My goodness, it looks like Communist China is interfering with some of our most sacred of media: movies that glorify the American military.
What’s next? Pandas in our apple pie?
So ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is a thing.
And in a world that’s littered with reboots, remakes, and sequels, this is one people have been waiting to see for quite some time.
I mean, at least since 1986.
It was unveiled at the most recent San Diego Comic-Con.
Which was packed to the brim with all sorts of the iconic Comic-Con triple Ts: twists, turns, and trailers.
A lot of trailers.
But only one trailer has sent ripples across the Twitter-verse.
Okay, so maybe it’s been a couple of trailers, but there’s only one that’s the focus of today’s article, folks.
And you guessed it, it’s the one in the title and the one I talked about in the first paragraph.
Wow, look at you! Paying such close attention to my writing!
Honestly, I couldn’t be more flattered.
So what’s the controversy?
Well, you might not believe this people, but it’s like we’re in the Cold War era again.
That’s right, this controversy has to do with one of this world’s greatest fears…communists.
Cue Big Reveal Music.
Communist China is apparently messing around with one of our greatest loves: movies about our military and how great it is.
Or at least, that’s what the people on Twitter believe.
This one Twitter user, who pointed out that Maverick’s iconic jacket is missing some very important flags.
The Japanese and the Taiwanese flag.
And instead, it’s replaced with… some other ones.
China…
Has a pretty complex relationship with both Japan and Taiwan, so it makes sense that their movie-going public (or, more likely, their government) wouldn’t want their flags represented in a movie.
It could be…
Because the movie is produced not only by Paramount Pictures but by their partner companies, Skydance Media, and the Chinese production company Tencent Pictures.
So some think that the movie is pandering to Beijing.
Or should I say Panda-ering?
People are pretty cheesed.
All over Twitter (well, in some circles, including a comment from Senator Lindsey Graham) they’re complaining about this change.
As they should be! American movies should not have to pander to Chinese wishes.
However I hate to play Devil’s Advocate here, but China might not actually be the reason for the change.
Yes, there could be a story-related reason for switching the flags around.
This Twitter user…
Pointed out that while the jacket from the original movie was his father’s, this jacket might be showing off his own exploits.
Specifically, Maverick’s exploits from the very first Top Gun movie.
However, China is a very important market to grab if you’re looking to make money internationally.
And we all know that the filmmakers of Top Gun: Maverick are trying to make money.
And Tom Cruise has a lot of box office appeal in China, so who knows?
Maybe this is all just a way to appeal to a wider audience.
Or maybe it’s something more sinister…
What do you think?
Is this just a coincidence? Was it done for a story/costume reason?
Or is it an evil plot by the Chinese government to infiltrate our most treasured films? Only time will tell.
