{"id":1499238,"date":"2022-06-01T08:01:06","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T12:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1499238"},"modified":"2022-06-01T08:01:18","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T12:01:18","slug":"top-gun-maverick-isnt-just-nostalgia-for-the-80s-its-nostalgia-for-american-greatness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-gun-maverick-isnt-just-nostalgia-for-the-80s-its-nostalgia-for-american-greatness\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Top Gun: Maverick\u2019 Isn\u2019t Just Nostalgia For The 80s, It\u2019s Nostalgia For American Greatness"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftop-gun-maverick-isnt-just-nostalgia-for-the-80s-its-nostalgia-for-american-greatness%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1499238&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/image-2022-05-31T151345.369.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>There\u2019s a lot of feel-good nostalgia in \u201cTop Gun: Maverick,\u201d which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/movies\/story\/2022-05-30\/top-gun-maverick-memorial-day-weekend-record-tom-cruise\">rocketed<\/a> through box office records over Memorial Day weekend. Starting with an opening aircraft carrier montage set to \u201cDanger Zone\u201d that\u2019s nearly identical to the original, and continuing via similar camera angles and dialogue in several iconic scenes, \u201cMaverick\u201d paid plenty of tribute to its classic 1986 predecessor. <\/p>\n<p>The iconic bar hangout, the \u201cGreat Balls of Fire\u201d singalong, that volleyball scene, the motorcycle, flying inverted, the tower buzz, breaking the hard deck, the admiral\u2019s daughter (yep, did you catch that?), and a handful of other callbacks make an updated but loyal appearance. The costuming (including, of course, the sunglasses) pays homage to the \u201980s original, as does the music. A few scenes recall \u201cThe Right Stuff,\u201d another 1980s pilot classic. But to call \u201cMaverick\u201d a supersonically successful 131 minutes of 1980s nostalgia is to sell the film short.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaverick\u201d doesn\u2019t just inspire reminiscence of a world of Ray-Ban aviators, Kenny Loggins songs, F-14s, and bomber jackets, although it does that, both for those who lived it and those of us who learned to revere that world via the stories and movies of our parents. It inspires nostalgia for an America that\u2019s all-too-rarely celebrated today.<\/p>\n<p>The movie is unabashedly patriotic \u2014 so much so that a multibillion-dollar Chinese investor <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/05\/31\/chinese-backer-for-top-gun-pulled-out-over-pro-us-message\/\">backed out<\/a> of it. (That was undoubtedly a good thing for the movie; fans slammed the trailer for removing the Taiwanese and Japanese flags on Maverick\u2019s jacket to appease Chinese censors, but in the final movie, both flags are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/7kb5wd\/tom-cruises-jacket-top-gun-maverick-taiwan-moviegoers-clapping\">back<\/a>.) <\/p>\n<p>Not only is the film free of Chinese Communist Party propaganda, it\u2019s free of token left-wing social and political propaganda. The only agenda being pushed is that America is the best country in the world and the men and women who risk their lives to defend her are heroes worthy of our respect, and that\u2019s an agenda I\u2019m more than fine with (and a fitting one for Memorial Day weekend).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaverick\u201d doesn\u2019t just celebrate America via inspiring music, flags, sharp uniforms, and cool dogfighting scenes. It tells a pretty epic story of heroic people, with a plot that\u2019s deeper and more profound than the original. It\u2019s confident, not angsty. And it celebrates greatness in a way that our modern, victimizing, equity-obsessed culture has largely forgotten how to do.<\/p>\n<p>Just like in the original, Capt. Pete \u201cMaverick\u201d Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise, is cocky and reckless enough to keep getting into trouble but just good enough to keep getting out of it. He\u2019s not apologizing for his privilege or <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/09\/16\/mark-milley-and-his-ilk-are-disgracing-the-u-s-military-to-the-entire-world\/\">studying<\/a> white rage or meekly following nonsensical mask mandates. He believes in being the best, which requires believing there is such a thing.<\/p>\n<p>But unlike the cliche cocky characters that Hollywood regularly dishes out (and, just as regularly, mocks), Maverick makes you care about him. He\u2019s matured since 1986, and understands that greatness isn\u2019t just guts and balls but also heart \u2014 not heart in a Hallmark-movie sense, but in the sense C.S. Lewis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cslewisinstitute.org\/resources\/reflections-august-2012\/\">meant<\/a> when he talked about men who lack it.<\/p>\n<p>Inseparable from greatness are duty, loyalty, bravery, integrity, and responsibility. \u201cTop Gun: Maverick\u201d celebrates them all, in a manner that\u2019s rarely found outside of war epics like \u201cSaving Private Ryan\u201d or \u201cBand of Brothers.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The movie finds greatness in not leaving your wingman, in flying steel-nerved into certain danger against impossible odds, and in choosing to have your team\u2019s back over the protestations of Pentagon bureaucrats. \u201cTop Gun: Maverick\u201d lets women be fighter pilots, but it doesn\u2019t shy away from glorifying good old tough-guy masculinity.<\/p>\n<p>It also glorifies the sacrifice of saying goodbye to loved ones when duty calls, and the fidelity of loyal friendships (Maverick\u2019s former rival Iceman, played by Val Kilmer, appears in a touching tribute after Cruise reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegamer.com\/jerry-bruckheimer-interview-tom-cruise-val-kilmer-top-gun-maverick\/\">refused<\/a> to do the sequel without him). Chances are you leave the theater with at least a tinge of inspiration to seek greatness yourself.<\/p>\n<p>To top it off, \u201cMaverick\u2019s\u201d writers apparently understood that the best kind of greatness isn\u2019t that of franchise superheroes or over-the-top special effects sequences. The movie employs some special effects, of course, but it doesn\u2019t rely on them. The actors underwent training from the U.S. Navy so every shot in a cockpit is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegamer.com\/jerry-bruckheimer-interview-tom-cruise-val-kilmer-top-gun-maverick\/\">really in the air<\/a>. There\u2019s no glaze-your-eyes-over Marvel smorgasbord of CGI; the film could have been shot with the same technology available when the original was made, and it still would have been excellent.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because, as awesome as the dogfighting scenes are, the movie doesn\u2019t coast on them. It\u2019s unapologetic in cheering for America, her heroes, and the greatness they pursue. It\u2019s no wonder audiences love it. What\u2019s telling is just how long it\u2019s been since we\u2019ve seen a film like it.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Elle Reynolds is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. You can follow her work on Twitter at @_etreynolds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s a lot of feel-good nostalgia in \u201cTop Gun: Maverick,\u201d which rocketed through box office records over Memorial Day weekend. Starting with an opening aircraft carrier montage set to \u201cDanger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":500,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1499238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/500"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1499238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1499238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1499238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1499238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}