Mad Max: Fury Road - "Witness Me / Remember Me? / Remember Me! / Did you see it?"
In this article spoilers] We Are Not Things: The Themes and Imagery of Mad Max: Fury Road [spoilers], the writer of the article says:
In the final extended showdown Furiosa exclaims to Immortan Joe “remember me?” regaining and asserting her once stolen humanity, before Joe’s artificial face is torn off along with Furiosa’s artificial arm. Immortan Joe was kept alive by machines, created a society where people are treated as machines, and with him gone the machine-society he created can be dismantled.
The writer has interpreted Furiosa's "remember me" as a rhetorical question rather than a statement. If you Google the quote, you'll see that a lot of viewers have also assumed that Furiosa is asking a question.
To be honest, on my initial viewing, I was also one of the many who assumed that she was asking a rhetorical question i.e. "Remember me? The person you treated so badly - well I'm back for my revenge" i.e. she has presumably for years been suppressing the hatred she feels towards him for what he did to her before and although she has been conforming, secretly she has resented him and she's reminding him of the person she use dot be. She could have been saying: "Remember me? The person I used to be before I became a monster in need of redemption?"
Dan's pointed out that with a different interpretation, the question is pointless. Of course Immortan Joe remembers her - she's the person he's been chasing through most of the movie and has mustered up pretty much all of his standing army from the Citadel to hunt her down. She's not asking him to remember her, she's telling him to remember her i.e. "I'm about to take my revenge - in the afterlife, make sure you remember who I am/remember my name/remember my face!"
One of the commenters in the article named Zach says:
"One thing I wanted to mention though: when Furiosa says “remember me” to Joe, I didn’t think of it as a question as much as a clever twist on the “witness me” phrase that the war boys said whenever they were about to martyr themselves. I’m still not sure what the significance of the change is, but I bet there’s gotta be something there!"
The commenter Nobody remarks:
"My take on the “witness me,” vs. “remember me” divergence is that it has to do with their concept of the afterlife. “Witness me” is what you say to the living before you die. “Remember me” would be more the sort of thing you would say as a reply to that. The living want the dead to remember them in Valhalla. Furiosa is saying this to Joe in mockery of this religious mantra, or so it seemed to me."
Picklefactory at the forum Making Light says:
"During the movie I thought Furiosa's "remember me" was an imperative and not a question: "When you enter the afterlife, remember me, your trusted general that rebelled against you for your tyranny and inhumanity, then made you pay for it with your life when you refused to let go." Sic semper tyrannis."
Fade Manley pointed out:
"And I think that whatever she did to earn that position of power and trust is what she's talking about when she says she's looking for redemption. She's not ashamed of what happened to her, she's ashamed of what she's done. "Remember me" is echoing the "Witness me" of Nux, in the opposite direction. Not "Look at the thing I'm about to do gloriously," but "Remember the terrible things I did for you? These are the consequences.""
*
What is the significance of "witness me!" at the Citadel? Dan and I assume that it's a way of giving death more meaning. If someone witnesses your death/entry into Valhalla then it means more - it means that you mattered or made a difference. It's a form of rite or ceremony to usher you into the next life. If you die unwitnessed, then there's nothing to mark your passing. Perhaps it's the substitute for a funeral service in a world that's too brutal and raw to have the luxury of a funeral. There are some interesting discussions about the fact that "witness me!" is telling people to witness the person and yet when Nux says "witness me" to Capable at the end, he's drawing attention to the act rather than himself i.e. look at what i am doing to further the cause of good.
There's been considerable debate about Angharad's fall from the Rig as well. After she falls, Furiosa asks Max intensely: "Did you see it?" He says: "She fell under the wheels." She asks him twice and he gives her the same answer twice. Some have interpreted this to mean that he is lying because he knows that to go back would mean certain death for Furiosa and a certain return to captivity for Dag, Capable, Cheedo and Toast.
