Politics in Media - The Good, the Bad, and the Preachy

I haven't read or seen Death Note, but:

I'm not entirely sure I agree with that. I could see someone acquiring a Death Note and using it with naive, misguided altruism to take care of bad people. Then, over time, becoming a Knight Templar and then developing a god complex.

Indeed, that's actually what I suspect would happen if I acquired one...or at least it would be if I wasn't genre savvy enough to know it would happen.

Actually, I think the genre savvy element is what makes it much less likely. The Death Note is pure Schmuck Bait, so most people wouldn't "fall" for it.

I'd probably burn the thing asap if I found one. Sure, it's almost certainly a joke because there's no possible way writing a name in a book would directly lead to someone dying...but then again, why even bother writing a name at all?

The thing is...even with the motivation described (misguided altruism), that already implies that a belief that you're entitled to act above and beyond the law to mete out death to other people.

Edited by M84 on Oct 21st 2019 at 4:59:54 PM

For what it's worth, the "most people would throw the thing away after seeing what it did" comes from Ryuk, the shinigami it belongs to, and even he is gobsmacked to see the rows and rows of names Light killed in the few days between Light finding the Death Note and Ryuk dropping by.

And call him what you want, he was straight even about him being the one to kill Light, and he wasted no time pointing out the big hypocritical hole in Light's plan ("And when you got rid of them all, you'll be the only evil person left.")

And Ryuk comes from a race of beings who exist only to bring death to the world, so much so that if they use their Notes to save a life they die.

I assume plenty of people would use it the way little children do Bloody Mary speeches in front of mirrors. If a magic book claims it, you do it as a joke or test. It is a fascinating moral test, though, as it allows you to commit the perfect murder.

I think most people would use it at various points in life but as likely to be someone famous and untouchable as opposed to for personal gain.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Oct 21st 2019 at 2:04:35 AM

@M84 I'm not sure if the belief that one is entitled to kill outside the law is that uncommon. Of course, I am pretty cynical about the human condition, so maybe I'm wrong.

The manga more or less implies that the Death Note is an Evil Weapon that does indeed harm the users psyche, the anime already has Light having similar thoughts before he picked it up so it's not as clear there, but Misa not being a murderous yandere and just a regular perky young woman makes it clear there is a supernatural corruptive influence inherent to the notebook.

Nah, there was something wrong with Misa even before she picked up a Death Note. Her parents' murder and their killer's death at the hands of Kira changed her for the worse. That happened before she ever picked up a Note.

Ultimately, the Notes don't corrupt. They simply reveal what a person with the power to kill at a whim without fear of reprisal would do.

Edited by M84 on Oct 21st 2019 at 7:00:56 PM

Ah, "power doesn't necessarily corrupt - but power always reveals".

Edited by GoldenKaos on Oct 21st 2019 at 12:23:59 PM

It's an old idea — heck, Plato had a whole allegorical tale about it, The Ring of Gyges. Though the power in that tale was invisibility as opposed to instant kills.

In Light's case, he always had a superiority complex and viewed other humans as being below him - he was just resigned to the fact that he lacked the power to change the world. When that power falls into his lap, he immediately jumps at the opportunity to kill dozens and hundreds of criminals, and his superiority complex is only reinforced and fed, turning into a full-blown God Complex. It's a case of power both revealing and corrupting (which is probably what happens most of the time tbh, vs power revealing but not corrupting or power corrupting but not revealing).

I feel Light was always a narcissist megalomaniac that just went nuts as soon he had a chance, he might had initial regrets but he clearly went for it for his God's Complex, the reason why he targetted criminals was because to him, they were a Acceptable Target.

The thing is I don't think a decent person would go off the slippery slope that fast. Light does have a breakdown but it doesn't last long and then he jumps off the slippery slope with abandon.

This is part of why I found Light lacking as a protagonist, the story tries to give lip service to the idea of him being a decent person prior to the DN but it's totally unconvincing. The idea of Light actually being a decent person and gradually doing more and more horrible things because of the sunk cost fallacy and becoming more of an awful person would have made a much more compelling story, IMO.

Edited by Draghinazzo on Oct 21st 2019 at 11:22:41 AM

Light's "is this really a power anyone should have" moment lasts for the back half of one chapter, and by the end of it he's like "yes, and that's me", and never wavers from it.

True though you could argue for a sunken cost fallacy reinforcing that when the FBI agents first turn up ("Yeah I killed criminals before and they aren't criminals but if I don't kill them they may find me and that's it"). Though after they are dealt with, it goes even more into Light's head and he goes straight into too big to fail mode.

