Wondering who the movie’s villain is? It’s probably the one with a skin disease, study says

Scars, warts, wrinkles, dark circles under the eyes, hair loss and large, bulbous noses. Various skin diseases and dermatological are fairly common among two groups of people: the general population and movie villains.

One group that’s excluded from such maladies: movie heroes.

That’s according to a new study from researchers at the University of Texas. The study, published by JAMA Dermatology on Wednesday, examined the top 10 heroes and villains from the American Film Institute’s 100 Greatest Heroes and Villains list and found that while 60 percent of villains had some form of skin disease, none of heroes did.

Among the diseases, researchers noted that multiple villains had alopecia (hair loss), Periorbital hyperpigmentation (dark circles under the eyes), deep wrinkles, multiple facial scars and warts, while heroes had only minor facial scars.

The researchers argue these findings reinforce the notion that Hollywood and the film industry tend to equate physical appearance, especially dermatological illness, with “immoral depravity.” Because there is no connection between the two in real life, researchers and advocates say popular media portrayals of such diseases create and reinforce inaccurate stereotypes.

Such portrayals “may foster a tendency toward prejudice in our society directed at those with skin disease,” the study finds.

The study also mentioned the widespread trope of the “evil albino,” in which TV shows, movies and other media treat albino characters as untrustworthy, ill-intentioned and villainous. According to the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, 68 movies released between 1960 and 2006 feature evil albino characters, with a large portion of those films coming after 2000.

Protests against this stereotype came to a head in 2006, just before the release of “The Da Vinci Code,” the film adaptation of the best-selling novel by Dan Brown. In the book, the main villain is an albino monk who commits several murders.

“The problem is there has been no balance,” Michael McGowan, the president of NOAH at the time, told the Associated Press. “There are no realistic, sympathetic or heroic characters with albinism that you can find in movies or popular culture. ...

“It's the cumulative effect of having one evil albino character after another that was disturbing to me.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2017 at 1:34 PM with the headline "Wondering who the movie’s villain is? It’s probably the one with a skin disease, study says."