How to: break my heart. A tutorial by Mad Max: Fury Road
Let’s talk about this scene a little, because I noticed a particular detail in my last viewing that’s had me buzzing and buzzing crying a lot.
Let’s start with the obvious: the whole film Nux has wanted to establish his life has some meaning by dying “historic on the Fury Road.” Of course, all his previous efforts were attempts to continue things the way they were–in Immortal Joe’s terms. Thus, those deaths would not have really been historic. They would have been forgotten, just another blip in the status quo. In crashing the rig and allowing the wives to return to the Citadel, Nux does in fact fulfill his wish to die historic–without his actions, the wives likely would not have been able to return to the city and enact the changes they inevitably do. His death matters in a way none of the other deaths in the film do–it matters to changing the future, and thus becomes an important part of the future Citadel’s history.
Nux only knows how to do that in his own terms, though–the terms of the War Boys. Thus, his death only gains significance if it is witnessed. For Nux, the action itself is not as important as it being seen and acknowledged. This makes a lot of sense in terms of Immortal Joe’s world and its patriarchal structure. Individuals are not important, actions don’t matter unless they are showy and seen–all life boils down not to meaningful actions but to showing off.
But here’s why this film is a feminist masterpiece, and why this scene in particular cements that: Capable’s reaction.
Capable does witness him. She locks eyes and acknowledges the significance of his action, of his inevitable death. But she doesn’t respond like one of the War Boys–when the War Boys die asking to be witnessed, the others respond yelling “Witnessed!” This answer does say, “I have seen your action, it matters,” but hollered with usual the War Boy bravado, it also acts as an attempt for the witnessing War Boys to build up their own importance by making themselves part of the action.
Capable does not yell “Witnessed.” She responds with a gesture–holding her hand out and pulling it toward her heart. This is the Vuvalini’s gesture of mourning–a beautiful gesture that essentially mimics pulling the lost soul into one’s own heart. Capable has only just learned this gesture, but she seems to innately understand its significance. Thus, while she witnesses Nux’s death, she refuses to “witness” him in the sense of the War Boys and instead mourns him in the manner of the Vuvalini. Nux likely sees this–the editing implies he doesn’t turn the rig until after he’s seen the gesture. Thus, he knows he is witnessed, but more importantly, he knows that he will be mourned and remembered. With that knowledge, he finally has the strength and the worthy reason to sacrifice his life for a cause that matters.
This moment is also the moment Immortal Joe’s power is officially broken. Yes, Joe is dead, but Rictus and a whole gang of War Boys and their ilk are photon their wheels, ready to re-establish the status quo. In many ways it is a transfer of power–the last call to witness leads to the first time the Wives truly embrace the culture and ideology of the Vuvalini as their guiding principle. Joe’s power is broken not so much by the explosion–though that is certainly the blunt force that finishes the deal. Joe’s power is broken by self sacrifice–a self-sacrifice born not of bravado or the hope of becoming a legend, but one born of community, of love, of hope. Capable’s response guarantees that Nux’s sacrifice will be honored and remembered, but in a new way in their new world.
elucipher have u seen this
mad max fury road
thorodxnson-deactivated20170117:
Mad Max: Fury Road – by Andy Fairhurst (created for Poster Posse project #15 )
Dear Hollywood: Isn’t it amazing how Fury Road’s Max is a tough-as-nails, guilt-ridden, distrustful lone wolf with a dark past and the movie manages to convey that without having him treat everyone he meets like crap?
Does this mean you never really needed to write your ‘edgy’ antiheroes as abusive assholes after all?? That maybe you could have given them ‘emotional complexity’ without resorting to lazy, thinly-veiled power fantasies about white dudes who treat everyone else as inferior??? Thoughts????
They didn’t even have him wake up in bed with a woman he can’t remember the name of! MEDIOCRE!
Mad Max: Fury Road bluray to include black & white, silent cut [x]
There’s no doubt that Mad Max: Fury Road has a stunning landscape, with its kaleidoscope of oranges and blues. However, during a Q&A with /Film, director George Miller has revealed that fans can expect a black and white version of the latest installment of the Mad Max franchise coming with its bluray release.
In fact, his love for the the black and white cut – which the director himself believes is the best version of Fury Road – isn’t just lip service: he demanded a colorless cut of the film be included on its bluray release – along with a silent version, with no dialogue whatsoever, accompanied only by the brilliant musical score.
