The pilot as a superhero in Israeli cinema

The Israeli fighter pilot as a superhero

The slogan "the best for pilots" still has significance in the State of Israel. Most of the public attach great prestige and importance to the pilot. World War II immortalized the pilot as a mythological figure. The stories of the "Battle of Britain" heroically described him. Winston Churchill said: "Never before have so many owed so few''. Ezer Weizmann, who served as a pilot in the British Air Force during World War II and served for about 8 years as commander of the Israeli Air Force, has become the most significant symbol of the Israeli pilot. He created the local slogan. It attests to excellence and implies that whoever flies is good.

The main historical factor in the development of this myth in Israel are the many wars that have been decided by its air power. Operation Kadesh in 1956 was relatively successful for the Air Force, but did not significantly dispel the myth. During the Six Day War, the Air Force's achievements were set and the documentaries about it highlighted the Israeli pilot myth. After that, when the Air Force was automatically associated with successes and abortions, there was a huge increase in the number of volunteers for a pilot course. Self-confidence was high and the pilots were wrapped in a lot of love.

The image of the almighty hero pilot remained in the minds of civilians even during the Yom Kippur War. Despite the low morale it brought with it, the Air Force was portrayed in this war as the main defensive wall. The pilot stereotype was perpetuated in it as the perfect hero, who is also a "sacrifing savior'', willing to risk his life and sacrifice his life for the State of Israel.

After the Yom Kippur War the pilots boasted less of the wings. This happened mostly to the young. But even if there was a slight respite in public admiration for pilots, they were able to regain the aura, thanks to successful operations such as "Entebbe" and "Attack of the Reactor in Iraq." These operations had a style that gave the Israeli pilot a Hollywood touch.

Today, the army is no longer a top value in Israeli society and it is permissible to criticize it, including the Air Force. Still, the image of the fighter pilot in public is better than that of other military personnel. Today the society is individual and the pilot expresses exactly that value. If you add to this elements like quick reaction, decisiveness, courage, challenge, self-control and accuracy, you come to the conclusion that this is the character of the popular hero.

An interesting question is in what direction will the pilot figure develop in the future, where the war will be largely waged using unmanned aerial vehicles, which require different characteristics and population segments.

In this context it is worth mentioning that the film industry was, from the beginning, an important source of employment for Air Force personnel around the world, after being discharged from military service. They have been integrated into this industry in all fields and levels. It was these people who shaped the character of the "Knightty Fighter Pilot" in popular culture.

The myth of aviation in the visual media in the State of Israel

Central to the approach that explores aviation as a comprehensive phenomenon is the practice of the terms "aerial awareness" and "aerial consciousness". The difference between them is, in short, is like the difference between the terms "artist" and "artisan".

The term "aerial awareness" explains the enthusiasm of individuals for the flying machine, which accumulates for independent creation and voluntary activity of creating traditions and symbols on the subject.

In Western powers, such as the United States, England, and France, aerial awareness puts the independent individual interested in aviation at the center. It is dominant and accordingly the character of the pilot is shaped as a lone hero, with a sensitive mind. He operates a highly complex machine while constantly physically moving in three-dimensional reality. He experiences and makes decisions that are not the property of the common man, who lives in a two-dimensional environment. The fighter pilot is therefore an "artist".

The term "air consciousness" means the intelligent use of aviation to create a comprehensive national and social identity and accordingly the pilot is part of the social system and does not question it. In World War II, there were four countries that controlled the "air consciousness", in what can be called the "air dictatorship". These countries are: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan and the Communist Soviet Union. Because in these countries the emphasis in training was on quantity versus quality, the title appropriate for the pilot in them is "artisan".

In the middle are the countries that do not clearly belong to one of the two blocs, including Israel, which has created a unique aviation culture. Apart from being part of the myth and saga of the "best air force in the world", the images of the Israeli fighter pilot as a superhero also feed on Israel's ties with the United States, including American popular culture, with its superhero culture. Contrary to the image of the "wild west man", defense needs also contributed to the design of an Israeli fighter pilot with political views and social criticism, in films and in reality, as in the case of Yiftach Spector, who became one of the critics of Israeli defense policy.

Real American aviation events in the last half century have influenced Israeli society through television, which covered them as prominent and fascinating media events. For example, the "first Gulf War" that took place in the years 1990-1991. During it, American precision bombing videos were given extended screen time each evening. Feature aviation films, including "top Gun" (1986), illustrate the close connection between the American Air Force and the Israeli Air Force, thanks to the social background and similar ideals, the use of identical aircraft and the training and common goals.

The most important aviation-television event to date is the first landing on the moon, in July 1969. As in the rest of the world, Israel too watched with anxiety and excitement the miraculous journey of three Apollo 11 pilots: Reporters were sent to NASA space center,  TV and radio coverage of the event was from every possible angle and commentators and scholars have debated the question of the historical, scientific and spiritual significance of the landing. The Apollo 11 astronauts have gained the status of cultural heroes in the local media and entiresupplements have been devoted to their experiences.

The popular culture in the United States greatly reinforces the myth of aviation, but at the same time the image of the pilot as an individual with personal needs. ''Star Wars'' movie series, in which the figure of the pilot stands out as a superhero, can be analyzed as a biblical text about the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil and the desire to survive with the help of God - "the force". There are Jewish scholars who challenge the ideological separation between popular culture and religious life and link episodes in the saga to Jewish religion and history. The saga allows for a local critical discussion of various issues, such as feminism and gender, government and minorities, psyche and personality, quality of life and environment and more. "Star Wars" also has practical importance for Israel militarily, as synonymous with space warfare and as a source for learning military strategies.

Feature films about the fighter pilot in the State of Israel

Compared to the extensive place that the Air Force has in Israeli society and the many books written about it, few feature films have been made in the country about the subject of the fighter pilot. In the few films made in the State of Israel, the icon gradually became from national to personal, and in the meantime he is also exposed to social criticism.

The film "Sinaia" (1961) is a unique feature film in Israeli cinema, the plot of which takes place during Kadesh operation. It star is an Israeli fighter pilot, Yiftach Spector, who was loaned to a film from the Air Force and later became one of its top pilots and commanders. The film was made while he was still a young pilot. It is generally based on a real event. Spector plays himself as an Israeli pilot, whose Mister jet crashed near a Bedouin encampment in Sinai. He manages to take control of an Egyptian Piper plane, fixes it in a tent and takes off with the wounded Bedouin baby Sinaia and her mother. The plane crashes and the pilot dies. Sinia survives and is picked up by another Israeli officer, who was left to wait for rescue. Spector's character adds a mythological dimension to the film, as he plays the character of the legendary Sabre.

Early feature films, such as "Sinaia" and "Eight after One" (1964), perpetuate the fighter pilot myth as a local superhero. The later films are more critical. There are Israeli aviation films that use this myth to present criticism of national policy, or self-criticism of the character of the personal pilot as a superhero. In feature films such as "Way of the Eagle" (1990) and "Armand's Kites" (2011), the protagonist pilot character is subject to self-criticism and external criticism.

An example from the recent period is the film "Adventure in the Sky" (2019), which combines computerized visual content scenes. An aviation-loving boy and girl find scraps of an antique Air Force "Messerschmidt" plane. They decide to renovate the plane and fly it in the Independence Day demonstration. Throughout the film one can find a close affinity with the First Air Force Fighter Squadron, but comedic antagonistic sub-characters, who display the arrogance sometimes identified with the pilot profession, manage to maintain the critical character.

Between the character of the pilot as a national hero and the criticism of him lies the private personality. The Israeli fighter pilot walks on a taut rope, which is intertwined with both his profession and his conscience. The result, for the most part, sharpens self-criticism, which is also a key tool in his ability to improve performance, as part of the "best air force in the world."

