This video was from the 68th Annual Academy Awards in 1996, which was less than a year after Christopher Reeve’s paralyzing accident. After the almost 1 minute and 11 seconds minute standing ovation, Christopher Reeve addressed the audience and the viewers at home about the social issues that Hollywood had been tackling in the recent years. Before he actually spoke, you can make out certain members of the audience, like Rita Wilson, tearing up as Christopher Reeve sat in the middle of the stage with his breathing tube and wheelchair. The man who was able to fly and have super strength was sitting in a wheelchair as still as could be. However, when Christopher Reeve spoke, he brought forth a trust to all his fans and to the world that Superman is not defeated.
At the Oscars, Reeve talked about the need to express social problems in both our community and nation. Reeve brought to our attention the power of film in presenting key issues to the public. This outspoken care and need to help society is exactly what Superman would have said. The viewers watching and listening to him look at him as a real-life Superman. Before this quintessential moment, Clark Kent was the man who played Superman in the movies, but now, he has become a symbol of hope and change for the world. This very public and small speech about Hollywood recognizing social issues becomes a turning point in Reeve’s career. At this moment, his identity changed from actor to society’s hero, similar to how Clark Kent changes to Superman. The uncanny is brilliant, because he is sitting in a wheel chaired, paralyzed in front of millions of people, but everyone begins to see him as a real life Superman. His disability is a sign of vulnerability, but in a sense, Christopher Reeve “is” Superman and continues to use Superman’s (and his) values to make a change. We are left in awe listening to a man, who exemplifies the enlightenment of immortality from the point of mortality.
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