Girl Power: from the Spice Girls and Beyonce to George Miller’s latest installment of Mad Max, it’s here, it’s loud, and it’s fighting for your attention. If you’ve not yet seen Fury Road, get thee to a cinema now. If you’re part of a Men’s Rights Group, don’t. It’ll only make you angry and make your tiny penis feel even tinier because: female propaganda.
Anywho, I digress. Fury Road is undoubtedly an ode to women and the qualities they possess that make them not better or worse than men, but different. Qualities such as being level-headed, calculated, caring, strong, and nurturing. Passionate, yes. Stubborn, most definitely. Qualities that you don’t often see in a male-led action film, with a depth that is certainly non-existent in your average shoot ’em up. Yes, there’s violence, there’s a shitload of guns and blood, and people dying left, right and centre, but at the heart of the story is something beautiful and selfless – women fighting for the freedom of women.
Now, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a film about Max. The title is, after all, his namesake. But it’s not. Yes, there’s plenty Tom Hardy deliciousness, but he’s essentially there to support a greater being – the fierce AF Imperator Furiosa who, with only one arm, slays so hard she makes Jaime Lannister look like a weeping schoolboy.
So we’ve got our female protagonist and her strong, sullen male sidekick and thus we begin to explore the action genre through the eyes of the women. We see women akin to those who’ve been held captive in the real world, whether it be in a basement in the suburbs or under the cloying wing of a husband 30 years older, whether they were picked up off the sidewalk and shoved into a van or held at gunpoint with hundreds of their peers. There’s raw fear, the threat of death, abuse and rape clawing at their heels, there’s even a touch of Stockholm Syndrome in the sweet, innocent Cheedo the Fragile. And then we see Furiosa who, at the start, comes across as a complete battle-axe but as the film weaves on, begins to show her vulnerabilities and fears.
It’s these women that add depth and level to what should be a generic action film. In every move they make, every line they speak, every man they kill, there’s a motive and a meaning. The men are at the mercy of these women, whether they like it or not. It’s Furiosa that saves Max from certain death and Capable who saves Nux from the cultist Warboys. Quite a bit different to your usual gung-ho, ‘save the damsel!’ ideal. And while the men are depicted as they always are – hot-headed, kill-thirsty, and ignorant – the women are savvy, passionate, and forgiving yet relentless. Much more on par with real life, I’d say.
I can see why Men’s Rights Groups are calling for a boycott of the film. It’s completely challenging their perception of women in a genre they’re likely most comfortable watching. Yes, women are getting beaten and abused and yes, there’s a couple of times they need a helping hand from their male counterparts, but all in all, they’re fighting back hard and they’re serving up the greater male population of the film their asses on a silver platter. I totally understand how that would make a group of insecure and utterly archaic gents feel threatened or, God forbid, subordinate. But all I have to say to that is: fucking deal with it. Every man on this earth comes from a woman who had enough strength and love to carry them for nine months then push them out, screaming, from their nether regions. Women are strong. They’re fucking awesome. And it’s so, so refreshing to see a film in a male-dominated genre that both acknowledges and celebrates the intricacy and intelligence that is the female species. Power to you, George Miller. Keep up the good work.
Now, let the death threats roll in…
Brilliant. You totally nailed it, Caitlin. Fucking awesome.