WELL I GUESS I’M SHELLING OUT FOR THE FUCKING BLU RAY.
ive never bought a bluray in my life but need 2 cop
Somewhere, in a kinder world, Furiosa is a counselor at Camp Green Place and her scouts for the summer are Toast, Splendid, Cheedo, Capable, and The Dag. They learn about gardening and build a go kart which the use to win in the big race against the boys camp across the lake. They pick up a new troop member one day while on a hike in the woods when they come across a dog who has cruelly been abandoned and muzzled. They clean him up, remove the muzzle and name him Max. It’s the best summer ever.
For ourfuriosa
The Wives + Character Development
Oh wow – seeing them represented like this makes it so clear, doesn’t it!
Remember, you don’t have to tell us a character’s story in order for them to have a story.
We are all stories. Who we have been shapes who we are. Who we are shapes who we become.
Hypothesis
The War Boys aren’t actually that sick.
1) It could be that a particular kind of tumor is common in the Citadel, courtesy of Founder’s Effect; this would explain why everyone from the Citadel’s genetic pool has tumors/boils/buboes, but individuals from outside populations–Furiosa, Max, the Wives (possibly), the Vuvalini–don’t have them. This would also explain why supposedly pervasive radiation toxicity appears only to affect one population instead of all populations.
2) The War Boys’ and the Wretched’s ailments are curable. The tumors are relatively benign and easily removed (there was no sign of cachexia in populations that weren’t starved, and Nux didn’t seem to be suffering from organ failure); the night fevers are a series of infections endemic to the War Boys’ shitty living conditions; and the reason they need blood transfusions so often is because they’re highly active while on a subpar diet, and thus chronically anemic.
3) If maintaining a death cult is critical to your holding power, one of the best ways to keep the members of said cult properly suicidal is to assure them their lot will be better in the next life. For them to believe it, their lot has to be suitably miserable in THIS life. That’s really not hard to do in Mad Max Land, but it’s even easier if they believe they’re running out of time. How to do this? Tell them their ailments are fatal. Tell them they’re living half-lives on borrowed time. Tell them only cowards die in bed, and that the bravest, the ones who die in battle, are the only ones who get to paradise.
Conclusion: Immortan Joe is a dick. News at 11.
All possible, especially given the apparent uniformity of the War Boy’s illnesses which would either suggest that they come from the same genetic pool (not likely given how many of them there are) or that they’re being exposed to some environmental contamination that is causing that same illness over and over again. Could be the fuel, honestly. Who knows what “Guzzoline” even really is.
I did have a theory myself… that they were that sick, even to dying, but it was being caused deliberately. Immortan Joe controls water supplies and presumably food as well; he could poison them easily enough for all the reasons you outline in point #3. That way when they are (very) young and strong they’re devoted to him, but as they get old enough to possibly start questioning him they sicken and die so he never has to deal with a potential rebellion or movement against him.
I was wondering about this too, mostly because the thought of the surviving women and Furiosa heading back to a place that was so irradiated most of the population dies in their early 20′s was pretty horrible; I finished the movie weirdly anxious about how they needed to to find whatever in the Citadel was giving people half-lives and get it the fuck out of there and dump it at the local This Place Is Not A Place Of Honor ASAP.
But whatever illness the War Boys are all dying from, the women being milked don’t have it, the wives and Miss Giddy are fine, Joe’s sons respectively have OI and some kind of mental disability but no cancer, no tumors, no need for blood transfusions. The only people dealing with anything like what’s going on with the War Boys are the War Boys and Joe himself, which makes me think you’re right that they’re being poisoned, and that suspect #1 for whatever contaminant is making them all sick is in that white war paint. Joe wears it for public appearances but washes it off when he’s at home. The War Boys ritualistically cake themselves in it from an early age and apparently wear it 24/7, so by the time they hit Nux’s age, they’ve got at least a decade of built up exposure.
I like this theory a LOT. Especially if their white paint is based off of titanium dioxide, the same chemical that goes into pretty much every white dye that we have, as well as sunscreen. Normally it’s not exceptionally hazardous, as it can’t penetrate our skin; but it’s classed as a carcinogen if inhaled:
“Titanium dioxide dust, when inhaled, has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as an IARC Group 2B carcinogen, meaning it is possibly carcinogenic to humans. The findings of the IARC are based on the discovery that high concentrations of pigment-grade (powdered) and ultrafine titanium dioxide dust caused respiratory tract cancer in rats exposed by inhalation and intratracheal instillation.” (courtesy of Wikipedia).
When Joe applies the white paint, it’s applied as a powder. Tack on high concentrations of harmful environmental radiation and you’ve got yourself a health problem. Added to that, there’s a lot of toxic chemical slag that goes into titanium dioxide production. And if the War Boys produce the powder themselves, then that’s another cause.