For some it was Kirk Alyn. For others it was George Reeves. But for those of us of a certain age...we baby boomers with active imaginations who looked for heroes where we could find them....Christopher Reeve was Superman.
Christopher Reeve just inhabited the part of the Man of Steel...square-jawed and square-shouldered with the right mixture of nobility, humility, and a modicum of sly, subtle irony.
In the pre-CGI days when Superman: The Motion Picture came out Christopher Reeve made us believe that a man could fly...that a man could sacrifice it all for the woman he loved...that a man could embody the notion of "truth, justice, and the American Way" in a way that burst from the four-color pages of the comic books and brightly and powerfully into the technicolor expanse of the big screen.
When Reeve fell from his horse and lost the ability to move below his neck, he held on to his nobility...his resolve...his desire to want to soar. He was adamant that he would walk again and, all evidence to the contrary, we believed him. He was Superman...if he could fly he certainly could walk again.
And now, I choose to believe, he is indeed walking again. And flying again. And standing tall in the hallowed halls of eternity, a man among men...a hero among heroes...a Superman.
1 comment:
Excellent post! He was such a powerful voice for such an important cause. Very sad
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