Top Gun has one scene so inic, the sequel shed and went even eper. Here's a look at the gay subtext that everyone's been talkg about.
Contents:
- HOW TOP GUN BEME A GAY CLASSIC
- TOP GUN: IS THERE REALLY A GAY SUBTEXT? WE ASKED THE WRER
- ‘TOP GUN: MAVERICK’ IS ACTUALLY THE GAYT MOVIE OF THE YEAR
- HOW DID TOP GUN GET SO GAY?
- JERRY BCKHEIMER WEIGHS ON TARANTO’S ‘TOP GUN’ GAY FILM MONOLOGUE: ‘A COMPLIMENT’
HOW TOP GUN BEME A GAY CLASSIC
ParamountThis is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obssed, wrten by senr entertament reporter Kev Fallon. To receive the full newsletter your box each week, sign up for week:A very gay even gayer movie!A very gay even gayer vio!The gayt of them all. (Happy Pri Month!)Actually, Top Gun: Maverick Is the Gayt Thg This WeekLast weekend, I ma a gay pilgrimage of my own. I took my sad ltle self to the nearby Alamo Draf * top gun is so gay *
Two years later, he doubled down on that reputatn wh a meo Rory Kelly’s die dramedy Sleep Wh Me, which he lays out the many reasons why Top Gun, wh s many homoerotic unrton, is actually a gay film. “It is a story about a man stgglg wh his own homosexualy. They’re gay; they reprent the gay man, alright?
Go the gay way, go the gay way. Go the gay way. Be the gay way.
Go for the gay way. Last year, when Top Gun celebrated s 35th anniversary, Vulture asked producer Jerry Bckheimer about the film’s standg as an inic moment gay cema.
TOP GUN: IS THERE REALLY A GAY SUBTEXT? WE ASKED THE WRER
It's also, to put bluntly, one of the most homoerotic movi ever ma. Top Gun's homoeroticism. It's tly fascatg how unbridled the homoeroticism of "Top Gun" is.
Google "Top Gun Gay" and you'll get a hefty 1, 390, 000, 000 rults.
‘TOP GUN: MAVERICK’ IS ACTUALLY THE GAYT MOVIE OF THE YEAR
In her review, cric Ple Kael said that "the movie is a shy homoerotic mercial [... " Quent Taranto would famoly give voice to the theory that the film is actually a gay love story via a typilly Taranto-que monologue the movie "Sleep wh Me. " But watchg the film 2022 as this relic of unexpected gayns is still a cur experience.
There are moments of the movie that are so startlgly gay that they go right back round to beg hetero. In the mentary on the physil releas of the film, Tony Stt said he found spiratn for the athetic of "Top Gun" a book of black and whe photographs by gay photographer Bce Weber. "Everyone was sred bee was famo terms of the gay muny, this book, " said Stt.
He also acknowledged that the film had bee popular wh gay dienc. It would have been wearily unsurprisg had such rpons eliced gay panic, pecially given the startlg homophobia of the era.
HOW DID TOP GUN GET SO GAY?
There's also a thartic thrill to be had wh seeg a film that is pure ary propaganda be this gay, given that was illegal to be out and servg the '80s (the Department of Defense clared 1981 that "the prence the ary environment of persons who engage homosexual nduct or who, by their statements, monstrate a propensy to engage homosexual nduct, serly impairs the acplishment of the ary missn. ) Queer reprentatn of any kd was extremely rare, particularly films of this sle, and gay jok were mon.
The moments that we thk seem gay are posned here as guys beg dus, jt iends and lleagu hangg out and enjoyg themselv ee of srn or judgment. How many films have you seen where guys refe to hug one another or be open about their feelgs bee would be seen as too gay to do so? The refal to tegorize certa typ of behavr as "gay" or "straight" is a powerful move that dispts homophobic mdsets.
Sce the inic Tom Cise airplane flick me out 30 years ago, fans have argued the ttosterone-fuelled actner is actually lan wh homoerotic subtext – a g-out movie blockbter clothg.
JERRY BCKHEIMER WEIGHS ON TARANTO’S ‘TOP GUN’ GAY FILM MONOLOGUE: ‘A COMPLIMENT’
Legendary US film cric Ple Kael wrote her review at the time, “the movie is a shy homoerotic mercial: the pilots stt around the locker room, towels hangg prerly om their waists. “It is a story about a man’s stggle wh his own homosexualy, ” he says the film. They’re gay, they reprent the gay man, all right?
And they’re sayg, go, go the gay way, go the gay way. They’re sayg no, go the gay way, be the gay way, go for the gay way, all right? “Tony has a certa look that he was g stylistilly and you look at that look and ’s a very gay look terms of the haircuts and the styl and the male beefke, ” he says.