Kai Tak

I never got into Flight Simulator 2004 (FS9). Out of the box it was pretty lifeless and just didn't run well on the system I had then. I just moved on to other sims. When the excellent freeware VistaOZ Australian terrain and airports came out I got a bit more interested just to see how they had represented places I was familiar with but again really didn't get into it.

Two weeks ago a group called 9Dragons released a FS9 version of the old Hong Kong Kai Tek airport and Hong Kong surrounds that they'd been working on for three years. They've done a amazing job. And with FS9 with all the details at max on my PC it all looks great, particularly at night. I'm finally seeing the attraction of Flight Simulator.

There is a great video of the addon on Youtube. And other videos and screenshots at the 9Dragons website.

Dusk landing, note the famous checkerboard

Daylight

Same scene at night.

The 9Dragons Kai Tak download is available as several individual file downloads at Avsim.com or as a single file from fsfiles.org (direct link). There is traffic for it at World of Traffic, though I'm not using that traffic. The only downside is that Chek Lap Kok airport (VHHH) is shown in the scenery as being under construction so you don't have the opportunity to use it. You can however install Thomas Kwong's VHHH from the AVSIM file library. There is also a boat traffic file for 9Dragons on AVSIM (ai_kt_hb.zip). Charts for VHHX are available on the Flying Tigers website.

Top Gun

I'm still amazed by the number of people that don't realise Top Gun is a gay movie.

Top Gun, the 1986 hit movie by Tony Scott, Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson on face value tells an action story of the flying elite of the US Navy. It was and is extremely popular with young men and this was completely intentional - but not for recruitment for the armed forces as some might think, but because the film was really a vehicle to promote homosexuality. Looking closer at Top Gun a deeper theme emerges that the movie was in fact primarily concerned with the sexuality of the main character Maverick (Tom Cruise), or rather his character's homosexuality.

The movie was filmed in the mid-eighties in an environment where there was considerable controversy in the United States over the impact of Department of Defense "Directive 1332.14 (Enlisted Administrative Separations), January, 1981)". This directive made homosexuality in the US armed forces grounds for dismissal - "intent of the policy had also been to treat homosexuality as being akin to a disability discharge and thus ensure that anyone found engaging in homosexual activity and/or identifying as gay, would be separated with an honorable discharge". For more on this see the history subheading of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Wikipedia article.

Of the major characters in the film there are only two heterosexual men, Cougar (John Stockwell) and Goose (Anthony Edwards). Cougar leaves the navy after demonstrating cowardice, while Goose (the hetro friend of Maverick) is killed. The devastating loss felt by Maverick at Goose's death acknowledges the pain of unreciprocated gay love. The film is peppered with sexual advances between the pilots including obvious sexual references in the first briefing room scene and bar scene (also note the "woman" smoking a cigar behind Maverick and Goose as they enter the bar), homoerotism of the beach volleyball and locker room scenes and dogfighting scenes where pilots jockey for position to be “behind” an opponent.

Wolfman: "This gives me a hard-on."
Hollywood: "Don't tease me."

Slider with his arm around Iceman.

Goose: "...carnal knowledge - of a lady this time."

The homoerotic beach scene

Goose (in a shirt) is the only one not "exhibiting" in the beach scene.

There is also an obvious preoccupation with buttocks in the scenes featuring Viper (Tom Skerritt).

Viper's buttocks feature in all of his scenes.

It is also established when Maverick visits Viper's home that Viper is married. But (unlike Cougar and Goose who indicate the importance of their hetro relationships) there is no substance to the relationship Viper has with his partner - this is because there isn't one. Viper is representative of homosexual men that must live the life of a hetro to secure advancement within the armed forces.

Maverick's love interest in the film "Charlie" is a device used to confirm Maverick's homosexuality. Attracted by Charlie's male-like knowledge of aircraft and manly appearance (an inspired casting choice of Kelly McGillis by director Tony Scott), Maverick has a brief dalliance with the idea of heterosexuality before he affirms his sexuality, leaving Charlie's house in a rush before a the relationship is consummated. The real significance of this I'll discuss later. In a partially successful effort to attract Maverick, later in the lift scene Charlie dresses as a man.

