We've all gone through it; I know I have. It's been a long time, but I remember sitting through the torture of a boring class. Maybe the subject was interesting but it doesn't really matter. Sometimes, we'd rather be anywhere else.
Maybe you had a date lined up, and you were anxious to get to it. Maybe you were meeting with friends or waiting for Monday night football. Whatever was on your mind at the time, one thing is certain; you were not paying attention to what you're supposed to learn. It could have been the professor or the material itself, but it also could have just been the setting.
Classic Movie Trailers – Top Gun (1986)
You might think this is funny, but while I watching this, I was reminded of the first Alien film. On the surface, it looks like I'm talking about apples and oranges, but the two are more alike than you may realize. When you go to see a scary movie, you really want to be frightened, but a smart story doesn't give up the goods prematurely.
"Top Gun" is like that, because after all, we want to see the down-and-dirty dog fighting of war. We want the gunfire and we want the explosions, but what if we get that right away? If that need is satisfied, at the beginning of the movie, why would we bother to watch the rest of it? I'm sure there are ways around it, but maybe it's best to hold off.
It takes time for us to grasp the whole situation. It takes time for us to know what the conflict is about. Above all else, it takes some time to care about the characters, and if we're going to be invested, you have to give us that in spades. If bullets are flying and people are dying it's definitely a tragedy, but it won't be felt as much if we don't know the people involved.
Now here's a point that may be one of contention, but I don't think that action is enough. We do want Hulk to smash and we want Rambo to engage, but if that's all we get it probably won't satisfy. We expect a whole lot more than that, and the interesting thing is we really don't know what the other elements should be. If we did know that it wouldn't be a great experience; there have to be surprises and things we hadn't considered.
You may not have thought about watching film to learn new things, but in order to entertain us, a film has to teach. I'm not talking about a drab presentation of facts here, but little pieces of information to spark our interest. It's mainly about the characters and their progression, but as far as I'm concerned, we need something new. That something could be anything, but in the case of this movie, the setting is a big part of the appeal.
I haven't seen too many movies set at a flight school. I doubt I'll see a whole lot in the future. If I am wrong I hope they're all as good as this one, and this one is good because the school isn't the focus. It's a story about someone that's trying to be the best and all of the obstacles tearing him down.
It gets worse and worse, and before you know it., you forget that all you wanted to see was the conflict. Suddenly you're rooting for the main character, and pulling for the win that seems very far away. If you made it to that point, then "Top Gun" did its job, by creating a need you didn't have, when you sat down to watch it. Along the way we got some fancy aerial jargon, that was brief enough and vague enough, to be the icing on the cake.
I imagine a lot of young men saw this movie, and left knowing what they wanted to do with their lives. It could have been a throwaway line, or the unfamiliar setting, or the power of the jets and the thrill of flight. Whatever the case, people learn best when they're not supposed to be learning. So in that way, fiction is the best teacher on earth.
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See "Top Gun" on Netflix!
