Poyntz, Stuart. “‘The Way of the Future’ – Probing The Aviator for Historical Understanding.” (2007)

Stuart Poyntz examines the ways in which The Aviator (2004) provides opportunities to develop students’ historical thinking due to the film’s unresolved contradictions. Poyntz focuses on films not just as accounts of the past, but as traces of the past with a sociocultural construction of the present. He argues that The Aviator, the life story of Howard Hughes, may provide an opportunity for teachers and students to explore the issues that promote democracy through emphasizing themes central to America’s national identity.