Top Gun is an American film from 1986. The “Top Gun” is the label given to highly adept fighter pilots who consist of the “best and the brightest” in the American air force. The film portrays the young men who fly these machines as highly competitive, skilled, and highly confident. Maverick, the main character, believes he is the best of the best and often takes daring risks and puts his own life, and the lives of his fellow pilots in danger. Unfortunately, the film leaves the implication that his daring maneuvers costs his best friend, Goose, his life. Overall, the film gives a fine analysis of America’s perception of the United States’ armed forces as it attempts to influence the audience to view America’s military might as unmatched, powerful, and exceptional.
In subtle ways the film attempts to justify the United States military involvement in the latter portion of the Cold War. In the mid 1980s tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were still high and it was important to portray American military might as superior compared to the rest of the world. Nuclear war was always a real and present danger and it was portrayed that America’s military must always be prepared for conflict. Hence is the reason that billions of dollars had to be spent on defense and ensuring that any conflict with a communist foe with nuclear weaponry capabilities resulted in the United States becoming the victors. National security depended on the United States’ ability to shape the best and brightest to serve in the armed forces, and in the case of the film Top Gun it would be the “best of the best” fighter pilots.
Top Gun uses the portrayal of fighter pilots as most intelligent and skilled patrolmen of the skies. Conflict with communi...
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... to evoke patriotic and nationalistic emotions in order to serve as a defense for the decisions America makes and the actions it takes. While action and drama might be the overwhelming themes in the film, there are definitely shades of American propaganda that can be found within the plot.
Watching Top Gun from a more critical and analytical point of view really changes the perspective of the movie. Instead of only seeing it a movie with some decent action and high-flying maneuvers of pilots soaring through the air, it becomes clear how the movie fit into the of the Cold War. The Cold War was always influential in the minds of the American public and was used as a theme, or at least a topic, in the movies of the period. Top Gun is a product of its time that capitalized on nationalistic sentiments felt by American through an action film that captivated an audience.
...ccess of the P-51. From the early days of the A model all the way to the newly designated F-51D, the Mustang fought through swaths of enemies to allow victory for the Allies and the United States. The P-51 is a recognizable machine that embodies the entire war effort of the time and continues to inspire aviation enthusiasts. Today there are many people and companies that are dedicated to preserving and protecting these pieces of our nations history by reconditioning and donating to capable museums and collectors. Through the work of these individuals the P-51 Mustang will forever be a symbol of air power during the world toughest times.
Americans during the 60s lived in constant fear of nuclear war, especially after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film shows how easy it is for one person to destroy the world in a nuclear firestorm if governments are not careful enough. Ripper’s argument about fluoridated water also reflects the belief of some Americans that fluorine was actually a Cold War weapon by the Soviets to turn American communist. General Jack D. Ripper himself also served to present an American stereotype along with General Turgidson. They both seeked to destroy the Soviet Union without any care to logic or human life. Turgidson, in particular, reminds me of Patton, who wanted to invade the Soviet Union after WWII, and MacArthur, who wanted to invade China during the Korean War. Both of these generals epitomize how people thought of Americans as zealously anti communist and violently stupid. Additionally, Dr. Strangelove and his proposal for fallout shelters show how much the Cold War interfered with Americans’ lives with the constant duck and cover drills and shelters for nuclear war. Finally, the captain of the B-52, King Kong, also represents American stereotypes with his southern accent and his patriotic final act of sitting on top of the bomb while it is falling down towards the Soviet Union. When he found out about the orders, he did not question them and went down fighting. Many people regarded Americans as gun toting southerners who were just as patriotic as they were trigger
Alex Kershaw’s “The Few The American ‘Knights Of The Air’ Who Risked Everything To Fight In The Battle Of Britain” doesn’t just tell the story of the seven American aviators who flew for the British as but also their enemies, the Luftwaffe’s point of view. This book is told through this group of Americans and from the viewpoint of the Royal Air Force pilots they fought with but also the perspective of the Luftwaffe fliers that they fought against during the battle. For example, in one part of the book, there was this one German lookout who had commented on how much of an advantage the British had because of their radars that could locate enemy planes while they crossed the English Channel; the lookout considered the radar an “unfair” tool.
