Top Gun Themes
War
Top Gun is a special kind of war movie, the kind where there is actually very little warfare, but where the possibility of war is imminent. See, Top Gun takes place sometime during the early 1980's...
Competition
Maverick and Iceman aren't just two top Naval aviators. They're two naval aviators both competing for the Top Gun trophy, and for bragging rights. They both think they're the best pilot in the Navy...
Memory and the Past
The past is like a big, gigantic, massive weight on Maverick's shoulders. We gradually learn that Maverick has this hang-up about his father, a Navy pilot in Vietnam who supposedly disobeyed orders...
Family
Goose has a wife and a child. So does Cougar. Maverick has nobody, except Goose (whom he describes as his "only family"). In a lot of ways Top Gun is about what it's like to not have a family (whic...
Rules and Order
Rules were meant to be broken. Okay, they weren't really made to be broken, but if you asked Maverick why rules were made, he would tell you as much. Seriously, all Maverick does is break rules. St...