Christopher Reeve: A true Superman

As the move Superman Returns opened in theatres this week, I can’t help but think of the original Superman on the big screen, Christopher Reeve. Before his accident, many would have looked at him and thought him a hero but I think after his accident he was a hero as well.

For people who have lived with their disabilities all their lives, like myself, Reeve’s book Still Me should be required reading because it’s hard for us to understand the perspective of many who acquire a disability. Prior to his accident, Reeve was an active person enjoying hockey, sailing, flying, and horseback riding. From his book I got the sense that literally being Superman made the adjustment to life with his paralysis more difficult. Heck, he was an icon of perfection to most people and suddenly his body was anything but perfect.

Behind every great hero, I think there are other heroes. For Reeve, it was his wife Dana. In his book, he expressed how important her love for him no matter his limitations made him feel stronger and more willing to keep fighting. I found Reeve’s determination to get off the respirator inspiring and an example of what rehab folks like to call “self determination”.

Some in the disability community were, myself included, upset on his focus on a cure using stem cells. But in his book I came to a greater understanding of his perspective, mainly that it could potentially provide a better quality of life. For example, using stem cells to re-grow just a few centimeters or inches means the difference between using a respirator and breathing on your own. I am NOT saying people with disabilities need to be cured, but if there is something to improve your health why try to stop its development?

It took some time, but Reeve didn’t hide from the limelight. He used his icon status to challenge society to make some changes and improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. I think he is a hero for stepping out and not being ashamed. Maybe he didn’t make everyone happy in the disability community, but he stood up for what he believed. And I think that makes a difference in society, seeing someone with a disability fight and not stand down.

No matter whom they cast now as Superman, Reeve will always be the first that come to my mind. Not just as a man in a red cape, but also as someone determined to leave his mark on the world and did.

Silas: Villain or Victim?

Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code has received a lot of press lately. There was the trial over usage of other books. The controversy over whether the book represents theory as fact. A little known controversy is over Silas, one of the main villains in the film.

People with albinism are upset at the stereotyping of them through Silas. They feel Brown used his condition as a way to make Silas more sinister. Check out this article from the London Free Press: http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Today/Entertainment/2006/05/17/pf-1583954.html

The flashbacks in the film don’t provide as much detail that the book does. The story behind him is that, tormented for his skin color, Silas turned to violence although he probably never wanted to. Torn by his actions, he was lead to God and the scriptures by the bishop of Opus Dei. The bishop manipulates Silas’s talent for killing to help him get to the secret of the Priory of Scion.

The question is, does the audience go away with the idea that albinism leads to corrupt moral character?

I don’t think so. I don’t believe that Silas’s albinism is really what makes him evil, so much as how the world treated him. Being treated as less than human led to his violent rage, and his intense loyalty to those who didn’t have his best interest at heart. I believe the self mutilation was an inward hatred of what he had done in his life. The lack of pigmentation isn’t what set this in motion – it was how the world he lived in treated him.

And that should be a warning to all of us, a warning that isn’t directly made in the film. Silas tragically dies running for his life and accidentally killing the bishop. The true tragedy happened much earlier when the world would not learn about who he was simply because of the lack of color on his skin.