Holocaust and Aviation - Part I, Chapter 2 - The Importance of Aviation for Humanity

Flight is a major symbol of the human spirit and freedom. Aviation is, naturally, identified with spiritual flight. The development of aviation is at the center of human interest and action. Therefore, it can serve as a touchstone for a series of phenomena and allow for a bold, short and accurate historical explanation.

The impact of transportation in general on human existence is enormous and the impact of aviation on modern history is accordingly. The airplane is a means of transportation that provide physical movement of people and goods from place to place, overcoming all physical obstacles. This means a complete change in the balance of power between the nations. Thus the twentieth century was characterized by the most difficult wars in human history. 

There is a chronological connection between developments in the field of aviation and important historical events in the modern era: the French Revolution took place less then  ten years after the invention of the hot air balloon. World War I broke out about ten years after the flight of the first airplane. World War II began at the ''golden age of aviation'' era, in a time when the airplane was established as the only safe air transport.

The airplane is the ideal means of transportation for an isolated country. Germany is a continental country isolated by natural obstacles. It has a small navy. As a result, its colonies were small.

The airplane was imported from the United States to Germany as a technological innovation a few years after its invention. Germany was then at the beginning of its rapid industrialization process and the airplane created a strong incentive for the adoption and development of new technologies.

Germany lost in World War I, but the Germans felt betrayed. The main reason for this was their feeling that in the prestigious air campaign they were close to winning. They had better airplanes and pilots. The famous Flying Circus Squadron, of which Hermann Goering was the last commander, was very successful and popular.

The Treaty of Versailles forbade the Germans to build needed airplanes and they felt deprived of the opportunity to defend themselves and develop the economy and society. Under the guise of civilian gliding clubs that were actually military pilot schools, the Germans continued to develop their Air Force.

Philosophical thinkers and politicians linked the material need to the spiritual need. They processed the movement toward the skies into a method of action. They provided the obedient and militaristic German people with the consciousness essential to the fulfillment of the upward command.

During the Nazi regime, the process of integrating aviation into the life of the country was complete. Aviation, instead of integrating organically, has become a leader in the economy and society. Between the years 1933-1939 the number of workers in this industry grew from three thousand to two million. At its peak, during World War II, the aviation industry was about forty percent of the national budget.

Four key figures in Nazi regime were fighter pilots and also dominant in the initiative and execution of the final solution: Hitler's two deputies, Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess, who were his companions from the beginning, were professional pilots, whose skills in this field were the main lever for their personal advancement in the Nazi party. Goering and Hess were key activists in enacting and enforcing racial laws and in the chain of orders that led to the final solution. Another member of their squadron, Arthur Greiser, was one of the most prominent figures in the Nazi Party and the Third Reich Administration. As the Nazi mayor of Danzig he called for war on Poland. During the war he was governor of West Poland, making it a model for enforcing the final solution. Reinhard Heydrich was a fighter pilot, who combined a pilot career which he began at a relatively late age, with being Himmler's deputy. His most important role in the SS was being the commander of the Gestapo. He was the planner and direct commander of the Final Solution.

The scale of the aviation industry in Nazi Germany and the role of senior pilots in planning the final solution are enough to explain the rise and fall of the Third Reich and the Holocaust altogether. All the various explanations given so far for the extermination of the Jews in Europe ignore these facts.

Holocaust and Aviation - Part I, Chapter 1 - Gaston Bachelard and his book "Air and Dreams"

Like every revolution in transportation that preceded it, from the wheel to the steam locomotive, the airplane gave those who controlled it the tool to conquer the world. But unlike land and sea, which are the cradle of human activity, air is a whole new field of action and life. Mankind lacks the cultural background to relate to the imaginary flight, central to the development of the mind, in the context of practical aviation activities. 

The impact of aviation on human existence is intense, but the dialectic between spiritual flight of the soul and physical flight in aircraft is vague and destructive. The problematic connection between flight and aviation is very noticeable against the background of the Nazis' efforts to become world rulers while accelerating the development of aviation.

The famous French philosopher Gaston Bechelard [1884-1962], in his book "Air and Dreams" [1942], described the world of philosophical and psychological concepts of the experience of flight. This is done using the tools for imagination research that he developed and especially the concept of 'dynamic imagination', a concept that is valuable to anyone interested in developing his creative abilities. 

