Mad Max 2015

[lauand]

Let's face it, I went to the cinema to watch Mad Max: Fury Road for three reasons:

a) I had free tickets.
b) I'm obsessed with Tom Hardy.
c) There was this strange uproar about it being a feminist movie and I was intrigued.

I'll hide my opinion under the cut because I guess it's the polite thing to do when you write things of a certain length.

Comments

[indelicateink]

Tom Hardy is the best.

I agree, the film was awesome and the fuss was bullshit. idk, the idea that this film is somehow aggressively and shockingly feminist is... weird. (I mean, don't get me wrong--I see it as gloriously feminist. Feminist as in "men and women are equal." But not SHOCKINGLY so?) Are we going backwards? Because Ripley in Aliens and Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgement Day and fistfuls of other characters before and since have made the concept of "a woman who is as strong/formidable as a man and also not sexualized" well-trod territory. :/ I THOUGHT. I loved, loved, loved Fury Road, but honestly as it went along I was wondering wtf anyone could possibly be upset about because jfc everyone's equal in this film! And it is still very much a "Mad Max" film, he is very much central. I-- I don't get the MRA shit. I really hope it's just a small cluster of troglodytes getting way, way too much press because of the nature of the internet.

(There are so many more women-are-STRONGER-than-men-and-will-fuck-you-up films for them to be sweating over. I invite them to watch Tarantino's Death Proof for starters. Would they faint dead away?)

[lauand]

Fuck yeah, he is.

Oh, yes... I was thinking about those movies being maybe different because the female lead was alone in a world of men, but Alien II had actually a very badass female soldier and, actually, the enemy is also female (and powerful like Hell). So, yeah, nothing new. And yeah, that's exactly what I thought, that there was nothing you could feel offended about regarding gender roles. I disagree about Mad Max being very much central, though... he's badass and has his role, but all the weight of the movie falls on Furiosa. That kind of criticism to the movie from the fans of the original trilogy, I can understand. But being upset because female characters are important and actually kick ass and fight to be free or because that's actually the main plot of the movie... it's seriously disgusting, because it gives me a very distinct idea of what you really think about women and their place in your world.

(Oh, yes, definitely.)

[indelicateink]

Yeah... I mean, I don't mean to understate how great this film was for being so female-inclusive and women-focused; it does not happen enough in films, this film was definitely pushing boundaries, it was amazing. I guess I'm just bitter because it's been decades, and I don't understand why we haven't moved past the "strong [EQUAL!] female character" being a novelty instead being a norm; that we're in a place where it's something people actually get upset about. And why the 4-men-to-1-woman ratio (or whatever the ratio is) is still what we've been conditioned to see as "normal" in media. Arg!

Oh, I totally agree--she's the star. :D I mean to say he is central in that although she carries the weight of the film, it is his "Mad Max" film; he's almost the proxy for the audience, really. We start out the film with his POV (and his narration), it's through his POV we're introduced to that fucked-up little society... out on the salt flats, it's Max the camera stays with when Furiosa & Co go on without him (and then he catches up)... idk, it's like an installment in the Mad Max universe in which Max is central to the story, but the story is about somebody else. Is what I'm trying to say. Badly. LOL

So omg, have you seen The Drop? I didn't think it was the greatest, but Tom Hardy has a PUPPY. And his character is lovely (er, sorta kinda lol). And have you seen Locke yet? He is so flawless.

[lauand]

I'm actually very hopeful about the future. I think women in movies and TV series are getting more and more importance and more and more power. But it's still not completely normal to put women as the main characters in action flicks because it's supposed to be made for men and we all like it when we can identify with the badass lead and that's easier for most people if they have the same gender as them. It happens, and it's not new, but neither is it the norm. However, I'm pretty sure that this is changing. Because the market is realizing that women actually like comic books and action movies when they are included in them as important, realistic figures. So, unless something big happens that takes down society as we know it, I'm very positive about this.

Oh, yes, definitely. Also, this is not new as a resource either, to have the main character as a vehicle of the POV but let the story be about someone else, especially if the author feels that the character's story has already been written and wants to explore the universe a little bit further.

Nooooo, not yet!!! But I want to!!!! ♥♥♥

I have seen Locke, though. Very strange film. I didn't know what to feel after it finished. Because he's an extraordinary man who makes a mistake and he loses everything because of that, and it's horrifying for me, but you don't get the impression that it's such a tragedy, there's like a positive feeling at the end and my brain just can't compute. I loved how the phone conversations shaped perfectly his character and his relationships, though. Much better than other films that actually show the scenes.

Ha, ha, o fangirling, how I've missed you!