The Symbolism Behind Learning to Fly in Film

What man or woman hasn’t dreamt of flying? I could imagine that almost no one.

Flight has been one of humanity’s oldest dreams, ever since we saw birds fly or we gazed at the moon & stars above us.

Even though we have found ways to fly in real life with the help of technology, like with planes, jetpacks, gliders, or else, the fact is that only a few have the luxury to experience some sort of flight besides the one of air travel through a plane.

However, in Film, the possibilities of how flight can be achieved are endless. In real life, we aren’t actually built to fly, have unlimited tech, or superpowers, but if literature and film have taught us something, is that if you can dream about it, you can translate it into a story. The writers’ only limitation it’s their own imagination (thanks to coming to my inspirational Ted Talk).

Flight has become a useful & powerful tool in storytelling, whether it’s used to reach unreachable locations, allow a character to gain a new ability or weapon, or simply as a way to allow the viewer to gaze at the screen with wonder as a magical scene featuring flight comes up. However, the most powerful way to incorporate it is by aligning it into a character’s arc in a meaningful way.

Flight can be embedded in many ways into any character’s development, and learning to fly is probably the most common & effective way to incorporate it in a satisfying manner.

Check our article on how to write great & meaningful character arcs by clicking here.

Mastering a New Ability

Mastering an ability is no easy feat, and for this reason, acquiring a new one has always been a storytelling tool that allows the writer to pave the way for his characters to grow & be better prepared for the challenges ahead of them.

Training montages are very common in films. It’s a way of allowing a character to work his way through a challenge, grow and become something more in a short period of screen time. If done right, mastering a new ability isn’t always about the body, but will also be accompanied by a moral lesson or a reinforcement in the character’s values that will guide him through the climax of the story & his eventual realization.

As with many other possible abilities, Learning to Fly fits this trope, as it shares many of the characteristics behind the purpose of learning a new power, a new spell, or becoming better at doing something. However, Learning to Fly is still an individual concept that has key differentiators that allows it to stand out & even become a more thrilling experience for the viewer & the character itself.

There are always exceptions to this, and some flight scenes aren’t even as impactful. It’s always specific to the situation of the character, how he achieves flight, and most importantly the writer’s intentions for the scene. Learning to Fly may be used as something that the character needs to work for, or just as a gimmick that will allow the characters to reach a new world, or even something less meaningful. So reading the context within the scene is always key.

However, most of the time, Learning to Fly actually means something to the character in question that has more complex layers of meaning behind the ability itself.

Learning to Fly

Learning to Fly defines a character. There’s always a very definitive ‘before’ & ‘after’ in the character’s life after he learns to fly. It’s always a huge milestone or breakthrough for the character.

Learning to Fly allows a character to transform fear into strength as he or she achieves the impossible. Whether it’s a confidence boost, a new friendship, a new ability, or all of the above, the character will always win something in this liberating experience.

Not all scenes will fit this exact template, but the underlying themes in most, match in the most important ways. While speaking within the context of the overarching plot, a character can learn to fly as a way to gain a new ability that will become important later on in the film, allowing the character to follow his or her journey of growth, like with Daenerys in Game of Thrones & Harry in The Prisoner of Azkaban, or it can become a way for the character to reach the climax of the story and complete his or her character arc, like with Kiki in Kiki’s Delivery Service and with Woody & Buzz in Toy Story.

To better grasp the concept, let’s breakdown two of my favorite Learning to Fly scenes: Toothless & Hiccup’s Test Drive & Superman’s Flight in Man of Steel.

Let’s talk first about Hiccup’s Test Drive and then see how Superman’s training to learn to fly compares and contrasts with it.

Hiccup’s Test Drive in How To Train Your Dragon

Hiccup is a Viking in a Dragon-killing tribe, but he’s always been different. He doesn’t fit in with his tribe’s expectations of what a Viking should be, so he has always been seen as the courageless wimp. Little they know, Hiccup simply has a different kind of courage: that of a dragon rider that respects life.

The film challenges Hiccup with the help of Toothless as they forge an inseparable bond as they start to trust one another, and finally realize how much each of them needs the other. Watching Hiccup & Toothless develop from being a frightened duo to becoming even bolder and more courageous than the Vikings of Berk, is a satisfying tale of overcoming insecurity. The moment that helped the most to build their trust, courage & friendship, was indeed the scene in which they learn to fly.

Before the flight scene, there are actually various scenes & montages where Hiccup befriends Toothless and starts to slowly gain his trust. He uses his intelligence & smith’s abilities to invent himself out the problem as it’s his fault that Toothless became injured and lost the ability to properly fly.