The film "Every Bastard is a King" (1968)

The discussion of the values ​​of the pilot character rises another step in Uri Zohar's feature film "Every Bastard is a King" (1968), for which the script was written by Eli Tavor and produced by Avraham Deshe. The film was a huge success. The film is dedicated to the IDF forces that operated during the Six Day War. It is a hybrid, as it include long documentary footage. Hybridity is also an artistic means of illustrating the main message of the film, as will be described below. It is a film that can be fully understood and analyzed as an aviation film, as the protagonist represents the character of the pilot as a superhero, even though he is a private pilot, acting for personal motives. The film tells the true story of Abie Nathan and his peace flight.

The film consists of three plots naratives: The first deals with the peace pilot Rafi Cohen (Oded Kotler) whose character is modeled after Abie Natan. The second deals with the character of his driver Yehoram (Yehoram Gaon) who becomes a brave warrior in the war. The third deals with an American journalist, Roy Hemings (William Berger), who came to cover the upcoming war with his wife Eileen (Pierre Angeli).

Abie Nathan, a restaurant owner and peace activist, took off privately on a light private plane to Egypt in February 1966, in an attempt to talk to Nasser. The film gives his flight a human and representative meaning that goes beyond its historical impact. He is crowned as an alternate superhero pilot. A key sentence at the end of the film is: "If you want to live - you must learn to fly".

The film begins with a small convoy of cars, in which Yehoram is driving the leading car, with Rafi sitting next to him. Along with them in the car is the widow Eileen. They drive to the airport in Lod. The convoy pass between the planes, parking and loading onto a large passenger plane a coffin wrapped in the United States flag, in which lie Roy Hemings' dead body. At that time, the airport and air transport were considered another expression of Israeli air superiority. The scene herald the reality of today, where flying in passenger planes has become massy and tedious.

Then begins the chronological narrative, which opens with a description recorded by Roy, of the situation in the country on the eve of the war: ''Israel is a systematic and messy collection of paradoxes, which somehow have some logic, which can not be explained. Everything you say about the Israelis is the opposite''. His words are heard against the background of a picture of a gleaming El Al plane taking off with its coffin.

The mystical-religious dimension is integrated, with Rafi leading seven demonstrators, who are marching to Jerusalem for peace. They tell Roy that if the politicians did not bring peace, maybe Rafi will succeed. Yehoram says that Rafi's courage stems from despair. He once saved Rafi's life at a rooftop party, where he walked on the railing to impress a girl and almost fell into an abyss. The story is told against the background of a flashback scene, of Yehoram the paratrooper and his friends jumping from a large military plane. Yehoram says that parachuting is the best thing in the world, but getting off the plane is scary.

Hemings reveals the aspirations of the collective war of the Arabs. You can see in the flashback the incident where Rafi walked on the roof railing, told again by Rafi himself, to Eileen with whom he develops an affair. Rafi has an instinct for self-destruction. He may be interested in being a "sacrifing savior''. Even the  mental dialectic, the culmination of which is the idea of ​​love, is incapable of solving his problems.

Hemings resents that Yehoram took a female soldier as a hitchhiker, but Yehoram says he is "free as a bird" and works to live. Hemings repeats the sentence as he records the experiences of the day. The romantic entanglement expands in Yehoram's event with Eileen.

Roy gets a phone call from Rafi, who wants to talk to him about a return flight to Egypt. Rafi tells Roy that he is flying not because of what he is, which is meaningless to him, but despite who he is.

Rafi tells Roy about the flight to Egypt. The flight scenes appears in full: preparations for takeoff, flight, spontaneous reactions in public. For a moment, Hemings and Rafi return to a disco hall. Hemings is trying to understand the incident as a "miracle''. Rafi answers him that if he wants to understand, "he must fly''. Afterwards scenes are: Landing in El Arish, Egyptian soldiers surround Rafi who says he wants to talk to Nasser about peace, a conversation with the local Egyptian governor about the rights of the people of Israel over the Land of Israel, the flight back to Tel Aviv, the welcome reception, mass and imaginary in part, to a hero carried on hands.

After the conversation between Roy and Rafi, we hear from the disco hall a radio announcer, who tells about a village where a dragon threatens its inhabitants. Out of nowhere a hero arrives with the aim of killing him and succeeds using a paper sword. In a tragic turn, the villagers kill the hero, as they no longer need him. The real "hero journey" is not done by someone who aspires to be a hero, but is shaped in retrospect by the masses.

Yehoram receives a military draft order. The war begins, with lengthy documentary scenes, which perpetuate the historical events, even though they seem seemingly irrelevant to the plot. The tanks go into action, in a battle scene of occupying Rafah. A small bird standing on a branch shaking in the wind is combined between this sections. The plot soundtrack is replaced by voices from the military radio instruments. The scenes of the charging tanks are combined with the scenes of the fighting and wounded warriors and especially with the heroic story of the warrior Yossi, which is the dramatic climax of the film. Although the air force does not appear in the war scenes, this does not detract from its triumphant aura.

At the end of the film, at six after the war, Roy accidentally walks to a minefield. Despite Rafi's warnings, he steps on a mine and is killed. Before his death, Rafi's sentence resonates in his mind: '' Do you want to understand? Fly''. Then his early recording from the beginning of the film about the paradoxical situation in Israel is heard again. Is is heard against the background of the passenger plane taking off with the coffin. In the last scene, Yehoram and Rafi say goodbye to each other in the terminal.

"Every Bastard is a King" puts a mirror in front of Israeli society on the eve of the Six Day War. It present a fascinating correlation between the spirit of the period and the character of the individual pilot. The film explore aerial consciousness versus aerial awareness. The first state of consciousness is that of Rafi, who sees in aviation the appearance of everything. The second is that of Roy, who sees aviation as a non-binding awareness. Yehoram presents the critical intermediate figure.

At the same time, the film explores two types of dialectics: horizontal and vertical. The horizontal dialectic seeks, out of an existential habit for what is on the surface, the earthly. The vertical dialectic strives, from a line of ideological assumptions, upwards, to the sublime. There are scenes in the film that highlight the gap between the two types of dialectics. For example, Eileen, who has no true national identity, has relationships with the three men. The personal scenes can also be defined as "prelimimary" and show an indistinguishable duration. In contrast, the aviation and war scenes are "symbolic", as they present awareness and order.

The film create a deconstruction of the Israeli reality. It dismantles and challenges the structural structure on which the state is based. The film glorify the aviation myth, which allows each person independent spiritual clarity, regardless of the stereotype of the knighty fighter pilot.

George Lucas and the Star Wars movies series

Throughout his life George Lucas had a number of major interests in addition to cinema: anthropology, politics, history, mythology, adventure stories and speed. He connected all of this to liberation from the conventions typical of the Sixties and to liberation from gravity in outer space. He began to convert into space fantasy concepts and symbols he had planned to use in "Apocalypse Now" [1979], a protest film about the Vietnam War, which was eventually created by his partner Francis Ford Coppola.

Lucas imagined a large technological and fascist space empire haunting a small group of freedom fighters. He began by a two-page handwritten idea, telling the story of a revered Jedi warrior, as told by his apprentice. A more advanced ten-page script, entitled "Star Wars," dated May 1973, is based on Akira Kurosawa's film, ''The Hidden Fortress'' (1958). This film had a huge impact on him. Lucas had no basic plot, and he used the bond that appears in this film between the samurai and his apprentice. Kurosawa also influenced him visually, through duels in swords, epic battle scenes and quick editing. The martial arts of the Jedi in "Star Wars" led to a wave of film productions with superheroes in this category in the 1980s, for example "American Ninja" (1985) produced by Menachem Golan.

