{"id":9577,"date":"2015-07-11T14:56:56","date_gmt":"2015-07-11T18:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.starshipnivan.com\/blog\/?p=9577"},"modified":"2020-07-11T13:40:26","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T17:40:26","slug":"mad-max-feral-orphans-and-chosen-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starshipnivan.com\/blog\/?p=9577","title":{"rendered":"Mad Max : Feral Orphans and Chosen Families"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cTell me who you loved, the rest is dross.\u201d
\n— Oysterband, \u201cThe Boy\u2019s Still Running\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Vuvalini\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note: I will not revisit important points raised by other reviewers (links at the end of the article). Instead this article will focus on the larger context of the Mad Max universe.<\/p>\n

———<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen all four Mad Max films. In my view, they don\u2019t constitute a series but variations on themes beloved by storytellers (and listeners) since we acquired language: the reluctant loner hero; the creation of kinship by choice; plus, of course, derring-do with fast chariots.<\/p>\n

The first draft, Mad Max, is essentially throat-clearing on George Miller\u2019s part. Mel Gibson still carries baby fat. So does the film, a by-the-numbers Bronson-style revenge fantasy fueled by the standard family-fridging event. It\u2019s really a prelude to the sand-blasted hellscape of the successors in which society has regressed to least common denominators: young men as expendable weapons, fertile women and their children as owned assets.<\/p>\n

The second take, The Road Warrior, is widely acknowledged as one of the apexes of action B-movies and one of the cornerstones of the post-apocalyptic film subgenre. Everything is pared down to bare essentials: dialogue, scenery, plot, Gibson. The only flamboyant notes are the outr\u00e9 costumes of Max\u2019s opponents, a blend of cyberpunk and faux-tribal. There\u2019s a half-hearted concession to the value of forging kinship bonds, but Miller opts for the Damnation Alley alternative: the potential new kin are slaughtered like Leonidas\u2019 Spartans, an inevitable outcome of the decision to act as sacrificial decoys. This includes the woman who may be too \u201cfeisty\u201d to pass on her genes or attitudes. The sole named survivors are the Gyro Captain \u2013 Sanzo Pancha to Max\u2019s Quixote \u2013 and the Feral Kid, of whom more anon.<\/p>\n

The third pass on the by-now-mythic franchise, Beyond Thunderdome, split reviewers \u2013 no surprise, as it\u2019s two films. One continues the depiction of Max as a cross between Shane and Moses. This culminates with his descent upon a tribe of lost children stranded in a pocket Eden, whom he reluctantly must lead back to what\u2019s left of urban civilization. There are again attempts at kinship, but Max remains outside the cooperation circle: as with Achilles, whatever he does is entirely from\/for his own sense of amour-propre.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a second strand: Bartertown, struggling to make do in a desert empty of father gods. Crucially, Bartertown is shown as viable (if riddled with inequities), not dependent on gasoline\u2026 and ruled by a older woman king. Tina Turner\u2019s formidable poise as Entity and her Pharaoh-like hairdo accentuate these points \u2013 plus she delivers a Parthian shot to would-be messiahs: \u201cToday cock of the walk, tomorrow a feather duster.\u201d It\u2019s indicative of the direction Miller\u2019s thoughts were taking that he allows Entity to survive and continue leading Bartertown, even if she\u2019s stranded in the wilderness like Lilith. Not for her the glow of resurgent cities \u201cwhen they sees the distant light, and they’ll be comin’ home.\u201d It\u2019s this strand that becomes dominant in the fourth variation, car chase ecstasies aside.<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/a><\/p>\n

When Fury Road appeared to near-universal acclaim, its subversive slant was duly noted by endorsers and detractors alike. Max is a secondary player in this round, he essentially acts as a witness. The pivotal hero \u2013 as is made explicit by the male form of her signifier adjective \u2013 is Imperator Furiosa. Much has been made of her central placement; but she doesn\u2019t merely incorporate most of the stoic loner protector attributes hitherto allotted to Max. In fact, she\u2019s a younger, more palatable version of Entity \u2013 because her dreams are not of hifalutin honor but of community and of survival beyond brutal coercion.<\/p>\n

Underneath the heroism (and notwithstanding the unsubtle discussion of \u201credemption\u201d), Furiosa is a competent pragmatist with a strong humane streak \u2013 an engineer, if you will. Like Entity, she probably did a lot of amoral or immoral things to get where she is. In many ways, she\u2019s an alt-universe Anakin complete with the Cain mark of the prosthetic arm.<\/p>\n

