The Case for: Mad Max: Fury Road – the Film That Saved Hollywood from Itself

Out from the red dust of a future apocalypse where nothing but isolated clans of humans, a few birds, and reptiles are left, emerges Charlize Theron’s Furiosa – the “female Mad Max.” Miller’s idea of handing over the fate of humanity to a woman was an act of subversion in a genre and industry that usually tells us women over the age of 30 are not necessary. Fury Road is not just about emancipation of the oppressed. It isn’t just about equal rights for women. It takes aim at the fabric of Hollywood itself and offers up instead a major perspective shift for generations who did not grow up with strong cinematic icons who happened to be female.

Running counter to the status quo was among the biggest risks attempted by any filmmaker this year. When the male hero, Tom Hardy, hands over the sniper rifle to a woman, Charlize Theron, because she is the better shot, it was an act of subversion, a rule broken in the invisible handbook of how to sell movies to the masses. George Miller did it anyway.

Will Oscar voters say, ‘Wow, look at how George Miller is changing the game. Look at the punk rock, wildly original, hand made spectacle that is Mad Max: Fury Road. That is the kind of film WE want to make.’ Or will they say, ‘He gave it a good shot but we know how to make movies that make money.’ How they answer will determine how they define themselves. Funnily enough, if they look closely at Mad Max they will see the movie already tells them who they are.

It is no secret that director George Miller often delivers powerful messages subversively. Babe was about a cute pig and a country farm but it was also about broadening the limited view we humans have our smart mammal friends. Why kill the pig when it is as smart and friendly as the family dog? Why indeed. Babe caused many children to cry to parents “I don’t want to eat bacon anymore!” No doubt this caused a minor disruption in the ongoing holocaust on animals perpetrated by humans and their eternal quest to eat meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner no matter the cost to the planet. Miller’s film did not set out to preach yet preach it did in a gentle, amiable, endearing fashion. Its message was powerful all the same.

Fury Road can be seen as a metaphor for the wiped-out expanse of exclusively male-driven tent pole cinema where women are treated as property based solely on how shiny and smooth they are. A small group of imperfect males controls the resources. It isn’t just a metaphor for Hollywood but also a metaphor for oppressive regimes worldwide, which probably explains why it never got to China (lest they putting thoughts of revolution in the minds of their citizens).  It flips the notion of the male savior on its head by showing how Theron is more skilled. When Tom Hardy hands his gun to Theron so she can make the crucial shot – she does not do so with smug self-righteousness. She does so gently, so as not to offend the mighty male in charge. It’s a beautiful moment, one of the film’s best among many.

Fury Road is a metaphor for thee way to remendy so much of what’s wrong with Hollywood today, and everything that’s wrong with Hollywood’s future.  Build practical effects, don’t rely so heavily on computer generated ones. Women are people too – not only people but warriors capable of outsmarting, overcoming and outlasting their oppressors. Do not show the same thing over and over again but give audiences something they’ve never seen before: the majesty of art. Finally, blow their fucking minds with non-stop, rapid-fire edits that leave them gasping for breath all the way through.

When it first came out, many called Mad Max the “ultimate feminist movie” and at first I resisted the label. It’s about oppression and human rights, above all. But upon third viewing of the film I see how it’s feminist now. It isn’t just that women resist their enslavement – it is that they are trying to save humanity and to do that they need equal rights. When I think of feminism  – white or any other color – I think not of gaining power to serve ourselves. I think of the overall benefits of a culture that values the intellect and power of women on equal footing with men.  Thus, Mad Max Fury Road isn’t about castrating men and putting women in charge. Rather, it’s about shared power for the common good – even if men killed the world, let’s help save the world together.

If Fury Road were only a feminist statement and nothing more it wouldn’t be one of the best films of 2015. Above all, It is a vibrant, heart-quickening work of art, that could only have been made by George Miller, even at the ripe age of 70. As Charlize Theron put it, it’s a Jackson Pollock painting with Miller’s thumbprint all over it. It’s the universe of Mad Max, which resonates all the more now that it seems like the apocalypse is more than a fantasy notion.

It is memorable for its cinematography – a parched Mad Max imprisoned with a metal mask carries his War Boy through the dusty landscape and comes upon a tribe of female refugees – their skin as golden and youthful as a cascading branch of jasmine flowers. They are washing themselves with water — of all things – they are the most prized possession in the new world order until they have outlived their usefulness as fresh young breeding machines and then they are assigned to be machines that milk them for society’s nourishment. They mean everything. They mean nothing, until one of them stands up and decides to change things, even if it means dying along the way.

When George Miller was asked why everything looked the way it did in his vision of the apocalyptic future. Why was there a guitarist and drummers bringing music wherever humans went? Why did the cars look like found art objects? Miller answered that no matter what is taken away from people, no matter how bad things get, one of the best things about people is that they still make beautiful things. They find ways to make adornments. They turn trash into art. And so it goes with Fury Road. Out of the trash heaps of junk entertainment comes a work of art, made by George Miller because that is what people do.