Charlie dresses as a man.

Maverick has an obvious attraction to the ultra masculine alpha male Iceman (Val Kilmer) but is compelled by his love for the lost Goose to suppress this attraction. The sexual tension between Iceman and Maverick erupts in the infamous locker room scene. This relationship reaches its ultimate conclusion when the characters embrace at the end of the film after Maverick comes to terms with the loss of Goose and finally accepts his love for Iceman. The references to "being my wingman" in this scene are clearly a metaphor for their love.

The embrace.

Some people believe in the dramatic dogfight at the end of the film where Maverick initially disengages that Maverick is fighting within himself to be hetro (references to Goose and inaction) or accept his homosexuality (the higher risk imperative). I personally don't think this is necessary at all.

Caution - Major spoiler ahead!!!

But even those that understand the gay theme of Top Gun might miss the second, bigger twist in the movie - that Charlie is in fact not a woman. There are clues to this given by the director.

Charlie repeats the line Meg Ryan's character (Carole) says "take me to bed and lose me forever" (to Goose) to Maverick. This is VERY significant. By doing this Charlie is both "emulating" a woman (Ryan) and at the same time mocking women. It is not until the end of the film that it is revealed to the audience that Charlie is in fact transsexual, explaining Maverick’s attraction, explaining his quick confused exit at their first intimate meeting and confirming his ultimate homosexuality. This is done so subtly by the director that it is completely missed by inattentive film-goers. Some people wonder how the embrace with Iceman and the ending with Charlie tally. This is a reference to the promiscuity and transient nature of gay relationships and is entirely consistent with Maverick affirming his homosexuality. Maverick embracing Iceman and then returning to a hetro relationship with Charlie simply does not make sense and I often wonder why people don't pick up on Charlie not being a woman.

Unsurprisingly, the film has attracted criticism from both moralists and gay groups. Moralists being outraged at the film's seductive and positive portrayal of the gay lifestyle, while gay groups criticise stereotyping. Nevertheless the movie remains a classic and a case study in the use of subtext and hidden meaning. The film pioneered a trend of gay storylines in mainstream movies that can be seen in later films such as the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy. Quentin Tarantino describes the film as "a story about a man's struggle with his own homosexuality" and "one of the greatest f--king scripts ever written in the history of Hollywood". The audacity and incredible success of the producers in having the US Armed Forces unwittingly helping to produce a gay movie when they were attempting to remove homosexuals from service is still widely admired.

If you enjoyed Top Gun, look for the 2005 french movie "Les Chevaliers du ciel" (often referred to as the "French Top Gun") that has much more beautiful, realistic and dramatic aerial cinematography, all the men are straight and the women are actually women including the hot looking pilot.

Edit: the Movie site seems to be offline.

There is a video compilation of some of the aerial work at Patricks Aviation.

-------
Top Gun is not really a movie about homosexuality.

The background on this posting - it was originally a wiki entry I made under a different alias at vaaf.net as a joke after I watched Top Gun for the hundredth time and it occurred to me it was a bit gay in the beach scene. I then watched the movie again viewing in a "gay light" and honestly I was a little surprised at how much material was in it. It underwent several revisions on the wiki before ending up here with some new material.

After I wrote the wiki entry I got a little worried myself (!) and Googled to see if in fact it was a gay movie and found the great Tarantino quotes. I initally thought they were a funny speech he'd given but later found that they come from his character in the 1994 comedy 'Sleep With Me' transcript here, written by Roger Avary. I included two quotes in later versions of the wiki entry so when people Googled Top Gun and Gay they'd see the Tarantino quotes in the results and think (like I did) for a few seconds that they'd got confirmation that Top Gun was gay. Shortly after my inital wiki post, someone actually posted on the VAAF forums their disappointment that Top Gun was a gay film and I have to say I don't think I've ever laughed so hard. I absolutely swear (unlikely as it might seem) that I arrived at thinking "Top Gun is gay" independently and didn't just reproduce Roger Avary's stuff.