Week 1: Top Gun

Dear Avid Reader,

Let's get one thing straight...I'm not gonna recount the movie. So go watch it or this whole project goes up in smoke before we get a chance to start. Ill wait....No. No I won't. I'm starting right now. Here's why Top Gun is awesome.

(Sidebar: Actually, after I wrote this intro, I kind of ended up recounting the movie.)

The Need For Speed

The movie has two speeds: Highway To The Danger Zone (HDZ) and Take My Breath Away (TMB). Did you notice that the movie actually uses these two songs to do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to scoring the movie? The typical movie convention is to use a pop song once and if you have a scene that has a similar feeling, use a different song. Top Gun defies this convention and uses HDZ and TMB again and again to paint with the EXACT SAME emotional color.

Nevermind that Take My Breath Away is the worst song ever. I mean it's just the worst. I don't care that it won a Grammy and an Oscar. It's awful. And Top Gun in turn doesn't care that I hate TMB. It needs TMB like Rothko needs red. No breaks, not rest. Turning and returning to some secret place inside.

The return to these songs reinforces the story of Maverick. When the movie isn't in a airplane scene, the pace is slow, real slow. And by contrast the dogfights are very fast. This allows the viewer to better understand Maverick's worldview. When he isn't in the air, everything feel less urgent. Nothing can match the adrenaline of flying. Even the love scene is slow, passionless. To Maverick even sex is less thrilling than flying.

Flying Against A Ghost

Top Gun is a movie about men struggling to cope with the expectations on them to perform, particularly in a traditional family. At the beginning of the movie Cougar is driven nearly mad with the thought that he might die, that he might "orphan" his child. The fear that he might fail as a father crushes his ability to perform at all. The terror overtakes him and in turn fulfills the prophecy that he will fail.

Goose handles his responsibility by pushing it on to Maverick. He "can't afford to blow this" but it is not Goose that must change, it is Maverick. During the chastisement of Maverick's recklessness and it is revealed that it is the welfare Goose's family that must be considered. In this conversation, Goose effectively moves the responsibility of fatherhood onto Maverick. Maverick is no longer to "fly against a ghost" as that makes Goose "nervous". It seems the person Goose wants to be nervous about his family isn't Goose, it's Maverick.

While we're talking about Maverick and Goose, let's start looking closer at this relationship. The most common interpretation if Goose/Maverick is Goose as "ultimate wingman" to super-star Maverick. I think there is something happening beneath the surface. Goose is not the friend he appears to be. I mean doesn't he try to sabotage Maverick's date with Charlie? One wonders who decided to have a volleyball game right before the date. Maverick surely would have told Goose that he finally got the date with Charlie. Perhaps Goose, feeling that his hold over Maverick was threatened, played into Maverick's competitive nature by setting up a little game, a game with his arch-rival, Iceman. There's no way he could back down from the challenge to show-up the Salieri to his Mozart. And then, when Maverick remembers himself and tries to leave, it is Goose that approaches him and asks him to stay. "I need to take care of some things", maverick reminds Goose while attempting to keep the relationship a secret from bystanders. But Goose implores him to stay. And why should he stay? "For me," says Goose. Some wingman.

Checks Your Body Can't Cash

Throughout the movie other characters are laying responsibility on Maverick as well. And it seems to me that Maverick gets conflicting views about what he is expected to do. When Cougar has trouble landing his plane, Maverick goes back in the air to rescue him. But then he is chewed out by his CO for being reckless. Iceman wonders if Maverick abandoned his wingman to investigate the MIG but Charlie will do anything to get more information about the rare enemy airplane sighting. What should he have done exactly? Maverick breaks the rules by going below the training hard deck only after Jester uses the hard deck unfairly to avoid being attacked. Shouldn't Jester also be reprimanded? He is accused of leaving Hollywood defenseless to pursue Viper, but why couldn't Hollywood take care of Jester on his own? Is Maverick being unfairly blamed for Hollywood's failure? Maverick, like the typical modern man, is lost on what the "right" thing to do is.

