Part III Discourse Analysis 10%
        Top Gun was a huge success with audiences, but how did the movie affect therecruitment rates of the real-life Navy? __21__ The fast-paced tale of Maverick, afeckless test pilot with an infamous “need for speed,” Top Gun turned its directorTony Scott into one of Hollywood’s most in-demand action auteurs and made amajor star of its emerging leading man Tom Cruise.
        The action of Top Gun made life in the Navy seem glamorous, a high-octaneparade of thrills and spills that could seduce any viewer. __22__ Of course, not everywannabe Maverick made it through basic training upon experiencing the reality oflife in the Navy, but Top Gun was still able to spike the institution’s popularity in onlya year after the movie’s release.
         According to the US Navy, the box office success of Top Gun saw theirrecruitment rates balloon by a massive 500% in the year following the originalmovie’s release. This swell in numbers was due in no small part to the institution’sability to tap into Top Gun fever when viewers of the movie were still at their mostzealous and over-enthusiastic — as they walked out of the multiplex. The U.S. Navyset up recruiting stations outside of movie theaters, catching potential recruits asthey were left the cinema hyped up by the movie’s dramatic climax. __23__
         While few executives could have guessed how successful Top Gun would bebefore the movie’s release, one particularly canny potential star knew howappealing the movie could make the military seem. Future Full Metal Jacket starMatthew Modine turned down the role of Maverick not because he disliked thescript, but because he thought the movie would be used as a recruitment tool forthe real-life military (as a pacifist, Modine’s politics didn’t align with those of the USNavy). __24__
         Full Metal Jacket would go on to offer a less glamorous and more groundedvision of life in the military, but Top Gun remains a beloved cult classic decades afterits release precisely because of the movie’s over-the-top and escapist take on theinstitution. As many viewers guessed, the real-life Navy does not have trophies andpilot rankings. __25__ Only time will tell whether Top Gun: Maverick can recreatethe original Top Gun’s outsized impact on recruitment numbers, although it seemsunlikely that any follow-up could recapture the original’s massive popularity.
【題組】21.
(A) The star turned out to be right, with Top Gun causing not only a real-life changefor the Navy’s recruitment rates but one of massive, unforeseen proportions.
(B) Both of them were invented to make the movie’s story more akin to atriumphant sports movie than a traditional war film.
(C) Released in 1986, Top Gun was a big hit with viewers when it arrived intheaters.
(D) The strategy paid off, as the Navy soon had their highest number ofapplications in years.
(E) As if to prove this point, the success of Top Gun soon translated into a huge increase in real-life recruitment rates for the Navy.