Japan and Taiwan might have been American allies in real life, but any positive acknowledgment of them in the world of “Top Gun: Maverick” would run the risk of Chinese state censorship, potentially costing the film hundreds of millions. In 2019, China not only had access to Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters but often contributed to the largest portion of its ticket sales. While Chinese audiences had missed the first “Top Gun”-in 1986, their options were mostly limited to propaganda films and the odd Hollywood import-“Top Gun: Maverick” was entering a radically different media landscape. The motivating factor for the swap? China. Galveston tour, previously featuring the flags of Japan and Taiwan, had been replaced with two different symbols of similar colors. The patch on Cruise’s bomber highlighting the U.S.S. Yet the film’s most essential icon was perhaps Cruise’s bomber jacket, decorated with emblems celebrating America’s military campaigns in the Pacific.īut, when the trailer for the sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick,” was released, in the summer of 2019, something looked a little different. The film earned a hundred and eighty million dollars domestically, and managed to do what years of state-produced recruitment videos could not: upon its release, Navy and Air Force enrollments surged. ![]() Recall the glossy-haired, twenty-three-year-old Tom Cruise, effortlessly speeding on his motorcycle, or flying an F-14A Tomcat and donning his iconic aviators. ![]() When “Top Gun” came out, in 1986, every detail of its release seemed carefully orchestrated to prop up an image of American power.
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