Evil albino

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An evil albino is a villain in fiction who is depicted as displaying several physical traits usually associated with albinism (eg. pale skin, platinum blonde hair, blue or red eyes) despite not necessarily being supposed to suffer from that particular condition (which generally affects vision - few of these characters have impaired vision) with the specific and obvious purpose of distinguishing the villain in question from the heroes by means of appearance. (For example, Keel Lorenz from Neon Genesis Evangelion is never considered an "evil albino" despite being a visually impaired, white-haired man with suspicious motivations, since Neon Genesis Evangelion also has two sympathethic characters with albinism in Rei Ayanami and Kaworu Nagisa.)

The stereotype has become sufficiently well recognised to attract satire. In The Big Over Easy, Jasper Fforde includes a protest against it by "the albino community" among his imaginary news clippings, most of which satirize stock characters and hackneyed plot devices.

Contents

1 Origins of the archetype
2 Examples

2.1 Evil albinos as unique villains
2.2 Evil albinos as separate race

3 Exceptions: Albinos as heroes
4 Trivia
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Origins of the archetype

This phenomenon may be due to an introduction of attitudes towards people with albinism from Africa or Jamaica, where those with that condition are sometimes regarded as cursed; an expansion of the "evil Nazi" idea; a combination of several of the above; or a development separate from any of them.

Another explanation of this may be sought in respective ideals of beauty - most Evil Albinos appear in works of fiction from the West, written during eras where tanned skin was considered attractive. In fiction from Japan, whose ideals of beauty call for as pale skin as possible, characters with albinism or associated traits are more frequently sympathetic [link] than in Western fiction [link]. This is not to say that Japanese popular culture has not depicted evil albinos. However, such characters in Japanese fiction are often "pretty-boy villains" whose beautiful appearance is used for a cognitive dissonance effect against their moral evil (see Sephiroth).

The "Evil Albino" archetype can also have its roots in folklore and mythology. For example, the evil Yuki-onna of Japanese legends is described as a very pale woman. Some cultures in Neolithic Eastern Europe also depicted Death as a pallid woman with light hair .source: The Language of the Goddess by Marija Gimbutas, page 198.

Examples

Evil albinos as unique villains

Grahame Coates in Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys: "If you happened to see Grahame Coats and immediately found yourself thinking of an albino ferret in an expensive suit, you would not be the first."
Roy Batty from Blade Runner
The Judge, from Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian
Dracula from Castlevania.
Bosie from Cold Mountain.
Silas from The Da Vinci Code.
Solomon Grundy from DC Comics.
Dragon from the The Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood.
"The Albino" from End of Days, played by Victor Varnado. He is a servant of Satan.
Kefka from Final Fantasy VI.
Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII
"The Nordic Man" (Tobin Bell) from The Firm.
Whitey Jackson from Foul Play.
"The Albino" from Free Fall.
Mark Parchezzi III (aka "the Albino") and Mark Purayah II from .
Otis B. Driftwood from House of 1000 Corpses (who in the sequel The Devil's Rejects has normal skin tone).
Griffin, the protagonist of The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.
Eddie the Head (Iron Maiden's mascot) is sometimes depicted with white hair and red eyes.
Max Zorin from the James Bond film A View to a Kill.
The Autumn Brothers from Jonah Hex.
Wyatt Frame from Josie and the Pussycats.
The killer of O-Ren's parents from Kill Bill.
Lloyd from The Legend of Dragoon.
Joshua (Gary Busey) from Lethal Weapon.
The Marvel Comics character Tombstone.
"The Twins" from The Matrix Reloaded (whom their creators have said are not albinos but rather are ghost-like figures, however they are frequently mistaken for albinos because of their pale and white coloring).
The Princess Bride features an Igor-like henchman referred to as "the Albino".
Ramirez from Skies of Arcadia.
The Klingon from the episode "Blood Oath".
Moke (Dar Robinson) from Stick.
Walter from Tales of Legendia.
Lung Tien Lien from Naomi Novik's Temeraire series.
Stamper from the 007 film Tomorrow Never Dies.
Princess Kurda and Prince Bladd from Triss by Brian Jacques.
Dilandau Albatou from The Vision of Escaflowne.
Albedo Piazzolla from Xenosaga. His name literally means "whitening".
Wilhelm also from Xenosaga.
La Lunatica from X-Men 2099.
Dr. Muraki Kazutaka from Yami no Matsuei.
Dark Bakura from Yu-Gi-Oh!
Jacobim Mugatu from Zoolander.

