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:
- JERRY BCKHEIMER WEIGHS ON TARANTO’S ‘TOP GUN’ GAY FILM MONOLOGUE: ‘A COMPLIMENT’
- 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
- TOP GUN: WHY TOM CISE'S FLYG ACTNER IS AN UNTENTNAL GAY CLASSIC
JERRY BCKHEIMER WEIGHS ON TARANTO’S ‘TOP GUN’ GAY FILM MONOLOGUE: ‘A COMPLIMENT’
* is top gun about gay love *
“Top Gun” producer Jerry Bckheimer celebrated the film’s 35th anniversary this month by reflectg on the movie’s unexpected legacy as a gay film an terview wh Vulture. This readg of the film was immortalized by Quent Taranto, who has a sgle scene the 1994 movie “Sleep wh Me” which he appears to give a monologue explag why the Tom Cise-starrg “Top Gun” is really “a story about a man’s stggle wh his own homosexualy. 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? Taranto’s monologue and the blatant homoerotic unrton of the film’s signature oiled-up beach volleyball game have long kept “Top Gun” at least tangentially related to gay cema.
Asked by Vulture what he mak of the homoerotic readg of “Top Gun, ” Bckheimer said he embrac even if that was not the specific tentn of the filmmakg team. It's also, to put bluntly, one of the most homoerotic movi ever ma.
HOW TOP GUN BEME A GAY CLASSIC
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. 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.
TOP GUN: IS THERE REALLY A GAY SUBTEXT? WE ASKED THE WRER
" 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.
‘TOP GUN: MAVERICK’ IS ACTUALLY THE GAYT MOVIE OF THE YEAR
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?
TOP GUN: WHY TOM CISE'S FLYG ACTNER IS AN UNTENTNAL GAY CLASSIC
The refal to tegorize certa typ of behavr as "gay" or "straight" is a powerful move that dispts homophobic mdsets.