Who is Zeeshan Aleem? Woke MSNBC editor slammed for calling ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ 'insidious'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: An opinion editor for MSNBC slammed 'Top Gun: Maverick' as the "most insidious movie" to be nominated at the Oscars because it shows the US military as a "beacon of virtue." Zeeshan Aleem derided the Best Picture nominee in a column Saturday morning, March 11, for painting America's defense forces in a positive light.
Aleem said the movie was "literal propaganda" and that it was "poised to become canonized as a highly decorated film" ahead of the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 12. The action movie, which has been credited with single-handedly saving the embattled film industry after Covid lockdowns, has been nominated for a total of six Oscars, including Best Picture.
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'Poisonous nostalgia'
Aleem admitted the film was “a breath of fresh air to see dazzling live-action aerial combat scenes involving real actors (trained to withstand G forces by real pilots) and (mostly) real planes," but ridiculed it for being “as insidious as it is entertaining.” The columnist declared that it was insidious due to its pride for the US military, saying it "beckons for a return to accepting the American war machine as a beacon of virtue and excitement.” He added, “It’s a poisonous kind of nostalgia, one that smuggles love of endless war into a celebration of live action.”
Aleem reduced the patriotic family movie to "literal propaganda" as he cited the US Defense Department’s apparent contributions to the film. “In exchange for access to military aircraft, the producers of the movie agreed to allow the Defense Department to include its own ‘key talking points’ in the script," the column alleged. "Perhaps equally important, the script had to be written in a manner that flatters the military in order to secure the buy-in of the Pentagon." He added, “This collaboration in jingoism is evident throughout the script.”
Aleem also said he hoped the film "tanks at the Oscars," adding, "It’s possible to make thrilling action without so brazenly priming the public for warfare." Elsewhere in the piece, he insisted the top-secret aircraft shown at the outset of the film was solid proof that “Maverick is also operating on behalf of more nefarious forces.” Aleem added, "All we know is that the jet looks sleek and powerful. Yet there is a strange desperation to risk life and limb for it, as if a weapons program is a soldier that’s never meant to be left behind. Maverick embodies the American bipartisan spirit of forever increasing the US colossal defense budget.”
Reviving 'preventive warfare'
The woke editor also criticized the plot of the film, especially the main mission to neutralize a “nuclear enrichment site which could very well be in Iran.” Aleem called the scene “a striking choice that betrays a bellicose worldview. It revives the neoconservative conception of preventive warfare — the idea of using force to eliminate threats to American power before they can emerge.” Overall, he critiqued the production by saying, “War is portrayed purely as a source of glory and camaraderie for Maverick and his colleagues, who are all attractive people and manage to pull off their daring mission with zero casualties. Their training involves speed, sport, and glamour.” Aleem added, “Much of the movie has the feel of a racing or sports movie, gamifying the use of lethal technology and geopolitical intervention as a contest of precise oneupmanship.”