Tag: mad max fury road

rainbow-femme:

So whenever i would watch movies and see The Badass Female Character fighting in various ways, something about it always bugged me. I just assumed it was internalized misogyny that made me dislike characters like black widow and Tauriel and tried to make myself like them.

Then I was rewatching Mad Max Fury Road the other day and I noticed that nothing bothered me about watching Furiosa fight and I realized the problem wasn’t watching women fight in movies that got on my nerves.

Watching the stereotypical Badass Female Character she always has these effortless moves and a cocky, sexy smirk on her face as everything is easy. Watching Furiosa, she grunted and bared her teeth. Her fighting was hard and it took effort and it hurt like fighting is supposed to. For once her fighting style wasn’t supposed to seduce the audience it was to be effective.

I wasn’t disliking these characters because they were women I was disliking that their fighting was meant to remind me they were women. High heels and shapely outfits and not showing effort or discomfort because it’s more attractive to effortlessly lift a long leather clad leg over your head rather than rugby tackle someone.

It’s the same with the Wonder Woman movie too. Fighting is hard and it takes effort, blocking bombs and bullets with a shield makes her grimace and bare her teeth with the effort it takes. She’s not flip kicking bombs she’s yelling and straining, not because she’s weak or bad at fighting but because that’s what it would be like.

I really hope we’re moving into an era of women having fighting styles designed for realism and not how hot it looks for the men in the audience.

Agreed. One of the reasons I love both those movies and I always loved Xena. She did flip and all but there was grunting and yelling in her fighting that felt real.

youkaiyume:

The War Boys call him “lucky,” to be favored by the Imperator.

The Sisters call him her “support/partner.”

Furiosa calls him “reliable.”

Max thinks the correct term they’re looking for is “furniture.”

But all things considered, he’s been used for worse before. He doesn’t mind being of use to Furiosa.

—

I said I wanted to draw a series of doodles of Furiosa using Max as various forms of furniture mostly to lean upon…and him making bemused grumpy faces.

The Throne is especially for bonehandledknife 

Source: youkaiyume

editoress:

rainbow-femme:

So whenever i would watch movies and see The Badass Female Character fighting in various ways, something about it always bugged me. I just assumed it was internalized misogyny that made me dislike characters like black widow and Tauriel and tried to make myself like them.

Then I was rewatching Mad Max Fury Road the other day and I noticed that nothing bothered me about watching Furiosa fight and I realized the problem wasn’t watching women fight in movies that got on my nerves.

Watching the stereotypical Badass Female Character she always has these effortless moves and a cocky, sexy smirk on her face as everything is easy. Watching Furiosa, she grunted and bared her teeth. Her fighting was hard and it took effort and it hurt like fighting is supposed to. For once her fighting style wasn’t supposed to seduce the audience it was to be effective.

I wasn’t disliking these characters because they were women I was disliking that their fighting was meant to remind me they were women. High heels and shapely outfits and not showing effort or discomfort because it’s more attractive to effortlessly lift a long leather clad leg over your head rather than rugby tackle someone.

It’s the same with the Wonder Woman movie too. Fighting is hard and it takes effort, blocking bombs and bullets with a shield makes her grimace and bare her teeth with the effort it takes. She’s not flip kicking bombs she’s yelling and straining, not because she’s weak or bad at fighting but because that’s what it would be like.

I really hope we’re moving into an era of women having fighting styles designed for realism and not how hot it looks for the men in the audience.

I’ve taken martial arts most of my life, and the way women fight in action movies has always bothered me.  They overreach; they swivel too much; and their hair is always down.  For a long time I wondered whether this was an effect of stage choreography.  As a kid I briefly wondered (with horror) whether that was what women just looked like when they used martial arts.  It doesn’t feel that way.  It feels short, sharp, and forceful.  You stay grounded.  You control the distance between you and your opponent so you don’t have to lean way out.  It’s practical, not pretty.

