[PW] Help With Scene from "The Aviator"

[DRPayne at stkate.edu]

It's been awhile since this question was posed, but I don't think that it
has been answered. I tivo'ed the movie and watched the scene a few times.
It is not entirely clear what is happening.

The scene starts with Howard Hughes in his factory, trying out a new
steering wheels (if that is the right term) for an airplane. He looks over
and sees an elderly man sweeping the floor. He has a flashback. The
flashback is unclear, but it appears to be related to the opening scene of
the movie, where Hughes is a young boy being bathed by his mother who is
lecturing him on how he is not safe (presumably from germs).

Hughes asks if the man is working for him. He is. Hughes orders his
assistant to fire the sweeper and orders that all sweeping be done with wet
brooms to help prevent lung diseases. Then Hughes has a mental break down
and starts stating over and over, "Give me all the blue prints." A similar
scene closes the movie.

My take is that Martin Scorsese wants the viewer to link the dirt from the
broom and the sweeper's hands with the flashback, with the implication that
Hughes' OCD was started by his mother and is triggered by the sight of the
dirt. Scorsese, in my take, implies that Hughes is a control freak who
believes that if he just had *all* the blue prints (i.e., not just to his
planes but to everything--even human life) he could fix
everything--including his parents' untimely death. Of course, I was an
English Lit major, prone to over analyzing this sort of stuff, so take my
interpretation for what it's worth.

If you have any more specific questions about the scene, let me know. I
still have it recorded.

I hope this is helpful.

Dave Payne
MLIS Student
The College of St. Catherine

-----project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org wrote: -----


To: <list at project-wombat.org>
From: "Shari Haber" <shaber at mcls.org>
Sent by: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
Date: 08/29/2007 04:54PM
Subject: [PW] Help With Scene from "The Aviator"

Calling All Movie Buffs-

One of my clients is wondering about a specific scene from Martin
Scorsese's "The Aviator," about Howard Hughes, and I am wondering if
anyone remembers it. (I, myself, have been trying to rent the DVD from
Blockbusters, but it is out every time I've looked for it.)

The scene takes place in Hughes' factory, where an older man is pushing
a broom. The scene shows the man's hands positioned on the broom, then
flashes to a scene of a man's fingers toggling a switch. Supposedly the
hands and/or fingers remind Hughes of something. What is it--or what is
the significance of the scene?

Thanks (in advance) for the memories!

Shari Haber
MCLS Reference Center
shaber at mcls.org

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