Throughout 1973 and 1974, Lucas worked on the script, writing and living most of the time alone. He tried to create a classic genre picture of an adventure movie. As a result he sought to connect to the collective unconscious that exists in legends. Among the scholars who influenced him were Bruno Bettelheim and Carlos Castaneda, but the most important was Joseph Campbell.

Lucas completed the rough draft in May 1974. It is a wide-ranging story, featuring many elements that will appear in subsequent drafts: the Jedi vs. the Sith, two lovable robots, Princess Lia, Han Solo. But nothing is yet in its final form. Lucas finished the first draft in July 1974.

The initial script version Lucas wrote includes many scenes with maneuvers of spaceships battles. He wanted to sell the script to the studios, but did not know how to visually illustrate it to them. The solution was to hire artists who created illustrations and production models, which would provide a basis for budget estimates. The artist chosen, in November 1974, was Ralph Macquarie, a former illustrator at Boeing. Macquarie painted a series of eye-catching drawings of stars, spaceships, characters and scenes, in collaboration with Lucas. Later, along with other illustrators, the first drawings for the visual product known today evolved. In this way, the script and the characters also developed.

The ''Star Wars'' movie series is mostly based on the pattern of superheroes in the stories of mythology. As part of this film series, nine sequels have been released, which constitute the canon of the series as a feature epic. The first film in the series, "New Hope", was released in 1977. The last, "The Rise of Skywalker", was released in late 2019. 

The series gained unprecedented popularity. So important was the series at the time that the National Museum of Aviation and Space in Washington dedicated a special exhibition to it, showcasing the mythical message of Luke Skywalker's "Hero's Journey."

There are three main factors for the initial success of the ''Star Wars'' series: a. The structure of the narrative. George Lucas and his fellow creators of the series have been influenced by many sources of inspiration. Prominent among them was Joseph Campbell and his book on the theory of monomyth. B. The order of magnitude of the epic. Today we are inundated with similar, high-budget science fiction films and blockbusters. At the time of the production of the first trilogy in the "Star Wars" series, no similar productions had yet been made. C. "Star Wars" was a product of its time, the mid-1970s. It resonated with the spirit of the time. It touched on the anxieties and tensions of the public consciousness at that time and in particular on the issues of the Cold War and the Vietnam War. 

The series was regarded as redefining cinema, as it create an imaginary universe rich in details. It is known in almost every home in the world and has gained millions of devout fans, including at the level of religious believers, who see it as a modern expression of the biblical struggle between good and evil.

The nine-film canon consists of three trilogies, which represent the parts of the human psyche and its development, according to id, ego, super ego. The Disney company, which acquired the franchise for the brand from Lucas, also develops it through anthology films, complexes in theme parks, TV series, animated series, computer games, books, comic books, clothing and toys. In this way the brand reaches every person in the most appropriate way, according to the latest branding and marketing approaches and the plan for the future is to continue to develop it intensively.

Prof. Joseph Campbell is considered a world expert in mythology and follower of Carl Jung. Campbell researched and found that in all cultures of the world there are myths with the same characteristics, all of which together can be called "monomyth". His books have been a major source of inspiration for George Lucas. His main book is "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". This book presents the constant characteristics of the superhero character, which are preserved behind its many incarnations in different cultures and periods.

The ''Star Wars'' movie series is based entirely on this concept. The films include a gallery of archetypal characters typical of the world of mythology, such as the superhero, the mentor, the distressed young lady, the trickster, the evil hero, the omnipotent magician, the binary duo, the extended family of close friends and more. At the same time, the superhero goes through in the films of the series a journey, known in terminology as "The Hero's Journey. This journey includes many stages of development, which are well characterized in the stories of superheroes from all cultures.

George Lucas spoke at a conference in honor of Professor George Campbell in 1985, to which Campbell responded. Much can be learned from the exchanges between them regarding the "Star Wars" series. 

Lucas told the conference that about ten years ago he intended to write a screenplay for a children's film and had an idea to create a modern fairy tale. This is despite the opposition of his friends, who thought he should do something more important and socially relevant. Lucas began research and writing and a year passed without progressing, then he encountered the book ""The Hero with a Thousand Faces '', read it and began to focus. He found in this study parallels to his intuitive writing and answers to many questions that came to his mind. He continued reading Campbell's books and at the same time writing the script, in a process that lasted several years and ended in a script of hundreds of pages.

Campbell replied in his speech that he had not seen movies for many years, as he was engrossed in research. He came as a blank page to the estate of Lucas, who invited him to be a guest and watch the three first films. He was thrilled with admiration. Lucas was in his eyes a man who understood the use of metaphor. The lack of use of metaphors was in his eyes a built-in weakness of American art. What he saw were things that were in his books, but were presented in terms of a modern problem, which is man and the machine: Is the machine going to serve human life, or is it going to be the master and dictate. The definition of "machine" also includes the totalitarian state, whether fascist or communist and also includes things that happen in the United States, such as the bureaucrat phenomenon that is the man-machine.

In the twentieth century the character of the superhero was often identified with the pioneers of flying in airplanes and spaceships and a very important secondary superhero in the series is Han Solo, the photogenic and cynical pilot who is a loyal friend of Luke Skywalker, the idealistic boy who is the superhero of the series. Han's ''Millennium Falcon'' spacecraft, which has a double bow, is the fastest in the galaxy. It is the object most identified with the series, except for Luke's Light Sword. In the series complex at the Disney theme parks, the full-scale spacecraft is the main attraction.

The importance of Han Solo's character is great, as aviation is linked in the series to the superhero skills. Anakin Skywalker and his sun Luke are described as the best pilots of the galaxy, before they become Jedi warriors. Harrison Ford, who plays the character in the series, has earned superstar status and played the role of other fictional heroes in cinema, including Indiana Jones. Along with the rough identity of the cowboy-pilot character, Han is also undergoing a moral awakening. The process of his development into a superhero continues after his death, through his son Ben, who turns from being Darth Vader's successor into a positive character. 

A second significant connection between aviation and the "Star Wars" is the space battles, which are a key element in the series. Lucas drew inspiration for them from World War II aviation films, which he watched during the long years of writing the script versions.  A collection of aerial combats scenes in old aviation films, which he filmed and edited in a 16mm format, were an integral part of the presentation concept and later the main source for the spaceships battles scenes. The flight scenes in the series are always a spectacular show, accompanied by pyrotechnic displays of firing and spaceships crashes, which reinforce a sense of alchemical connection of the human figures with the metallic objects.

In order to produce these scenes, Lucas set up a special company to deal with the subject of special visual effects. The company is ILM (Industrial Light and Magic). Following the success of "New Hope", ILM became one of the most successful companies in the industry. All the films of the ''Star Wars'' saga were filmed by it and in addition the special visual effects of many other successful film series.

There are similarities between the ''Star Wars'' films and the Nazi aviation films on several levels: A. Emphasis on the photogenicity of the aircraft and the multiplicity of aviation scenes. B. The aviation films of the Nazi regime developed the character of a fighter pilot for propaganda purposes and in this way they also contributed to the developing of the pilot character in the "Star Wars" series. C. The wicked characters Palpatine and Darth Vader are reminiscent of Hitler and Himmler. D. The uniforms of the warriors of the evil empire are similar to the Nazi uniform and so are the mass gatherings. E. The most popular films in the Nazi regime were aviation dramas, in which the romantic scenes are between flight scences during a war and in this too they are similar to the "Star Wars" films.

The "Star Wars" saga can be analyzed as a biblical text about the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil and the desire to survive with the help of God - "the power" in trhe series. There are Jewish scholars who challenge the ideological separation between popular culture and religious life and link episodes in the saga to Jewish religion and history. The saga allows for a critical discussion of various issues, such as feminism and gender, government and minorities, psyche and personality, quality of life, environment and more. 

