Mad Max: Fury Road

[thedeadparrot]

I finally got to see it after hearing a lot about it (perhaps too much about it). Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. The worldbuilding is impressive. The action is tense. The emotional stakes are well drawn. It feels deeply fearless, in ways that blockbuster movies rarely are these days. There are a lot of women involved! Of all different types

Comments

[thedeadparrot]

I feel like 'vision' and 'id' can be tied up in each other. I think in this movie, the reason why I react to it so strongly this way is because of the extremity of everything and how specific it is. EVERYONE GETS BRANDED. GUY PLAYING A GUITAR ON A TRUCK. THERE'S A PILE OF STEERING WHEELS WITH SKULLS ON THEM. It's interesting, because I can watch the F&F movies, which also go to extremes, and I don't think I get the same feeling of 'oh, I know what fascinates/repulses/turns on this writer/director' that I did when I saw Mad Max. Maybe not being set in a different universe keeps them grounded just enough that it doesn't show as easily.

The vagina dentata chastity belts were definitely part of the whole like, 'ew, ew, ew. I can see your id right now' feeling that I got at times while watching the movie. And sexual slavery is one of those topics/tropes that are almost never going to be handled well in your action-packed summer blockbuster, and so I shouldn't be surprised that it still feels like cheap titilation, even when the movie tries to mitigate the grossest parts of it. I was super impressed that it didn't shy away from showing a pregnant woman on screen! That was cool!

But also, after seeing too many YA dystopias, I am over the whole idea that overthrowing exaggerated versions of the government/evil social systems is anything like overthrowing the real thing?

So yeah, ambivalence on that front! A+ on being more feminist that 99% of action blockbusters, but I wish people were ready to acknowledge that it's a super low bar to clear.