MovieChat Forums > Sukai kurora (2008) Discussion > The Teacher's airplane

The Teacher's airplane

posted 14 years ago by Uniphikus
8 replies | jump to latest

Just about the only thing I enjoyed about his film were the airplanes. I found it interesting that The Teacher's airplane bore remarkable semblance to the P-51 Mustang, a common symbol of America's involvement in WWII and usually one that carries positive connotations.
It would appear that the Japanese have a different view of our beloved and heroic Mustang as whoever designed the planes for this film seemed to have taken a P-51 and given it characteristics more suited for a 'bad guy's' airplane.
*shrug*

"Day man! Ah-ah-ahhhhh! Fighter of the Night Man! Ah-ah-ahhhhh!"

[–] andrewwjohnson 14 years ago

..............Their is some obvious national bias in the choice of aircraft. The Sky Crawler's fighter planes are almost exact replicas of the J7W1 Shinden which was being developed by the Japanese toward the end of the Second World War. It had a pusher prop, swept wings and canard stabilizers toward the front. There were plans to replace piston engine with a jet................The "aggressor" fighters were based on the North American P 51 Mustang.............The "aggressor" heavy flying wing bombers were based on the Northrop YB 49 from the late forties. In real life a number of prop and later jet prototypes were built. problems with hendling and doomed the program. Most of the planes were scraped.
True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.

[–] yuuretsu 14 years ago

I have to chuckle at the notion of the Mustang being called "beloved and heroic". Aren't we a little over the top with patriotism?

First of all, there are no good guys or bad guys in the Sky Crawlers world. It's two corporations fighting each other.
Also, Teacher isn't a "bad guy", he's just an ace pilot. In fact he's the protagonist of the Sky Crawlers videogame for the Wii, which is the prequel of the game.

Anyway, if you play the game you get a better look at all the planes and no, the plane that Teacher flies (named named Skily D) has really very little to do with the Mustang.
It's design is inspired by one of the late Spitfires XIX with contra-rotating double propellers, with the wings of the spitfire replaced with those of a Corsair.

A plane similar to the mustang does appear in the Sky Crawlers game as another Lautern fighter codenamed "Tulip", which differs just for a few details and the shape of the wings that has a slight gullwing angle.

--
Abriael's gaming blog:
http://classygamer.blogspot.com/

[–] Guardia 14 years ago

Even if that is so, there are countless American made films with equal distortions about the Japanese. Let 'em have that one.

Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.

[–] RbSnedlap 14 years ago

A P-51?
Not realy, its more an amalgamation of a lot of different types.
It has features consisent with a late model Spitfire, Late Me-109 (mainly the nose-mounted cannon and ammunition blisters), He 100, Fw 190D, He 112, Mig 3 and probably a lot of other mid to late 1940`s fighters.
About the only thing that seems "P-51" to me is the all-metal finish.
One interesting point is that the markings it carries are, with the exception of the personal "cheetah" logo based on British WWII era practice and that theme seems to carry over in to the markings and camoflage of all the "enemy company" fighters.
And on a slightly different note, isn`t it a little odd that all the "kildren" have Japanese names and are presumably intended to be Japanese when the war zone they are fighting in is in Europe.
Is it possible that all those Kildren of European origin get sent to war zones in Asia or Africa?

"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan.""

[–] Glucojel 13 years ago

Oh please. It looks nothing like a P-51. If anything I'd say it looks most like a british Hawker Sea Fury, with maybe a few bits and bobs from a KI-84 Hayate.

If you really think the closest it gets is to a Mustang, then you need to broaden your aircraft horizons beyond the borders of the US.

And fast, buddy.

[–] oxymoron_02 13 years ago

Late reply but I would also disagree with the post two above this one that states "... Europe... Asian". It was no map of Europe or Asia that I've ever seen. I got the strong impression that this was not just an alternative reality but a completely different Earth.

_ _ _ _ _
Ravished By The Sheer Implausibility Of That Last Statement (Cultural reference)

[–] RbSnedlap 13 years ago

Late reply but I would also disagree with the post two above this one that states "... Europe... Asian". It was no map of Europe or Asia that I've ever seen. I got the strong impression that this was not just an alternative reality but a completely different Earth.

Try looking a bit more closely.
You can see a map which shows geographical features of Western Europe with the British Isles, The Black Sea, Norway and so on being clearly visible on a wall in Suito`s office.
Some of the newspapers seen also have maps with recognisable features.
What isn`t so clear is whether the political borders in any way match those of our world.
What I find interesting in the Japanese subtitled version is the way the language spoken shifts from Japanese (Rostock Employees between themselves), Standard English with a Japanese accent (in the air), English with British accents (in the country surrounding the airbase) and Polish (when they move temporaraly to another base near `the new city` which looks suspiciously like Warsaw).
Dosn`t this building look a bit familiar?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:074_Palace_of_Culture.jpg
It`s presence in the film suggests that this worlds history is identical to ours untill round about 1945.

"Any plan that involves losing your hat is a BAD plan.""

[–] haewatein 13 years ago

Yeah, heroic, sooooooo heroic!

*tapping on shoulder*

You can be proud of yourself now and the plane. Very heroic plane! You two deserve a medal of honor for changing the world.

_
SEUL CONTRE TOUS
www.myspace.com/anzycpethian
www.pbase.com/anzycpethian