His purpose is to provide blood for a particular War Boy – Nux (Nicholas Hoult). He is telling us all about his survival, and that his is a “ world of fire and blood.” In short order, he is then captured by War Boys, taken to The Citadel, tattooed with care instructions (“ keep muzzled”) and his status as a Universal Donor, and turned into a human blood bag. The film opens with a gruff and brooding voice-over by Max as the camera creeps up on him, standing on a ridge, overlooking a vast expanse of sand. The result of this purposeful inclusion of a feminist lens is that we have a story told from dual perspectives – Max (Tom Hardy) and Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). It is important to note that George Miller employed Eve Ensler (writer of The Vagina Monologues) to consult on the project’s feminist themes, and also to work with those playing women characters – to enhance their roles in keeping with those themes. What sets Mad Max: Fury Road apart from every other male-made dystopian action movie, though, (and what sets it apart from the rest of its franchise) is that this film purposefully tackles feminist topics head-on, in an unflinching and often furious manner. Here, he co-wrote the screenplay with Brendan McCarthy and Nick Lathouris. The film is directed by George Miller, who co-created Mad Max with Byron Kennedy, directed Mad Max and Mad Max 2, and co-directed Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. It is, specifically, about the structure of patriarchy, and the way it functions – with the giant, socially constructed columns that prop it up: capitalism, control of natural resources, and war. It’s about the situation in which we find them. But, in truth, this film is neither about Max, nor the women. Mad Max: Fury Road is, instead, an expansion of the Mad Max universe, in which Max plays an important part in interacting with some new characters, who are women. Apparently, many were hoping for another story about a traumatised, angry man who has been driven insane by grief, loss, violence and isolation, and is haunted by flashes from his past.
With the Mad Max franchise being well established as a male-centric, dystopian action series, the prominence of women in its new instalment ruffled a great many feathers among male devotees who have held the character of Max Rockatansky as an icon of cinema, since his first celluloid outing in 1979. When Mad Max: Fury Road hit cinema screens in 2015, it caused something of a storm in the realms of pop culture and movie fandom.
On 10th July 2019, the 100th Feminist Flicker column was published on Channillo: Mad Max: Fury Road
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