In the classroom, Maverick is singled out and dressed down for making maneuvers that are too risky. However, Slider secretly tells Maverick that his moves are "gutsy". Early in the movie, Viper claims to like arrogance/brashness in his pilots, but in the class, he doesn't seem to appreciate the aggressiveness of Maverick's flying. Charlie likewise recants and tells Maverick that his flying is "genius". Maverick is caught in the classic pitfall of education. While Fightertown may be the home of the best flying school, it looks like it still teaches to the high stakes test, asking its students to not learn but rather repeat back the answers it wants to hear. This is why a consummate rule follower like Iceman is able to excel. The apple polishers always do.

Right Up Until The Part Where You Get Killed

All of these swirling responsibilities come to a head in HOP 31. The evening before, we glimpse how Maverick's acting out is the product of a dysfunctional relationship with Goose. We learn Goose has betrayed his friendship with Maverick when Carol reveals embarrassing secrets of Maverick's love life to Charlie. In this way, Goose controls both sides of the Maverick equation. He enjoy Maverick's exploits, tempting him into more and more danger (i.e. sleeping with an Admiral's daughter, having sex in a public bar) but he can also make Maverick feel the shame of those actions by telling his wife the details of the antics who looks on them as foolish, even harmless.

Upon closer examination, we see that Goose has become the father figure that Maverick lacks, and also Carol his mother. in the shower scene after HOP 19 (Viper shoots down Maverick) Maverick explains to a disappointed Goose that it will never happen again. Goose coldly replies that he "knows". This emotional distance is obviously a ploy by Goose to control Maverick by withholding his affections until Maverick performs adequately.

Realizing that Charlie may become a threat to their control over Maverick, Carol invites Charlie into the family by stating that Maverick is in love with her. By doing this, Carol implies that Maverick is incapable of figuring this out for himself, or at least that he lacks the ability to articulate it. To her, Maverick is a child, not a man. The family then adorns a Rockwell-ian mask of normalcy by gathering around the piano to sing.

Later that night Charlie repeats the line "Take me to bed or lose me forever" as a sign that she wants to emulate Carol. Perhaps she sees that acting like Carol is the only way Maverick will love her, or maybe she want to replace Carol as the dominate female in the family. At any rate, by becoming Carol, Charlie allows Maverick to give in to his oedipal fantasies. This scene, and it's underlying subtexts, I feel aptly reflects the complicatied relationship between the private defense industry and the military.

No Points For Second Place

HOP 31 begins ordinarily enough but quickly changes. Iceman attempts to quell his impotent rage by finally breaking a rule and cutting off Maverick while in pursuit of a target. Iceman is unable to complete the task of firing upon his target as he is not used to flying in such an unorthodox manner. With his plan to be more like innovative Maverick backfiring and he disengages causing Maverick's plane to go out of control by catching him in his jet wash. This leads to Goose dying during the emergency ejection. Later on, Iceman apologizes to Maverick about Goose's death. Is the statement "I'm sorry" merely an attemtp to share sympathy over the loss of a common friend? Or perhaps it is the slip of a guilty conscience? Perhaps the ice-cold flyer they call Iceman finally made a mistake? Pehaps Iceman realized that a man died becasue it was he, IT WAS HE, that foolishly flew too close to the sun? What now Iceman? The curtain is drawn! We SEE you Iceman! There is no escape! You have finally slipped up and it is me, ME who has truly seen your face! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

At any rate, like Cougar, Maverick is faced with his greatest fear: having to fully accept his role as a man, husband, and father. Outside the door before meeting with Carol, Maverick pauses to fight off the tears. "Real men don't cry," he seems to say. What Carol says to Maverick is truly revealing. "God, he loved flying with you Maverick. But he'd have flown anyway, without you. He'd have hated it but he would have done it." By saying this Carol is explaining that as the new father, Maverick must put aside all emotions and doubts and accept his new place as leader. Even if he hates it, the role demands total service. As Maverick struggles to fight the tears, Carol gentle touches his face and coos at the show emotion. She leaves, unable to watch as Maverick shows this weakness leaving Maverick in total humiliation.

