Top Gun Maverick - and you knew who you were then

Top Gun Maverick 

2022

Director - Joseph Kosinski

Stars - Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Monica Barbaro, Val Kilmer

Mohan's Measure ⭐⭐⭐

Those of you who have emigrated here in the 21st Century probably won't recognize the America presented in Top Gun Maverick. The movie is a reminder to us older folks about the America that was, and in the mind of the director, should have remained. 

America was in its heyday in the 1980s. Under the leadership of a solidly conservative President, it once again saw itself as beacon to a free world, fighting a clearly defined enemy.  The country was made up of good guys, having both the power and the courage to lend a hand to those who shared its vision of democracy.  The common patriotic sentiment tempered the polarized politics and extremist views that make up today's world. 

It is clear the makers of Maverick want to see Generation X return.  So they brought back all the major players from the original, along with the music of the time so that we 50 somethings can show these spoiled brat Millennials what's what. 

It's all there, bare chested, six-packed tough guys playing football and filling bars with gorgeous but spunky young female soldiers.  "Great Balls of Fire" is the only song interrupting the greatest hits of the 80s in the background. It appears so wonderfully American such good, clean fun, something immigrants of the 21st Century want to emulate, if only Bollywood would allow. 

Leading the pack of narcissistic flyers is Mr. Cruise, who is the same cool, stylish, lady killing, overgrown little boy he was nearly 4 decades ago.  But, a slight change from what is largely a reboot of the first. Replacing the steamy, but now dated, Kelly McGillis is the bewitching Jennifer Connelly, in a role lacking the need for such a good actress. A dash of awe struck cadets are added to the mix,  and gentlemen, we have the Top Gun reboot. 

I used the term gentlemen intentionally, because what is being recreated is a decidedly White Man's view of life and the values that go with it. It is not culture, it is almost a biblical truth. The few women and minorities present are those who fall in line, willing to take second place to the chest thumping guys and their sense of male code. 

Which leads to the crux of it. For despite all the high tech fighter planes, the command stations, the virtual simulation, etc., there is not a single South Asian anywhere to be seen, not even a bit role walking down the halls. In the 1980s, this could be forgiven.

But, this is in the present.  All our successes, our hard work, and our contribution to Western society, and even several astronauts cannot change the ethnocentric nature of the patriarchal, barbaric West. 

Goodness Gracious; Great Balls of Fire, indeed.