The P-51 Mustang is regarded by many sources as the greatest fighter plane ever created. With the technological advancements this plane achieved, to it’s service record, to it’s importance in winning World War Two, the Mustang is truly one of the greats. The Mustang played a key role in long range bomber support and saved countless bomber crew’s lives, and pilots loved to fly it. The P-51 had the most aerial victories of any American fighter in World War Two and it was flown by some of America’s top aces. The P-51 was a beast of a fighter plane
Armies and Navies have clashed since antiquity, but the airplane that enables aerial combat is barely a century old. Airplanes saw widespread combat in the First World War, and, despite the doubts and financial concerns of military leaders of the time, the brave men who fly them have gained their own dedicated military division, the United States Air Force. Billy Mitchell, through his charisma and an image that endeared him in American culture, was an instrumental figure in developing the modern Air Force.
...the predominant theme of disorientation and lack of understanding throughout the film. The audience is never clear of if the scene happening is authentic or if there is a false reality.
In the third decade of the Cold War, less than two years after the United States population had been scared half-way to death by the Cuban Missile Crisis, Dr. Strangelove invaded the nation's movie theatres and showed the country the end of the world. Touted by critics then and now as the film of the decade, Dr. Strangelove savagely mocked the President, the entire military defense establishment, and the rhetoric of the Cold War. To a nation that was living through the stress of the nuclear arms race and had faced the real prospect of nuclear war, the satiric treatment of the nation's leaders was an orgasmic release from deep fears and tensions. Its detractors argued that the film was juvenile, offensive, and inaccurate. Viewed, however, in its context of the Cold War and nuclear proliferation, Dr....
Olds, Christina, and Ed Rasimus. Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010. Print
The Novum presented in Starship Troopers is the rule of the Veterans and the resulting primacy of the military. This Novum sets the novel up as a utopic pandering to a readership demographic that the author himself is a member of. This is a normative sci-fi construction. Starship Troopers deviates in that the true target readership is the young man who has not yet been given a chance to join up. He is meant to gain a favorable understanding of the military man by sharing in his dream. The dream then - the world created – is the persuasive device.
Lawson, Robert L., and Barrett Tillman. U.S. Navy Air Combat: 1939-1946. Osceola, WI: MBI Pub., 2000. Print.
The Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, constructs an underground world of men fighting with one and other to find the meaning to their lives. Ed Norton and Brad Pitt are the main characters who start the fight club. They make a set of rules in which everyone must follow.
Full Metal Jacket and Platoon are clearly two of the biggest movies ever made about the
The main themes of the story are loneliness, materialism, and freedom from society. Tyler was created because of the lack of connection the narrator had with the people around him. The narrator was lonely and attended so many support groups because of it. He was not rejected at the support groups because the members thought he was sick just like they were. Materialism is a reoccurring theme as the narrator mentions how he has worked his entire life for the Ikea items in his apartment. He tried to fill the void in his life by buying worthless, meaningless stuff. People spend too much time working for things they do not need. The narrator comes to the conclusion that, “You are not your job or your possessions.” Only once a person realizes that can he or she finally let go and start living. “It’s only after you’ve lost everything,” Tyler says, “that you’re free to do anything.” In order to be free, we must not care about the stuff we own. Our whole lives are spent working to pay for stuff. If we did not have stuff to pay for, we would not have to work as hard and our time could be spent doing something more meaningful.
The film tells the story of a deranged United States Air Force general who orders a first strike nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. United States Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper who was the commander of Burpelson Air Force Base, launches a planed nuclear attack on the Soviet Union via his nuclear-armed B-52 fighter jets, which were holding at their fail-safe points, to move into Soviet airspace, based upon a twisted paranoia that the communist party was contaminating “our precious bodily fluids”. The movie follows the course of events proceeding General Jack D. Ripper’s ordered attack.
Often times, the vast entirety of the world populous enjoy movies for their entertainment or insight value, as well as the variety of topics of which they offer. The Cold War, a popular theme among many films, perpetuated from 1945, following World War II, until 1991. As the historical tensions between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Russia, USSR, the two nations came to stand off, only to be interceded by the all too unfortunate and plausible concept of Mutually Assured Destruction. The era raises the question and sense of awareness for each country of the other’s strength, striking fear into those who lived to see it unfold. The American society, in an effort to raise public awareness of the threat that lay at its door step, turns to the entertainment industry for assistance in their dilemma. Between 1982 and 1991, during the rise of the burgeoning motion picture industry and the apex of the Cold War, several motion pictures make their debut where they depict Soviet Russia and its destructive and innovative potential. These films based within the time period, such as The Hunt for Red October, Red Dawn and War Games, are noteworthy examples of American propaganda during the later period of the Cold War and its distortion of what threats lie at the relative east in an effort to raise concern over the intercontinental standoff.