Albinos Protest against "Da Vinci Code"

[Carlo Borromeo]

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...wcannes118.xml

Stop making us out as mystical freaks and unconscionable assassins, albinos complain
By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles
(Filed: 18/05/2006)


A Support group for albinos has added its voice to the criticism of The Da Vinci Code, accusing producers of propagating "cruel stereotypes" by having an albino as villain.

Activists say the film continues a long Hollywood tradition of portraying albinos as evil characters, "mystical freaks and unconscionable assassins".

The film co-stars Paul Bettany, the British actor, as Silas, a red-eyed albino monk who carries out a series of murders in a bid to keep secret a trove of lost Christian documents that could prove Jesus was a husband and father.

Critics say Bettany's character is the latest in a long list of evil albinos, including the dreadlocked twins in The Matrix Reloaded, the white-haired hitman in Foul Play, starring Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn, the sadistic killer in Cold Mountain and even the wicked executioner in the comedy, The Princess Bride.

Michael McGowan, an albino who heads the National Organisation for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, said The Da Vinci Code was the 68th film since 1960 to feature an evil albino.

"The problem is that there has been no balance," he said. "There are no realistic, sympathetic or heroic characters with albinism that you can find in movies or popular culture."

The organisation petitioned the film's producers not to bleach Bettany's hair or make his eyes red but the calls "fell on deaf ears".

Mr McGowan said his group did not plan to boycott the film but hoped to use its profile to raise awareness about the realities of albinism.

Bettany said he looked at Silas not as an evil albino but as a man damaged by his harsh upbringing.I thought, this man's a psychopath and he's not a psychopath because he's an albino," he said.

"He's an amalgamation of everything that happened to him in his life. I think it's no more a comment on albinos than it is on monks, and no more a comment on monks than it is on people who wear sand

[klavel]

Silas was a fictitious character, so I think that should not worry much...though most films typecast Albinos as freaks because of their lack of pigmentation..and NOT necessarily they were typecasted as villains..for instance: "Powder" (1995), a movie about an albino with exceptional powers with an IQ beyond..

[sassy_suzzy]

nagka OA kaha ang mga tao... grabe na ni...

[Carlo Borromeo]

Some Albinos shown in a bad light...

[MrBiddle]

nagka OA kaha ang mga tao... grabe na ni...

I agree! I see many people complaining about blasphemy, etc.... To be consistent they would have to stop representing their Holy One as a child dressed in an over-sized red-dress adorned with gold or venerating a painting of a moustached man because that is equally blasphemous.....

Dan Brown DOESN'T validate his claims and what he presents as facts are mere interpretations of the characters, and Brown doesn't claim to know absolute truth.

But the institution that has killed an overflow of innocent people and has once collected forgiveness for sale claims a monopoly on the truth - when in fact the truth they hold is as if silver has turned to dross and tables that were once elegant filled with vomit.