Top Gun

OK, I’ll admit it. In anticipation of the release of Top Gun: Maverick, we just spent $2.99 to watch the original Top Gun on Amazon Prime.

If I were enlisting the support of emojis in this post, I would most definitely insert an eye roll at this point. Or possible the green barf emoji.

First of all, let me state how incredibly weird it was to watch this movie from 1986 with our kids, neither of whom were born when it was released.

When they asked Karl and me whether we’d seen it when it first came out, of course we answered in the affirmative. Who in their 20s hadn’t seen it? It was one of those iconic films that almost everyone of a certain age saw when it came out. Popular culture – it had just as strong an influence back then as it does now.

In Retrospect

Holy cow, though.

When they asked whether we’d seen it and liked it, I have to admit that I really only remembered the general storyline. It was pretty formulaic. I mostly recalled the basic emotions associated with it: it was a macho movie about fighter pilots starring Tom Cruise. Some tragedy. Some romance. Lots of ego. Lessons learned. Yada yada yada. Yeah, it was ok.

But actually watching it? Oh my. There were just so many groaner moments, it was hard not to feel we were watching it from more of a Mystery Science Theater 3000 perspective.

In fact, there was a fair amount of snark being hurled at our tv screen as we allowed history to unfold before our eyes.

Watching the way the genders interacted, not only with each other but perhaps even more shockingly amongst themselves, was discomfiting. Did we really think that overt macho bullshit was normal? (Scarier still, I think we all sense that attitude is alive and well to this day.) And would a woman who obviously was highly educated (in astrophysics or something) and a flight instructor in her own right, really be as dumb and pliable as Kelly McGillis’s character? It all made me cringe.

The ’80s

This was the 1980s! How could the attitudes appear so stereotypical, archaic, and quaint when it feels like that decade wasn’t all that long ago?

I guess that’s the illusion of life.

Sage and Sarah are pretty much the same ages as Karl and I were when Top Gun came out, give or take a year or two. I wonder: will they look back in 33 years at movies that are coming out now, movies that really resonate with them (or are at least reasonably entertaining) at this point in their lives, and think, “Gawd, what were we thinking?!?!”

Of course, it’s not as if Top Gun was a movie to live by or anything. It was not a cinematic masterpiece. But it did reflect the basic attitudes and posturing of people in their early to mid 20s in the obnoxious ’80s.

I’m not even going to mention the way Kelly McGillis was treated in real life with respect to the making of the sequel. Surely that’s as big a commentary upon our culture as the rest of this is.