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Analysis Of Mad Max : Fury Road

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For a film that director George Miller claims is “Not overtly” feminist, Mad Max: Fury Road is pretty overtly feminist. From the central story of the Wives escaping an evil man to the badass female action hero Furiosa, the entire film seems to revolve around female empowerment and the destruction of the patriarchal structures that keep women in chains (or in the case of the film, gaudy chastity belts). After the film’s release in 2015, it garnered heaps of praise from the public and critics alike, including detailed breakdowns of the visual effects and comparisons to the film’s predecessors but with definite discussion of the feminism in the movie as well. But the film’s female empowerment appears to fall short in a few areas. In many ways, Mad Max: Fury Road is a snapshot of current feminist theory, succeeding in areas that are widely agreed upon and highlighting issues that have yet to be fully resolved.
In terms of feminist activism as a whole, much of it is focused on the objectification and sexualizing of women. Throughout history, women have been objects that are given from one man to another in marriage and flattened into one-dimensional sex objects. It’s an obvious problem, and one that is just as obviously addressed by the film. The Wives are quintessentially objectified, managing to fit into all ten of Nussbaum and Langston’s features of sexual objectification. Apart from their mantra (“We are not things”), Miller does this all through visuals. Even small details, like the old-school bank vault door that Immortan Joe uses to keep them locked up indicates that they are little more than possessions, tucked away like precious metals. Yes, the Wives were kept safe and given creature comforts, but are objects instead of beings in their own right. Miller complicates this fairly simple plot with Cheedo the Fragile’s attempts to return to Immortan Joe after Angharad’s death. This moment, with The Dag and Capable struggling with Cheedo in the Wasteland, is packed full of feminist discourse. We often fight among ourselves instead (and because) of the larger forces keeping us down, and sometimes staying quiet is easier in the short term. It can be incredibly difficult to rise up and fight, and not every woman

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