He realizes that the only possible solution at the time, is to create a mechanism in which he controls the prostetic tail wing and thus, drive Toothless, allowing him to recover the ability to fly. They try out the mechanisms and practice in safer environments, until the time arrives in which they feel confident about achieving real flight.

Here’s when the real thrill comes to play. The song ‘Test Drive’ by John Powell starts to play as Hiccup & Toothless start to awkwardly practice the different positions of the mechanisms & slowly reach a level of confidence in which they want to try more difficult tasks.

Then, all of a sudden, when emotion is at its most positive level yet, control is lost and the real test begins. Hiccup & Toothless are free falling to what could be their demise until they regain a level of control. However, time is still ticking for an eventual crash that may happen if they don’t correct course. At the last moment, Hiccup ditches the manual and trusts in his instinct and the most heroic moment of the sequence arrives as Powell’s superb score reaches its most powerful & emotive section, and Hiccup & Toothless master the ability of flight.

This scene is pivotal in Hiccup’s character’s deveolpent as is this very moment where he ends up forging a very strong friendship with Toothless & renewing his courage as the better Viking.

Superman Learning to Fly in Man of Steel

On the other hand, we have Man of Steel, which features Superman on his journey to discover who he really is & thus, his powers. At the beginning of the story, you meet a man that’s in total hiding in the form of a nomad, who, as Hiccup, hasn’t been able to embrace who he really is and find his place in the world.

We obviously know that Superman is capable of flight, but in Man of Steel, he still doesn’t. He just knows that he has an unknown unlimited power. So, in searching for clues about his roots, he discovers an old Kryptonian ship, which he uses to plug the “Kryptonian USB” that was in the ship he arrived to Earth, only to discover that it had his father’s consciousness in it.

Jor-El starts explaining Krypton’s doom to Kal-El and during a very motivational speech with Hans Zimmer’s wonderful score behind it, he introduces the Superman Suit. The next scene is a thrilling moment powered up by Zimmer’s Flight’ in which Superman, wearing the suit for the first time ever, attempts to test his limits while being pumped up by Jor-El’s words and the recent discovery about why he has powers.

Again, we see him, try and reach new hights, only to stumble and fail. Only then, Superman prepares himself again, but know with a calmer mind and thus, control. This time, he pushes his limits and masters the power to fly as he travels the world in a very cinematic sequence.

Finding Courage Through Flight

If you look closely, both scenes follow the same sequence of stages: Discovery/Preparedness, Testing the new abilities, Failing, & Heroic Achievement.

Even though Superman’s ability is internal, while Hiccup’s external, as he depends on Toothless for being able to fly, both moments function in the same way, defining a new chapter in both of their lives and injecting them with a confidence boost that we as an audience had never seen in them during the course of their respective films.

Before, Hiccup & Superman were lost souls in desperate need of finding meaning. But after Learning to Fly, each one made a definitive step in their development. Hiccup forged an unbreakable bond with his dragon Toothless, as both became one, elevating their trust & confidence. He finally found his courage as he thought that sparing Toothless was an act of cowardness, when in fact was the complete opposite. Superman on the other hand, had a more personal discovery, as through flight and finding about his roots, he was finally able to feel as himself and become the hero he had born to become.

With this definitive ‘before & after’, Learning to Fly has allowed Superman & Hiccup to embody a new self; or more accurately their true selves. Mastering this ability has now prepared them for the challenges that will soon follow suit & succesfully complete their arcs.

The Magic of Flight

You may be saying, “But hey, many characters experience the same type of growth you exemplified with Hiccup & Superman when they master other abilities; not only with flight.” And to you, I say yes, you are correct. However, there’s a key aspect that makes Learning to Fly stand out from other training montages: and that’s the magic of flight.

The fact is that we have been dreaming of flight since the old ages of mythology and legends. Almost every culture or religion has some sort of creature, tool, or beast that has the power of flight or that allows a person to do so either by celestial means or by literally giving them wings. This only strengthens the thought that we humans have an innate desire to achieve that possibility.

This subconscious desire allows us to feel a different rush inside our bodies when flight is featured in a film. We project ourselves with the character that’s flying as we channel our emotions through him or her, empowering the thrill that a flying scene is able to evoke.

Add this to the fact that scenes like this ones are almost always accompanied by a magical score and some breathtaking views, and you create an emotive atmosphere for the audience to fully enjoy the scene, as both them and the character, disconnect from their harsher reality and ride along in the beauty behind the magic of flight.

Flying in film is heroic & mesmerizing. It opens a world of possibilities that liberates the character and allows him to explore a new reality.

That’s the wish rooted in our deepest desires: The freedom that flying concedes to whoever can do so. A sense of fulfillment and liberation that only the magical ability of flight can conceive us in our happiest dreams.