According to the National Organization for Albinisim and Hypopigmentation (NOAH), people (or animals) with albinism are those who have inherited altered genes that do not make the usual amounts of a pigment called melanin. As a result of this, people with albinism have little or no pigment in their eyes, skin, or hair. According to Hollywood filmmakers, people with albinism are mostly hideous freaks of nature whose evil is matched only by mass murderers and men who choose to mow their lawns at 7am on a Sunday morning. From 1960 to 2006 there were a total of 68 films released featuring an evil albino, with 24 of these appearing between 2000-2003. In comparison, there were only a handful of movies with albino characters that were sympathetic in nature, and many of these characters were used primarily for comedic value, ie: giving the characters stupid nicknames and making repeated gags about their skin condition. Such an approach means that audiences are still being continually fed fallacies about people with albinism, leading to a culture of misunderstanding about a group of people who face persecution on a daily basis, and are still severely persecuted in some parts of the world. To highlight Hollywoods ignorance, here is a rogues gallery containing five of films worst albino stereotypes... and everything that is wrong with them.
Matthew Chard is a writer who has lived and worked across Australia, USA, South Africa, UK, Cambodia and Tanzania. When not writing articles he can be found working on his next novel, traveling, in the surf, or listening to David Bowie while wearing red Spider-man underpants.
