Super Irony

I just watched a recording of Christopher Reeve's appearance on 20/20 the other night, as interviewed by Barbara Walters. I don't usually bother with those kinds of programs, but there are a handful of "celebrities" that I've programmed my TiVo to watch for, and Reeve is one of them.

The first reason is that I'm a fan. I consider him the definitive on-screen Superman, the definitive superhero. In my assessment, Superman: The Movie remains the best translation of a superhero and his story to the silver screen, and Reeve was a big part of what made it work. Sure, the franchise lost a full "star" in rating with each successive installment, but that first one was magic. Of course it probably helped that I was 13 when it came out, was subconsciously smitten by Reeve's charming smile, and saw it from the awe-inspiring front row of the packed theater, but even though the effects now seem rather dated, it still holds up as a great movie.

The other reason I watch for Christopher Reeve is my fascination with - and inspiration by - his life following his spinal cord injury. I've questioned whether his determination to walk again is realistic, but the quest itself is quite simply admirable. While it's conceivable that he's just putting a brave and hopeful face on the situation... OK, let's be frank: he was good, but he wasn't that good an actor. And by putting that handsome, famous face on the nebulous class of "people with disabilities", he's helping to focus attention, effort, and funds on research that will eventually help countless people. He didn't just play a hero in the movies; he is one.

The irony of an actor who played the most powerful being on the planet now being unable to move his own body is fairly obvious, and certainly tragic. But I got a good laugh when I realised another, fairly recent, irony. One of the mild flaws in Reeve's Superman movies was Lex Luthor. Gene Hackman's portrayal of him was an entertaining interpretation of the character, but rather than shave his head to play the bald villain, Hackman pretended that Luthor wore a wig. Well, Reeve just appeared on 20/20 completely bald. It was, he explained with good humor, one of those quirky side effects of his injury, which led to his body just not regulating itself properly any more. His hair fell out. So Superman, not Luthor, now sports the chrome dome.

The point of his interview with Walters wasn't to show off his unintentional foray into cutting-edge fashion. He was there to show off his latest accomplishment: thanks to the implantation of a device which artificially stimulates his diaphragm muscle (much like a pacemaker does with the heart muscle), he's now able to breathe without a respirator. It's not a true recovery, in the sense of being able to breathe naturally, because he still depends on the device to tell his diaphragm to flex and relax. But it will enable him to keep his lungs in shape for the day he dreams of (when he'll be able to use his body again), and it means he's no longer fully dependent on a machine to put air in his lungs every several seconds. In effect, he's turned his own diaphragm into a backup respirator, a biological one.

He's one of the first few people to have this procedure performed, which raises the obvious question of special treatment for a celebrity. But it also indicates that he's willing to serve as a guinea pig for experimental treatments. The fact that he went to Europe to undergo this procedure might cause people to criticise him for going places for treatment that they couldn't even afford to visit as tourists. But Reeve brings up the issue himself, criticising the American medical research system as too timid. Frankly, he'd be a damn fool not to take advantage of his fame to get whatever help he can. But at the same time he's using his fame to advocate for better treatments for others as well.

In the first movie, Jor-El (played by Brando) said to his son, "They can be a great people, Kal-El; they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason, above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you, my only son." Who knew that he was really talking about Christopher Reeve?