You Got To Let Him Go Sir

In the aftermath, Maverick is sent reeling for what to do now that another father has left him. He looks a a photograph of he and Goose. This continues a motif of photographs being a link to what a man must be. Cougar looks at a photo of his family and, in staring at that image of his responsibilities, is driven mad. Maverick stared at a photo of him and his birth father after he disappointed Goose. Maverick stares at the photo of him and his replacement father, Goose, tragically dies. And as he looks at a picture of his father in Viper's home, Viper enters the room, potentially becoming the next man to control Maverick.

But Viper is a different sort of man. "You have to let him go," he tells Maverick in the locker room after the training accident. The universe seems to push push Maverick to a more enlightened state. The first thing Maverick hears after Goose's death is "You gotta let him go." But who should he let go? His real father? Goose? Maverick begins to realize that he must defy the expectations that others have created for him. The ideal father is nothing more than a photograph, two-dimensional, frozen, unreal, inhuman. It is impossible to become the perfect man seen in the picture. Maverick glimpses another way in Viper. Viper was in a similar situation when Maverick's father died. He could have become a surrogate to Maverick. But Viper refused, leaving Maverick to cling to anyone that wanted the job. Viper wants no part of the traditional, macho-man construct that Maverick believes he must become. Maverick begins to realize there is another way. He must let "him", the man others what him to be, go.

The final dogfight is a mini-drama of Maverick's spiritual journey. He must struggle with fear of blowing it at the key moment. Once again Iceman pins the entire outcome on the performance of Maverick. Can Maverick endure the pressure? Iceman also seems to be thrilled with the prospect of dying as proof that he is better/braver/more of a man than Maverick. He must think that dying "honorably" would probably fit nicely in his application for grad school. His morbid desire for approval will likely serve him well come scholarship competition time.

The final battle for Maverick happens in that final dogfight. It's when Maverick begins to say, "Talk to me Goose." In the most dire of situations he reverts to his old way of beliefs, that he must rely on the expectations and desires of his father. And as he cries out for daddy, what is the response? Silence. Maverick is alone in the empty sky. There is no one but himself. He must fill the empty sky with his own desires and beliefs. He hits the breaks, and everything flies right by.

Negative Ghost Rider The Pattern Is Full

I don't want to listen to your comments on intentionality. So save them.

I think there are layers to this movie. I mean it's an action film right? But there is so little action. So what kind of movie is it? Watch for what is in each of the frames, they are so sparse. You don't see a lot of crazy explosions. People move slowly in each shot. This creates a delicate feel to the movie. It really does feel fragile. How is this achieved?

And another thing to consider, who is the villain in this movie? The Russians? They only appear for like a total of 10 minutes. Iceman? Isn't he more of a d-bag teammate than villain? The real villain is Maverick's inner demons. This is remarkable for a so called "action" movie. Shouldn't there be an over-the-top bad guy to beat up? These are what I'd consider bold choices for a mindless action movie.

Slider, You Stink

Now the AFI includes The French Connection and Jaws in their lists. They even include Rocky, but I'm not sure why (That's right, I went there). So the AFI is aware that action is a valuable genre. But here are the films that were up for Best Picture in 1987:

Platoon
Children of a Lesser God
Hannah and Her Sisters
The Mission
A Room With A View

I submit that, with the exception of Platoon, Top Gun is a better picture than these films. Especially now that you know what is really going on with regards to the plot. You probably haven't even seen these movies. Have you? I haven't. And I didn't even know they existed until I went to Wikipedia to look up the nominees. They surely aren't as enjoyable or memorable as Top Gun. If they were, someone would have recommended them to me by now.

Anyway, that's all. That's the first post. I don't know if I'll be able to match the output, or creativity, on other films. We'll see.

Until Next I Blog,

James

P.S. Can you believe I came up with all this bullcrap in one day? I did. You know this is gonna be a great blog. And also, why does the character Wolfman keep mentioning the status of his erections? He does this twice in the movie. I wonder how the actor felt knowing that he essentially had one line, and it was about his junk?