The cult classic Top Gun launched a new era of cinema upon its release in 1986. A thrilling romance alongside rookie pilot scenes with an epic soundtrack gave all cinephiles something to gush over. Starring Tom Cruise as Maverick and Val Kilmer as Ice, the two best friends are jet fighter pilots in training at the Miramar Air Station in San Diego during the Cold War. For practically 60 years, the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union was all-encompassing. In the aftermath of World War II, NATO was formed, amplifying the post-war tension, which is unfortunately continuing today despite the Cold War ending.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
With the Cold War as its backdrop, Top Gun became a beacon of hope, but mostly for the military as many movie goers were inspired to join the Navy, as Screen Rant explains. Yet, despite the overtly masculine text, a much larger subtext is centered in the iconic film. Much like Baywatch was perversely called Babe Watch because of the actors and actresses slow-motion running along the beach in bathing suits, Top Gun and its sequel capitalized on the sexiness of the beach backdrop. Except the scene was not attractive men and women, but solely attractive men, shirtless, oiled up, playing volleyball on the beach in the original and football as the sunset in Top Gun: Maverick. Homoeroticism may seem like a juxtaposition to the 100% straight male crowd, but the subtext in this scene in Top Gun exemplifies how everyone is a little bit gay.
History of LGBTQ+ Representation in Military Films
Paramount Pictures
With the rise of the himbo in the late-70s, the next stage of The Ultimate Man was the action hero who was either active or former military. Former CIA, Mossad, or other special task force operatives that are non-military are quite common in today’s entertainment productions. But the 80s made this character background such a solid backstory that current superhero film franchises rely on the military to cement a character’s behaviors. Yet this pipeline of himbo-to-superhero has deep LGBTQ+ context. A main component of this context is that the ultimate man is not only for straight men, but for gay men as well. Toxic masculinity is a strange wrapping for being emotionless, misogynistic, and hating your own body, but it runs rampant with all men. As Them describes, men are inundated with what a real man means from birth. Considering all of these factors, it’s not surprising military-centric films will have homoerotic undertones: being a man means being an emotionless 6-pack who doesn’t think.
US Football and Homoerotic Subtext
Since the military defines the ultimate man body, as far as Hollywood is concerned, then American football is the ultimate manly sport. Many Americans claim baseball as the ultimate sport, but measure a man by the team he roots for on Sunday while chugging a cheap beer. Indeed, American men brawl over whose team is better. That said, this sport, which engrosses a nation for several months each year, also invites speculation for its homoerotic overtones. From the tight pants, the protective gear, and dumping gallons of an energy drink on the coach, football is full of sexual imitations. Sociologist Alan Dundes even published a paper that describes the gay subtext in the language coaches use to “inspire” their players, as Out Sports reports. For example, some coaches will say to “f*** the other team” or an announcer will say “this is some deep penetration” when one team nears closer to the goal post on their opponents side.
Why Top Gun’s Gay Subtext Persists
Anyone who denies the cultural impact of Top Gun or Tom Cruise on Hollywood and society at large would be misled. While Cruise isn’t going to win a humanitarian award anytime soon, his dedication to action film sequences is far beyond any others in Hollywood. Cruise joins the ranks of actors like Jackie Chan who do their own stunts. Even in this day and age of CGI and stunt doubles, Cruise is adamant in doing his own stunts, going so far as to piloting his own P-51 Mustang in Top Gun: Maverick, as Screen Rant reports. Yet despite his overwhelming dedication to being one of the top action film stars in Hollywood for practically four decades, the undertones of the football scene on the beach remain intertwined to the original film. These fighter pilots playing beach volleyball, oiled up, and tackling each other have key components of many adult films.
Top Gun: Maverick Reawakening the Subtext
Beach volleyball is the undeniably sexier version of regular volleyball. Toned and tanned bodies in bathing suits become sweaty over the layers of baby oil for a fun day in the sun. As much as football has homoerotic overtones, beach volleyball follows closely behind, short swim trunks and all. But the sequel that came almost 40 years later took the iconic beach volleyball scene to a whole new level. The new recruits played tackle football, shirtless, oiled up, against the setting sun. In this scene, Maverick is wearing his Levi’s jeans that are soaking wet as he high-fives his teammates. Though the moment that truly seals the deal on the homoerotic overtones of the scene are the shirtless and sweaty men against the backdrop of the sun setting on the beach, chest bumping. If you’re going to honor the beach volleyball scene, go big or go home.
