Top Gun: Maverick Is the Right’s Latest Culture-War Crusade

With the Memorial Day weekend release of Top Gun: Maverick, conservative pundits have taken the culture war to the skies, hailing the blockbuster as a patriotic, anti-“woke” display of militarism and masculinity. They have also cited its record-breaking box office performance—grossing $160.5 million domestically over the long weekend—as proof that the public is on their side. The long-awaited sequel picks up more than three decades after the original, with Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise, being called on to train a squadron of elite U.S. Navy pilots for a bombing run on a “rogue” state’s uranium enrichment plant. At… Read Full Article