【Yaar Pyaar Gaddar (2024) EP 5-7 Hindi Web Series】

Here's another whitewashing controversy to add to the apparently endless pile of Hollywood missteps.

On Wednesday,Yaar Pyaar Gaddar (2024) EP 5-7 Hindi Web Series Netflix shared the first teaser trailer for Death Note, an Americanized adaptation of a Japanese manga. The story revolves around a character played by Nat Wolff, who stumbles upon a notebook that allows him to magically murder anyone in the world.

If you've been following the racial controversies over Ghost in the Shelland Iron Fist, it shouldn't be difficult to pinpoint the problem with that scenario. Fans on Twitter immediately made their displeasure known.

how I feel about Netflix's death note announcement pic.twitter.com/aUEA3ekfOo

— Rach (@rachelyounggu) March 22, 2017

This Death Note adaptation is a reminder that Hollywood will put time & effort into rewriting POC stories so that whiteness is centered

— Clara Mae (@ubeempress) March 22, 2017

wow the new death note trailer looks awesome pic.twitter.com/tbTxcHQxoF

— elijah daniel (@elijahdaniel) March 23, 2017

Netflix's Death Notedoes feature a major character of color in the form of L, the enigmatic detective played by Lakeith Stanfield. But that doesn't do much to advance Asian representation in Hollywood. And a glance at IMDb indicates that most of the key roles, both in front of and behind the camera, are filled by white people.

That didn't necessarily need to be the case, even in an Americanized adaptation of the property.

This is suppose to be an American version of the story but why does American= white? #DeathNope https://t.co/YGVJcH2LgU

— Nerdy & Boujee (@XaremiCharm) March 22, 2017

The "it's canon" argument doesn't really work here, either.

Wonder where the canon bros are now? #DeathNope https://t.co/9n9gbfuVUa

— The Nerds of Color (@TheNerdsofColor) March 22, 2017

In fairness, we've only seen a tiny bit of footage at this point. There's always the possibility (however faint) that Death Notewill surprise us, maybe by using its lead character's race to explore themes of privilege and entitlement. Or perhaps some of the Asian and Asian-American actors in the cast will turn out to have bigger roles than we'd assumed.

But given Hollywood's extensive history of ignoring or erasing Asian talent, we can't help but feel a little skeptical. After all, this isn't even Netflix's only racial controversy right now.

"We're still getting heat for Iron Fist. What do we do?"
"Drop the Death Note trailer" pic.twitter.com/1kzi36PTQQ

— Rebecca Theodore (@FilmFatale_NYC) March 22, 2017

Death Notehits Netflix August 25.

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