“Mad Max: Fury Road” is the kind of spectacle that blows up your brain (figuratively) and leaves you an exhausted husk, ready for a nice relaxing stack of tax forms. There’s little patience left for stimuli in the wake of such a film … and this is why it might be easy to dismiss it as a vacuous joyride with little messaging of importance beneath the glossy, absurd exterior.
Indeed, the film is shot gloriously. The visuals are often striking, many times disturbing or graphic, and the pace of the film is completely manic. So it’s a difficult film to process, even on the most basic of “Did I like it?” levels.
On the other hand, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that the environmental messaging is not obvious in retrospect, and I’m likewise not going to tell you that the themes invoking feminism are hidden purposefully. They’re right there, plain as day. But the visceral thrills certainly distract.
This is a movie that grows in importance the longer you think on it.
On this episode of “The Pursuit of Crappiness,” Diya Chacko of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune joins Cait and I to discuss this landmark film, winner of 700 gazillion awards and Academy Award best picture nominee. We’ll touch on the feminism in the film as best we can (though it runs long and deep … we don’t even begin to touch on the statement over a patriarchal society eventually tumbling), briefly talk about the environmental messaging, and mix it up over the marketing of the movie (“Look at all the men. Ignore those women over there”).
Please note: My kids can be noisy. We must all deal.
1:40 – Technically beautiful
4:50 – “Mad Max: Fury Road” is feminist
8:00 – Bait and switch marketing: Can this film change the industry?
16:00 – “Why are you trying to take away our action movies?”
18:25 – Margaret Atwood and “The Handmaid’s Tale”
22:00 — Motherhood: categorizing and shaming women
26:49 — Environmental concerns, equal opportunity sidekicking and evolution
33:40 — They still blow stuff up good!
Here are some links of interest:
Mad Max: Fury Road
IMDB page
Official trailer
TheMarySue — “Initially, There Wasn’t a Feminist Agenda”
TheGuardian – Sexists are scared of Mad Max
The Handmaid’s Tale
David Gladow
Twitter @davegladow
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Cait Gladow
Twitter @nolanolegal
Diya Chacko
Twitter @DCteachild
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune