Unpopular Opinion: Netflix’s Death Note is Not White-Washing (Lifted Geek)

justinprince2457d ago

hey, ya gotta give it a fair shot buddy. I have some reservation but I won't outright call it terrible until I actually watch it

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SoapyJay2456d ago

fair enough, we'll see come August 25th

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NewMonday2456d ago

this White-Washing business is going overboard, Death Note already has a live action Japanese adaptation.

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dcbronco2456d ago

@NewMonday

Whether or not there is a Japanese live action or not in America we have enough diversity to stay true to source material. I personally don't care about people being able to "identify" with the characters. To me that a characters character is how I would compare myself with others. I don't walk into a room full of people and latch onto a known rapist because he's the only person of my race in the room. Because I believe character matters most I believe the source material should take precedence over having people that look like me. Also because it pays respect to the author who may have written it based on his or her culture. The main characters should always remain true to the author's work.

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NewMonday2450d ago

@dcbronco

check out the live action Full Metal Alchemist and tell me what you think

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slate912456d ago

The internet says white-washing isn't so bad and accuses those who speak out about it as being overly sensitive. But when the rumors surfaced of MJ being black in Homecoming, the same people had torches and pick forks out.

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DragoonsScaleLegends2456d ago (Edited 2456d ago )

I don't have a problem with them changing the race of a comicbook character as long as they keep with the characters personality from the book but Hollywood likes to change characters so easily like this movie and the Spider-Man movie. I didn't have a problem with them changing the race of MJ until I saw the movie and it was not even close to the comicbook character (so glad they confirmed shes not MJ) along with a few other race changes they made. Almost none of the race changes stayed true to the characters which is a Hollywood problem. Eddie Brock was not even close, it was so bad it's laughable since you could easily make any race with Brocks personality.

I think the idea of white-washing or anything else washing is extremely idiotic, as long as they keep the character close to the same personality wise it just doesn't matter unless of course history is tied to the characters personality and story.

This Death Note movie seems to be having the same issue as all the other Japanese Manga movies that Hollywood makes which is they just don't stay true to the characters personality or story and it has nothing to do with race. Dragonball Evolution used a lot of asian actors yet they still were nothing like the real characters in looks or personality, the only maybe similar was Master Roshi. Though understandably this movie is way closer than that abomination.

itBourne2456d ago

Wait, people considered it white-washing? Light is Japanese and they made him white. L is white and they made him black. One white person in each scenario, hmmmm... whats different then..... oh the now black character.... Lol all this stuff is stupid. Regardless the movie looks umm... well not very good, which sucks, this is by far my favorite Anime of all time.

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spicelicka2456d ago

I think the transition to live action just seems unnatural to people. Any anime taken to live action seems odd, even if the actors were Japanese it would look weird to me, simply because you're never going to find people that have features like an anime character.

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Allsystemgamer2456d ago

Light is half Japanese half European.

Heavenly King2456d ago

how could it be white washing, if most of the characters are not white (white skinned characters) like in the anime .

smashman982456d ago

I was totally open to the Americaization of it for the very same reasons you listed. Unfortunately what bothers me is the same thing that seems to be worrying you. They seem to be betraying who these characters are at their core. Light doesn't care about misa. And is willing to do whatever it takes to further his cause. He is a god and everyone around him is an ant. This doesn't seem to be the case with this depiction and that worries me. Could they still tell a good story where the characters personalities are different. Sure they can. And I hope it's good. But they can only change so much up to the point where it's only death note by name and I hope they don't mess that balance up

justinprince2456d ago (Edited 2456d ago )

I agree whole heartedly. That one scene in the trailer where Mia eggs Light on... That's not something Miss Amane would say to Light Yagami. Have you ever seen the TV drama for Death Note? They changed it quite a bit, but they characterized Light to seem more human... More flawed. Light was a good "villain" because he seemed unstoppable until the very end... The TV drama seemed to take his younger persona but never give him as extreme of a god complex.

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