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This guy's no hero...
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For decades, Hollywood had associated the genetic condition of albinism with murderous villains. The trend's nadir was the heavily promoted "Da Vinci Code" (2006) and it's brutal self flagellating albino monk. Finally, after a far-reaching media campaign by NOAH, an albinism advocacy group, the stereotypical "evil albino" was (mostly) laid to rest. While no mainstream feature films have produced an evil character with albinism, in 2010 a giant, menacing, scarred, tattooed, albino gladiator did appear on the cable TV Starz series, "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" (above). Conforming to this website's rules of evil albinos in the media, he was blinded by the light reflecting off the hero's shield (people with albinism are sensitive to sun and often visually impaired) and is then decapitated (evil albino characters are violently killed).
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This guy's a hero!
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"Pirates! A Band of Misfits" represents a long awaited step forward: a character with albinism who is not evil and at least vaguely heroic. We only have 2 issues with this fellow. Like most movie roles with albinism, he doesn't have a real name, in this case he is called simply "Albino Pirate." This, however, is one of the running jokes of the film, where all of the pirate crew have similar descriptive names: the captain is named "Pirate Captain," the woman on board posing as a male goes by "The Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate", etc. Also, the production team opted for stereotypical red eyes, when those with the actual condition have blue or grey eyes. That said, at least he is a supportive member of the team, rather than a sociopathic rapist and/or serial killer. We would have even been comfortable if the studio included a joke about needing to wear sunscreen (folks with albinism are at high risk for skin cancer). Maybe for the sequel!
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