C I N E M A T I C    P A R A L L E L S

You know what line gets me every time I watch MAD MAX FURY ROAD? 

“Do not, my friends, become addicted to water. It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence.”

Think about that. “Addicted to water.” It makes it sound like water is an extra luxury that people don’t need but are greedy for, something they should be able to go without, and if they are desperate for it, it’s their own fault, and not the fault of the man who has all of it, and withholds it.

Think about how the people in power tell us not to be greedy for the things we need, like healthcare, like a living wage, like the right to be free of fear and violence in our own communities. The people in power tell us not to be greedy for these things, when they themselves already enjoy them freely, and withhold them from us.

Don’t trust the narrative that tells us we’re being greedy by asking for things that we need.

Don’t trust the asshole sitting on a grassy hilltop with his hand on the spigot telling us not to be greedy for water.

Fury Road is a fantastic criticism of capitalist property rights over common necessities

I went to see a talk by the Colin Gibson, the production designer of Mad Max: Fury Road, and one of the most mind-blowing tidbits I learned was that when the Green Place turned sour, the matriarchal Vuvalini took their girls and fled, but they left all the boys behind. Those boys, left to die in the poisoned bog, became the Crow People we see walking on stilts:

Gibson also said they chose white paint for Immortan Joe’s war boys because (and I quote) “fat white bastards killed the world.” The Vuvalini were conceived as the opposite extreme to this, the opposite of the “fat white bastards” - but their way and their culture is still a dead end, and their callous disregard for male children is no better than Joe’s callous disregard for female children.

This makes the ending of the film, where the wives and Furiosa take the Citadel in order to build a new society, even more important. Neither Immortan Joe nor the Vuvalini had the correct ideology, but the wives and Furiosa do. Thanks to their long journey in the Wasteland, they are placed in a position to fashion and rule a more idealised, peaceful society, one based on equality across race, class and gender.

Dag, the pregnant pacifist, took the seeds from the older, violent generation so she could build a new, peaceful one. Capable showed empathy and kindness towards Nux even though she had been abused by men her whole life, and will surely show the same empathy to the war boys and war pups left behind. Toast the Knowing, observant and intelligent and ready to lead, took the wheel from the dead tyrant at the end and eagerly helped raise up the oppressed classes at the Citadel. Cheedo the Fragile turned her fragility into her greatest strength, proving that gentleness is not weakness in this barbaric world.

Furiosa forged a relationship of complete respect and equality with Max that helped her overcome the trauma she suffered at the hands of men. She achieves catharsis by killing Joe and loving Max and the wives, emerging from it all ready to begin again, ready to leave the past behind and step into the future.

We see many different tribes and cultures in this film and are presented with many different methods for survival, but only one that is really worth fighting for. The love, trust, respect and equality that exists between a ragged band of strangers in a War Rig thus becomes the prototype for the new society that will rise from the ashes when the Citadel falls.

ALL OF THIS

This is the information I’ve been looking for for a while.

if you ever see a mad max post that I haven’t reblogged, assume I am trapped beneath something heavy and couldn’t reach my phone.

Lessons filmmakers should take from Mad Max: Fury Road

1. Your oppressive post-apocalyptic world doesn’t have to be physically dark. It can actually be bright and colorful. The audience actually likes to be able to see what is going on.

2. Visual story telling is a lost art that needs to be found again. Seriously, this movie did not have a lot of dialog to begin with but you could have taken it all out and I would have still been able to follow the movie pretty well. Show us, don’t tell us.

3. Physical effects enhanced by CGI are the way to go. It will always have more weight than CGI on its own. Real people doing real stunts in real locations gives a substance that is missed when the same stunts are done in front of a green screen.

4. (and this one is REALLY important) You can have an action movie that centers around interesting female characters that aren’t being objectified and have their own agency and people will see it (and it will be AWESOME!). Also, your male character doesn’t always have to come charging to the rescue, he can even be the “damsel in distress” occasionally.

5. A flame throwing guitar is an excellent addition to any chase scene.

I don’t think there are many directors who can claim to be as versatile as George Miller

having to be tied to this administration as a general American like

And the rest of the world like…

that’s the look that says ‘sorry you’re going through that, unfortunately we’re going in the same direction with only slightly more agency’

I like this analogy because it includes the hope that eventually we get to rip the faces off of our primary abusers.

Just some impressions from the making of Fury Road to remind you that they used as less CGI as possible. Thank you George ♥

George Miller the realest person you’re ever gonna meet.

are you fucking kidding me that was two straight hours of ACTUAL EXPLOSIONS 

The best part is that, from my understanding, there were quite a few scenes where George Miller said “No this is too dangerous we’ll do this in post” and the rest of the crew was like “NO LETS DO IT NOW WE CAN DO IT”

are you telling me this was fucking cirque du soleil in the desert with fucking explosions

Tom Hardy described it as slipknot meets cirque du soleil 

I’m very glad that movies like Pacific Rim and Fury Road and The Force Awakens are as colorful as they are, because I am really, really tired of desaturated movies.

Don't forget the Man from U.N.C.L.E.

A Straight: Why do queer people star watching a show only after they see there’s a gay character?

Me: 

Furiosa isn’t the female action hero we’re used to. Furiosa doesn’t have a dad who was taught her boxing or five brothers who taught her how to fix cars. Furiosa wasn’t a tomboy growing up, who preferred to play with the boys. Furiosa isn’t avenging the murder of her husband/brother/father or hunting down a rapist.

Furiosa comes from a community of women. She was raised by women. She works her way up through enemy ranks until she’s in a position to  rescue women. Furiosa is here for women, she is here with women, and she is here because of women. Her rage, her ruthlessness, her courage – these are all things she learned from women, and from being a woman.

The film editor to Mad Max is a woman! The editor to this gorgeous, incredibly visually coherent movie is a woman by the name of Margaret Sixel, who has NEVER EDITED AN ACTION MOVIE BEFORE. Talk about rising to the occasion! George Miller said of her at the Cannes press conference that he wanted her to edit it because if guys did it, it would look like every other action movie out there. “She’s here to keep us from embarrassing ourselves,” Miller laughed. He continued, “The movie is like rubix cube; we needed someone with a lot of brainpower and a low threshold for boredom. She did not allow any repetition in the movie.”