The Aviator

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about The Aviator's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of The Aviator completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 7 February 05

Overall comments and recommendations

The Aviator is made for an adult audience, many of whom would find the film both entertaining and interesting, particularly for those who have an interest in aviation history or the life of Howard Hughes.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie The Aviator contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Set in the 1920s and 1930s, The Aviator tells the story of Howard Hughes, aviation pioneer and film producer / director.

The movie opens with an eight-year old Howard Hughes standing naked in a bath while his mother rubs soap all over his body in a suggestive manner, implying sexual abuse and incest. As a young adult, Hughes is portrayed as a flamboyant womaniser who frequents Los Angeles night clubs.

The film explores his relationships with Hollywood megastars Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) and his battle with obsessive compulsive disorder / germ phobia. Hughes' relationship with Hepburn ends when she meets and falls in love with Spencer Tracey, while his relationship with Gardner ends as a result of Hughes' mental deterioration.

Throughout the story, Hughes continues his passion for aviation designing and building numerous planes for the air force as well as a high speed aircraft to fuel his own ambitions of being the fastest man on earth. At one point, Hughes crashes a test XF-11 spy plane into Beverly Hills burning 70 percent of his body and narrowly escaping death.

The last third of the film portrays Hughes' corporate battle with Pan Am's Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin) who is supported by corrupt Senator, Ralph Owen Brewster (Alan Alda). At the same time, Hughes' mental condition continues to deteriorate.

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some physical violence in The Aviator, for example:

• there is domestic violence between Hughes and Ava Gardner. In one scene, Hughes slaps Gardner across the face with considerable force, knocking her backwards. In retaliation, Gardner picks up an object and strikes Hughes across the face knocking him to the ground. The consequences of the domestic violence were presented as more psychological than physical.
• a nightclub brawl starts with one man throwing a punch at another and ends with the entire nightclub erupting in an all out brawl. The fight was presented in a more comical than realistic manner with no real life consequences resulting.
• Hughes' mistress Faith Domergue repeatedly rams her car into the passenger side of Hughes' car where Ava Gardner is the passenger.
• several scenes from Hughes' film Hells Angels , including dogfights between aircraft, machine gun fire, exploding aircraft and a man committing suicide by jumping to his death.

A number of scenes involved psychological and verbal abuse in the form of putdowns and cruel psychological manipulation, for example:

• Hughes tells Hepburn that other than being an actress she is worthless, which has a crushing effect on her
• Trippe and Senator Brewster manipulate situations to take advantage of Hughes' phobia and cause him great mental stress
• intimidation is employed on a number of occasions by Senator Brewster in an effort to break Hughes' spirit

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

The film contained several scenes capable of disturbing young children including the domestic violence described above, and scenes from the 1930s film Hells Angels .

A scene that could be very disturbing for children of any age, and many adults, was when Hughes crashes his XF-11 spy plane into Beverly Hills . The plane rips through a number of houses before coming to rest and exploding in flames. Hughes is trapped inside the plane and must break a number of bones to escape from the cockpit. He manages to crawl away from the wreckage as his body is engulfed in flames. The crash appears very realistic with the sound of snapping bones and sizzling smouldering flesh.

Younger children may also be distressed by images relating to Hughes' germ phobia and the deterioration of his mental health. For example, Hughes locks himself in a room for a number of weeks where he remains naked (his upper torso is badly scarred), constantly rambling to himself and urinating into milk bottles, which he lines up along a wall. In another scene Hughes washes his hands with such ferocity that he causes them to bleed.

Aged eight to thirteen

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

The above-mentioned scenes could also disturb children between the ages of eight and thirteen years. The opening scene of the film implying sexual abuse and incest may also be of concern to children in this age group.

Over the age of thirteen

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

The scenes of most concern for this age group are those involving sexual abuse, domestic violence, the deterioration of Hughes' mental health and the crash of the XF-11 spy plane.

Sexual references

There were low level sexual references throughout the film:

• the opening scene of the movie, outlined above, implying sexual abuse and incest
• Hughes states to a woman that she is “hitting on all six cylinders”. He says his only wish is to make her feel good, while rubbing his hand up and down the inside of her thigh
• Hughes is presented as having a fixation on women's breasts. During the filming of Hells Angels he waits eight months for clouds to appear that resemble “breasts full of milk”
• fifteen year old Faith Domergue is hired as Hughes' mistress. When he interviews her, Hughes has Domergue turn around under a spotlight so that he can inspect her body.
• while entertaining a group of air force officers, Hughes suggests that none of them should have trouble receiving sex that night from the women who were present.
• in a humorous scene, Hughes confronts the Censor Board, who want to ban Hughes' film The Outlaw , due to the degree of exposure of Jane Russell's breasts (referred to as “mammaries”). Hughes employs a professor to take photographs, measure and compare the exposure of breasts of other actresses—Hughes wins the case.

Nudity and sexual activity

There was some nudity and sexual activity:

• Hughes is naked in a number of scenes, relating to periods when he is overcome by his germ phobia. He creates a germ free environment, which include him remaining naked. Hughes is fully exposed from both behind and front although the groin is not shown.
• Hughes and Hepburn lie on a couch embracing and kissing, both fully clothed
• Hughes kisses Gardner 's neck and attempts to grope her breasts.

Use of substances

There were a number of scenes involving the consumption of cigarettes and cigars, and occasional scenes involving the consumption of alcohol.

Coarse language

Low level coarse language was used throughout the film including phrases such as:

• ‘sons of bitches'
• ‘goddam son of a bitch'
• ‘gives me the willies'
• ‘smooth titties'
• ‘ever screwed a coloured girl?'
• ‘get that crazy bitch out of here'
• ‘he can kiss both sides of my ass'

Juan Trippe says ‘fuck' on one occasion.

The movie's message

Generally speaking, the take home messages presented in The Aviator are too complex for children to comprehend and the film contains little if any relevance for most children and adolescents under the age of seventeen years. The film's take home messages revolves around adult themes including political power, political corruption, corporate monopoly, mental illness, loneliness, depression, wealth and power. Take home messages of benefit to older adolescents include Hughes as the underdog triumphing over corporate and government giants.

Values parents may wish to encourage include Hughes' relentless endurance through adversity; no matter what the situation Hughes always found an alternative and always refused to give up.