Death Note Notes
When I finished my Master's degree in English in 2005, I sincerely believed I'd never want to do literary analysis, ever again. Then I happened across Death Note, and changed my mind. However, what with one thing and another, I don't have the mental capacity to write a neat and pretty article/essay on it right now, so the following are basically
( Read more... )
I'm in complete agreement with your first point. Ryuk is a spectator and represents a spectator throughout the entire series, with minimal interference though ironically the whole Death Note series is attributed to him. But as an "otherworldly" species, if we look through Ryuk's eyes, his perceptions of humanity are, what I think, the ultimate conclusion of Death Note is. The line about Light believing he was chosen and Ryuk responding that it was completing random is a huge indication of this. Something else that made this evident was Light asking if Ryuk was going to take his soul away now - to punish him - to which Ryuk responds he won't be doing a thing, and even chuckles at the thought of how human's minds work.
Then, Ryuk offhandedly compares Light to a Shinigami. Light also has a certain element of wisdom, for lack of better word - and pridefully claims that he is a human, acting for humans. This is extremely true, too. Shinigami like Ryuk don't do "justice", they don't try to "save the world". Light is acting entirely out of his own humanity.
But still, I think throughout the series there was some kind of hinting, some major question - where will Light go when he dies? Will he become a Shinigami? We don't find out the answer until the end of the series, when there's actually a flashback to the beginning and Light tells Ryuk that he understands. There is no heaven or hell (the ultimate forms of human-punishment). Ryuk is surprised, then concurs - humans are all equal and they all become nothingness. Every human character in the series has some kind of "moral agenda", that they justify somehow, they make themselves out to be the good guys - but ultimately, beyond the human world, and from Ryuk's perspectives - they are all the same.
One thing I will say about Soichiro and morality though. What's funny is that he's got the most concrete morals. He's stiff and law-abiding and sure of himself. YET, out of any character, he clearly is put through more moral dilemma. There's the little things that bother him - such as working with criminals (Aiber and Wedy) to capture a criminal, putting surveillance in his families' house... and then, there really stops being a right answer. Save Sayu by trading her for the Death Note with the mafia? Kill his own son if he proves to be Kira? Soichiro's character says a lot about Death Note's stance on morality. Everything seems to be gray, nothing is black or white.
Even Kira is not an easy issue. The public, despite popular belief, consistently supports Kira to the point of worshiping him. The only opposition Light faces is law enforcement and the actual criminals themselves.
Reply
Those are very good points about Ryuk. From the perspective of the Shinigami, humans just aren't important enough to warrant punishment or rewards. From a human perspective, of course, it's strange to think that Light can become such a mass murderer and not get any kind of punishment for it. In fact, he gets the same fate as everyone, and that is frankly startling. It's such a nihilist story, really - no matter how you act in life, death is equal. Personally, I believe that that is in fact how the world works, but given how used we are to think in terms of divine or human justice, it's almost shocking to see the lack of punishment in Death Note.
Those are good points about Soichiro. I would add to that that he doesn't really face more moral dilemmas than L or Light, but unlike them, he actually takes them seriously. Both L and Light have a "for the greater good/means to an end" attitude to morality, whereas poor Siochiro tries to make the right decisions.
Reply
Leave a comment