The Realignment: Happy Fourth + Episodes of the Week
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I hope everyone’s going to have a great 4th of July weekend. Today’s newsletter features our producer Aaron Visser’s review/commentary on Top Gun: Maverick. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, we can’t recommend it enough. It’s the perfect 4th of July activity.
I’m going to take the long weekend as a needed break, but expect a bonus newsletter on Tuesday.
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This Week’s Episodes
262 | Marc Andreessen Reflections, Roe v. Wade Overturn, and Where We Go Next + the Case for Suits and Ties
261 | Katherine Boyle: Getting Serious About American Dynamism
254 | Marc Andreessen on Everything
Producer Aaron’s Perspective + Marshall’s Response
Aaron Visser, The Realignment’s producer/researcher, contributes his perspective on a recent theme covered by the show.
In the most polarized time since the Civil War, where Red and Blue battle over guns, abortion, and trans rights, the only thing America agrees on is that Top Gun Maverick is awesome. Both New York City audiences I watched with cheered multiple times, thrilled to see a film with pure entertainment value, minimal CGI, and our last movie star at the peak of his powers. They were cheering in Alabama too, as Top Gun 2 already has the highest domestic gross of the year. I’m reading Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland series and just finished Andrew Rice’s book about the year 2000, which both analyze pop culture alongside normal historical events, inspiring me to do the same for today. Films don’t change society, but they always reflect it, and I’m interested in what its success says about America of 2022.
The most important reason why Americans are flocking to Top Gun Maverick is because it’s fantastic. The aerial sequences are the best to ever appear on screen. While the Navy didn’t let Tom Cruise fly his own plane, all the action is in-camera and all the stunts are real. Using authentic military tech, skillful editing that communicates the action, and a pinch of CGI, the audience gets to see the real thing. And unlike the first Top Gun, which only had the great flying scenes, Maverick actually has a real plot, with setups and payoffs and actual character arcs. The cinematography is stunning and the actors imbue each character with personality.
However, quality doesn’t always lead to mass success, as shown by the Northman and the Last Duel (I heard they were good), and the spectacular Everything Everywhere All at Once, an indie “success” that only made half as much money as the spectacularly awful Morbius. A modern hit needs name recognition, mass appeal, and a reason to see it in a theater. Top Gun has all three. It’s a legacy sequel, fitting neatly with the 2010s nostalgia for all things 80s (it was supposed to be released in 2019), and offers a communal experience non-replicable at home.
Then there is the patriotism factor. Both Top Gun movies were jointly produced with the US Navy, which provided the aircraft carriers, fighters, and oversight of the script, making them the most successful military recruitment videos ever made. The original Top Gun caused a 500% increase in applications of Navy aviators and helped revive the popular image of the military taken down by Vietnam. 1986, the year of its release, was the height of American confidence in itself, after Reagan’s landslide victory and before Iran Contra. After the debacles of Iraq and Afghanistan and Hollywood films skeptical of the military, of course many Americans are nostalgic for a time where we could be proud of American power. In the film, the enemy is an unnamed rogue state developing nuclear weapons (China has too much power over Hollywood to be the villain) and only our men in uniform can stop them. The success of Top Gun 2 proves that Americans on both sides of the aisle are deeply patriotic, emotionally if not intellectually.
The patriotism is updated to fit the 2020s. The sexist jokes have disappeared and black, women, and Asians fly along our white male stars. Top Gun stands in for how America sees itself. It is meritocratic, open to anyone who has what it takes. Despite its wealth, it is the underdog, facing the encroaching forces of evil. The characters disagree over conflicting values, but at the end of the day they come together to achieve the shared goal and then prevail. Both Top Gun movies end with all rivals reconciling and everyone becoming friends.
