Albinos Decry Da Vinci Code Movie

Because after reading the book and especially after seeing the movie I’ll likely see an albino and reflexively shout, “Look out, deranged assassin for Opus Dei!”

Critics cite a long list of albinos cast as heavies by Hollywood: The dreadlocked twins in “The Matrix Reloaded,” a powder-haired hit man in the Chevy Chase-Goldie Hawn crime romp “Foul Play,” the pasty zombies in “The Omega Man,” a sadistic killer in “Cold Mountain,” even the wicked executioner in the fairy-tale comedy “The Princess Bride.”

Well technically the zombies in “The Omega Man” weren’t albinos they were zombies. And the albino in “The Princess Bride” wasn’t the executioner, but the executioner’s assistant. Of course, there was the movie “Powder” where the main character was an albino. Also, there is the evil Uber-Morlock in the remake of “The Time Machine” he was pretty pasty with white hair. And lets not forget Michael Morcock’s novels where the main character is the physically weak and degenerate Elric of Melnibone. So I guess one could definitely make the case that the portrayal of albinos in movies has been predominantly negative.

However, I wonder how this translates into everyday experiences for albinos? I don’t think many people are going to generalize from works of fiction to real life. Scientists are often portrayed as fools who don’t realize the gravity of their experiments/actions. Yet how often are real life scientists the victims of discrimination based on these portrayals? And even librarians have reason to complain.

  1. Quiet
  2. Mean or Stern
  3. Single/Unmarried
  4. Stuffy
  5. In Glasses.

(Full disclosure, when I met my wife she was working as a librarian…she was quiet, but not stuffy, mean, or in glasses–although I think she looks good in glasses as well, and thankfully she was single at the time).

Oh well, at least Hollywood as the good old standby for the bad guy, the middle aged white guy.

FILED UNDER: Entertainment, Popular Culture, ,
Steve Verdon
About Steve Verdon
Steve has a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and attended graduate school at The George Washington University, leaving school shortly before staring work on his dissertation when his first child was born. He works in the energy industry and prior to that worked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Division of Price Index and Number Research. He joined the staff at OTB in November 2004.

Comments

  1. John Burgess says:

    “The middl- aged white guy” who is either a businessman or rich-through-inheritance.

    If he’s just an ordinary middle-aged white guy, then he’s just the comic relief.

  2. SgtFluffy says:

    What about “Whitey” From Me, Myself and Irene?