Regarding Characters – The Wounded
I liked Mad Max – Fury Road quite a lot. There’s been a bit of discussion about it, which I find refreshing. I’m really happy to have something to say about a major motion picture other than, “Wow, another wooden, formulaic, plodding Hollywood film.” Having seen it twice the thing that sticks with me is the detailed, understated writing. One place where you see this in the the characters. Furiosa, Max, and Immortal Joe all have interesting, well-developed characters.
Think about the journey that Max’s character makes – he goes from being a completely anti-social animal to reconnecting with people around him. It’s not a character journey you see male leads play very often in film. Hurt Locker was similar in some ways. Sometimes a child’s character goes through something similar, like Newt’s character in Aliens. It is a compelling and timely story. In an age of endless global war the archetype is both familiar and incomprehensible.
Here he is, a person brutalized by living at the edge of his wits for ?? years. Major damage. PTSD or ghosts. Loss. Betrayals. Whatever happened to all those kids that he escaped Barter Town with. After all that he’s in bad shape psychologically. Remind you of anyone? John Rambo? Your buddy who went off to war in central Asia and came back all fucked up? Yourself? Fury Road holds a mirror up to our faces, but it’s not a reflection that we see very much on the silver screen.
Conversely, the character many expect to see in Max is played by Furiosa. She is like Max’s character in the first movie – she sees that shit’s fucked up and she decides to take matters into her own hands. She conspires with the other women, steals a war machine, and makes a break for it. A warrior turned outlaw, according to the laws and traditions of Immortal Joe’s Citadel. She too has had years of trauma, but she is active, while Max is reactive. It’s a reversal of traditional gender rolls. Also, as a person with a prosthetic hand, Furiosa is another warrior who has been wounded.
It’s a role that seemed a bit odd to me when I first saw it, as I hardly ever see it portrayed. Or at least not by male characters. Is that what has some people complaining about this film? The fact that Mad Max’s character isn’t some heroic superman? To those who decry this movie, my question is, “Have you even been watching these films?”
As a fan of film I was interested by how Fury Road’s departure from the seemingly-omnipresent narrative played out. I liked it quite a lot. And it was totally metal. Five horns up.
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Posted in Editorial, Review by Adam A. Thompson with 1 comment.
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