Untversity of HAWAI'i LIBRARY
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UNtVERSITY OF HAWAI'I LIBRARY IMAGERY AND SYMBOL OF THE AIRPLANE IN AMERICAN FILM 1950-2004 A DISSERTAnON SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN AMERICAN STUDIES MAY 2004 By Patrick Gerald O'Brien Dissertation Committee: Floyd Matson, Chairperson Paul Hooper Dennis Ogawa William Chapman David Swift © Patrick Gerald 0 'Brien 2004 iii ABSTRACT Hollywood has shown an unending affection for the airplane for nearly one hundred years. From fantasy, to war, to salvation, to heroism, to romance, to adventure, airplanes have been and continue to be a powerful symbol in American film. Two intertwined themes based on flight are menace and hope, and the tension between them has successfully driven many flying films. This may explain why film has featured the airplane as the archetypal machine of the twentieth century, just as, according to Leo Marx in The Machine in the Garden, the locomotive served as the archetypal machine in American literature of the nineteenth century. Specifically, this dissertation will focus on how cargo planes, bomber aircraft, commercial airliners, and all those aboard have been portrayed in film from 1950-2004. iv Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................... .. iv Chapter 1: Introduction................................................. 1 Chapter 2: Myth and Symbol in Flying Films 25 Chapter 3: The Menace of Flight 47 Chapter 4: Heroic Men and Flying Machines 75 Chapter 5: "Passin' Gas": Aerial Refueling Scenes. ...................... .. 110 Chapter 6: Atomic and Chemical Threats in the Sky 141 Chapter 7: Disturbed and Disturbing Passengers 169 Chapter 8: Cast Away: The Machine in the Sky 198 Chapter 9: Race and Gender in Flying Films 218 Chapter 10: Conclusion 248 Appendix: Filmography ........................... • ................. .. 261 Notes 266 Bibliography 284 v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The flight ofthe birds, so effortless and graceful, has led man since the dawn oftime to turn his gaze with longing to the skies. But his dream ofsoaring above the clouds was not to be realised without weary centuries ofexperiment andfailure. .. Man, because he was himselfdenied the power offlight, reverenced it as a supernatural quality and could give no higher honour to his gods and goddesses than the endowment of wings in acknowledgment oftheir superior being. Opening narration of the 1935 classic Conquests ofthe Air1 Books aboutfilm have been written and often overwritten, but it seems to me that a book about aviationfilms willfill a gap and is long overdue. Actor Glenn Ford2 There is a special affinity between the machine and the new Republic. In the first place, the raw landscape is an ideal settingfor technological progress. Leo Marx, The Machine in the Garden3 But Icarus became so exhilarated by his ability to fly that he forgot the warning and followed his own course instead. He flew too high, the W£U: melted, and he fell into the sea and drowned. The Myth of Icarus Flying on Man-made Wings: Menace or Miracle for Mankind? On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright accomplished a great feat: they succeeded in piloting humanity's first heavier-than-air machine through the sky under its own power. Coincidentally, perhaps, a few months prior to that, Edwin Porter produced what is considered the first great "story" fIlm, The Great Train Robbery.4 Joined at 1 birth, these two modem accomplishments grew rapidly and rarely lost sight of each other. Thus it is no surprise that from the beginning, Hollywood has shown an unending affection for the airplane. From fantasy, to war, to salvation, to heroism, to romance, to adventure, airplanes have been and continue to be a powerful symbol in American film. The idea that great powers come from the sky is an old one and can be traced back to both the Old and New Testaments. These great powers often represent good or evil. When looking at the sky we may have premonitions of evil, a fear perhaps that an avenging angel will soon appear to show us that our time on earth is over, or maybe we imagine that a streaking meteor will destroy the earth. Thoughts of machines from the heavens infuse us with both fear and hope; there may be the earth-destroying flying saucer or the spaceship that will whisk us off to salvation--all is possible. The optimistic half of this equation was so strong in the early days offlight in America that one author dubbed it "The Winged Gospel," which was the idea that "air transportation would bring about a golden age of progress, that flying was the ultimate technological achievement, and portrayed the airman as a romantic and chivalric figure.',5 That Hollywood has repeatedly turned to the sky for its storylines is therefore only natural. This tension between menace and hope successfully drives many flying films and suggests the basic thesis of this dissertation, which is that the aura of peril and menace has consistently been the most pronounced aspect of the airplane's appearance in cinema, whether there is hope and heroism mixed in or not. This may explain why film has featured the airplane as the archetypal machine of the twentieth century, just as, according to Leo Marx in The Machine in the Garden, the locomotive served as the archetypal machine of the nineteenth century. 2 Images ofthe Sky: Menace and Hope Legend tells us how Daedalus and his son Icarus were imprisoned on a Greek island. Yearning to be free, the father made wings of feathers held together by wax and taught his son to fly. Icarus, being young, ignored his father's words and soared too high. Having tempted the fates, he met his punishment: the wax in his wings melted, and he lost the power offlight. Only death awaited him in the sea far below. Abundant evidence exists in mythology of the human yearning to fly. The ancient Egyptians believed that after death, the souls of their Pharaohs rose from their bodies and migrated into the afterlife. In Greek mythology, Pegasus is a winged horse. The Maya embellished serpents with feathers on their stone pyramids, making Quetzalcoatl a god; North American native Indians venerated the Thunderbird, the beating of whose wings represented thunder. In the Koran, Muhammad is said to have risen from the site of the Temple of the Mount on a winged horse. Whether the dual image of the sky as both menacing and pronnsmg IS an archetype or not,6 the fact remains that it is firmly embedded in the Western psyche, as evidenced by its vivid appearances in both the Old and New Testaments. For example, in Ezekiel 1:4-7, the narrative about the sky begins: As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness round about it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming bronze. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the form of men, but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze. This threatening image was repeated and amplified in Revelations (the Apocalypse) at the end of the New Testament, as these excerpts show: "After this I looked, and 10, in heaven 3 an open door! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, 'Come up hither, and I will show you what must take place after this'" (4: 1). What took place was a series of tribulations, some of which were loosed from the sky above: When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale; ... (6:12-13). When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw seven angels who stand before God ... Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, which fell on the earth; and a third of the earth was burnt up, and a third of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up (8:1-7).... Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail (11: 19). Such horrific images were balanced by hopeful and benevolent ones as well, best represented, perhaps, by the image of Jesus' ascension into heaven forty days after his resurrection. After Jesus led his disciples to the Mount of Olives, he blessed them, then ascended into heaven, as told in Acts of the Apostles 1:3-11. Luke also described this moment in 24:50-53. The moment of the Ascension is told in one sentence: "He was lifted up before their eyes in a cloud which took Him from their sight" (Acts 1:9); Mark added that Jesus sat at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19).