Top Gun Philosophy
Wednesday 27 June 2007
I have run out of idea regarding this blog. Therefore, I have decided to do something very savvy. I will base each one of my future posts for the foseeable fguture upon a video that I have favourited on YouTube, and of course then embedd that video into the post at the end so you can see what I was on about, or if what i was chatting about ended up having any correlation with the video what so ever.
EPISODE 1: The Fly-by Menance
Top Gun was one of the greatest films ever made. Fact. Despite some arguably very flagrant homoerotic undertones, Tom Cruise (shock horror) was quite good in it. So was Val Kilmer. So was pretty much everyone to be honest. The aerial shots were amazing, and the soundtrack, 80's and dated as it is, still manages a little frisson of delight when you hear the opening sequence from the aircraft carrier. Let'sbe honest, screw Navy recruitment on television or anywhere else;if this film didn't make you want to be a fighter pilot then...well it did didn't it. I have Top Gun on VHS and DVD, and a HD version recorded on my Sky +. Trust me, I love this film.
Luckily, Top Gun is a film everyone loves for the very reason of it's faults. It's camp, it's silly, it's full of one liners, and Jerry Bruckheimer produced it. So a parody would seem to go down well. Well...maybe, but the thing is with films like Top Gun is that they become completely absorbed into our public consciousness, they form a kind of backbone of reference for our popular culture. And because they are so fundementally important in our referencing of any other film, book, piece of music, sub-culture, whatever, parodies often fall short. Reducing a film which has (*love it or loathe it) become so ingrained in us seems almost exploitative. It's like a kind of scepticism as to whether what we appreciate, and what informs our ideas about media is really worth while, and for me at least, after watching this video, I felt a little bit hollow.
Perhaps I am talking absolute proverbial doggie bits, but gosh, I felt a little bit ashamed of Val Kilmer in this video. What do you think (Cal and possibly Oli, and maybe that guy who tried to sell Cal a t-shirt)? Enjoy the clip:
Labels: film, philosophy, youtube
posted by danny @ 05:15,
1 Comments:
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At 27 June 2007 at 16:54,
olileauk said...
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I don't recall ever seeing the entirety of Top Gun. Ever. That clip was odd. (yes, I read the whole blog)
I shall post a new blog at some point, and may even get around to changing the layouts and making a link for my sig. eventually.
