Bravery In Top Gun

When you see a movie or a TV show at home, your mind may think a certain character, like the one portrayed by Tom Cruise in Top Gun, is a really brave soul. Bravery is not in fact what it is perceived to be. The term bravery does not necessarily mean becoming John Rambo or putting your life on the line. The real definition is when you stand up for what you believe is right, even with major fear. It means completing your righteous voyage despite a painstaking journey and possible demise. One fairly recent example of true fear and bravery is, believe it or not, in a movie. The movie “It” (2017) portrays a metaphor on fear and bravery (spoiler warning). Although at first it just looks like another horror movie, the deep rabbit hole the metaphor has made “It” look like the masterpiece of this century. Instead of
going for a general “ Scary Pop-up” technique (although to be fair it did have a few Cinemá clíches), the Movie goes right for the subconscious mind.
Fear is the source of ideas that scares people the most. They took advantage of that in this film by making the Antagonist fear itself. At this point you might be thinking, “ Isn't the antagonist the creepy looking clown that can take shape of things people fear the most?” Believe it or not, the clown is just a representation of fear itself. It is just using the clown as one of many states it can take, such as one of the protagonist's brother, and a father. As a result, Coulrophobia is a really prominent symbol in this film. Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns, and a high percentage of people have it. To further support this claim, take a look at this article by Chapman University discussing fears of the average US citizen, Clowns are one of the top three fears in the US, alongside tight spaces and public speaking.
Since Stephen King would need a physical embodiment of fear, he would go along with a clown. Eventually towards the end of the movie, they kill Pennywise The Clown, the representation of fear itself. This symbolizes is that in reality, we can get over our biggest fears by uniting together as people and gaining courage. This is a true example of bravery. Not killing soldiers, but to unite in the most desperate of times and destroying fear itself in order to forward the progress of society. At the end of the day, bravery has nothing to do with guns or risking your life. It’s about facing and acknowledging our struggles in society. Bravery, in its true form, is about uniting society and finding a solution to fear amongst each other. This true bravery will most of the time leave almost no one deceased and will progress society to a more sustainable and brighter future.