Why Maverick Doesn’t Mean Much

So Top Gun : Maverick is a big hit. And conservative pundits are treating it as a triumph of non-woke over woke in the public arena.

Umm gee. Let me think. It’s a nostalgia film that is a sequel to a beloved classic from the childhood of practically every one currently in the midst of a mid-life crisis. It has an actress who was the first crush of practically every one currently in the midst of a mid-life crisis. It’s an action film about an aging badass refusing to retire, played the actor who is the platonic idea of the aging badass who refuses to retire, and who is still one of the biggest box office draws the world over. It is, by all accounts, a very well made film. It has lots of action. It has great music.

It would have been a hit if it sucked. But by all accounts it doesn’t suck.

Why is ANYONE surprised that this movie is a hit?

But of course that isn’t the point. The Right is using this as a disingenuous attack in the ongoing culture war against their arch-nemesis: human decency. This is what they always do. There is no point in engaging with them beyond calling out their tactics and mocking them.

Calling out the tactics is key to educating and inoculating those people unfamiliar with the tactics of the right. Mocking them is important because the right thrives on pretending that the majority agree with them, and mockery deflates that lie.

So call them out. Mock them. And then block and move on.

Yeah Top Gun: Maverick is apparently a good movie, and a lot of people watched it. This isn’t a surprise. This doesn’t mean people are against basic human decency, no matter how much the fascists want you to think it means that.