Where was Ryan flying?

5 Comments

  • LBTM - 6 years ago

    I have a completely different take on the ending...one that I haven't found anywhere else online (yet). This poll asks if he is: A. Going to a random destination, or B. Continuing to his next job. I think the answer is C. Neither. I believe, at the moment in front of the departure screen when he drops his bag, he decides to take his own life that night. He's spent his whole life being happily alone, but when he finally finds a reason to settle down and sees the meaning in real human interaction/love, he gets destroyed. He then goes about doing great things for others - giving away his miles to his sister, writing a glowing recommendation for Anna Kendrick's character. Perhaps subconsciously, he's getting rid of what he has (because he no longer needs it) and making sure that everyone he cares about is taken care of.

    Notice what he says at the end. He basically says that everyone will be living their happy lives with their loved ones that night (clearly he is not included in that group). But if you look up, you might see the light from his wingtip "passing over." That's a very unusual choice of phrasing. He doesn't say "flying over" or "passing by," he says "passing over." It sounds very much to me along the lines of "crossing over" or "passing away." I believe that the implication is that you might see his soul ascending into the sky that night. What he is saying is a lament - he's not excited about what is about to happen that night. He's not excitedly looking forward to the random destination he'll arrive at. He's not resigned to the work he'll continue to do. He's envious of a life he never found and now desperately wants.

    Also remember that suicide is a theme throughout the movie. One woman who gets fired ends up taking her own life. George Clooney's character, despite being the one in control the whole move, ends up meeting the same fate.

    Just my opinion.

  • Taylor Butler - 6 years ago

    Not quitting his job doesn’t make it not a happy ending.

  • Harshit - 6 years ago

    he was sad. Just sad. And while he might have been writing a book, that doesn’t mean he left his job. The way he leaves the handle of his bag while looking at the flight schedules. He lived his life running away from commitments, His career of traveling is ending and a woman comes along who makes him trust in relationships again, makes him comfortable with the idea of , settling. But that woman was nowhere near where he was, in life. So he is heartbroken. Anyone would be. Ending is just him realizing that the life he chose, the frequent flyer miles and the rush of chasing a number is just not worth it. “There are ppl who will be welcomed by dogs and squealing kids” and I’ll be one of those lights which comes out of hiding every night, up in the air, in the sky.

  • Mahmoud - 13 years ago

    To us, we want to believe Ryan quit and is now on the verge of finding his "home", but his final words don't express to us exactly what he did, hence the director leaves the ending "Up in the Air", if you will. Whether he quit or is writing a book or whatever it is, the fact that Ryan has his options just flying over the clouds lets him see the light. I guess you could say he's come to a point in his life, the point he realized after he flies to Chicago, where he wants to settle. The fact that he almost lost his job, leaving him with absolutely nothing, scared him a bit, it was a 'wake up call' as he mentions to someone he fires in the movie. The interviews at the end left us with a little hope, so we can't say that the director left us with nothing. Where as the situation with Ryan, he would be out of a job with no one to come home to.
    The ending isn't about Ryan, as Reitman describes, it's about our perception, it's about our outlook, and that's what I love about this movie. Another great thing we don't see very often besides in horror flicks, the unanswerable questions. Reitman himself said he did NOT want to make THAT movie, but someone had to. Life isn't a movie, where it immediately comes together for you in the end.
    When Ryan finally drops down from the air, it would be nice to have someone to comfort him in the end.

  • CAT Brown - 14 years ago

    He was definitely headed for another destination because he was writing a book about the business he was in and how it affected the people he laid off and him too. Remember at the very end, there were interviews with some of the people he had let go. Well, I believe these were follow-up interviews for the book he was starting. The ending where the tip of the airplane wing was shown, included the words of the opening lines of his book. Pretty clear to me. People shouldn't be so cynical. People do change!!

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