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Afternoon, all! @JackRaoul here, back for the #FWWandPopCulture takeover. This week, I'm talking about the influence of the first air war on sci-fi.
Today, I'll explore how aerial warfare gets represented so we can examine our fictional space war favourites later in the week.
Today, I'll explore how aerial warfare gets represented so we can examine our fictional space war favourites later in the week.
Early film representations of air war were ambitious, messy collaborations between #WWI veterans and non-combatant flight enthusiasts.
First Best Picture Oscar winner Wings (1927), directed by an ex-French air service pilot, combined real-life experiences with maximised thrills.
First Best Picture Oscar winner Wings (1927), directed by an ex-French air service pilot, combined real-life experiences with maximised thrills.
This scene is a great example. Large-scale dogfights like these were rare, and most pilots would avoid head-on charges – that's a cinematographic choice.
But you can get a sense here for how 3-dimensional, spontaneous, and self-reliant aerial combat is.
But you can get a sense here for how 3-dimensional, spontaneous, and self-reliant aerial combat is.
This kind of fighting creates unique narratives, ones that #WWI pilots themselves actively curated. Post-war film, though, erased many practical or complicated components of air war. Many aces, for example, weren't flamboyant pilots – they avoided dogfights by hunting from above.
But the visual appeal of this exciting, fast-paced, multi-dimensional combat usually overrode historical accuracy. As a result, there's actually not a lot of great films about #WWI in the air! (Don't ask me about Flyboys).
It does, however, make for great science fiction.
It does, however, make for great science fiction.
In popular sci-fi TV and film, space combat is usually imagined 1 of 3 ways – as a surface naval battle, submarine war, or ship-to-ship aerial combat.
Here's a naval-type battle complete with broadsides and evasive manoeuvres in Star Trek: Discovery:
Here's a naval-type battle complete with broadsides and evasive manoeuvres in Star Trek: Discovery:
And here’s one of my favourite bits of Star Wars: The Force Awakens:
The ship-to-ship aerial combat we see here looks really similar to the WWI-style aerial combat commodified by 1920s and ‘30s cinema (down to that dramatic head-on charge).
The ship-to-ship aerial combat we see here looks really similar to the WWI-style aerial combat commodified by 1920s and ‘30s cinema (down to that dramatic head-on charge).
I'm intrigued by sci-fi's reluctance to complicate WWI-inspired fighter pilots and combat, especially when the stuff early Hollywood left out is so rich.
Is it just because it looks cooler and feels morally better than, say, bombing? Or are the associated WWI tropes important?
Is it just because it looks cooler and feels morally better than, say, bombing? Or are the associated WWI tropes important?
I'm going to be delving more into WWI aerial combat's huge, under-explored impact on sci-fi storytelling. Which parts of the first air war translate to space? Which pilots' voices do we hear? What do the Red Baron and Luke Skywalker have in common?
Tune in tomorrow to find out!
Tune in tomorrow to find out!
