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Looking at cinema listings, it’s not hard to think we’ve travelled back in time a few decades. Jurassic Park is back, and 36 years after he first took to the skies in Top Gun, Tom Cruise is back, too – tight-fitting white t-shirt and all.
Erin Harrington saw the film at an excited opening night screening, and as she writes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Top Gun: Maverick might have a newly diverse cast, but it still firmly clings to all of the beats of its precursor.
“The film revisits old characters, reworks the original score and incorporates earlier footage into flashbacks. It surrounds the characters with photographs of their younger selves. It even rolls its end credits over the same burnt orange skies,” Erin writes.
Top Gun: Maverick is a nostalgic film: nostalgic for stories of heroism and loyalty, and nostalgic for film itself. In the 1980s, cinema was king. Now we’re more likely to watch a film at home. So the creators of Top Gun: Maverick have created a “proper blockbuster of old”.
In its love of cinema and its love of itself, she writes, Top Gun: Maverick is not subtle. “In this film, we hear the end might be coming, but there is still much more in the tank.”
And on the subject of masculinity, men have historically done most of the talking and writing about popular music. Simmone Howell reviews a new book of music criticism – by women and about women – and finds much to celebrate.
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Jane Howard
Deputy Section Editor: Arts + Culture
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Erin Harrington, University of Canterbury
We are repeatedly told superior technology is one thing, but it’s not the plane that’s important in this film. It’s the (American) pilot and their instincts.
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Simmone Howell, La Trobe University
Historically, men have done most of the talking and writing about music. A new collection of essays, taking its title from a Kate Bush song, invites women writers to reflect on female musical muses.
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Andrew King, The University of Melbourne
These temperatures are well below average, even for the middle of winter.
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Nick Fuller, University of Sydney
Is there such a thing as ‘fat but fit’? Excess weight is one risk factor for ill health, but it doesn’t perfectly predict it.
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Andrew Jakubowicz, University of Technology Sydney
At the 2022 election, the trajectories of change differed from each other along almost every conceivable parameter that was not old white male.
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Louise Chappell, UNSW Sydney; Claire Annesley, UNSW Sydney
For many years Australians cabinets lagged behind the rest of the world on gender equality. Now women make up almost half of cabinet and hold a string of key portfolios.
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Politics + Society
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
Michelle Grattan discusses politics with politics + society editor, Amanda Dunn
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Health + Medicine
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Anne Tiedemann, University of Sydney; Cathie Sherrington, University of Sydney; Kim Delbaere, Neuroscience Research Australia
Exercise that targets balance and strength is the most effective for reducing the risk of falls.
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Christian Moro, Bond University; Charlotte Phelps, Bond University
Normally, the feeling is only temporary. But if someone always has cold hands and feet, even when their body is quite warm, it could be a sign that something else is contributing.
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Science + Technology
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Elizabeth Sinclair, The University of Western Australia; Gary Kendrick, The University of Western Australia; Jane Edgeloe; Martin Breed, Flinders University
A single seagrass plant in Shark Bay is around 4,500 years old, covers 200 square kilometres of seabed, and thrives in harsh conditions.
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Thomas White, University of Sydney
We wanted to understand the ways in which predatory animals eavesdrop on the sexual ‘conversations’ of their prey.
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Environment + Energy
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Geoff Cockfield, University of Southern Queensland
The Nationals have long promoted coal for regional development and politics. But new leader David Littleproud could seize the moment and refocus the regional party.
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Bhiamie Williamson, Australian National University
We cannot allow climate change mitigation and adaptation to become another colonial process of dispossession and disempowerment.
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Education
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Damien Cahill, University of Sydney
Reports of big university budget surpluses appear to undermine calls for their federal funding to increase. But a closer look at how the surpluses were achieved reveals why change is needed.
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Arts + Culture
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Timothy Heffernan, UNSW Sydney
Perhaps what is most interesting about #Swedengate is not what it tells us about Sweden, but what it tells us about ourselves.
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Business + Economy
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John Hawkins, University of Canberra
New figures show economic growth edged closer back towards normal in the months to March, but the gains went to profits rather than wages.
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Anthony Forsyth, RMIT University
Beyond arguing for an increased minimum wage, the new Albanese government needs to fix an outdated system that’s failing our lowest-paid workers – especially women.
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