Albinism in popular culture

Albinism organisations and others have expressed criticism over the portrayal of individuals with albinism in popular culture, specifically in movies and fictional works, citing the overwhelmingly negative depiction. There is concern that such depictions could increase social bias and discrimination against individuals with albinism. This phenomenon is often referred to as the "evil albino" plot device.
The "evil albino" stereotype or stock character is a villain in fiction who is depicted as being albinistic (or displaying physical traits usually associated with albinism, even if the term is not used), with the specific purpose of distinguishing the villain in question from the heroes by means of appearance. Traits of albinism commonly associated with the evil albino stereotype include pale skin, platinum blonde hair, and blue or pink-to-red eyes. Notably absent from most depictions is impaired vision, which is often experienced (depending on the type of albinism) by real people with albinism.
The stereotype has become sufficiently well-recognized to be considered a cliché. In response to the "albino gunmen" characters in The Da Vinci Code and The Matrix Reloaded, albinistic actor Dennis Hurley wrote, produced, and starred in a short film parody, The Albino Code, where he played up the stereotypes, illustrated a typical example of real-world prejudice, and pointed out that the vision problems associated with albinism would make a successful career as a hitman highly improbable. In The Big Over Easy, author Jasper Fforde includes an "albino community" protest against albino bias among his fictional news clippings, most of which satirise stock characters and hackneyed plot devices. Chicago Tribune movie reviewer Mark Caro says of this character type that it is someone "who looks albino and thus, in movie shorthand, must be vicious". The National Organisation for Albinism and Hypopigmentation (NOAH) has stated that there were a total of sixty-eight films from 1960 to 2006 featuring an "evil albino".
Types of albinism include:
Conversely, a number of real people with albinism have risen to fame (see § Notable people with albinism, below) especially in popular music and fashion modeling (though, as in the case of the Winter brothers, may themselves be the subject of "evil albino" parody). Albino animals capture public imagination and wonder as zoo attractions, and even in the wild can attract popular, positive attention (see § Notable albino animals, below).
The "evil albino" stereotype may also have its roots in Neolithic Eastern Europe, where some cultures depicted Death as a pallid woman with light hair. Fear of vampires and other legendary undead with a deathly pallor, especially in European folklore, could also have contributed to albino bias. The phenomenon may also have been influenced by attitudes towards people with albinism in Africa or Jamaica, where those with that condition are sometimes regarded as cursed or magical (see § Folklore, urban legends and myths, below). Dermatologist Dr. Vail Reese theorizes that albino bias may be part of a broader Hollywood pattern of equating or at least linking skin disorders and appearance problems with villainy.
Another explanation may be sought in respective ideals of ugliness – most "evil albinos" appear in works of fiction from the West. In fiction from Japan, where ideals call for as pale skin as possible, characters with albinism or associated traits are more frequently sympathetic than in American and British fiction. This is not to say that Japanese popular culture has not depicted "evil albinos". However, such characters in Japanese fiction are often bishōnen or bishōjo whose beautiful appearance gives contrast to their evil character. Use of albinistic features to indicate villains in Hollywood films appears to have begun in the 1960s, and may be related to the popularity of tanning (and thus a decrease in pale skin being seen as attractive) in this period.
One of the oldest perceived literary examples of albino bias was H. G. Wells's depiction of the main character in his 1897 science-fiction novel The Invisible Man, who was able to become invisible using his scientific discoveries only because he already lacked natural pigmentation; aberrant even before his experimentation, he subsequently became completely deranged.
Albino bias is also alleged in modern times. For example, the 2003 Warner Bros movie The Matrix Reloaded featured two sociopathic characters with pale skin and white hair frequently interpreted to be albinos despite studio declarations that they are not. Positive depictions of albinos in mass culture are rarer, though one example is the 1995 film Powder which depicts an exceptionally gifted albinistic youth and the cruelty he endures from "normal" people because of his differences. In recent years, the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation (NOAH) has spoken out against albino bias in the United States. Albinistic actor Michael C. Bowman, of Me, Myself and Irene, has said, "Kids all over this country are being affected in a very negative and harmful way because of the sloppiness and laziness of a writer in Hollywood."
A number of movies, books and other works have been criticized for albino bias, as they associate the uncommon features of albinistic people (pale skin, white hair, and unpigmented eyes) with danger, terror, or criminality. Less frequently they are depicted as the harmless butt of jokes and ridicule, as maladjusted and undersocialized, or as "freaks". They may also actually be portrayed positively, even heroically – a more recent counter-trend.
The most common depiction of people with albinism in fiction is that of the inimical, violent villain, especially the hitman, assassin, sociopath or crime boss.
In the last few decades, there has been an increase in the number albinistic characters who are mocked (sometimes by the actual works in which they appear, an instance of albino bias itself, and sometimes by other characters in a way that highlights albino bias).
Neutral or at least morally uncertain depictions of persons with albinism are also somewhat common in literature and film, as anti-heroes, morally confused characters, or simply incidentally.
Persons with albinism are sometimes depicted heroically or otherwise positively, or at least accurately with regard to their condition and its medical and social results:
In Zimbabwe, modern folklore posits that sexual intercourse with an albinistic person will cure one of HIV, leading to the rape and subsequent HIV infection of women with albinism in that region.
