May 26, 2015
First off, let me just clarify I am not a misogynist, I'm pretty sure Christina would let me know if I was, by punching me. I am merely parodying the view from so called “men's rights” activists about the then unreleased movie Mad Max: Fury Road. It has now been two weekends since the release of the movie, I've seen the movie, and now I want to throw in my two cents. Warning, spoilers.
Anyone who watches this movie and bemoans if for being feminist propaganda is a fucking idiot. Yes, the movie does have a strong female presence, but if the idea of a strong female former slave, breaking off from a tyrannical ruler that hand picks from the all the women he deems to be the most attractive and uses them a his personal sex slaves, which the society calls “breeders” and the rest of the women seem to be kept in a bunker and are kept pregnant so they can be milked like cows to supply some source of dairy in this bovineless wasteland of a future is misandrinistic to you, than you my friend a fucking moron. Are you honestly saying that that is a logical way to run a society? Honestly, really, really? Freeing women from bondage isn't misandrinistic, I would argue that it isn't even feminist. It's jusr the right fucking thing to do!
As for the actual characters of Max and Furiousa, and the fact that Max doesn't completely overpower her in every conceivable way, a fact that seems to annoy the meninists to no end, I really enjoyed their dynamic. Both characters have a great character arc and help each other to grow as people trying to survive in their world. Max is a man who is constantly haunted by ghosts from his past where he was responsible for the protection of a group of female survivors, but failed them. While Furiousa lives in a society where many people, and it's implied that most women, are literally branded as property. She has no reason to trust anyone, especially men. When these two meet at the beginning of the second act they understandably don't trust one another. However as the story goes they learn that they need to trust in one another to survive, and through each other Furiousa learns that not all men are to be feared and not trusted, and Max finds redemption from his past and a place in the world again. And yes, at a few points in the movie Furiousa orders Max around and he does what he's asked. The horror!
On a super side note, throughout this blog post I used the word meninist, a made up word, that does not exist, and rightfully so it received the red squiggly line of wrongness from my word processor. However the worlds misandry, misandrinist, and misandrinistic, which are technically words also got the same red squiggly. Misogyny, misogynist, and misogynistic, those are words. So take that for what you will.