"Star Wars" also has practical importance for Israel. Militarily, it is synonymous with space warfare and is a source for learning military strategies. From the Israeli society point of view, the popular culture in the United States greatly reinforces the myth of aviation, but at the same time also the image of the pilot as a private person with personal doubts, which are also expressed in the Israeli feature cinema.

The pilot as a superhero in Hollywood cinema

 

Superheroes in twentieth-century popular culture in the United States

The warriors were a focal point of admiration in every generation, in their lives and deaths. Their qualities were focused on one character, who was public example and savior and took on a mythical character. A particularly revered hero is a superhero, omnipotent, with superhuman powers. Throughout history the superheroes have undergone constant processes of change, created because they belonged to the popular culture of their time, which had particular characteristic and used the technological means at its disposal. The characters of the ancient superheroes, from the Bible and Greek mythology, became knights on horses in medieval societies and pioneers of aviation and fighter and space pilots in the twentieth century. At the same time there was a development in the storytelling technique: oral, written, printed, film, digital.

As reality became more complex, the need for mythical archetypes became more important. In the process of developing the popular American hero from the traditional Western hero to the cheap press adventurer and the superhero of comic books, we find a creative response to urbanism and social change that, however, retained deep-rooted assumptions of race, masculinity, and values ​​shaped by European tradition and experience. The wild west dventure heroes have provided successive generations of readers with frameworks for coping, and ultimately for the adoption of changes, reinforced by the concepts of heroism that the white man imagined.

At each stage, the American superhero navigated the difficulties between barbarism and civilization and faced a sequence of hostile environments. The hero of the Wild West brought law and order  and at the same time prospered in the atmosphere of freedom there. The Yellow Press hero has extended this order to the farthest and darkest corners of the globe, towards legendary time and the dangers posed by urban life. The Comics magazines superhero solved the problems created by urbanism by bringing fantastic situations to familiar backgrounds, in order to create a mythical framework for modern existence.

Repetitive processing of adventures around unchanging plot formulas, has allowed American superheroes to remain relevant to the hopes and fears of each generation. 

The fictional superheroes in the colorful Comics books were very popular in the United States in the period between the two wars. Technological production constraints did not allow, until the 2000s, a convincing cinematic design of the vision necessary for presenting the Comic book superhero adventures. Around the early 2000s, with the development of computerized imaging technology, fictional superheroes became very popular in movies as well.

Knighty Fighter Pilot in the Golden Age of Hollywood Cinema

The superheroes of the comic books evolved in parallel with the character of the knighty fighter pilot, who was a product of the film industry. Cinema, as a multidisciplinary and multi-participant medium, is a place where the myth often appears, as both cinema and myth clearly appeal to as many common denominators as possible. This can explaine the large volume of films in which the myth of aviation and the pilot is prominent.

In Hollywood, three major aviation films were made between the two world wars. All three perpetuate the stereotype of the knighty fighter pilot. Dozens of imitations were made on them, including using unnecessary photographic materials. These three films are:

"Wings" (1927) - the first ever Oscar-winning film, at the first 1928 Academy Awards ceremony and the only silent feature film to win this award. The film deals with the young American fighter pilots of the First World War and features light-hearted romantic dialogues alongside dramatic aerial battle scenes. There is an impressive soundtrack of an uninterrupted Richard Wagner-style musical concerto throughout.

"Hell's Angels" (1930) - the prestigious production of billionaire Howard Hughes, the personality who is identified with the entire period, as a film producer and aircraft manufacturer. In the biographical film about him, "The Pilot" (2004) by Martin Scorsese, the individual and capitalist dimension of his character is shown, which is typical of American culture, which presented the character of the pilot in parallel to the character of the wild west hero. The plot of "Hell's Angels" is about two friends who fight as fighter pilots against the Germans, sharing love with the same girl. Long flight scenes show the bombing by airships and bombers, alongside classic air battles between fighter planes, featuring dozens of real planes. It was filmed several times, in part due to the transition to the sound film, which occurred during its production. Despite the lengthening of production and the increase in expenses it became profitable.

"Dawn Patrol" (1938) - a film that is unique in that the emphasis is not on the romantic and chivalrous pilot character, but on the many sacrifices demanded by the air front. The stars of the film, in the roles of senior pilots, were David Niven and Errol Flynn. The argument between them in the film about the necessity of sacrifice has a meaning that goes beyond the scope of the film: the pilots, as the superheroes of the skies, also have the highest moral authority to decide the fate of the tasks assigned to them.

The film industry was, from the beginning, an important source of employment for Air Force personnel around the world, after being discharged from military service. They have been integrated into this industry in all fields and levels. Film actors with civilian pilot licenses have joined the ranks of Hollywood Studios' star gallery. Well-known examples of superstars combining pilots activity are: Jimmy Stewart, Chuck Norris, Clint Eastwood, John Travolta, Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford. Their flying hobby has helped cultivate a brilliant, long-lasting and stable film career of leading protagonists roles.

Aviation and Sixties Culture

After World War II, public enthusiasm for flying in the United States helped create excessive expectations of the air force among its many supporters. Articles in the popular press praised the future guaranteed by American air supremacy. Senior military figures, radio-TV anchors, popular comic book characters like Steve Canyon and movie stars like Jimmy Stewart, played key roles in the evolving campaign. Hollywood films have provided the public imagination with moving images that have confirmed what has become the accepted wisdom: that America's security against the Soviet threat can best be guaranteed using air power, along with nuclear capability.

At the beginning of the second half of the twentieth century, humanity began to break through the boundaries of the earth towards outer space, thereby changing the worldview of humankind. In the international arena, there was a significant escalation in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, as part of the "balance of terror" of intercontinental missiles carrying atomic warheads. At the same time, a civilian space race was held, beginning with the launch of the "Sputnik" into space by the USSR and culminating in the Apollo 11 spacecraft from the United States, in which the first man landed on the moon.

Most of the manned spacecraft pilots, for example Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong, came from a fighter pilot background. In this way, the important place in the media occupied by the fighter pilot was naturally filled by the spacecraft pilot after World War II. The missile and the spacecraft became a major theme of "The Electronic Tribal Fire," which is a popular nickname for the television with the few channels of the period.

It was a period dominated by a limited number of secret politicians and generals, in which the fear of an atomic surprise war was a tangible fear that was also reflected in the horror science fiction films of the period and the ''Film Noir'' genre. The sense of irrationality of the arms race has spread among young people in every corner of the globe. It created the postmodern society, which is based on alienation, despair and skepticism towards the establishment, while at the same time relying only on the self and the search for an alternative culture.

The Vietnam War was a clear hallmark of the period. Hundreds of thousands of young Americans were sent to a country in Southeast Asia to fight for a corrupt regime and many of these young people sacrificed their lives there. The war took place while it was known in advance, as early as the early 1960s, that it could not be defeated in the way it was conducted. The war was waged in a limited way by the United States, without full military force, with extensive use of aircraft and without success in the ground. The Americans used helicopters to transport forces, carried out field attacks using fighter jets and carried out strategic bombings using heavy bombers. A new central battlefield was the aircraft against the surface-to-air missiles, in which for the first time secret unmanned aircraft were also used extensively.

As the Cold War and the Vietnam War continued, criticism about the connection between aviation, government and the media began to appear in film and television. The images of heroism and patriotism have been replaced by satire, with films such as "Dr. Strangelove" (1964), "Catch 22" (1970) and the TV series "MASH".