In Tanzania in 2008, President Kikwete publicly condemned witch doctors for opportunistic persecution of albinism, including a spate of murders of albinistic people. Over 50 albinos were murdered between March 2007 and October 2008. They were motivated to kill albinos for their body parts which are thought to bring good luck – hair, arms, legs and blood are used to make potions which the witch doctors claim will bring prosperity. Consequently, graves of the albinistic have to be sealed with cement to discourage grave robbers. By June 2008, killings had been reported in neighboring Kenya and possibly also the Democratic Republic of the Congo, spreading to Burundi by October 2008.
In Jamaica, people with albinism were historically degraded, and regarded as "cursed". In recent times, the albinistic musicians King Yellowman and Al Beeno have helped to curb this stereotype.
The 2004 book Weird N.J. (a tie-in to the History Channel TV series Weird U.S.) chronicled and further popularized one of the lesser-known local urban legends of the US, "albino colonies". The book uses alleged first-hand accounts mailed to the authors to paint a picture of various locations in the U.S. (most notably Clifton, New Jersey) where aggregations of albinistic families were said to live in seclusion. The accounts tell tales of honking horns to try to bring the residents out of their houses, of gawkers being shot at by residents, and even of gangs of local albinistic vigilantes.
In some versions of the sewer alligator urban legends, the alligators supposedly became albinistic due to mutation and/or lack of exposure to sunlight which erroneously conflates pallor due to lack of exposure to sunlight with albinism.
Among the Kuna of Panama and Colombia, members with albinism have a special place in their indigenous mythology. While they are regarded as physically inferior, at the same time they are regarded as 'closer to God' and in possession of special powers. At times of eclipses, the Kunas believe their members with albinism are able to scare away with bow and arrow the demon who devours the sun or moon.
For more information, see Persecution of people with albinism § Films highlighting persecution of albinism.
Due to a wave of persecution of people with albinism in some parts of Africa (especially Tanzania and neighboring countries) a number of documentary films have been made about the problem. They have depicted persecution including ritual murder and dismemberment for potions and good-luck charms. These include:
Also released in 2013, White Shadow, an award-winning German–Italian–Tanzanian drama film, portrays the plight of albinistic Tanzanians and their efforts to avoid falling victim to witchdoctors' bounty hunters.
Outside the African context, the 2007 short film "Perception Is Not Reality: Portraying the REAL Truths About Albinism", was produced by Mashawna Thompson, editor of the Parent of a Child with Albinism blog. It attempted to dispel Hollywood and urban-legend misconceptions about the condition. A new version, featuring over 40 different children with albinism, was released in 2014. The theme of The Albino Code (2007) is to point out the absurdity of typical depictions of albinistic people in Western media. In 2009, two African American albinistic fashion models, Shaun Ross and Diandra Forrest, were the focus of an episode of the Tyra Banks Show, and revealed the traumas they experienced growing up albinistic, before finding unexpected success in front of the camera. My Colour, Your Kind, a 1998 Australian film, gives a powerful, impressionistic insight into the feelings of alienation experienced by a teenage albino Aboriginal girl. In a convent boarding school in Alice Springs, she is misunderstood and bullied by a severe, unloving nun. She escapes in dreams and eventually in reality to her mother where she feels at peace.
Roy Orbison was falsely said to be albino, by his widow, for unknown reasons. German singer Heino has Graves' disease, which can be mistaken for albinism. Actor Anthony Rapp fronts a rock band called Albinokid, but is not albinistic, being a normally pigmented, blonde Caucasian. Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson, known for his pale hair, has also been mistakenly called albino. In general, platinum blonde ("towheaded") people with very pale skin can be mistaken for albinistic (and conversely, some forms of albinism can result in phenotypes so normal-looking that only genetic testing can reveal the albinistic genes).
Many notable albino animals have become special attractions at zoos or theme parks. Bristol Zoo was the home to a very rare albino African penguin named Snowdrop, who was hatched at the zoo in October 2002 and died in August 2004. For many years, a unique albino gorilla named Floquet de Neu in Catalan and Copito de Nieve in Spanish (both meaning "Snowflake"), was the most famous resident of the Parc Zoològic de Barcelona. There is also an albino crocodile in Jungle Island theme park in Miami, Fl.
Other notable albino animals have been found in the wild. An albino humpback whale called Migaloo (Australian Aboriginal for "White Lad") travels the east coast of Australia, and has become famous in the local media. In 2009, a pink albino bottlenose dolphin, nicknamed Pinky, was sighted several times in an inland lake in the United States, and footage of it has become popular on Internet video sites. Perhaps the most significant albino animal in history was Mocha Dick, a sperm whale of the early 19th century that lived mostly near the island of Mocha, off Chile's southern Pacific coast, several decades before Herman Melville fictionalized him in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick. The real whale was renowned for being docile until attacked whereupon he became ferocious and capable of disabling smaller vessels. This made him widely feared among whaler crews, though also a target for adventurous captains, who engaged him in possibly as many as hundred or more sea battles before he was eventually killed.