‘Maverick’ And Why We May Be Close To A Return To The ’80s – The Federalist

The year was 1984. President Ronald Reagan was cruising to reelection. Van Halens 1984 was second on the Billboard charts. George Orwells 1984 hadnt yet become an instruction manual. Top Gun, inspired by a 1983 article titled Top Guns and published by California magazine, was then but a gleam in Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimers eyes, though it would go on to become a classic tale of how reckless men are a testament to Americas greatness in the face of Soviet aggression.

Life was good, particularly after Reagan had successfully battled both Jimmy Carters stagflation and the malaise it brought on. Mullets were a hot hairstyle for men. For women, it was ozone-depleting bouffant bangs teased toward the heavens with massive amounts of hairspray. Gen X kids were off starting fires, sneaking into drained pools to skateboard, and otherwise engaging in all kinds of shenanigans about which our parents had very little clue. Joe Biden was merely a senator.

Today, mullets are back, if not the bangs. Top Gun: Maverick, the long-awaited sequel to the original, is making money hand over fist. Joe Biden, first elected to the Senate in 1972, is still in the swamp, this time as the ostensible leader of the free world and heir to Jimmy Carter. Russia is being belligerent. Stagflation and malaise again rule the day.

In other words, life is not so good right now, but as Mark Twain never said, History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes. And in the couplet that is Top Gun to Top Gun: Maverick, there is hope.

When Top Gun was released in May of 1986, it was not an immediate success. At the time, Tom Cruise, the anhedonic real-life iteration of Dorian Gray, was not yet the superstar he is today. The movie was competing with a raft of other stellar films including Ferris Buellers Day Off, Back to School, Aliens, Big Trouble in Little China, and the early Marvel Cinematic Universe entry Howard the Duck, just to name a few.

But Pete Maverick Mitchell quickly inspired legions of fans with his rakish good looks and indifference toward remaining alive and pushed the movie to the summers top spot. To say women wanted to be with him while men wanted to be him is an understatement. Following the movies success, applications to the United States aviation forces increased by 500 percent.

Rewatching it ahead of Top Gun: Maverick, however, I was reminded that the critics complaints had some merit. The original movie is kind of a chick flick, which helps explain why my wife was so anxious to see Maverick during its opening weekend. I opted to grill while she went with our oldest. It would be a few weeks before I would take her to her second viewing and realize the folly of my thinking.

If the original was a chick flick, though, Maverick is the action-packed sequel for the dudes. But being a movie that appeals to the opposite of dudettes is not what makes it such a movie for the times. Instead, its that after watching it, you come out of the theater ready to pump your fist and shout about Americas greatness. Sure, its all nonsense and, spoiler alert, Maverick would have died in the opening sequence had it been real, but the film makes no apologies. It doesnt equivocate or attempt to explain why its okay to cheer for the good guys. Its just ridiculous and reckless Americans being ridiculous and reckless, inviting us along for the ride, and saying, This is who we are and what we can do.

In 2022, thats a bold choice. Its not cool to celebrate America because systemic this and institutionalized that. And there arent a lot of things to cheer about at the moment, particularly when it comes to our national mood, soaring prices, and energy shortages. In those lights, though, Maverick could also be a harbinger that the pendulum is about to swing in the other direction, much as it did in the fabled decade during which the first installment was released.

For as David Lee Roth sang on Jump, the first single from 1984s 1984, And I know, baby, just how you feel/You got to roll with the punches and get to whats real. And while none of us would have chosen the punches were currently rolling with, the chance for history to rhyme is looking good.

Having said that, though, its not time to get out the hairspray and tease those bangs back toward the heavens, ladies. While we may take inspiration from the past, weve got to live for the future.

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'Maverick' And Why We May Be Close To A Return To The '80s - The Federalist