Exploitation Cinema

Mad Max Fury Road (2015) Directed by George Miller

Figure 1. Movie Poster.

Mad Max Fury Road is the fourth instalment of

the Mad Max series, all of which are directed by
George Miller. Made in Australia and set in post
apocalyptic era we meet Max, a survivor of the
nuclear holocaust which has turned this films
world into a massive desert wasteland and
civilisation is no more. Max gets captured by
Immortan Joes army - the War Boys and is used
as a blood bag for ill war boy, Nux. This 21st
century Mad Max ozploitation addition to the
Figure 2. Five Wives Contrast Furiosa
series is Australia film making seeking to
succeed financially by exploiting current trends
with a low budget. Keeping up with postmodern
times Fury Road has a female lead - Imperator
Furiosa, she is one of Immortan Joes higher
ranking soldiers who betrays him to free his
wives from his tyrannical, polygamist prison. The
wives costumes, (see fig 2), is explicit use of Figure 3. War Boys
sexploitation, the wives are barely covered.

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However the wives arent the only characters to be sexploited
in this film, the war boys run around half naked too (see fig 3).
The film industry hones in on females to be sexploited most;
the wives were selected for breeding, chosen to become
possessions regardless of their own will in contrast to the War
Boys volunteering and willing to be soldiers. It is rare that a
woman will be in an action film without serving a sexploitation
purpose, usually she is the protagonists love interest, half
naked (or wearing less than men). Fury Road is dierent to its
action genre with Furiosa, a female co-protagonist, who
doesnt fall in love and isnt sexualised in any way, (see fig 4).

Much has been made of the strong female characters in Fury

Road, with even assertions of a feminist agenda at play. It's as
if every previous action movie had defined their female leads
by their willingness to f**k the male star. Yet a viewing of Mad
Max shows that writer-director George Miller was defining Figure 4. Furiosa
characters by their spirit, not by their gender, back in 1979 too.
(Rawson-Jones, 2015).

Fury Road is also dierent with the world thats

been created, its post apocalyptic, theres no
water or greenery, no roads to drive along and
the enemies dont look completely human. The
plot is not a complex one, it has no arcs it is
literally travelling one way, reaching a point and
going back to where they were to begin with,
so why was the film successful? Because
during that time they are exploiting vehicle Figure 5. Max as Figurehead.
culture, travelling in this massive war rig,
crossing through biker territory in addition to
the large amount of violence exploitation, as
they are almost constantly fighting o
Immortan Joes army. In addition to vehicle and
violence exploitation, Fury Road also features
gore, torture and body horror exploitation. At
the very beginning when Max gets captured
and taken to War Boy base, he is chained,
tattooed and branded with heated iron before
Figure 6. Immortan Joe.
becoming a personal blood bag to Nux. During the

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War Boys hunt on Fury Road for Furiosa and the wives, Max is chained and
muzzled to the front of Nuxs vehicle like a figurehead of a ship, (see fig 5). With all
fights there are injuries and death but the most gruesome one is the demise of
Immortan Joe, he has hideous body modification, (see fig 6) which gets ripped o
killing him, allowing Max, Furiosa, Nux and the wives to return and live more
peacefully.

Bibliography

Quote

Rawson-Jones, B. (2015). How Mad Max compares to Fury Road. [online] Digital
Spy. Available at: http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/re-viewed/feature/a648509/re-
viewed-mad-max-how-does-the-1979-original-compare-to-fury-road/ [Accessed 12
Nov. 2017].

Illustration List

Figure 1. (2015). Mad Max Fury Road Movie Poster. [Poster] At: https://
www.amazon.com/Mad-Max-Movie-Poster-24x36/dp/B00XS5BCW4 (Accessed on
12 November 2017).

Figure 2. Miller, G. (2015). The Five Wives Contrast Furiosa. [Film Still] At: http://
www.businessinsider.com/mad-max-fury-road-wives-rosie-huntington-whiteley-
riley-keough-zoe-kravitz-2015-5?IR=T (Accessed on 12 November 2017).

Figure 3. Miller, G. (2015). War Boys. [Film Still] At: http://

prettiestcaptain.tumblr.com/post/126818981059/a-fanatical-squad (Accessed on 12
November 2017).

Figure 4. Miller, G. (2015). Imperator Furiosa. [Film Still] At: http://

madmax.wikia.com/wiki/Imperator_Furiosa (Accessed on 12 November 2017).

Figure 5. Miller, G. (2015). Max as Figurehead. [Film Still] At: http://heavy.com/

entertainment/2015/05/mad-max-fury-road-cast-plot-feminism-video-game-comic-
book-review/ (Accessed on 12 November 2017).

Figure 6. Miller, G. (2015). Immortan Joe. [Film Still] At: http://

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-mad-max-fury-road-784266 (Accessed
on 12 November 2017).