Kelly McGillis' Charlie was one of the big reasons the 1985 blockbuster Top Gun worked so well. A smart, capable woman in an era of token girlfriends, she brought a surprising sense of equality to her relationship with Tom Cruise's Maverick. She dictated the terms of their romance, she was presented as the more emotionally mature of the two, and, at the end of the film, he came to her rather than staying out with the boys and their shirtless volleyball games.
Source：https://www.cbr.com/top-gun-2-penny-first-film-explained/
