I don't want to dismiss this adaptation altogether, but I am actually all for hiring Asian American actors whenever one can. The amount of jobs they get compared to... well, white actors is incredibly low. Last time I looked, a majority of roles went to white actors. I'm talking like 79% vs. 4% of roles (depending on the medium but it's about the same for television and film), and the rest were other groups.
Blacks are after whites when it comes to the amount of roles, but again, it's like 79% vs. 9% (again, slightly different percentage for television and film, but maybe like a one or two percent change) of roles. Asian Americans can hardly get roles in works that have nothing to do with Asia; I just feel like they could at least give them more roles/leading roles in something that was Japanese. But even here, nope. But why? It's not like Americans can't relate to or like Asian characters. Look at how many of us are American and watch anime with Japanese characters in Japanese settings. We're fine.
It just sucks because I have so many friends struggling as Asian American actors, and they're good! The industry just doesn't want to trust going with minorities and just want to stick to the tried and true "white sells as default". BUT studies have shown that diversity actually sells more. And some people argue that they'll use a well-known white actor to sell (this was the argument for Ghost in a Shell), but who even is the guy playing Light?!
This adaptation could be good and I wouldn't ever say it's automatically bad because they hired a white actor for the lead role. Also, who knows, maybe he's part Asian. I do think it's important to start looking at what's happening in the industry though and keep those statistics in mind. Saying something like, "Well it's an American adaptation, so of course they're going to get American actors" is pretty much saying that an American actor who just happens to be Asian is not American-- or not American enough... (or "Western")
In the case of L, I'd like to share a quote:
"When asked about L's ethnicity, Ohba responded saying 'I think of him as a quarter Japanese, a quarter English, a quarter Russian, a quarter French or Italian, like that'."
So unlike Light, L has room to be a lot of skin colors. In today's world, there are many blacks who are English, Russian, and French. An interpretation of L as black is not unfounded and is not outside the realm of possibility. However, Light has never been described as anything but Japanese.
Anyway, I don't expect one show or movie to change the entire industry's approach to "diversity"; I'd even call that naive. I don't really care about "keeping true to the original". I just care about possible jobs. The dude playing Light will always be able to find roles, but for Asian Americans, this was one of their very few chances to say, "It's Asian media so maybe I have a better chance". This adaptation even takes place in Seattle, where it wouldn't have been odd to have a Japanese American doing his thing. They easily could have done it, they just wanted to have a white actor. And you know what that's fine, but like I said, it's good to bring this to the table since we're already here.
This is "based" on Death Note. It isn't exactly the original Death Note. They chose to make some things like the original and definitely could have went to cast more with the original in mind, but they didn't. That's their choice. I kinda post all this not for the benefit of Asian American actors and the American entertainment industry. Maybe someone here will become a creator, think of this, and decide to hire an Asian American actor for their work meant to be enjoyed by a Western audience... and hopefully they stop seeing it as something which will lose them money when studies show that it should gain them money.
We need to get away from the idea that an American audience will not relate to an American actor (who happens to be of Asian descent). Like straight up, in casting lineups, minorities are branded as "exotic". We're American. We've been here forever. We're not foreigners. Please cast us. We need money. lol
TL;DR: It's fine they chose a white actor, it's their choice, but just remember that Asian American actors (and minorities in general) get such a small amount of roles already.
No need boycotting stuff now, just please make note.
2017 Hollywood Diversity Report: http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-Hollywood-Diversity-Report-2-21-17.pdf |