Hollywood Whitewashing

I was talking to one of my friends last week and he told me how a white actor was cast as Light Yagami in the upcoming American film adaptation of Death Note. For those who don't know, Death Note is about a Japanese teenager who finds a special notebook that can kill anybody as long as you write someone's name in the book. I remember it was the first manga I ever read, and I got swept immediately. Death Note was the one that got me hooked into the manga craze and has a special place in my heart. I enjoyed it so much that I watched all three Japanese movies on Death Note.

I was very shocked when my friend told me that a white actor was going to play Light Yagami. Nat Wolff, a talented actor who was in The Fault in Our Stars was chosen to play Light. There is nothing wrong with Nat, but it just doesn't feel right for a white actor to play a Japanese character. Given, it is an American adaptation of the manga, but I would still expect the directors to pick a Japanese person to play Light. Especially since there aren't even that many Asian roles in Hollywood to begin with, the picking of a white actor to play Light decreases the availability of Asian roles even more. I will be looking forward to watching this movie not because I want to see it, but because I want to see how Nat portrays Light Yagami.