Evil albinos as separate race

"The Strangers" in Dark City
The mutants in The Omega Man.
The Wraith are vampiric aliens with pale skin and (mostly) white hair in Stargate Atlantis.
Some movie incarnations of the Morlocks (from The Time Machine by H.G. Wells) have characteristics of albinism.
The children in Village of the Damned.

Exceptions: Albinos as heroes

Elric of Melniboné, from the successful Elric Saga series of fictional books by Michael Moorcock. While portrayed as a tragic hero or an anti-hero, Elric can be said to be one of the few albino characters depicted in fiction in an epic and often heroic light. The artwork that portrays him is usually idealistic and treats his albinism as a thing of beauty, with long locks of flowing white hair, flawless bone-white skin, and beautiful, almost female features. Several pop music songs serve to further idolize Elric, such as Agnes Vein (Greek metal band)'s song "Sailor on the Seas of Fate" on their Of Chaos and Law album, dealing with Elric and his sword (the album title is also a reference to Michael Moorcock's writings), and Hawkwind (British rock band) detailed Elric's story on their album Chronicle of the Black Sword (1985). More famously, Blue Öyster Cult's song "Black Blade" on their album Cultosaurus Erectus (1980) was co-written by Elric's creator Moorcock, using Elric's point-of-view.

Rei Ayanami, from the Japanese anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, is a central protagonist and heroic (if mysterious) character. Interestingly enough, the character of Rei Ayanami also serves to highlight the difference between Western and Japanese attitudes towards albinism: it is made very obvious that Rei is an outcast because of her extremely introverted personality, not because of her appearance. In fact, Shinji Ikari's classmates Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida consider Rei quite the catch, whereas Shinji himself appears to actually fall in love with Rei.

Skywise, a principal player in Wendy Pini and Richard Pini's popular ElfQuest comic series.

Bran Davis, a character in Susan Cooper's classic The Dark Is Rising sequence. Bran is an albino boy who lives in Northern Wales in the 1960s. He is the son of sheep farmer Owen Davis. Bran has difficulty coping with his albinism in the superstitious Welsh hills, because his light skin and pale hair are generally associated with Englishmen. Bran has difficulty coping with his condition, and will often wear black clothing to make it stand out more. Through his supernatural adventures in the sequence, Bran eventually learns confidence and acceptance. However, this portrayal of albinism, while certainly positive, is not realistic. Bran doesn't suffer from any vision problems, nor ever complain of sensitivity to the sun.

Whitey, a character in the Farrelly Brothers' movie Me, Myself and Irene, joins forces with the sons of Charlie Baileygates to save their father. Like in many of their movies with characters with physical differences, the Farrelly's deal with Whitey's albinism with an irreverent humor that goes a long way to humanize the character and the condition.

Powder, the titular character in the movie Powder, is a very sympathetic and at times heroic character. However, some people have taken issue with how the film implies a connection between Powder's albinism and his supernatural powers. (Compare to the Elric novels where several normally pigmented wizards are seen.)

"U-Vee" is a protagonist in the film Disturbing Behavior (1997); he isn't portrayed as evil, though not as a role model either.

Bjørn Beltø, an archeologist and albino in Norwegian author Tom Egeland's 2001 book Sirkelens ende, is a sympathetic anti-hero which saves the day by taking up the fight against evil-doers searching for the Holy Grail. The book has surprisingly many similarities with The Da Vinci Code, published two years after.

Though never explicitly identified as having albinism, Taarna from the movie Heavy Metal is a platinum blonde woman who saves the last remnants of humanity from the "ultimate evil" Loc-Nar Orb.

chaos of the Xenosaga series, despite having a darker skin tone still has platinum silver hair and blue (in some appearances green) eyes. He is a kind and gentle soul, he is friendly and helpful albeit mysterious and is a fan favourite among follows of the series. He is contrasted directly by Wilhelm, his exact opposite in appearance and demeanor.

Trivia

Michael McGowan of NOAH has stated that The Da Vinci Code will be the 68th movie since 1960 to feature an evil albino.

References

External links

[The National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation (NOAH)]
[Albinism in Popular Culture]
[Skinema: Evil characters with albinism]
[Pale Riders Who Wear Black Hats] - Wired News article on the evil albino phenomenon (with several more examples, and comments by real-life people with albinism).
[The Albino Code] A comic response to the "Evil Albino" character, Silas, of Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code."

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