Many are cynical of this vision. One online review called its messaging fascist, while others attacked it as America’s propaganda. Those who share recent guest Ian Bremmer’s view that “nationalism is worse than racism” will agree. I understand where this side is coming from. Arrogance about military power combined with devotion to American exceptionalism has led us to do terrible things in the past. We do spend extreme amounts of money on the US military, too much of which feeds the bloated military industrial complex. In a sense, Top Gun is propaganda that justifies all this by the undeniable coolness of airplanes and tomahawk missiles. To all these people I ask: what is the alternative?
America is a vast multiethnic democracy, inhabited by two rapidly diverging political tribes. We pay taxes to a shared government and provide each other health care, social security, and a shared national defense. Nationalism does exclude those outside of our borders, but is also a unifying force. If we cut the tether of Top Gun nationalism, what else will hold us together? The recent debates over policing, Critical Race Theory, and the 1619 project are conflicts over American identity, whether we can dredge up the past without threatening the present. I’m all for deep interrogations of that identity and history, but wonder if we should puncture all the national myths. Top Gun is a signal that we still have a shared patriotism.. With most blockbusters aimed at the overseas market, Top Gun 2 is an American movie that made us proud to be one. It obviously cannot heal America itself, but it shows there is an America to be healed in the first place.
The Realignment Bookshop
As a reminder, we’ve created a Realignment Bookshop affiliate store showcasing books by guests, what we’re actively reading this year, and deeper dives into the featured topic of an episode.
If you purchase a book using our link, the show gets a 10% commission, a local, independent bookseller gets support, and you get an awesome book!
We’re reorganizing our book lists over the next few weeks, so for now, check out our primary one:
Happy Fourth Of July right backatcha’ gang.
I am sitting here at my computer in my home office in Canada waiting for my Can-Am July party to kick off. My wife’s the Canuck, and I’m a transplanted NY’er (waves ‘yo!’ to Aaron).
Twenty-two years ago, on August 11, 2001 to be exact, I was in an auditorium just outside of DC with a couple of thousand parents of recently graduated college kids. A guy came to the podium on the stage and said to all of us, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m here to tell you that the youth of America is doing great!”
We all stood and cheered.
We were the parents and loved ones of the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School class of 2001. My eldest was a member of that class and upon completion of additional training would head to NAS Pensacola for flight training. My daughter had wanted to be a Top Gun ever since she saw the original film when she was 10. (Call sign—Doll Face)
“The youth of America is doing great!”
Those words were true then, and they stand even stronger today.
The three of you—Marshall, Saagar and Aaron are doing tremendously important work. I’m 63 now and I’m coming in on my final approach; it’s gonna be up to people such as yourselves that are going to play a substantial role in keeping America on an even keel.
I clearly remember being a lad of 10 back in 1968 and even as a boy I felt that the nation was coming apart at the seams. It was only five years since JFK was blown away, and back to back MLK got clipped and the riots nationwide were terrifying. I grew up in the Bronx, and the rage that burned in the South Bronx and Harlem alone made the George Floyd unrest look like a picnic. From coast to coast inner cities were swept up with riots and violence. Right behind the race riots rose militant anti-war groups of many stripes, and bombings were a regular occurrence.
Right on the heels of MLK's death, they got RFK...
The current culture war issues are nothing compared to what was going on back then. If you want to examine the historical record, look at the archives of the NY Post or Daily News. The NY Times barely covered it.
Abortion will be decided on a state by state basis until genuine leadership gets into power in DC. The nation will come around and be able to separate the so called ‘Trans-rights’ movement from the lesbian/gay biological reality and finally conclude that the trans activists are actually mentally ill (DSM V gender dysphoria). And between reading the work of Zeihan and Stoeller, I think you’re going to see a real shrinking of the wealth gap of today.
The Realignment is such a rich program that I often listen to each episode twice. And I ALWAYS read Aaron’s commentary. The three of you are wise young men. Marshall, what some people call long windedness, people like me enjoy the depth of your thought process; don’t beat yourself up over it.
The youth of America is doing great.
All the best,
Jim Moriarty