Would you mind sharing your perception of Bradley’s personality from top gun? I’m super curious to see other portrayals of him talked about in depth, because most of the portrayals I’ve seen I don’t particularly agree with, and that’s fine because everyone is obligated to their own opinions and perspectives or characters but I really do like most of the things I’ve seen you post about him, and I’m curious to hear more of your thoughts about his personality in full?
The movie doesn’t really give us a lot to work with unfortunately because he spends the movie being Mr pissy bitchy pants lol
heyy anon! thanks for reaching out with the ask! i'd love to answer and use this also as an opportunity to get back into my top gun meta posting lolz. I'm curious about the depictions of bradley's personality that u don't really agree with, cuz i also made a post about how i disagree with the idea that bradley is a "chill guy." feel free to send me another ask about what depictions u disagree with specifically, i'd love to hear!!
as for the man at hand, mr bradley bradshaw and his personality, these are the core things I keep in mind when I was writing his character in my fic(s) and when i'm thinking about him:
bradley feels very deeply and intensely, but he isn't as well versed as masking those intense emotions and feelings as let's say Iceman, Hangman, or even older Maverick. And I don't think Bradley can learn how to mask those emotions. In terms of storytelling, if you give Bradley that capability, than the purpose of his character kind of ceases to exist. All the conflict would be lost in TGM. If Bradley were able to learn how to mask those emotions all those scenes of Maverick and Bradley fighting wouldn't have happened, and Hangman wouldn't have been able to get under Bradley's skin so easily. Without that, the movie has no real compelling emotional storyline or emotional conflict. Why even include Goose's son at all if he isn't going to be reactive and create some conflict? Thus, Bradley's limitation as a fictional character is that he has to feel everything loudly and openly, and that he can't really keep his feelings to himself. He's kind of like that one guy everyone knows where there moods affect everyone else's moods.
he's an anxious guy. and his anxiety manifests physically and emotionally by being controlling. he wants to feel in control whenever possible. see his flying style in TGM. Bradley acts almost as a parallel to Ice's controlling and consistent flying style in the og top gun. I view his personality similar to Ice in that way (sometimes). Bradley's personality can be grinding and persistent, like Ice's (see Goose's first description of Ice "wears you down until you make a mistake"), which becomes irritating as he tries to gain control of social situations and conversations. ex. always trying to get the upper hand on hangman and maverick, jumping to immediate, reactive responses to gain control as quickly as possible, which usually backfires and just makes him look desperate. we could also get Freudian with it and say his desperation for control is due to the lack of control he had in his childhood and young adult life (both parents dying and then maverick taking away his choice and pulling his papers etc etc)
He's also caring. bradley cares very deeply about everything and everyone. his intense emotions and inability to keep them hidden, along with his controlling anxiety, make him a caring person. Or him being a caring person makes him anxious and emotional. idk it's like a chicken vs the egg of what came first. but for storytelling purposes, what came first doesn't matter because the chicken eventually has to cross the road so who gives a shit. so bradley being caring makes him a good friend and someone you want on your side. His care and consideration also makes him a cautious pilot, sticking to his wingman to a fault.
He also has a tendency to live in the past which i interpret as him having a big imagination and a tendency to overthink. he's specifically nostalgic for things he never really had, which tells me that he's constantly thinking about the "what ifs." what if his dad were alive, what if maverick didn't pull his papers etc etc. He spends TGM missing his father, who he never truly knew, driving a 1960s/70s ford bronco, 80s porno stache (like his dad's), wearing similar tropical print shirts like his dad's, and seemingly liking "oldies" music (great balls of fire piano scene). For storytelling, Bradley's whole character is used to inject nostalgic feelings in returning audiences as his character is just the most natural way of doing it without it being extremely overbearing and awkward. Thus, his character now has this other "limitation" of being a little stuck in the past all the time.
To summarize, Bradley's emotional and feels things extremely deeply and openly, he's an anxious person and his anxiety manifests by trying to gain control by being a bit of a dick, he's also a nice guy, and he's perpetually stuck in the past. these combination of things, to me, are the reason why bradley is mr bitchcy pissy pants in TGM. and i think that him being a dick in TGM gives us stuff to work with in terms of his personality. knowing the flaws of characters can lead us as viewers to fill in the blanks of what their positive character traits could be, while also recognizing that this character has a role to fill to propel the story forward. without bradley being bitchy, there wouldn't be a solution and then reconciliation between characters at the end. thanks again for the ask! always love top gun talk
