Oral Presentation Part 2 and 3

II. Historical and Institutional factors.

1. What are the institutional factors that may be important?
    The specific producers to the film Top Gun were Don Simpson and Jerry Brukheimer in association with Paramount pictures.
     Top Gun, in pre production had a budget of $15,000,000. When the Tony Scotts final product was released the box office had produced for him a total of $353,816,700. Top Gun was clearly a success. Throughout production however, heavy expenses had to be paid. When renting the Tom Cats, Paramount paid $7,800 per hour for fuel along with additional costs. Shockingly, while filming on the aircraft carrier, Tony Scott ask to stay on a current course (unspecified) - the captain told him that it costs $25,000 to turn the ship. Wikipedia says that once the captain had mentioned this Tony Scott immediately took out and wrote a check for the amount desired.
     At the time, the president of the United States of America was Ronal Reagan. Hailed was one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history and provided the country with a strong sense of patriotism. Reagan was thought to be a huge contributor to ending the Cold War. His policy was that the Soviet Union could be defeated rather than negotiated with. In relation to the movie, Top Gun incorporates the same ideology by using the motif of aircraft carriers. Aircraft carriers are feared all over the world and one aircraft carrier carries the threat of ten battleships.

2. What is the films historical significance?
     Top Gun was a never before seen film and became the top grossing film of 1986. Tom Cruises unmistakable smile/grin attracted viewers that fell for his charismatic aspects.

III. Socio-Cultural Context.
   Top Gun takes place in the United States of America. In the U.S. there is always a constant desire within most individuals to serve his or her country. Our culture depicts a sense of hierarchy. Based on appearances we could assume that a white man will be successful in life allowing him to feel superior to for example a colored man where his culture has proven to have slavery. This hierarchy system translates into the movie where everyone is competing to be the best pilot but no one is able to overcome Iceman - he has built the reputation that he is "cold, like ice, no mistakes when he is flying."
     This work was made for the specific audience that enjoys to watch intense drama between men that all think they are the alpha male. Also, when making this film, it was intended that Tony Scott could overcome the challenge of making it while allowing for the American people to explore a new topic and gain insight to it.