According to Bechelard, the imagination is created through some movement. The human desire is to fit into the movement and the thought is to find a way how to do it in practice. A philosopher who seeks to understand man must concentrate on the study of poets.

Bechelard pointed out the benefits of imagination as a result of union with a particular substance. A material element is a good conductor by nature, which gives continuity to the imagining soul. The world of phenomena thus offers lessons in change and preliminary movement. An object is not real, but is a good conductor of what is real. The practical end required by the organism due to the urgent need for immediate needs, also corresponds to the end of poems that take place in the body as a potential.

Every element that the physical imagination enthusiastically adopts prepares a special purification, a characteristic transcendence. Aerial purification is of the purest type. It carries on with a light dialectical refinement. The flying creature appears to be moving beyond the exact atmosphere in which it is flying. There is always room for further transcendence and the absolute is the final stage of the consciousness of freedom created in this way. The title most linked to the word ''air'' is ''free''. Natural air is free air.

The aerial phenomena are those whose stages are the most obvious and regular. They give us very important guidelines for the psychological sensations of: erection, rise, growth, ascent, flight and purification. These feelings are the basic principles of psychology that can be called: Flight Psychology.

At the heart of every mental phenomenon is a true sense of verticality. This verticality is not an empty rhetoric. It is a principle of order, a scale along which a person can experience the different degrees of his emotions. The life of the soul, all the delicate and latent emotions, the hopes and fears, the moral forces involved in our future, have a vertical differential, in the full geometric meaning of the word. Particularly prominent are the images and thoughts involved in the basic values ​​of the mind: freedom, gaiety, lightness.

Elevation, depth, rise, fall and the like, are axiomatic metaphors par excellance. Nothing explains them and they explain everything. In simpler language, if a person is interested in living them, feeling them and above all comparing them to the reality of his life, he understands that they are both of primary quality and most natural. It is impossible to express moral values ​​without reference to the vertical axis. Every nerve that shapes the body transmits verticality. The imaginary air is a mental growth hormone for man.

Because the aerial imagination affects the whole entity, then after we have reached with the help of the air so far and high, we will surely find ourselves in a state of open imagination.

Images of freedom present a problem if their various stages have not been tried one by one, and the same difficulty arises with truths delivered with the free air, or the liberating air movement. In the infinite air dimensions are erased and we come into contact with a dimensionless matter that gives us a sense of complete inner purification.

Having arrived with the help of the air so far and high, the mind is carried on uncontrollably. Eager to try the reality of the upper air, the imagination as a whole will double any impression by adding a new image to it. 

In this transformation, the imagination expresses one of its ambiguous flowers, which obscures the colors of good and evil and violates the most stable laws governed by the values ​​of humanity. The end result of this longing may be moral ambiguity.

Things are indeed growing. The tendendcy of energies, in imagination and in reality, is to progress too far. The reveries of the desire for power are the reveries of the desire to be omnipotent. Superman has no equal opponents. He is doomed, with no ability to return, to a full-fledged existence in the pantheon of legendary heroes, though he may never admit it, even to himself. It is an internal hygiene, almost as practical as the external hygiene.

Man-made aerial objects and especially airplanes, have too much attractive presence to be simply integrated into the human needs hierarchy. The airplane is easily humanized, a characteristic which is one of the most prevalent phenomena in human culture. The airplane is very similar to a bird, an angel, man spreading his hands, or flying scales. It resemble the Christian  religous cross. The Nazi armament with airplanes was also an opportunity for them to appear more human and not just  technologically advanced.

Images that seem meaningless have all the benefits to the life of the soul when their origins are revealed, beside in abstract concepts or material objects, also in the ancient legends. Folklore blends well with the images of flight. Moreover, important terrestrial images hidden within it suddenly take on wings, blossoming into new, vast meanings.

German legends collected by the Grimm brothers were a factor in the development of German nationalism in the nineteenth century. In this spirit of the Romantic period, the Germans took the legends monstrosity as model for good behavior. As a result, they embraced the Nazi regime, in a strict conspiracy of silence that enveloped the German society.

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.