Whereas Entity is the proverbial lone Smurfette in Thunderdome (as is Savannah Nix among the lost children), in Fury Road Miller reverses the usual gender ratio \u2013 and focus \u2013 of action films. Immortans Joe\u2019s War Boy horde consists of undifferentiated bobbing blurs punctuated by grotesques calculated to arouse limbic responses. In marked contrast, the women surrounding Furiosa are not only many and foregrounded; they\u2019re also sharply delineated and inhabit a wide gamut of individual personalities, each with full agency.<\/p>\n

The matriarchal foundation of Fury Road goes beyond just the demonstration that Joe\u2019s rescued wives are more than mere pretty bodies. When Furiosa establishes her bona fides, she recites her matrilines — and crucially, she lists both biological and cultural mothers. And of course the sine qua non is the appearance of the Vuvalini, the eternally invisible old(er) women, the wise crones who fight without fanfare while keeping songs and seeds alive, the socializers of humanity. The name clearly derives from vulva but there\u2019s an additional possible cognate root: \u201cox\u201d \u2013 vouvalos, buffalo, denoting stubborn strength.<\/p>\n

What of the two male co-protagonists, Max and Nux? Nux, who resembles the tentative, forlorn kodama of Mononoke Hime<\/a>, is both literally and metaphorically an embryo: someone who must be (re)born among mothers and fully socialized by grandmothers before he can be accepted into a family. Max, beyond being played by someone other than Gibson, is clearly not the original person\/a. My theory is that the character played by Tom Hardy in Fury Road is the Feral Kid of The Road Warrior, now grown up and at a decision fork about who he will become long-term.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a major signifier of this unique provenance: the Max of the first three films had a now-dead son; the guardian spirit of the Fury Road Max is a daughter \u2013 one whom he may have, who\u2019s leading him, Ari\u00e1thne-like, out of the labyrinth of isolation and away from Minotaurs like Immortans Joe. But she\u2019s not just a helpmeet: she\u2019s an assertive figure who will fit right in as Entity and Furiosa\u2019s descendant, apprentice and successor.<\/p>\n

Miller may choose to revert to conventional tropes in the inevitable next film in the cycle. However, if characters remain true to themselves, Furiosa and Entity will not fight like queen bees when they meet. They will trade: Bartertown fuel for Citadel water and food\u2026 and civilization may rise in the desert, aided by the many mothers and grandmothers willing and able to weave kinship tapestries. And the strands separated by the one-father \u2013 the Polynesians used as milch-cows, the Aboriginals used as miners, the European-descended used as enforcers and missiles \u2013 will reblend. It will not be a pyramid but a web, sets of intercalated wheels of equals. But first among equals will be Furiosa, with Entity and the Keeper of the Seeds smiling behind her \u2013 and around her, the co-parents of the once-feral kids who will no longer be either kindling or property.<\/p>\n

\"Mad<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Grandmothers Raise Civilizations<\/a>
\nThe Iron Madonna or: Kicking Ass While Female<\/a>
\nWhere Are the Wise Crones in SF?<\/a>
\n\u201cWe Must Love One Another or Die\u201d: A Critique of Star Wars<\/a>
\nMystique: The True Leader of the X-Men<\/a>
\nThe (Warrior) Women Men Don\u2019t See<\/a><\/p>\n

Other Fury Road Reviews:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tansy R. Roberts<\/a>
\nLaurie Penny<\/a>
\nJacobin Magazine<\/a>
\nLeah Schnelbach<\/a><\/p>\n

Images:<\/strong> 1st, the Vuvalini<\/a>; 2nd, the women kings: Entity (Tina Turner), Furiosa (Charlize Theron); 3rd, the past and the future: Glory Child (Coco Jack Gillies), Feral Kid (Emil Minty)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTell me who you loved, the rest is dross.\u201d — Oysterband, \u201cThe Boy\u2019s Still Running\u201d Note: I will not revisit important points raised by other reviewers (links at the end of the article). Instead this article will focus on the larger context of the Mad Max universe. ——— I\u2019ve seen all four Mad Max films. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-science-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starshipnivan.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starshipnivan.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starshipnivan.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starshipnivan.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starshipnivan.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starshipnivan.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starshipnivan.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starshipnivan.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starshipnivan.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}