Most of all the 1960s decade is remembered  thanks to the permissive youth culture that developed in North America and Europe, also known as the "Flower Children" culture. This culture, pacifist and anti-capitalist, rejected the values ​​of the parent generation and publicity. The "Sixties" became a term used to describe the counterculture and the revolution in social norms in dress, music, drugs, art, social customs, feminism and more, which characterized the decade and their considerable influence continues to this day.

One of the manifestations of the youth protests in the Sixties was the independent cinema, created outside the big studios, which were perceived as part of the outdated political system. These studios at the time created low-quality commercial films. A new generation of creators aspired to create films that will express their world. Their skills brought them to Hollywood and they changed the method in it. Independent cinema began to penetrate the heart of corporate Hollywood, creating the "new Hollywood," through directors like Martin Scorsese, Francis Coppola, Brian de Palma, Robert Altman, Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg and others.

George Lucas, an aviation film buff, belonged to this group of creators. He, too, was given relative freedom of action to create his original cinematic works, which were popular and profitable.

In 1976, the United States celebrated the 200th anniversary of its independence. At the time, Lucas conceived the ''Star Wars'' film series, which offered, starting in 1977, a compromising cinematic alternative in the field of aerospace and aviation.

Nazi pilot and filmmaker Hans Bertram

Hans Bertram is the third in the Nazi regime, after Ernest Udet and Carl Ritter, who combined a career as a fighter pilot with a film career. Bertram was born in 1906 in Germany. In the early 1920s he learned to fly and became a professional pilot. From 1927 he was an aviation consultant to the Chinese government and was involved in the establishment of its maritime aviation service.

"Flight to Hell" Adventure - In April 1928, about a year after Charles Lindbergh's historic flight from New York to Paris, a German Yonkers W-33 sea plane crossed the Atlantic Ocean from east to west for the first time and the German pilots recieved a victory parade in New York. A few weeks later, elections were held in Germany, in which the Nazi Party won, for the first time, 12 seats in parliament.

About four years later, on February 29, 1932, pilot Hans Bertram and mechanic Adolf Klausmann set out from the German city of Cologne to fly around the world on the same airplane model. For about ten weeks they successfully flew east. On 15 May 1932, they left Timur, with the aim of making the first overnight flight to Australia. They made a mistake in navigating, landing hundreds of miles west of their original destination. They also made a mistake on their way back, moving even further away from civilization. They struggled to survive in various ways and were eventually rescued after 52 days, forty of them without food. The search for them made headlines in the international press of the time.

After recovering, Bertram returned to the airplane, continued on a flight across Australia and from there returned flying it to Germany. Hitler came to power on January 30, 1933, and established his rule until about Easter 1933, the date on which Bertram landed back in Berlin, where he was welcomed as a hero.

Bertram wrote his experiences in a book called "Flight to Hell," which became a bestseller with millions of copies and is been sold successfully even today. The name of the book is reminiscent of Howard Hughes' movie ''Hell's Angels" (1930). In 1987 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced a mini-series based on the book.

In 1934, Bertram joined the Nazi Party, writing screenplays and directing films. At the same time he continued to serve as a Luftwaffe pilot.

Overseas Adventure Films - Documentary travel films were a popular genre in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. Apparently it was a genre that documents an authentic journey abroad to obtain scientific information. The hero in these films is a lone wolf, often a pilot, who fight bravely to document with the camera invaluable scientific information. In fact, his expedition presented the fighting values ​​of strength, determination and sacrifice. He fought to bring valuable treasures to the homeland. Using the camera in analogy to the pstol, the filmmaker captured potential areas for the new living space.

In addition to documentaries, feature films whose themes are adventures abroad were a vital part of all the movie genres prevalent in Nazi Germany. They provided the audience with a sense of partnership on research trips to faraway lands, along with a partnership in building the empire, without having to leave home. These films accounted for about 10 percent of all films produced in 1933, and close to 20 percent in 1939. These films dealt with fundamental questions of society, including: the attitude of the Aryan race towards others, the sense of community and loyalty to its members, the need for resources, building a German home in a distant land, dealing with sexuality in a women-free environment and more. Their common combination of a strong sense of realism and propaganda, along with a tragic ending, established the "Heimat" emotion, the longing for the pure German home. They justified the Germans sense of ownership of land in the "living space".

"Women to the Golden Mountain" (1938), for which Hans Bertram wrote the script, was a typical overseas adventure film. The film is about a group of gold miners on a remote mountain in Australia, who invite wives by mail. The women adapt well, but a heart-to-heart fight creates a confrontation between two men, which ends in the killing of one of them by his friend, who is a former pilot. The pilot flees the scene, but returns with an airplane to locate his friends, after the state lost contact with them following a sandstorm.

Hans Bertram's Aviation Films - Bertram's work in the adventures  genre formed the basis for his subsequent war films, which dealt with the lives of young pilots, from the beginning of their training at the Luftwaffe until their participation in the war. The films feature young members of the Nazi party, who face distance from home, and demonstrate their independence and skills, along with their masculinity.

"Baptism of Fire'' (1940) is a documentary by Hans Bertram. The film shows precisely how the Luftwaffe destroys Polish communications facilities and airfields and provides close air support to ground forces in their rapid movement. The announcer tells viewers that "the young Luftwaffe is ready to fight and destroy like a sword in the sky, ready for battle, determined for war and will destroy anyone who tries to sabotage peace in Europe." The film ends with Goering's speech: ''These very impressive pictures bring home, to the German people, the great impact of the campaign in Poland and especially the part of our Luftwaffe, who has carried out combat missions for future generations. We owe to the Luftwaffe, in particular, the contribution to the defeat and destruction of the enemy… ''. "Baptism of Fire" was very effective as intimidation propaganda and was screened at German embassies across Europe, in front of a local invited audience.

''D III 88'' (1939) is a war-propaganda aviation film by Bertram, whose plot deals with two fellow pilots in a seaplanes squadron, who compete with each other in the air and are suspended from flying. They nevertheless embark on an emergency flight in which they manage to discover the enemy fleet, but land in the sea and their plane capsizes. To look for them, the veteran squadron sergeant leaves, in a fighter airplane left over from the First World War, whose serial number is the name of the film. The aviation myth is particularly prominent in this scenes. A halo of mystical fog surrounds the ancient plane, which is stored in a separate hangar as a museum item. On the wall hang pictures of the pilots who flew in it and died. A long flashback scene describe the plane's last flight. The plane was kept intact thanks to its pilot, who became a "sacrificing savior". The film was a huge success and was recommended by the Nazi critics.

"Bombers Wing Lutzau" (1941) is a Nazi war and propaganda film by Bertram. The film is popular sequel to "D III 88", with the same participants. The plot deals with life long airplanes crews career, during the First World War, the Spanish Civil War and their experiences in a time of peace. They have to prove themselves during the attack on Poland and then the wing performs missions on the Western Front and against England.

During 1941, Hans Bertram's fighter airplane was shot down in Libya. He was captured and sent, apparently, to a POW camp in Australia.

In all, Bertram wrote the screenplays for 10 films completed between 1938 and 1985 and directed six films. In the early 1950s he set up an aerial photography company in Germany. He died in 1993 in Munich.

Superheroes and pilots in the Nazi film industry

Given the large number of aviation films, it is surprising that the connection between "cinema, aviation, nationalism and myth" has been so little explored. The connections between them exist from the first films made in the early twentieth century. Hollywood has made more movies in this genre than in any other country. Similar processes have taken place around the world. They created an icon of the "Knighty Fighter Pilot", a stereotype that influences popular culture to this day. Early genre films described aviation as a golden age of progress and the pilot as a romantic and chivalrous character.

