One of my favorite Martin Scorsese movies is The Aviator. Honestly, it hovers in my top three, and I love how unabashed it is, embracing both the time period and the psychosis that took over the man.
The reason I like it so much is that I am always learning new things about the movie or noticing new details.
In fact, just today, I was scrolling Reddit and saw this post about the skeleton shot that happens in the Congress hearings scene.
But what the heck does it mean?
Let's dive in.
The Skeleton in 'The Aviator'
Okay, so what is this shot I am talking about?
Well, the "Skeleton Shot" occurs as Hughes testifies before the Senate hearing. We see flashes of cameras and Hughes being sworn in, and then an X-ray of his skeleton.
In this scene, we're unpacking who Hughes is and seeing how uncomfortable he is under the microscope, so when this is cut into Robert Richardson's excellent cinematography, we're getting Scorsese pulling the essence out of them.
We're late in the story. The Senate subpoena arrives when Hughes is at his absolute lowest point, crippled by his OCD. The very idea of leaving his germ-free "safe zone" and entering the public, unhygienic chaos of a courtroom is a fate worse than bankruptcy.
And it weighs on him significantly.
The hearing room itself is a pressure cooker. It is loud, crowded, hot, and full of flashing camera bulbs—the antithesis of Hughes's controlled environment.
But it's one where we're rooting for him to overcome his illness and stick it to the people who have tried to ruin him.
It's basically the climax of the movie.
This is where the cinematography and editing (by Thelma Schoonmaker) shift dramatically.
And where we get the theme on full display.
Thematic Significance of the Skeleton
'The Aviator'
Credit: Warner Bros.
The story of Howard Hughes is about a tortured genius whose OCD was picking him apart. It's a sickness inside himself that he could barely control, but it was also the reasoning behind his massive success, as he was able to think about the details of every project to make them work.
For me, the "Skeleton Shot" visualizes the aftermath of the fall.
We're seeing an X-ray of his frailty.
For all his money and planes, he is ultimately just a sack of bones and nerves, easily dismantled by a microscopic enemy (germs/mental illness).
The shot strips away the suit, the money, and the planes, leaving only the terrified anatomy of a man.
This is a tortured genius who is completely exposed in that moment, but who is able to overcome that exposure in order to prove that his genius can win out...but it takes an extreme response from him in order to make it work.
Summing It All Up
The "Skeleton Shot" lasts only a few seconds, but it remains one of the most terrifying images in Scorsese’s career.
It reminds the audience that while Howard Hughes was a giant of history, in the dark of that screening room, he was kind of a ghost with his mental illness haunting his own life.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
