Hi all.
A friend and I were debating something the other day while watching Atlantis, so I thought I'd present both sides and see what others here think.
My friend is an albino, and he remarked that the Wraith looked like albinos and expressed some dismay at that. He remarked that very rarely--not never, but not often--is there an albino character in a movie who is not portrayed as "the bad guy" or at least vaguely sinister, and he seemed to think the same thing was happening with Stargate Atlantis.
My response was that, while I do think he has a point in general, I doubt that the writers of Stargate Atlantis specifically meant the Wraith to represent human albinos. I have never heard any comment made by the characters about "evil *albino* Wraith." I don't think I've ever even heard any discussion of their appearance on the show. There's plenty of discussion of their feeding methods and tactics, but that's it. In fact, Tayla is a hybrid Wraith/human, and I've never seen her feed on anyone.
To be fair, I do think my friend has a valid point about movies in general, so I can't entirely reject what he said. I can also see that if I'd grown up with the stigma he has, I might have the same bias. However, I've also said to him "Dude, most villains are also male, so why isn't that an issue too? Any group at all can find some reflection of themselves in any character if they look hard enough."
So anyway, I'm just curious about what others think.
Peace,
--Andy
A friend and I were debating something the other day while watching Atlantis, so I thought I'd present both sides and see what others here think.
My friend is an albino, and he remarked that the Wraith looked like albinos and expressed some dismay at that. He remarked that very rarely--not never, but not often--is there an albino character in a movie who is not portrayed as "the bad guy" or at least vaguely sinister, and he seemed to think the same thing was happening with Stargate Atlantis.
My response was that, while I do think he has a point in general, I doubt that the writers of Stargate Atlantis specifically meant the Wraith to represent human albinos. I have never heard any comment made by the characters about "evil *albino* Wraith." I don't think I've ever even heard any discussion of their appearance on the show. There's plenty of discussion of their feeding methods and tactics, but that's it. In fact, Tayla is a hybrid Wraith/human, and I've never seen her feed on anyone.
To be fair, I do think my friend has a valid point about movies in general, so I can't entirely reject what he said. I can also see that if I'd grown up with the stigma he has, I might have the same bias. However, I've also said to him "Dude, most villains are also male, so why isn't that an issue too? Any group at all can find some reflection of themselves in any character if they look hard enough."
So anyway, I'm just curious about what others think.
Peace,
--Andy
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Re: The Wraith and albinism
Thu, February 28, 2008 - 7:09 AMI think your friend has a point too. Aside from the bigoted overtones of the "albino villan" cliche, it's also a cliche. Therefore anyone who is interested in being creative and original should create a few "albino hero" characters in their TV shows and movies. The albino villan has been done to death.
As for the Atlantis situation, I also suspect that the producers didn't look at the Wraith as being the sterotypical albino villan . But unfortunately, the producers also haven't provided details on Wraith traditions and culture. That make them a very boring villan to me. And perhaps if more was known about the Wraith, an alternative to human life energy could be found for them.
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Re: The Wraith and albinism
Thu, February 28, 2008 - 7:27 AMYeah, that's the thing--I can really see both sides on this. One thing I did suggest to him is that he write to the producers with his concern and suggest something like providing an alternative food source for the Wraith or even having the SGC encounter a non-villainous albino species (that could provide quite a plot twist too...like maybe at first people think they're Wraith but it turns out they're entirely different). I don't know how seriously they'd take such a suggestion, but it might be worth a try. -
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Re: The Wraith and albinism
Thu, February 28, 2008 - 8:57 AMOn the other side of the coin, had the villains been dark skinned, you'd hear the screaming of outraged fans everywhere. I suppose green or blue aliens are safer bets. Pricey make-up, and little green men are so cliche also. I think it was simply a design choice. The Wraith are obviously modeled on classic vampires, vampires are pale in our Western culture. I don't think that's a shot at albinos at all.
I'm not a fan of sanitized fiction though. PC fiction which provokes no thought tends to have no story to tell at all. I think an important question is what are "our" expectations of a science fiction show, how moral do we want it, are we being entertained or preached at? I don't mind a show where the protagonists stick to their values, but honestly, I don't watch things like Touched by an Angel very much on purpose.
This very conversation shows that controversy encourages discussion. Discussion raises awareness. That's a good thing, isn't it? -
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Re: The Wraith and albinism
Thu, February 28, 2008 - 10:59 AMI agree, though I don't think that "PC" is exactly what my friend was looking for. We both get a huge laugh out of the really bad sci-fi and horror which is about as non-PC as it gets. I think what my friend had a problem with was that, as Yul said, the "evil albino" has been "done to death" and he might like to see some attempt to be a bit more original. Sci-fi has an opportunity to present lots of alternative ways of looking at the world, our culture, etc.--not so much to preach, but to expand our horizons.
This discussion in a way reminds me of my response to a Usenet thread, ages ago, in which someone accused the Simpsons of being a "racist" show because of how Apu was portrayed. I said something like "Man, the Simpsons isn't racist! Jeez, they pick on *everybody* of all stereotypes! The whole point of the show is to show us how stupid--and occasionally right on--those stereotypes are!" So I really can see what you're getting at. Snake lovers could scream because the Goa'uld portray snakes in a bad light; people from Egypt could scream because they felt bits of their ancestors' religion had been somehow mosrepresented; people of high military rank could be offended because Colonel Maiborne (sp?) is such a jerk; and on and on...and that wouldn't accomplish anything. I've even presented that side of things to my friend before, and I think he sees that--He even raised the same point, that if the villains had been black, a whole lot of people would have raised a fuss, and he's mentioned before that he thought it was stupid that some people thought the classic Doctor Who was portraying albinos in a bad light. He's not one of these people who makes it his buisiness to be offended at the drop of a hat. As I said, I think he'd just like to see some evidence that the producers aren't resorting to a stereotype just because it's easy.
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