During World War I, some fighter pilots, who were the most successful, were soon promoted and became media icons of heroism, warriors who swept the national spirit in war. This phenomenon was particularly prominent in Germany, in the form of the pilots of the "Flying Circus" and their commander Richthofen. They have become a national symbol, with a presence in cinema and print and in all circles of society. 

The memory of the First World War was constructed through the myth of their war experience. They created legitimacy to change the picture of true deadly reality. The main image engraved in the collective memory of this war, to this day, was largely created through motion pictures about them.

The cinema between the two wars took advantage of the fears of an aerial bombardment in the next great war. At the same time, cinema during this period used the pilot and the aircraft for nationalist propaganda, which showed achievements in the subject as the spearhead of the national technological initiative. Across the world, record-breaking flights have made pilots celebrities. Across the world and in Nazi Germany in particular, the aviation industry has become a major economic, military and social component, which has found wide and varied expression in cinema as well.

Aviation propaganda films were more important in countries where national pride was hit as a result of the war, and they were defeated or furious. Technological progress was seen as proof of recovery and superiority. In Germany, the heroic status of the air crew, the rapid expansion of gliding and flight ventures, the growth of commercial aviation and the success of the national company Lufthansa, all testified to the popularity and public support on the subject.

Aviation and cinema were integrated into the popular culture that influenced the Weimar Republic. Films such as "The Money" (1928) and "Woman on the Moon" (1929) combine in their plots the atmosphere of prosperity created by the new aviation records and the pursuit of money, which was typical of the period before the Great Depression.

During the 1920s, the rapid development of airplanes began to gradually offer more practical insights than other kinds of aircraft. 

Flight and pilot were significant metaphors for the mythical modernity of Italian fascism and German Nazism. The biographies of Gabriel D'Anoncio and Herman Goering established the connection between the war experience and the hyper-masculine culture of the 1920s and 1930s. They had supreme feelings of racism, similar to those of right-wing groups at the time.

The linguistic symbols and metaphors associated with aviation discourse, its perception and interpretation, are many and the sources that can be relied on in this context are numerous. They include important cultural events, artwork, books, magazines, propaganda products and more. It was not the aviation itself, but the connections, not the pilot per se, but the concepts involved, that were the focus of attention. The manifestations of aviation in the regime were not only direct. They were also indirect. They served as a means of revolutionary liberation from the burden of the past.

The social agenda, which has been the focus of attention in fascist regimes, is clarified through the narrative of aviation heroes and through the vision of the new man that fascism has tried to make a reality through an anthropological revolution. The protagonists were models and prototypes that citizens were required to use in order to shape their lives. The norms and values ​​that the media published, as embodied in those heroes, permeated the social reality. The world was understood according to their register.

The whole of Nazi Germany served as a backdrop for the regime of air consciousness. During the 1930s, well-timed aerial displays attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators each. Many streets were named after aviation heroes from the First World War, such as Richthofen, Bolke and Emelman. Many radio programs included content on the subject. Schools had compulsory education on the subject and aviation served as an educational lever in many fields.

Hermann Goering, Hitler's deputy who was formerly the successor to Richthofen and became Germany's most popular politician, declared: "We must be a pilots nation''. He declared his commitment not only to training of many military pilots, but also to assimilate and nurture the moral values ​​of aviation, which were self-sacrifice and service to the national community. Through a special ministry, the Nazis took full control of all activities on the subject and began the establishment of the Luftwaffe.

In Nazi Germany, fictional superheroes, such as in the American Comics books, were not popular. Its cinematic superheroes historical and military figures like Frederick the Great, Bismarck and Richthofen, together with figures from German pagan mythology, like the protagonists of Wagner's operas.

The fighter pilot as a superhero in Nazi cinema was part of the social system created by the regime. He was not endowed with superpowers, but was able to perform with his comrades national missions that included self-sacrifice. His character was defined by the Nazi philosopher Ernest Junger as a popular warrior forged at the front and returned to citizenship, in order to instill in it the purifying values ​​of war. 

In Nazi Germany, three fighter pilots who turned to the film industry stood out:

Ernest Udet from "The Flying Circus", who became a stunt pilot and in some filmsin the early 1930s, where he played the character of the daring pilot who rescues survivors trapped in the snow. He became the protégé of Herman Goering and a senior general in the new aviation industry.

Karl Ritter, a fighter pilot and flight instructor of Udet's generation, who belonged to the inner circle of Nazi fanatics. He became the senior and most prolific filmmaker in Nazi Germany, specializing in the creation of aviation and propaganda films.

Hans Bertram was a famous adventurer who wrote a bestseller about survival. He was also a fighter pilot and filmmaker, who made aviation films, especially at the beginning of World War II.

Beginning in the early 1940s, Following the Luftwaffe's chain of failures, Germany focused on developing a new generation of revolutionary aerial weapons, such as the jet airplane and the ballistic missile. At the same time UFA, the nationalized Nazi film industry led by Goebbels, began the production of wide-screen epic and colorful films, which were in line with technological developments in this industry.

This is how the colored movie "Baron Munchausen" was created. It was the only one whose protagonist is similar to the protagonists of the comics books. Munchausen in this movie is a serious and photogenic superhero. His imaginative flying experience is central to the plot: he flies on a cannon ball, reaches the moon in a hot air balloon, passes through time dimentions and more. 

The film was a huge production and had great success. It was released in March 1943, as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the UFA. It was, by coincidence, about a month after the German defeat at Stalingrad. As part of the conspiracy of silence that surrounded German society, in which many issues were not discussed in public, it also became an allusion to the existence of "wonder weapons".

When a film is an aviation film?

When a film is in aviation genre is a question that the many films created about airplanes and pilots make it possible to answer, by sorting and comparing them to films from other genres. The critical impression, from any cinematic or artistic work of any kind, creates a flood of connections. In order to absorb their influence, one must patiently look for their inclinations towards a particular meaning. Aviation films are characterized as clearly glorifying the myth of aviation, through many flight scenes and meaning in their plot.

The various cinematic theories make it possible to show how the aviation myth is presented in different ways. These theories evolved from each other, in chronological and structural synergy and the subject of aviation can be placed in any of them:

Realism - Aviation is certainly a practical reality. At the beginning of its cinematic documentation, the actual videos uninterpretedly reflected the events. But very quickly they moved from a statement of facts to a systematic presentation of ideas. As early as 1909, through carefully worded titles and by focusing on selected images, the filmmakers were able to create a conceptual image. For example, the victims the air conquest claimed. In this way they exaggerated the dramatic and dangerous dimension of the flight and as a result delegated the character of the pilot to the rank of a hero, a man who is constantly endangering his life.

Formalism - The aviation films are formalistic. According to the formalist conception, photogenicity, or aesthetic quality imparted to photographed objects, is a consequence of how the object is presented using the means of expression of the film and does not depend on the essence of the object or its hidden qualities. Photogenicity evokes the emotional, aesthetic mode of cognition that allows for direct knowledge of the world. In every aviation film created, the various aircraft models, of all types and in all their vehicles, star on the screen and get a long viewing time and a large screen space, in dramatic close-ups of their photogenic parts, in medium shots showing their integration with the crew and long shots showing them pass like rulers over the landscape.

Structuralism - Structuralism expresses in cinema the most distinctive features of aviation, in a way that effectively makes it the undisputed ruler of the silver screen in the competition for the conquest of the viewer's heart. The aircraft is a product with an ideological connection, is in a natural relationship with the government and is designed to serve it. A national decision-making system has turned the aircraft into a basic myth, which is processed into diverse by-products of iconic archetypes, which are in daily use in popular media and popular culture, thirsty for definitions that place man in the right place in social role-playing. In the aviation films, the air crews are in the first circle, the ground crews in the second and the home front in the third circle.

