an eye. NOBODY even brought it up. If anything people were hoping that it wasn't going to turn out like the crappy 'Dragonball' movie that hit the Western movie industry. Gee I wonder what will happen when 'Battle Angel Alita' comes out. I did have a rant but I took it out because I decided to cool down. |
||||||
|
||||||
KENZICHI
 Posts: 1106 |
|
|||||
|
I love all the over quoting in this thread, but the ANN staff are like, nah
I really do feel this is a missed opportunity rather than outright whitewashing. I hate the thought a lot of Americans have that because it's set in America it makes sense for a WHITE person to be the lead. That Asian or Black actors are only capable of being the friend on the side. That is the whole problem. I'm on my phone so I can't quote you, but to the op who talked about how 'there are no good (crap minority) Asian actors so duh the lead is white' THAT'S THE PROBLEM! Because people (like you) think that! There are plenty of capable actors of color who could have been Light, but they wanted to be 'safe' and cast what they think will gather more attention: a white face. They think because a person scrolling through Netflix who sees the DN poster will be like 'hm what's DN? Idk but I don't want to try it because there's an Asian lead I don't know' they're too afraid to give the lead to an Asian American when they've spent so much money and don't want it to flop. Do you know how insulting that is? Knowing they won't cast someone who looks like us because of the color of our skin? That it won't get views because of what we look like? That's the worst feeling. Edit: Lady Multi is who I'm talking about. |
||||||
|
||||||
Woomy
 Posts: 110 |
|
|||||
You don't even have to make Ryuk CGI, you can just put that dude in make-up and I'd still buy it. |
||||||
|
||||||
relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
|
|||||
Just pointing out that the good guys, the actual heroes, are Black and Asian in this film. Generally I agree with you. This is a big problem. But as I've said already, this film, in particular, getting so much white-washing rage baffles me to no end. It features minorities in 2 of the 4 leading roles, the potential dynamic between a black L and a white Light is incredibly rich, and choosing a white guy for Light makes a lot of sense narratively. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
KENZICHI
Posts: 1106 |
|
|||||
I'm not talking about the good or bad guys though. I'm talking about the lead character. Sure L can be considered a leading role, but there's no question that DN is Light's story. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
relyat08
Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
|
|||||
|
Yeah, that's true. But Light is also a villain. Being played by a white kid. And he is likely going to get his ass handed to him by a black guy. I just find the potential of that dynamic interesting.
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16939 |
|
|||||
|
At this point the thread is going in circles. I think hearing the same points brought up 10 times by 10 different users on each side is enough. So let's shut this down until the next thread on this topic pops up when the movie releases on Netflix and then we can start this all over again.
|
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group