Seif Eldin Mustafa, the Egyptian man who hijacked a plane for reasons unknown, has been described by an official from country’s Foreign Ministry as “not a terrorist, he’s an idiot”. Ouch!
Hijacking is, of course, no laughing matter, and Mustafa won’t be treated as lightly by his government as he has been by the Twitterati. Meanwhile, the incident proves that airports and airplanes are breeding grounds for strange thoughts and actions. There is something about the airport itself, which is usually at a distance from the nearest urban centre and a mini-universe with its own internal logic. Strange people of all races and persuasions lurk at airports, as is evident from the opening sequence of Jacques Tati’s masterpiece Playtime (1967), in which a Frenchman runs into an American tourist several times over the course of a day.
Airports are places where movie lovers reunite just minutes before the plane is to take off. Hindi films used to stage such tearful meetings at train stations, but the airport seems a hipper place for a climactic hug. The device has been used in romances such as Dil, Chalte Chalte, Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, and Katti Batti, but in this clip from Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na (2008), Imran Khan goes full throttle to prevent his lady love (Genelia D’Souza) from flying away forever.
The strangeness continues after movie characters have boarded the aircraft. Perhaps there is something about the cabin pressure, the forced intimacy caused by the lack of leg and elbow room, and the distance from the ground that makes air people behave in bizarre ways. Exhibit A: the Hollywood spoof Airplane! (1980), about a man with a fear of flying who is forced to land the aircraft he is in when the pilots get incapacitated.
Exhibit B: Pedro Almodovar’s bawdy I’m So Excited! (2013), in which a stewardess drugs the Economy section passengers, thereby swelling the members of the mile-high club.
Despite the risks associated with flying and the increasing possibility of being held hostage by a terrorist group or a crazed lone pilot or passenger, air travel is a preferred way to travel, and not only for its efficiency. The thrills of being airborne are perfectly depicted in the first Walt Disney animated film to feature Mickey Mouse. Plane Crazy (1928) features Mickey and Minnie Mouse in an adventure almost worthy of their hero, the pioneering aviator Charles Lindbergh.