Dis here item's for discussing "Top Gun" as an allegory of
sexual struggle.

34 responses total.

In the movie "Sleep With Me," there is a scene at a party where two
people are discussing "Top Gun" as a strugle with sexuality. The
other night I watched "Top Gun" for the first time, bearing in
mind the above theory, and came away with these points:

The communications while in the aircraft are often loaded with
sexual imagery and metaphors. Such phrases as "He's on my tail!,"
"I'm losing control!," and "Coming in hard!" are exchanged 
between pilots. Even on the ground, flying is discussed as if it
were sex.

Maverick is wreckless as a pilot, but he's also reckless in his
sexuality, going for girls (Charlie [note the unisex name]) and
guys (Goose, for one [keep in mind other uses of the word "goose"])
alike. He can't choose, and he often goes back and forth between
the two.

Iceman represents the homosexual side. Note his attempts to turn
Maverick to his side. He will often tell Maverick that he's being
wreckless and unsafe and that he should stick with his buddies.

Charlie represents the heterosexual side. She tries to convert
Maverick by masquerading in sheep's clothing, so to speak. During
one scene in particular, she moves in on Maverick only to have
him leave. The next time we see Charlie, she has her hair tied up,
she's wearing a cap, and she looks like a guy! This change of
appearance makes Maverick pay attention.

Goose also seems to struggle with his sexuality. He's married
with a kid, but he still can't seem to leave the homosexual
side. While flying (sex!) with Charlie, they lose control and
Goose dies (from internal bleeding, nonetheless!). Goose
*had* to die, because he had wavered too far from the homosexual
side.

One of the last scenes in the movie involves Maverick rescuing
Iceman during aerial combat. Afterwards, Iceman thanks him by
saying, "You can be my wingman anytime!," which signals 
Maverick's accepting of his homosexuality.

Any thoughts? I'm going to see about seeing it again while
taking notes. I think it's an interesting theory.

I haven't seen "Top Gun", but it's an interesting theory, so maybe
I'll have a look at the film.  Director Tony Scott also did "True
Romance" (from a Quentin Tarantino script), so I wouldn't put it past
him.

This is now linked from Arts 96 to Sexuality 86.

(on a side note, Quentin Tarantino was one of the actors who was
discussing "Top Gun" during the aforementioned scene in "Sleep
With Me.")

        Um, WHATEVER. I think there are some folks here with FAR too much time
on their hands, and not enough of something else. :}

   I think that for the above statements ("I'm losing control") to be
construed as sexual is as Selena says a sign that some people are
thinking idly too much.  It's also a sure sign that the person who
said that has never flown a plane--"control" is exactly what every
pilot deathly afriad of losing.  Losing control usually means that
you have a good chance of dying.

   Overall, I see people talking about sexual references to things
all the time, and most of the time I think its a complete crock.
Sex isn't everything, and not everything is sexual.  Trying to draw
such comparisons just doesn't work.

If "Top Gun" were a real story, rather than a film, perhaps it would exclude
the possibility of a subtext introduced by the screenwriters intentionally.
In other words, because it is a complete fiction, there is a very realistic
possibility that the writers developed the dialogue with the intention of
employing dual meaning, just as a form of design conceit.

Re #6:  Und Herr Andre, just how long haff you been into zis denial
conzerning sexuality?

   Never.  I just don't see sexual allogory everywhere I turn, which
does seem to be increasingly rare. ;-)

Verrry interestink...

        Johann Sigmund Remmers? Oh, brother!

Oh, sister! (sorry, instinctual).

View hidden response.

I guess I'll have to see Top Gun .... it does sound intersting... 
Although it makes me wonder how many other such films there are out 
there, and books, in particular Alice in Wonderland, and Through the 
Looking Glass come to mind. 
STeve, it seems to me that there are only cirtian patterns to follow in 
life and perhaps only one, and whats happening here is Carson is just 
taking a big step back and looking at them.

        Art is there to invoke a reaction from the patron. Make of it what
you will, I say.

        I still say you all have WAY too much time on your hands!

Oh certainly.  That's why we're *HERE*.

Selena, considering how much time I spent here, there ain't much time left on
my hands ;-(

        Well, maybe you should do something more *interesting* with your
hands, then. <wink>

so I covered my keyboard with bunny fur and imagined it
was selens[Da. since losing control is what pilots fear.. are you 
suggesting thast all pilots have a fear of los of control in sex or theri
sexuality?

        Now *I* have to say it's going a bit far..

        Oh, you did, hmm.. And what did you INPUT using this keyboard, may I
ask?

His digital organ!  ;)

        So, how big is it, in KiloBytes?

Ahem. Back to the original subject.
Steve, sex may not be everything, but it is a very *strong* urge in the
human animal. As such, it tends to pervade alot of people's thinking at
various levels and at varying degrees of subtlety. OTOH, as Freud said:
"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." I think, *in* *this* *case*, that
everyone is trying to overanalyze this movie. It's a movie about fighter
jocks and their planes, nothing more. The fact that they believe there's
all these subtle levels of sexual meaning says more about the fact that
they don't understand the mindset of the type of person who becomes a
fighter pilot, than it does about any kind of secret meaning in the film.

        Like I said too much time on their hands.

        So, anyone up for a game of strip poker? I'll handicap ya' by
starting in just my lingerie..

Heh, speaking of someone with too much time on her hands.....

well i can`t see anyway so yeah i`ll play,hehe

not to interrupt drift or anything, but...

could one of the points that Tarantino is making is that the mindset
of a fighter pilot *is* a person who is either homosexual or at least
struggling with homosexual tendencies?

        Not from this perspective, no.

This response has been erased.

        Of course I have too much time on my hands!
I just re-watched Top gun the other night.. I still fail to see any of this
silliness anywhere in it!

        Selena.. art is there to provoke a reaction.. this art merely provoked
a different reaction out of these folks, that's all.

        yeah, well, I guess so..

        I still say they are reading too much into it, though.

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