Dan's wondering if the "did you see it?" is an extension of the "witness me" concept - was Angharad's death witnessed despite its untimeliness? Did she receive the appropriate last rites before leaving this life? I have no idea ...
In the final extended showdown Furiosa exclaims to Immortan Joe “remember me?” regaining and asserting her once stolen humanity, before Joe’s artificial face is torn off along with Furiosa’s artificial arm. Immortan Joe was kept alive by machines, created a society where people are treated as machines, and with him gone the machine-society he created can be dismantled.
The writer has interpreted Furiosa's "remember me" as a rhetorical question rather than a statement. If you Google the quote, you'll see that a lot of viewers have also assumed that Furiosa is asking a question.
To be honest, on my initial viewing, I was also one of the many who assumed that she was asking a rhetorical question i.e. "Remember me? The person you treated so badly - well I'm back for my revenge" i.e. she has presumably for years been suppressing the hatred she feels towards him for what he did to her before and although she has been conforming, secretly she has resented him and she's reminding him of the person she use dot be. She could have been saying: "Remember me? The person I used to be before I became a monster in need of redemption?"
Dan's pointed out that with a different interpretation, the question is pointless. Of course Immortan Joe remembers her - she's the person he's been chasing through most of the movie and has mustered up pretty much all of his standing army from the Citadel to hunt her down. She's not asking him to remember her, she's telling him to remember her i.e. "I'm about to take my revenge - in the afterlife, make sure you remember who I am/remember my name/remember my face!"
One of the commenters in the article named Zach says:
"One thing I wanted to mention though: when Furiosa says “remember me” to Joe, I didn’t think of it as a question as much as a clever twist on the “witness me” phrase that the war boys said whenever they were about to martyr themselves. I’m still not sure what the significance of the change is, but I bet there’s gotta be something there!"
The commenter Nobody remarks:
"My take on the “witness me,” vs. “remember me” divergence is that it has to do with their concept of the afterlife. “Witness me” is what you say to the living before you die. “Remember me” would be more the sort of thing you would say as a reply to that. The living want the dead to remember them in Valhalla. Furiosa is saying this to Joe in mockery of this religious mantra, or so it seemed to me."
Picklefactory at the forum Making Light says:
"During the movie I thought Furiosa's "remember me" was an imperative and not a question: "When you enter the afterlife, remember me, your trusted general that rebelled against you for your tyranny and inhumanity, then made you pay for it with your life when you refused to let go." Sic semper tyrannis."
Fade Manley pointed out:
"And I think that whatever she did to earn that position of power and trust is what she's talking about when she says she's looking for redemption. She's not ashamed of what happened to her, she's ashamed of what she's done. "Remember me" is echoing the "Witness me" of Nux, in the opposite direction. Not "Look at the thing I'm about to do gloriously," but "Remember the terrible things I did for you? These are the consequences.""
*
What is the significance of "witness me!" at the Citadel? Dan and I assume that it's a way of giving death more meaning. If someone witnesses your death/entry into Valhalla then it means more - it means that you mattered or made a difference. It's a form of rite or ceremony to usher you into the next life. If you die unwitnessed, then there's nothing to mark your passing. Perhaps it's the substitute for a funeral service in a world that's too brutal and raw to have the luxury of a funeral. There are some interesting discussions about the fact that "witness me!" is telling people to witness the person and yet when Nux says "witness me" to Capable at the end, he's drawing attention to the act rather than himself i.e. look at what i am doing to further the cause of good.
There's been considerable debate about Angharad's fall from the Rig as well. After she falls, Furiosa asks Max intensely: "Did you see it?" He says: "She fell under the wheels." She asks him twice and he gives her the same answer twice. Some have interpreted this to mean that he is lying because he knows that to go back would mean certain death for Furiosa and a certain return to captivity for Dag, Capable, Cheedo and Toast.
Dan's wondering if the "did you see it?" is an extension of the "witness me" concept - was Angharad's death witnessed despite its untimeliness? Did she receive the appropriate last rites before leaving this life? I have no idea ...