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By Kane Simon Geary O'Keeffe As with almost all forms of art, film as a medium enables us to view how the world around us impacts the cultural products of any given time. From social changes to political agendas, film as art holds a mirror to many facets of society, both past and present. This mirror often allows us to look back on films that were shaped by the society of their time, permitting us to observe just how instrumental ideologies and politics are in moulding films as they are being produced. During a recent viewing of the action classic, Top Gun, I was startled to find just how poorly the film has aged as a result of it’s being a product of its time. More specifically, a direct product of president Ronald Reagan’s political and economic ideology. I was shocked to find the film, one so successful upon its release, to be one that has become, in my opinion, almost unwatchable to today’s audience. To further understand how such a highly talked about classic of action cinema has aged so poorly, I had to look back to the political climate in which the film came about. Released in the summer of 1986, Top Gun, directed by Tony Scott, was introduced to the world at the height of president Reagan’s eight year stretch as president. The America of the time was still very much engaged in a flag waving competition with Russia as a result of the ongoing Cold War. Reagan’s political ideology was one that carried with it a strong sense of patriotism, and belief in the power of the military. At the same time, his economic ideology was one that called for a sense of individualism, as long as that individualism also lined up with the beliefs of the government at that time. Each of these ideologies are exemplified perfectly within Top Gun, and can be seen most obviously as being personified by the central character, Maverick, played by a then 24 year old Tom Cruise. Maverick as a character stands for all that is good in Reagan’s America, and as such, the audience is taught to admire him. He is a handsome, charming, exciting fighter pilot. Also, he is patriotic as they come. Equally important, however, is the fact that Maverick is a rebel, not one to follow the rules. At first glance this may seem to instill a sense of individualism in the character, but upon further observation we can see that this sense of rebelliousness and arrogance in Maverick dissolves in the face of authority. This all sums up to make Maverick an archetype of Reagan’s ideal citizen. An individual, but one whose ideals line up with the beliefs and ideologies of their government. The influence of Reagan’s ideology in Top Gun is not only limited to its main character. It is also evident in the film’s imagery, and its use of semiotics to instill these ideals in the viewer. This is most easily identifiable during the film’s opening credit montage. Here the mise en scène consists of many elegant shots of aircraft taking off and being tended to by military personnel, who are shot in an equally graceful fashion. What is most notable about this sequence, however, is that all of these figures, as well as their planes, are presented in these opening shots are silhouettes. They are shown without distinguishing features. This is utilised to convey to the audience that these elegant personnel could be anybody. From the first four minutes, Top Gun is conveying to its audience the sense that “this could be you!” These shots also serve to highlight a sense of symbiosis between the person and their aircraft, further cementing these pro-military ideals. These pro-military ideals are not just limited to theory in regards to Top Gun. It is well-documented that this would become one of the first films to establish a military entertainment complex that is still very prevalent in today’s blockbuster landscape. This complex works by means of providing inexpensive access to military resources for film productions. As a result of this, the military then gains considerable influence over that film’s script, ensuring the film aligns with government policies and does not paint either the military, or the pentagon, in a negative light. As explained definitively by Robert Anderson, the Navy’s Hollywood point person, to PBS in 2006: “If you want full cooperation from the Navy, we have a considerable amount of power, because it’s our ships, it’s our cooperation, and until the script is in a form that we can approve, then the production doesn’t go forward.” Top Gun remains a landmark example of this system at work. The production crew of the film was granted unrestricted access to aircraft for only 1.8 million dollars, a meager amount considering the multi million dollar budgets of blockbuster films, 15 million dollars in this specific case. In exchange for this, the military was given a weighty influence over the script, and as such, made many changes,cementing that the film would support the dominant patriotic, pro military, Reaganist ideology of the mid 1980s. One such change was in regards to Charlie Blackwood, played by Kelly McGillis. Her character, who eventually becomes Maverick’s love interest in the film, was originally written as an airforce officer. However, due to romantic relationships between military personnel being prohibited, she was rewritten at the request of said military and was instead introduced in the film as a civilian contractor to the Navy. Other changes include the switch of Goose’s death from a mid-air collision to an ejection sequence, as the navy were unhappy with the depiction of pilots crashing. The military entertainment complex not only ensured that Top Gun would become a more direct product of Reagan’s militarist politics, but it also established a relationship between Hollywood and the Pentagon that continues today, with their continued influence seen throughout the 21st century.This has resulted in the production of relatively few anti war films, and an abundance of blockbusters that glorify the military, with examples that include films such as Black Hawk Down, the Transformers franchise, and Zero Dark Thirty. Ultimately, these ideological factors lead to Top Gun becoming a huge financial success at the time of its release. With its depiction of Reaganist ideals, the film resonated with audiences who were living amongst these ideologies at the time and ultimately earned almost 357 million dollars worldwide, the equivalent to of 816 million dollars today. This significant box office haul would be in line with today’s major studio releases, such as the blockbusters released by Marvel Studios.
This financial success is notable as the film was not particularly well received by critics. During my viewing I found that it is not difficult to see why, with the film practically bursting at the seams with cliches and tropes, not to mention it’s frustrating overuse of Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” and Kenny Loggins’ “Highway To The Danger Zone” from the movie’s soundtrack. Ultimately, I found that the central cause of Top Gun’s failure to resonate with today’s audience is that we no longer live in the period of Reaganist ideology that permeated every layer of the film. The political landscape has experienced drastic changes in the decades since the film’s release. As such, the link between the film and its audience has become disjointed, hence, the film has aged poorly in the eyes of the modern audience who simply are not imbued with the same ideals as those who first watched this action staple. While I cannot remove Top Gun from the pantheon of classic Hollywood action films, I do think that a re-evaluation is in order, as where my parents may jump in excitement at the very mention of Mr Cruise’s “Need for Speed,” I will sit back, curling in fear of the next cringeworthy piece of dialogue, or the dreaded opening notes of “Take My Breath Away” as they come to take yet another two hours of my life to thirty year-old Reagan town. I just hope the planned sequel (once again starring Cruise, as he just….does not go away) does not subject itself to the same shortcomings that have tarnished the original since its days in theaters.
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