![]() ![]() For example, in another moment of bravery, Splendid transforms her body - the physical vessel for Immortan Joe’s son – into a shield for Max, Furiosa, and the Wives, recognizing her traditional role as a mother and actively using this to her benefit. Untrained in the art of war, the Wives use their womanhood as tools for their own survival, weaponizing the stereotypes that would be conventionally used against them in a standard action film. However, when she demonstrates that she can survive in the Wastes – thrive even – Max concedes that she and the Wives are worthy of Furiosa’s sacrifice and his continued support. There is an expectation that Splendid, the film’s epitome of womanhood, isn’t well-equipped for survival. That tiny blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment is incredibly important to both Max as well as the audience. Splendid is obviously elated, incredibly proud of her own ingenuity. ![]() Max, having seen that she survived, gives her an out-of-character (but still reserved) thumbs up. Somewhere within the feature-length chase sequence, Splendid is nearly sideswiped by a rival vehicle, but she manages to avoid the attack, protecting herself amongst the machinery of Furiosa’s war-rig. These fertile women – Splendid is pregnant – are suddenly real and present in a land plagued with drought, death, and violence. They are first unveiled to Max in a moment of vulnerability, as the Wives remove violent-looking chastity belts from their bodies. Miller does not skirt around the sex of Splendid and the Wives. Surprisingly, this is best explained not through the tough-as-nails Furiosa, but by its most overtly feminine character, Queen Angharad the Splendid, the most beloved of Immorten Joe’s wives. As such, you can’t put a “no girls allowed” sign on Fury Road, but you can’t call it a “female film” or propaganda either. In the fourth installment of Mad Max, women are held to the same standard as the men – and that in itself is radical. ![]() He has only allowed heroism in the Mad Max universe to be co-ed. Has Miller actually taken anything away? No. The MRAs’ outrage at Furiosa’s prominence in Fury Road brings sharp relief to cultural assumptions of heroism in regard to gender, and belies the generally-accepted notion that male-led action franchises are gender-neutral. Unfortunately, a section of Mad Max’s established audience has not reacted well. A privilege, which had been all but assumed, has disappeared. With Fury Road, however, this precedent of a masculine monopoly on heroism has been pushed aside by George Miller. The audience has already bought into this, and after three films, a precedent has been set. The Mad Max franchise, therefore, is very much established as a male narrative This is a story about the loss of Max’s family and his hard-won survival. We’re three films in, and the franchise is defiantly male – created by, marketed to, and populated by men. Mad Max, Road Warrior, and Beyond Thunderdome are populated by men and women surviving the Wastes to the best of their ability, but with the exception of Tina Turner’s Aunty Entity, there is no focus on female agency – especially in regard to heroism. ![]()
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