File under "enough already"

[sigma7]

An organization representing albinos has registered its opposition to portraying a killer in the film version of The Da Vinci Code as an albino (which is the way he is represented in the Dan Brown novel). "[Producer/director] Ron Howard and Imagine [Films Entertainment, which is producing the movie] can make a big difference for people with albinism by continuing the trend away from a hack device if they adjust the Silas character to not be an evil albino" said Mike McGowan, president of the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation (NOAH). "Over the years the stereotyping and misinformation foisted on the albinism community by filmmakers who don't take the time to learn the facts about albinism does real harm to real people," he added.

*headdesk* *headdesk* *headdesk*

I know I've got a hot steaming cup of STFU here somewhere.....

Comments

[motteditor.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to think of a single film that stereotypes or provided misinformation about albinos. Really big guys with braces, sure, but no albinos spring to mind.

[(Anonymous)]

Foul Play had an albino assassin named Whitey.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

This reminds me most of the lobbying before shooting of "Sum of All Fears" which, in the book, featured primarily Arab antagonists. But this lead to much teeth-gnashing, cries of stereotyping, et cetera, and the producers backed down and made the antagonists Nazis, because, well, Nazis just don't have the lobbying power that any other group has.

Of course, that was pre-9/11, even if the movie wasn't released until well afterwards.

It's infuriating on two fronts -- first being simply that in a movie-book translation, generally introducing as few changes as possible is the best course of action. That's another reason I'm glad JJ Abrams' Superman script won't see production, because, well, damn (Lex is a what? And I thought Smallville was bad).

Secondly, creators of fiction need antagonists, and they need to be able to create antagonists with the idea that not everyone interpreting the text will immediately assume that whatever subgroups the antagonists belong to are therefore evil by association. That is, they should be able to assume that the interpreters are not patent idiots. Just because the movie's nemesis is an albino lefthanded Episcopalian parakeet-owner should not lead anyone without significant cerebral damage to assume that southpaws are similarly (ahem) sinister (that was unintended, but too good to take out).

This just seems like a cry for attention ("Look! We exist! We have a press release and everything!"), which is sad, because it demeans subgroups who might have a beef about their portrayal in the media. As for albino assassins, though, it never occurred to me before, but I'll be watching the snowbanks extra careful now.

[erica-roo.livejournal.com]

Let's hope that they don't try to make Dan Brown's "Digital Fortress" into a movie, because the assassin in that book is deaf... Perhaps Mr. Brown needs to be more P.C. when writing... ;-)