An internet comedian and video editor released his take on what the original 1986 “Top Gun” movie would have been like if it was made with today’s social-political environment in mind.
On June 22, the Twitter account @stevenvoiceover, which often specializes in voiceovers and video edits of famous movie clips tweeted, “If The Original Top Gun Had Been Made Today…”
The video begins with a spoof on the opening credit of the original movie, which described the origin of the Naval Fighter Weapons School and its nickname “Top Gun.”
The new card states: On March 3, 1969 The United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. On April 20, 2022 The United States Navy deemed this elite school non-inclusive and strived to open its membership to new pilots based on their preferred pronouns and gender identity. They succeeded. Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The flyers call it: Bottom Gun.”
The video goes on to spoof the scene from the original movie where Tom Cruise’s character Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is briefed along with other Top Gun students about the course and purpose of their training. In the new edit, the class’s instructor states, “Gentlemen, assuming you are gentlemen, you’re not here because you’re the best. You’re here because of your gender identity and preferred pronouns. You might think you’re woke. We’ll make you more so.”
“I want you to look at the man, woman or nonbinary person next to you,” the instructor continues. “You will come to know his, her or their pronouns, and he, she, they will come to know you, yours . . . well you get the point.”
“Now, I want you to look at this flag,” the instructor continues, before the video shows a LGBTQ pride flag in the place of the Top Gun school placard at the back of the classroom in the original movie. “You may have seen it before. Hell, you might even know what some of the colors mean. At Bottom Gun, you’ll learn them all. Be under no illusion gentlemen, we are on the front line of a culture war.”
The instructor then addresses Cruise’s character, asking, “Do you see your color on that flag, pilot?”
“Yes sir,” Cruise’s character says in a portion of the clip that sounds unedited compared to the rest.
“They tell me you are a bisexual,” the instructor continues. “Is that true?”
“Yes sir,” Cruise’s character again responds.
“I like that in a pilot,” the instructor says.
The edited take on the original “Top Gun” came out a day after a real U.S. Navy video surfaced instructing personnel on how to create a “safe space” by using “inclusive language” such as one another’s preferred gender pronouns, regardless of their biological sex.
The Navy’s video on inclusive pronoun use also caught criticism from Retired Navy SEAL Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), who said the service should focus on its warfighting capability and said service members can simply refer to one another’s rank.
The Navy subsequently confirmed to American Military News that sailors who intentionally misuse gender pronouns will be in violation of the Navy’s harassment policy and could face administrative or judicial action.