Ideology - Some dictatorial regimes were based on "aerial consciousness", which saw in aviation the appearance of the nation, and led to the creation of films in this genre that emphasize the importance of the nation. In democratic societies, on the other hand, the aviation myth exist within the framework of "aerial awareness", which addresses the individual, operating in the free market economy.

Gender - In aviation movies the viewers are mostly young men, who feel deprived for various reasons. The aviation films and the character of the knightly fighter pilot in particular, were from the beginning also a kind of male counter-reaction to the movement for equal rights for women, which challenged patriarchal society.

Psychology - The cinematic dream industry is founded on psychological principles. Flight scenes replace the stage of shifting in a dream, which is the transfer of attention to a secondary subject. These scenes incorporate the subject of aviation in the plot inseparably. Spectacular aerial passages, which come in the time of turning points in the plot, are meant to be used in these films as a plot power amplifier and they also act as additional dream elements. Many movies start and end with flight scenes, which explain everything without detailing. A study conducted among children showed that when they are given, while playing video, the abilities of superheroes with aviation skills, their desire to help others increases.

According to Lacan, man's initial sense of identity is based on a complete and continuous illusory reflection of himself, which is bigger then him. This unrealistic reflection places the child in a fictional, unbridgeable direction. Lacan likens this initial sense of identity to Freud's "ideal self." Man is constantly in transition between two basic types of consciousness. In the pre-stage he is in the "imaginary" consciousness, which is characterized by the perception of the environment as an indistinguishable duration. In the second stage there is a transition to awareness and a symbolic order of cognition. The focus of the film viewer's identification is the camera's point of view and movement. By moving the camera, the film shift the viewer's point of view in space and time. When the camera movements are combined with aviation scenes, the separation between the pre-stage and the symbolic stage can be overcome. The viewing experience become also a flight experience for the viewer. Gravity, which is identified with the vertical dimension, is negated in the imaginary perspective.

The airplane replaced the human eye as early as World War I, when sophisticated aereial cameras began to provide sharp images of the surface. As photography and editing technologies became more advanced, it was possible to create scenes in cinema in which the pilot performs spectacular actions with the aircraft, that were perceived as pure imagination amplifier. Through the various latest technologies, the connection between the human pilot and the imaginary superheroes is strengthened.

The close connection between aviation, cinema and superheroes

The high mountains landscapes are, from the dawn of mankind, the origin of the religious, the mystical, the symbolic and the daring, embodied in the vertical dimension. Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai and the Temple was built on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Cinema also dealt with the subject, for example in Steven Spielberg's film " Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977), about a positive encounter with intelligent aliens at the top of a lonely mountain. The Star Wars series was created in this spirit: it deals with a supernatural force, simply called the "force", which is activated in the arena of starships flying between stars in distant galaxies.

Spiritual flight is a central symbol of the human spirit and its freedom. The aerial dimension provides general and important guidelines for ascent, growth, and purification. These guidelines must be considered as basic principles in psychology that can be called the "ascension psychology." The binary pair "Daedalus and Icarus" is one of the most important myths in the canon of Western literature. Countless books for children and youth, from Peter Pan to Baron Munchausen, all use the flight experience to create the most magical works of literature we know. A best-selling book in the 1970s was the book "Jonathan Livingstone the Seagull", which described the initiation journey that a brave little seagull goes through, striving to break away from the flock that binds his spirit and fly independently to new districts.

The airplane is a means of transportation that allows physical movement of people and goods from place to place, while overcoming all physical obstacles. It created a complete change in the balance of power between the nations. There is a chronological connection between developments in this field and important historical events in the modern era: the hot air balloon, invented in 1783, was immediately and enthusiastically adopted by the public as the noble symbol of education , elevation and elation. It revolutionized many fields and the French Revolution occurred 6 years after its invention. World War I broke out in 1914, about ten years after the first flight in 1903. World War II began in 1939, following Hitler's  ''the golden age of aviation'' and his ''aviation policy''. Aviation pioneers were icons of human spirit and freedom around the world. As the military and practical importance of aviation became clear, it became the center of national interest and action.

The importance of aviation in popular culture is great. The philosopical book "Air and Dreams" describes the alchemical synthesis between practical aviation and the mental flight experience, inspired by books such of St. Exupery. The book "The Passion for the Wings: Aviation and Imagination in Western Culture" shows that the invention of the airplane was the fulfillment of an ancient human fantasy, which captured the imagination of intellectuals and helped shape a new image of the world. According to the book "Dictatorship of Air: Aviation Culture and the Fate of Modern Russia", the original experience created among the citizens of Russia at the beginning of this era was a national-religious experience and the airplane became a symbol of progress that covered failures in other areas. The flight pioneers became the superheroes of their time in popular culture. At the end of the 19th century, gliding pioneer Otto Lilienthal became a cultural hero, through his many flight photographs flying gliders, which appeared in the print press. The airship, invented by Count Zeppelin at the time, became one of the most well-known icons in popular culture, and contributed greatly to the development of aerial photography.

Aviation and cinema grew together during the twentieth century, from infancy, through rapid growth, to maturity. While Hollywood studio actors and executives learned the art of filmmaking, the aircraft industry and pilots learned how to conquer the sky. In peace and war, prosperity and depression, aviation and cinema became big part of the popular culture. The relationship was symbiotic. While aviation movies helped sell box office tickets, the movies helped promote aviation. Movie fans and aviation enthusiasts have found a common ground in a fascinating cinematic genre. The films told the story of the flight, from the first piston engines planes, through the jets, to the spacecraft.

The ''golden age of aviation'' and the ''golden age of cinema'' are two identical nicknames, created separately, for the same period, between the two world wars in the twentieth century. Cinema has strengthened the image of aviation, and filmmakers have mobilized public opinion in favor of aviation. Aviation and cinema developed at the same rate and dramatically, and both quickly established themselves as the most exciting and popular form of leisure and activity, while becoming an incredibly effective channel for disseminating ideas, attitudes and qualities that society deserves to preserve.

Aviation and cinema were developed in close contact, technically, personally and publicly, by people of similar character. One result of this exciting connection was the many fatal plane crashes during filming of stunts pilots. The human connection contributed greatly to the design of the character of the "Knight Fighter Pilot" in cinema. In this way, of personal interpretation, the essay also contributed to shaping public opinion about significant events, and in particular about World War I, which was commemorated from the point of view of former fighter pilots who moved into the film industry.

The first feature film, "Flight to the Moon" (1902), was an aviation fiction, and its protagonists can be defined as imaginary "superheroes''. The first flight of the Wright Brothers plane took place one year later, in 1903, and the brothers became cultural heroes. Cinematic news diaries contributed to this. Through them the aviation pioneers recieved the aura of superheroes, after performing epic flights. This was also widely expressed in feature cinema, which was developed rapidly after the First World War. The first Oscar-winning film for Best Picture was the silent aviation film "Wings" (1927), with its dramatic musical soundtrack.

The cultural, personal, national and international identity has been greatly strengthened, through the combined development of aviation and cinema, in the United States, Britain, Germany and in fact all the modern countries in the world. The article "Fast Couples: Technology, Gender and Modernity in Britain and Germany During the 1930s" reviews this phenomenon. Cinema films and diaries between the two world wars were very popular. The connection between the aerial spectacle and the cinematic spectacle excited the masses and led to the creation of the celebrity phenomenon, led by Charles Lindbergh, who ignited the imagination of the masses in his time. He was crowned "All-American Hero", a pioneer and groundbreaker. Despite his desire to present the flight as a technical achievement, created by many factors, the crowd celebrated the combination of the individual and the machine, without paying attention to the conflict that might arise between them.

