biology

albinism in popular culture

(the reason for this post is simple: the other night an albino starred in one of my dreams. seems as good a reason as any)

for starters, wanna read something brilliant?

“i read that the condition (albinism) was often a product of incest. otherwise, there’s a million to one chance, because you need identical genes to mix”

there are so many reasons why this is one of the worst quotes ever.

first off, this is the guy who uttered the words during an interview…

that’s actor charlie hunnam, in character, playing an albino in cold mountain. he doesn’t actually suffer from albinism, he just wore a white wig and scary red contact lenses - job done. the film was an adaptation of a classic book and this character, the evil ‘bosie’, wasn’t even an albino in the novel. the director, anthony minghella, decided to add this facet to the character to give him more of an edge.

anyway, hunnam was told to research albinism in depth to gain a better understanding of the condition, so off he went, presumably to a library in the 1800’s, came back with that little nugget of information and spread the word to the masses through the power of interview (whole interview here).

and there you have the problem. a few words spill out of an actor’s mouth and another damaging myth gathers a few more fans. why the fuck he was allowed to spout it in the first place is beyond me, it’s not like it was some small independent film with tight budgets and restricted crew, it was one of the biggest films of the year. and they let charlie do the research, presumably followed by a whirlwind tour of promotion and countless interviews all over the globe. that’s potentially a lot of bollocks being spread to a lot of people, some of whom seem to believe everything famous humans say.

anyway, seems it’s not just charlie who’s kicking albinism in the nuts, his industry’s been having a go for years.

found this great list of albino movie characters, have a look through your eyeballs. the last column’s the most interesting part. seems that of the 85 or so albino characters in cinema since 1912, around 90% have been evil, the remainder either being comical or supernatural. well done hollywood.

here’s a couple of ‘em.

silas - da vinci code

whitey - me, myself & irene

here’s some interesting stuff i found whilst cruising the intertubes…

- ever seen a black albino stand-up comedian? i hadn’t.

this is victor varnado, a comedian/actor who’s been in quite a few big films. absorb his fucking funny act below.

- albinism even exists in the music industry, shock horror. i can’t believe i didn’t realise that johnny and edgar winter were albinos before today.

johnny & edgar winter

al beeno

yellowman

- there’s an ‘interesting’ yahoo group called ‘albino babes’ here.

- there are some incredible 19th century albinism photos here.

- loads of photos of albino animals can be stared at here.

- a non-profit organisation called positive exposure are attempting to ‘challenge the stigma associated with difference and celebrate the richness of genetic variation’ through photography. check them out here.

- great article on albinism in film here.

- a small list of popular albinism myths can be seen here.

- loads of info on albinism in general here.

- noah - the national organisation for albinism and hypopigmentation

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