The Aviator

The Aviator documents the climatic points of the life of one of the most controversial, iconic figures in the history of the United States, Howard Hughes, aviator, film producer, director and pursuer of many other odd things. The film strives to portray accurately his dramatic life at raw. It begins by showing his lonely childhood with his mother, who nourished him with a great fear for the outside world of filthy people and diseases. Hughes grows skilled and talented as an engineer in the familiar aviation industry, and his expanding vision is demonstrated as he produces Hell’s Angels. At this point, the film shows that aviation crafting, filming and managing is the business, passion, and driving force that he does not hesitate a second to loss millions of dollars or even sacrifice his life for. He suffers of stressing and overwhelming effects brought on by his success as he obtains fame, starlets, and riches. These gradually trigger the obsessive-compulsive disorder that jumbles with his mind, however without altering a bit his tact in dealing with important business affairs.

The protagonist holds a powerfully strong character yet also a tagging along weak one. He lives with an almost boundless confidence over the control he is able to exert to run his affairs but also with a fearful shadow. Hughes is afraid of what he cannot see or control, microorganisms. Because of this, he attempts to eliminate himself completely from the possibility of illness and thus cultivates an extremely phobia over germs and bacteria. It is interesting to note, however that he is also a super daring human being. He does not fear losing money when pursuing risky business or jeopardizing his life when testing new airplanes. I suppose this might be because the previous risks involve his conscious participation whereas getting sick or just the thought of germs does not.

Katherine Hepburn plays a major role in his life as supporter and true lover. Even after breaking up romantically, they both still hold affection and fondness for each other. Katherine represents a wild challenge for Hughes’ dominating personality, one that is complementary but ultimately clashing to their relationship. Hughes’ escalating issues eventually become too much for Katherine to bear.  Any other docile and compliant woman willing to be so easily controlled like Faith Domergue and many others fail to know that if not though and tremendous in character enough they are just objects. Most women for Hughes’ are merely that, ultra beautiful objects to admire and access as needed and desired. Ava Gardner does not let herself be bought like such an object and she holds great fondness and care of Hughes. The difference between Katherine and her lies in the love they felt towards Hughes’, Gardner never truly loved him considering they never held a formal romantic relationship; it seemed to be more of a relationship in which they use each other’s position for the advantage of pleasing the public eye. It is needless to say however that Ava did care for him; she was the one who helped groomed and cleaned him back into a presentable manner to face society.

An important man in Hughes’ life is Noah who was constantly available to ease him in his attacks and say” yes”. He had business relations to Hughes’, but he did care about him too. Hughes’ was a man impossible to refuse; it is the confidence that he has towards the power of his own will that disallows him of acknowledging the worrisome parts of himself. Also, his confidence of power is what keeps him persisting for achieving the American dream of success and security hard earned through struggle and perseverance. The results of this was plain suffering, he overestimated his power of will and did not see how it could destroy him. His phobia was eating him alive; ruining his relationships, his home and sense of self was also completely monitored by the public federal and common eye.

Hughes’ illness consisted of tiny behaviors that if seen once would not have caused any kind of off reaction. The people who were close to Howard in the day to day were the ones who caught it. These tiny behaviors included washing his eyes at the thought of germs crawling to them, mentally dealing with the thought of germs crawling in his surroundings and in people that touched him or his food. It is strange that his demand for total cleanliness prevented him from seeing how he was practically living in only his own dirt when he locked himself away form the world in his personal theater. He coped with his illness by just adjusting himself, he never however signaled a professional to help him. Montages throughout the film tell of the origin and future degrading effect of his serious OCD. The phobia was a part of Hughes’; it composed his character, as it was part of him throughout his lavish and poor times.

Howard Hughes’ life portrays how powerful and contradicting, and specifically sensible the human mind can be. He carried a mental illness yet remained perfectly logical and strategic to run other affairs. Howard Hughes’ tests the boundaries of human will, often endangering himself physically and mentally. I loved the film’s visual interpretation of Hughes’ feelings in scenes such as when he is burning the clothes and is surrounded by the fiery hell of his own emotions. The telling of his story ends in 1946 considering that by this time, the major points of his life have been expressed. The sight of specific older men signals Hughes’ future. Looking at the mirror steadily, it can be inferred from Hughes’ repeating” the way of the future” that his fears are becoming real.