#he tops

[beabnormal24]

🎶 Come and give us your unpopular opinion, something up till now that you’ve been scared to say 🎶

Lando tops

[ohmygodtheywereparabatai]

burnout has kept me from working on the fic but shall NOT keep me from writing ten essays about beau

anyways just to run down the list of essay-worthy material. bc seasonal depression is also keeping me from recognizing the absolute tremendous depth and potential of this character, things that have helped me through four difficult years and given me a creative outlet like no other to keep my hope, fight, and joy burning bright.

The character’s first and last names, callsign included, refer to a powerful storm that is visible from space, designed to restore balance to the environment. the phenomenon has been studied and worshipped by both ancient and modern cultures. the Mayan deity Hurracan from which the word originates was sent to flood the world as punishment when humanity became too wicked. “great floods” repeat themselves as a genesis event in many world religions - so the concept of justice (again, a balancing of scales) has been codified into these great storms from the beginning. side note, this universal mix of fear and awe that humans have regarded hurricanes with is something i believe all of nature is owed no matter how tame or terrifying the force. extra side note, it doesn’t end there (for future reference, it never does - I have spent four years with this character), the wind scales after which Beau is named read like poetry about the elements and the catharsis of rage, if you recall the shape of spiral galaxies eg. the one we live in, very very similar to cyclones!! … the word beau corresponds to “good” in French, a charged moral position I write as though he is meant to return to and ultimately represent no matter what knocks him astray. similar to the way waves inevitably return from shore, he will inevitably do what is right - to the extent that solomon bates recognized beau’s weighing of options A and B as a rhetorical question in canon.

beau of course also means handsome and it is found in the word beautiful / the feminine name belle. this in itself is a word traced back to murky origins between the Latin bellus and bellum - one referred to beauty, the other referred to war. it is theorized that the two were correlated due to the goodness that was associated with fighting in battle, in defending the defenseless and answering the call of a greater purpose. beauty therefore came from good deeds, from honor and valor.

the pattern of opposites contributing to the elevation of one another’s meaning is something preserved across nearly every larger concept I apply to beau. by this I mean, cyclones bring floods and destructive winds, they also regulate the oceans, they bring rain which all life needs. good exists to counter and quantify evil and vice versa (oh hey, Vice Admiral - Vice Versa … i’m picking up new things after all). war was once romanticized for the ideals of courage and protection, and in essence it still is. service and sacrifice carry generational weight and it makes the treatment of our veterans as egregious as the state’s war crimes - again, i’ve used the relentless juxtaposition built into Beau to come to terms with the bleak grey areas of the world as I grew up. for this reason he is an incredibly powerful character to me, both in and outside of canon, because he hails from a fucking propaganda piece marketed as family entertainment. young audiences with still-developing brains were always the goal. he is a Foil, a character made to contrast, to balance, to disrupt a cinematic illusion and put pressure on the narrative devices which prop up Maverick’s blameless, rose-tinted world and all who fall in line within it. beau adamantly stands outside of the crowd and this is so damn important to how I characterize him. he is never beyond / above questioning others or himself for fault. it is who he is. and since the writing tones him down by the end of the film, I am desperate to see more people earnestly ask why this matters.

Speaking of - the fic’s title. carmen cygni. Latin for the swan song. his or mine (in terms of my engagement with this franchise)?? - Yes. but i want to take several steps back because the “opposites” that are a part of beau have been visualized chiefly through one main dichotomy. a very elegant one that for me holds infinite promise, the black and white swan. cygne is the French word for swan and it mirrors the spelling of cyclone enough that I feel ecstatic just thinking about it. the titular characters of the Tchaikovsky ballet Swan Lake, the etymology of Odile (🦢🖤) is said to trace back to “hild”, for battle or strife. a familiar concept! furthermore, consider the motion of a pirouette as reminiscent of the spinning of a hurricane. as for the rest of the uncharted potential here, projected release date of the fic is August 2026.

alright. you’ve seen the foyer and parlor and piano room and… i don’t know the names of other grand rooms. now there’s housekeeping

historically, the vice admiral was a position in the Royal Navy exposed to the most risk in battle. the vice admiral’s fleet flanked and guarded the lead admiral’s position, and the rear admiral’s fleet came up behind in the formation — making these ships the likeliest to sustain damage. makes me think on the endurance and tolerance of a character like beau. it’s a quiet kind of strength i really admire. oh, hey. admire - admiral… (just kidding)

the year 1988, when beau graduated top of his class, was a long-time record hurricane season. for this reason i write the cementing of his identity happening at top gun.

cyclos, the root word of cyclone, of bicycle, tricycle, of all cycles, is the circle. time was visualized as circular and depicted as a snake touching head to tail. jon hamm has credited inspiration for his performance to viper in top gun 1. pretty cool. this often makes me think on how anachronistic tgm’s dressing up of propaganda is (fancy way of saying weaponized nostalgia), and that beau once again challenges the narrative by repeatedly stressing their timetable and deadlines. he grounds the film in reality and so he’s very expertly, intentionally undermined. his authority is diminished again and again to a joke or “gotcha!” to make maverick look better

beau and gender. this one meanders but i think that’s the point. as a poc woman i identified with his inability to be taken seriously, no matter his rank and achievements. i saw my struggle with mental health in how much he sticks out as a sore thumb in a summery golden-hour dreamscape, too intense and serious to blend in. i felt frustration with his characterization as an asshole, killjoy, stiff, etcetera, for asking those questions that were bothersome, that disturbed a status quo or expressed disillusionment with those who are idolized and rarely held accountable. ballet, of course, an art form that prizes feminine perfection. so in most ways, he’s very much a woman to me 😭 if it’s not obvious yet, i have also written him as a french-american immigrant, first generation, who joined the navy out of financial necessity and a deep anger left undealt with, his volatility seeking closure and an excuse to ignite at once. all in all i feel a lot more closeness and attachment to him because of it, and these choices allow me to press the exploitative issue around recruitment and the means used to do it

last note. the beau playlist is 30 hours and 38 minutes as of the next wrapped being released. Hm.

[sbarracuda]

based on a true story

[riyerose]

Daisuke is canonically shorter than Haru. We stan a short king. (You know he tops and I'm all here for it.)

[ars0nism]

spidey in the spiderman/deadpool comics is a top fucking fight me

[koiblez]

please tell me that we're all atleast in agreement that schneep tops

[maliciously-faggotty]

asexual-queen-of-the-universe replied to your post “is wulfgang a bottom. i mean he's wearing a collar so i put two and...”

you are fighting a loosing battle Adam

I KNOW!!