The ''Star Wars'' series and the character of the pilot as a superhero

Aviation was identified from its earliest days with spiritual flight and similarly became an archetypal symbol of human spirit and freedom. At the same time, due to its military and practical importance, it is at the center of national interest and action. It has become a top-notch public attention center. That is why there is a close connection between it and cinema.

Between the two world wars of the twentieth century, the golden age of aviation coincided with the golden age of cinema. Cinema has evolved just as rapidly and dramatically as flight. Both soon established themselves as the most exciting and popular form of leisure and activity and in the process became an incredibly effective channel for disseminating ideas.

The focal point of the film viewer's identification is not the plot or the actors, but the point of view of the camera and its movement. When this movement is combined with aviation scenes, the dichotomy that separates in consciousness between the pre-stage and the symbolic stage in the process of identification can be overcome. Gravity is eliminated in the imagination and the viewer is allowed to recreate the pleasure of forming the initial identity.

The social agenda, which has been the focus of attention in fascist regimes, is clarified through the narrative of aviation heroes combined with the vision of the supreme man that fascism has tried to realize through an anthropological revolution. The protagonists were models and prototypes, whom the citizens were required to use in order to shape their lives.

Aviation films in Germany immortalized, for propaganda purposes, the figure of the pilot as a national hero even during the First World War. During the Weimar Republic, the genre of "mountain films" was common. It was exclusive to Germany and in them the alpine climbing activity was presented as a forging, with the character of a cult, which over the years became more symbolic and nationalistic. In the later films of the series, the fascist context is created through the combination of the famous stunt pilot Ernest Udet as a daring pilot rescuing trapped climbers in the snow. Fghter pilot Karl Ritter, of Udet's generation, became a senior filmmaker in Nazi Germany, specializing in making feature-length feature films that showcased the photogenicity of the aircraft, the heroism of the popular pilot and the social complex of aviation.

Hans Bertram was also a fighter pilot and filmmaker in the Nazi regime, following his predecessors, especially during World War II. Before becoming a Nazi, Bertram made a journey, which became a best-selling book he wrote. The journey took place after his plane, trying to circumnavigate the globe, accidentally landed in a remote part of northern Australia and its survival story made headlines in the world press. The campaign took place during the year the Nazis came to power and Hitler turned Germany into a dictatorship, with Hermann Goering as his deputy.

In Nazi Germany, the character of the pilot in cinema was fixed in the national context. In the United States, the pilot aura developed as an individual hero, in the spirit of the Western man. One of the manifestations of the youth protests in the United States in the 1960s was independent cinema, which was created outside the framework of Hollywood studios, which at the time were producing content-poor commercial films. A new generation of creators aspired to create films that would express their world. Their skills brought them to the studios. Young artists, including George Lucas, were given relative freedom of action to create their original works, which became popular and profitable.

George Lucas was greatly inspired by the air battles films of World War II. For years he watched these films and collected the air battles in them. After his first successes in Hollywood he turned to fulfilling his dream and creating an aviation fiction film based on these excerpts. The film became the ''Star Wars'' film series, which is the most successful in the history of cinema and has a great influence on popular culture. An analysis of the ''Star Wars'' films shows that they are aviation films, both in terms of the multiplicity of aviation scenes and in terms of their importance to the plot.

There are three main factors, in addition to the aviation component, that contributed to the initial success of the "Star Wars" series:

A. The structure of the narrative. George Lucas and his co-creators of the series have been influenced by many sources of inspiration. Prominent among them was Joseph Campbell and his book on the theory of monomyth - the unity of myths in different cultures.

B. The order of magnitude of the epic. Today we are inundated with similar, high-budget science fiction films and blockbusters. At the time of the production of the first trilogy in the "Star Wars" series, no similar productions had yet been made.

third. "Star Wars" was a product of its time, in the mid-1970s, and it resonated with the spirit of the time. It touched on the anxieties and tensions of the public consciousness at that time and in particular on the issues of the Cold War and the Vietnam War.

The ''Star Wars'' series is based on the pattern of superheroes in mythology stories. Adventure heroes have over the generations provided frameworks for coping and embracing change, reinforced by the concepts of heroism. As reality became more complex, the need for mythical archetypes became more important. In the development process, the popular American protagonist went from the traditional Western protagonist to the cheap press adventurer, to the superhero of comic books and to the cinematic superhero.

As part of this film series, nine sequels have been released, which constitute the canon of the series as a film epic. The first film in the series, "New Hope", was released in 1977. The last film, "The Rise of Skywalker", was released in late 2019. The series gained unprecedented popularity. The importance of the series was so great at the time that the National Museum of Aviation and Space in Washington dedicated a special exhibition to it, which presented the mythical message of Luke Skywalker's "Hero's Journey."

Lucas has set up a special company, ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), to deal with the issue of special visual effects. Following the success of "New Hope", ILM became one of the most successful companies in the industry. All the films of the ''Star Wars'' saga were filmed in it and in addition the special visual effects of many other successful film series were filmed in it.

In the transition from one generation to the next, there were many children who inherited the series from their parents and for them the episodes trilogy 1,2,3 was also created. But the younger generation could have also opted for films that mimicked the series, with more precise adjustments for them. The most important of these films were "Lord of the Rings", "Spider-Man", "Batman" and "The Avengers" series.

Because in the twentieth century the character of the superhero was identified with the pioneers of flying in airplanes and spaceships, a very important secondary superhero in the ''Star Wars'' series is Han Solo, the pilot who is a loyal friend of Luke Skywalker the main superhero. The pilot character was played in the series by superstar Harrison Ford.

The importance of Solo's character is great, as aviation is related in the series to the superhero skills as the best pilot and also because Ben Solo, Han's rebellious son, is the main character in the series starting with episode 7. Ben is Ray's partner, the Jedi knight who makes a female "hero journey" in the last trilogy and she brings back Ben to the good side.

In the few aviation films created in the State of Israel, the pilot icon gradually became subject to criticism. The State of Israel depends on aviation for its internaional transporation and on the Air Force for deterrence and defense from enemy threats. As a result, the "best air force in the world" saga developed in it. The Israeli Air Force gradually intensified until the Six Day War in 1967. During this war, the Israeli Air Force defeated the air forces of the Arab armies within hours and was a key factor in the victory. The myth of the fighter pilot as a superhero reached its peak after the war, thanks in part to documentaries and feature films about the war, which were integrated into the atmosphere of victory.

In 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, the Air Force managed to maintain a clean sky and air superiority, but its pilots also became a "sacrificing savior" and the erosion of their image as superheroes was great. The rehabilitation of the pilot image was done following a few lone operations such as the attack on the atomic reactor in Iraq, which were well documented in the media. Despite this, the Israeli pilot icon continued to gradually erode, as the army is no longer a top value in Israeli society and is allowed to be criticized.

Compared to the extensive place that aviation has in society and the media in Israel, there have been few feature films on the subject over the years. The first perpetuate the fighter pilot myth as a local superhero and the last criticize it. In the middle stands out the film "Every Bastard is a King", which is unique in that it de-constructs the character of the pilot as a national hero and turns him into a personal character.

Nowadays unmanned aerial vehicles take up space very quickly and the sky become as dense as the ground. Moreover, the UAVs made the ground war unnecessary in the eyes of many. Therefore, the great importance of the myth of aviation and of the character of the pilot as a superhero in popular culture, remains. This is an essential part of the dialogue between man and technology, which become more complicated as automation takes over our lives.

The ability to present, in this dialogue, human figures with stages of human development according to a psychological-mythological formula, is unique to the "Star Wars" series. The Disney company, which owns the franchise for the series, is thus fortifying its position as the leading creator in the world of aviation films and of the pilot figure in popular culture.