Mad Max: Fury Road
I saw Mad Max: Fury Road. It was definitely a Mad Max movie. The husband, who remembers the originals much better than I, said it was basically like watching the Road Warrior again, with a slightly different goal the characters were working toward (and Tom Hardy rather than Mel Gibson, of course.)
As to all of the "this movie has a feminist agenda!" stuff floating around, I can't decide whether to laugh or cheer. Cheer, because Furiosa was absolutely awesome, and it was great seeing a female lead who was not in any way secondary to the male lead, nor there as a romantic interest/reward/etc. Laugh, because seriously how is this movie a secret feminist plot? Is it because the premise of the whole story is stating that people, particularly women, are not things? Is it because Charlize Theron's Imperitor Furiosa is a kick ass heroine in her own right, every bit as equal to Max on his best day? Is it because halfway through the movie, we come across a group of female survivors who are immediately (and justifiably in their world) suspicious of the men traveling w/Furiosa? Is it because all of the bad guys in the movie are men who have done their best to subjugate and enslave others, including at least half of the female characters in the movie?
I just cannot see how any of this could possibly be considered offensive or unrealistic to the post-apocalyptic setting it is in. I am honestly baffled at the ridiculous idea that this movie has some kind of feminist agenda to tear men down. (Don't get me started on how these idiots seem to completely misinterpret the definition of feminism to begin with.) Max was as awesome as he always is. My husband pointed out that Max is always about helping/saving women and children, perhaps because he was so unable to help/save his own family. (In this case, he and Furiosa worked together to do this. As a team.) The point is, this has been consistent with his character all along, as is his leaving at the end. He is the Pale Rider character, the lone hero who shows up, helps save the town/caravan/group of refugees, and then moves on at the end because he cannot settle in any one place, too restless and chased as he is by his own demons. So I fail to see how having the women in this movie be awesome changed anything fundamental about Max.
Anyway. I will say this in closing: the movie was a little too long, and was basically an endless car chase/action sequence with a couple of conversations dropped in the middle. It had some over-the-top ridiculousness that could probably only happen in a Mad Max film. (The guitar that shot fire and played a soundtrack for the bad guys was particularly absurd.) Also, Tom Hardy made an excellent Max, and his "WTF" expression was classic and hilariously well done. He wore it a lot. He and Charlize Theron were both fantastic and pretty, so there is that. Cross-posted from Dreamwidth - there are
comments there. Comments welcome on either post.
As to all of the "this movie has a feminist agenda!" stuff floating around, I can't decide whether to laugh or cheer. Cheer, because Furiosa was absolutely awesome, and it was great seeing a female lead who was not in any way secondary to the male lead, nor there as a romantic interest/reward/etc. Laugh, because seriously how is this movie a secret feminist plot? Is it because the premise of the whole story is stating that people, particularly women, are not things? Is it because Charlize Theron's Imperitor Furiosa is a kick ass heroine in her own right, every bit as equal to Max on his best day? Is it because halfway through the movie, we come across a group of female survivors who are immediately (and justifiably in their world) suspicious of the men traveling w/Furiosa? Is it because all of the bad guys in the movie are men who have done their best to subjugate and enslave others, including at least half of the female characters in the movie?
I just cannot see how any of this could possibly be considered offensive or unrealistic to the post-apocalyptic setting it is in. I am honestly baffled at the ridiculous idea that this movie has some kind of feminist agenda to tear men down. (Don't get me started on how these idiots seem to completely misinterpret the definition of feminism to begin with.) Max was as awesome as he always is. My husband pointed out that Max is always about helping/saving women and children, perhaps because he was so unable to help/save his own family. (In this case, he and Furiosa worked together to do this. As a team.) The point is, this has been consistent with his character all along, as is his leaving at the end. He is the Pale Rider character, the lone hero who shows up, helps save the town/caravan/group of refugees, and then moves on at the end because he cannot settle in any one place, too restless and chased as he is by his own demons. So I fail to see how having the women in this movie be awesome changed anything fundamental about Max.
Anyway. I will say this in closing: the movie was a little too long, and was basically an endless car chase/action sequence with a couple of conversations dropped in the middle. It had some over-the-top ridiculousness that could probably only happen in a Mad Max film. (The guitar that shot fire and played a soundtrack for the bad guys was particularly absurd.) Also, Tom Hardy made an excellent Max, and his "WTF" expression was classic and hilariously well done. He wore it a lot. He and Charlize Theron were both fantastic and pretty, so there is that. Cross-posted from Dreamwidth - there are
comments there. Comments welcome on either post.