Mad Max 2015
Let's face it, I went to the cinema to watch Mad Max: Fury Road for three reasons:
a) I had free tickets.
b) I'm obsessed with Tom Hardy.
c) There was this strange uproar about it being a feminist movie and I was intrigued.
I'll hide my opinion under the cut because I guess it's the polite thing to do when you write things of a certain length.
First of all, I'll let out my hormones to play and take this out of the way: man, Tom Hardy is handsome or what. I didn't notice the first time I saw Inception. Not even the second time. But once you realize he's fucking hot (and/or adorable, I can't totally decide), you can't unrealize it. Shit.
Now, let's get into the movie: Mad Max, unsurprisingly, is an action flick. And one very well edited, I must add, because the rhythm is amazing, a lot of highs (how can you mantain a high for such a long time is a mystery to me, it should be impossible), with a couple of breaks to breath and get ready for the next high. Extremely well edited, I tell you. Other than that, it has, predictably, a large amount of violence (although less gore than I expected) and the general unpleasantness of a world that's sick and dying (reflected by the living beings inhabiting it). In that sense, it's perfectly faithful to the original trilogy: postapocalyptical shit and what that makes to society.
Now, about the uproar. There has been some ruckus about the movie being a feminist film. As if that's a bad thing or something. Because the problem is that some factions are actually offended by it. And I was trying very hard during the whole projection to understand why. Because it's not as if suddenly the female characters are unrealistically physically stronger than men. They are not. Neither are they invincible. Actually, only the ones who are used to fighting and know how are able to do it more or less efectively. Female characters who have been living as slaves can't fight. They're not even especially good at anything, actually, because nobody teaches slaves useful things. That doesn't mean that female characters in this movie can't kick ass because, man, they totally can. But that's just because badassery is in the spirit and not in the body. They are badasses, but they're still physically weaker than men and get their asses handed back to them in hand to hand combat (they can be fucking good snipers, though, but that's, again, how it is in real life). So, let's face it, this is not one of those stances where people say "feminist" in a derisive tone because someone is trying to overcompensate and it's overdoing it by making women unrealistically perfect. This is fucking true and authentic feminism in its right sense: people can be tough and brave and they can be warriors inside. People. Persons. As in, you know, human beings. There's no fucking difference in the attitude just because of your sex, or gender, or whatever, only there's a difference in your raising, in what you have been taught to do, and still, the spirit is there. And that's what I love about this movie, that it still rings true, so it's not some fantasy about superwomen saving the world, it's about people trying to save themselves and each other.
So, let's face it, I could understand if die hard fans of the franchise would say: "but Mad Max has less screentime and importance than Furiosa" because they wanted to see more of their hero, but not the whining about the female character being more important than the male character or this being a feminist flick. This is still pure, sheer, unadulterated action and violence. Nobody cried when in the Metal Gear Solid 2 videogame the main character was Raiden instead of Snake. Because that's not what this is about. It's about Furiosa being fucking badass, and about her being equal to Mad Max, and about her being, although beautiful, because Charlize Theron is fucking beautiful, portrayed as a maimed, flat chested, short haired (as in shaved), and battered woman. She is not prettified. Other characters in the movie are, because that's how society works also in the movie, but she's not and that's okay, because she's a truck driver and a fighter and comes from a tribe of strong women. AND THERE'S NOTHING FUCKING WRONG WITH THAT, DAMMIT.
BUT, and I'm saying BUT instead of but because I think it's an important point, Mad Max is also fucking badass. He's not suddenly a princess who can't do anything right and has to be saved by Furiosa. He actually saves her life on more occassions than in reverse. He's tough and kind of a lone wolf. He's not a bleeding heart suddenly moved by the strength of the women around him. He's fucking badass and tough and selfish. But he can respect Furiosa when he gets to know her and he does. But only after they have traveled together and have earned their mutual respect.
So, really, I'm more than indignant, I'm fucking pissed off at these fuckers calling for a boycott on this movie because they say it's a "feminist piece of propaganda posing as a guy flick." Because IT IS A GUY FLICK, by everybody's standards (if you believe in that kind of segregation). No fucking romance, lots of action, flying members, deformed creatures, scars, maiming, explosions, killing... the whole set. And if there are female characters who are strong and just want to be themselves and be free and be equals in a better world... shit, I'd say that's a good thing! And they (the guys asking for a boycott) have the arrogance to say they are activists for men's rights??? WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK????!!! There's not a single second of this movie that tries to put women above men, not one. All of it is about true, pure equality and freedom.
So, I'm not saying you all should go and see it because it's really violent and not everybody likes that. But I'm saying that I could cry tears of happiness at the way George Miller dignified female characters in action movies and gave us some roles to look up to. Not as sidekicks to the male hero, not as princesses to wait for a prince, not as superwomen who are magically superior to everybody else, but as normal people who fight like bastards because they don't want to die or to live as slaves.
Eta: It's come to my attention that the boycott thing might not be real or, at least, it has nothing to do with MRA associations. That actually makes sense. But that doesn't mean that the extremely sexist comments around this theme don't exist, they do and in spades. Even people trying to defend the movie saying that it's not feminist are terribly, misguidedly sexist about it (probably because they don't understand what "feminist" actually stands for). So, yeah, I stand by my opinion in this matter.
Also posted at http://lauand.dreamwidth.org/118585.html, if you'd rather read it there or want to enter a discussion with
comments.