Edited by akanesarumara on Oct 21st 2019 at 6:15:25 PM

I wouldn't even call it Sunk Cost Fallacy, that implies that at some level Light viewed it as a bad situation but felt like he couldn't afford to back out.

I haven't watched Death Note in a while but I'm pretty sure Light viewed it as a great thing past the initial freak out. To him, there was no real cost.

Death Note is one of the few series I dropped because I couldn't connect with the protagonist, I watched a few episodes up to Misa's introduction but I did not went further.

The anime's introduction of Light, in parallel to Ryuk, makes it clear the guy is a bomb waiting to detonate even before he picked up the Death Note; if anything, you could expect him to become a serial killer if he were to pick up medicine as a profession just to play god with his patients.

And make no mistake, Light's sense of "justice" is entirely self-serving and meant to justify his murders, and this is where Fridge Brilliance comes in: For all of his superiority complex and intelligence, Light is also pretty dumb when it comes to his newfound power, does he use it sparingly to avoid detection? No; does he go for the big fishes instead of the small fries? No; does he actually try to make research on the person he kills and if the world would really better without him or her? No.

Edit:

One last bit. The setting is important to know how much Light is full of himself; This is Japan, one of the least violent countries in the world, not Latin America, not the Middle East nor Subsaharan Africa. Light lives in a country where the there's no need for Kira (and even I would argue that he's debatable in the other regions), their justice system is working, there's no reason for him to act as vigilante.

Edited by raziel365 on Oct 21st 2019 at 9:49:37 AM

I may just be confused cos I haven't seen it or read it in a good while either, but as far as I remember, it went like this.

Light finds the Death Note, gives in to the temptation of using it, is horrified, then thinks he may actually use this to deal with criminals where they were either already sentenced or everyone knows/suspects they are fishy but nobody can prove it. Skip a few days to Ryuk's visit, and he already killed a lot of criminals with it.

This kicks off an investigation, and soon FBI agents are on his trail. Now, Light debates with himself what to do because these aren't criminals... but you may be right he could have thought only of his image ("I want to create a new world free of criminals so I should stick to killing only criminals") rather than thinking "killing criminals is one thing but these guys are only doing their job as set by law... however if I don't kill them, I'm as good as dead with all those people I already killed".

Edited by akanesarumara on Oct 21st 2019 at 6:38:47 PM

I think it's important to note that, whatever else he is, Light is NOT a normal person. Ryuuk, Near, and just about everyone else all state this openly. It's just Light is not so abnormal that he isn't a High Functioning Overachieving Sociopath beforehand.

I.e. he'd be fine in society normally.

Light and Misa are basically teenage Lex Luthor and Harley Quinn.

It's why Light DOES end up murdering a bunch of cops fairly early and easily.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Oct 21st 2019 at 10:14:18 AM

I will said people would used the death note to kill bad people because well....we have that desire, we hate when bad people get away with it and from most part is a hard fact it happen A LOT in the world, I can see someone deciding to do it.

Granted, light does pretty much jump from "killing criminals" to "GOD OF THE NEW WORLD" in pretty rapid span.

On the other hand it tells that the moment he renunce the death note half way to the story he become a regular men, horrifyng at kira and vowing to stop him at al cost.

First, not sure i agree, considering what with all their "family suppose to keep to themselves and not alert police", "people worked to death" and their other traditions, that hurt people.

Second, Japan status as one of the supposedly least violent countries in the world, it is ironic how often their works praise vigilantes.

Edited by VeryVileVillian on Oct 21st 2019 at 9:33:25 PM

Everyone can praise Vigilantes. Every country has injusticed and people get angry with it, it's part of Human nature to have a vindicative streak.

In part because a justice system more often than not have a very cold and unfeeling sense of justice, something that is necesary but it dosent feel us the same way.

That is why karmy justice in fiction is borderline omnipresent, we like the idea the villian die, need to be humiliated and usually by something he did, it...balance the scale such to speak.

Light's justice is even more a joke because it depends on his father's police work.

While violent crime may be low in Japan, it's still pretty on-par in terms of corporate and political corruption. Though Light didn't even go after those types until later. He had to build his credibility and popularity first by going after "obvious" criminals. And then he screwed up by killing a falsely accused innocent man.

Edited by danime91 on Oct 21st 2019 at 11:57:30 AM