5 Film Albinos (and Everything That's Wrong With Them)
3. Jeremy Reed - Powder (Sean Patrick Flanery)
Jeremy Reeds mother is struck by lightning while pregnant, which of course results in Jeremy being born a) with Albinism, and b) with the ability to conduct electricity. He is raised by his grandparents, experiencing the world only through books, and is never allowed to leave the family farm. When his grandparents die he is unleashed upon society, which doesnt go over too well with the local townsfolk, who have a hard time coping with a light-skinned kid that doubles as a backup generator. Jeremy (nicknamed Powder) spends the bulk of his life being persecuted and ridiculed by various members of society, never being accepted wherever he goes. Finally, not being able to take the harassment/inane plotline anymore, he steps underneath a giant lightning bolt and is blasted to smithereens. But Wait... It is fair to say that science has yet to uncover any examples of albinos being able to act like Storm from the X-Men, or use any other magical abilities, for that matter. This may seem a trivial issue, but in African nations such as Tanzania albinos are still murdered due to the superstitious belief that body parts have magical properties. Between 2006-2012 over than 100 albinos were violently attacked in Tanzania, with the majority of them dying or being maimed in some way. Only two percent of people with albinism in east Africa live to the age of 40. While the film at least deserves appreciation for having an albino as a sympathetic protagonist rather than the villain, it still falls into the trap of approaching albinos like freaks and outcasts rather than people who just happen to lack a certain amount of melanin.
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.
