Netflix is at the centre of another controversy surrounding an Asian story.
The streaming giant has released the trailer for Death Note. 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 You’re Next’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, “Death Note,” which 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 like Ghost in the Shell, which cast Scarlett Johansson in a part written as Asian in the source material.
Some people argued that, because the Netflix version relocated the story, the casting choices were OK. Many, however, argued that populating an American adaptation of the series with white actors ignores the fact that there are Asian American actors who could have been cast.
The Death Note trailer arrives at a time when Netflix has already been in hot water with fans over its representation of Asian characters and stories. The run-up and release of Marvel’s Iron Fist have been especially fraught. The show, the fourth in Netflix and Marvel’s deal that also includes Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage, has been criticized for its cultural appropriation and called a white saviour story.