But then I finally (only recently!) saw a couple of examples of Action Women who looked like they actually knew how to fight, and it has healed me.

cumaeansibyl:

penfairy:

Mad Max Fury Road is the best because it screams in your face “HEY LOOK HERE’S A V8 INTERCEPTOR AND A MASSIVE FUCKING TRUCK COVERED IN SKULLS AND A GUITAR FLAMETHROWER AND BIG ACTION SEQUENCES AND EXPLOSIONS, ISN’T THAT COOL??????” and then it gently takes your shoulder and whispers in your ear “but you know what’s cooler? respecting women & dismantling the patriarchy”

and then it flings you across the desert at 80 miles an hour screaming DISMANTLE THE FUCKING PATRIARCHY

penfairy:

What’s really incredible about Mad Max: Fury Road is that our titular, brooding White Male Lead in an Action Movie™ is given no opportunities to appear badass or heroic unless he’s working as a team or directly helping the women.

We see Max alone in the desert, all brooding and action-hero-y, clearly haunted by a tragic past… and he’s immediately captured, chained, humiliated and spends the next half hour tied up and useless while Furiosa is off getting shit done.

Then he gets free and he comes in waving a gun around and embarrassing himself. It’s not until Furiosa calms him down, wins him over, and he starts following her orders that he’s allowed to appear properly badass – in an action sequence that begins with him handing her a gun, and which progresses with the two of them working as the ultimate team while the girls help him as much as he defends them.

Then they’re in the Night Bog. Max fails to hit the Bullet Farmer and instead becomes a prop to steady Furiosa’s shot. Then he runs off on a solo mission and it doesn’t even merit screen time. Some dude lone wolfing it to kill a scary bad guy? Who cares. Let’s watch Nux running in front of the rig and the girls cooling down the engines instead.

Then comes the final chase. Max is undeniably awesome, but he is only allowed to be awesome because all of his efforts are dedicated to helping and protecting his weird new family. And the instant he hears Furiosa is hurt, all of his badass moments are pivoted around reaching her. He fights a hundred war boys, jumps over trucks, swings off poles, sets of explosions, beats someone with a flamethrower guitar, just so he can be there to catch Furiosa once she has killed the big bad Immortan Joe.

And, of course, his biggest heroic moment in the film isn’t even a cool action sequence or taking out a villain – it’s saving someone’s life. It’s being selfless and compassionate. It’s expressing love and humanity. It’s acting as a nurse and donating his blood. Max’s triumph is fixing something that’s broken.

Then, at the end, instead of being rewarded with a sexy girl and something else cool like most action heroes, Max gets nothing. He gives everything to Furiosa – his love, his loyalty, his fighting skills, his blood, his name – and he takes nothing in return, nor does he feel he is owed anything. He is content simply to help her, and thanks to this love and selflessness he was able to achieve some kind of redemption. 

In Fury Road, a man’s heroism is not determined by how strong or tough he is – it is defined by how willing he is to love, help, support and protect others, particularly women, while demanding nothing in return. 

odysseius:

#right before i went to see this  #i watched the video where someone re-saturates a selective group of frames from man of steel  #simply to show how much colour the studio deliberately drained out of every shot; how narrow and dull the palette is  #which is pretty emblematic of a lot of contemporary sci-fi; esp. after the dark knight  #and i get it. as a visual shorthand it’s nothing if not efficient  #no better way to show that the world’s gone to hell than to drain all the colour out of it #no better way to announce your ‘dark and gritty’ hellscape where everything and everyone’s compromised and corrupted  #shades of grey as the dominant aesthetic and ethical stance  #it’s neat. yeah.  #i’ve seen mad max criticised for being too ‘simple’ and its morals too ‘easy’  #because god forbid we have a narrative that points at the sexual subjugation of women and says ‘this is wrong’ #and keeps saying ‘this is wrong’  #doesn’t muddy those waters doesn’t offer any kind of qualifier  #‘this is wrong this should be opposed with all our strength’ #and at the same time says ‘you can come back’  #however low you’ve fallen however weird and hurt and broken and voiceless you are  #all you need is someone to look you in the eyes and see a person who can be saved  #and it says this visually too: look how beautiful the world is; even when it’s dying and cruel #look at the deranged and terrible and gorgeous ways humans adorn their survival  #there’s something haunting and lovely even in the most awful and barren of places; the lands of only salt and ashes  #who wants to live for a world with no colour in it just a dull grey kind of half-life  #the world in mad max is horrifying it’s bloody and feral and apocalyptic  #but you believe it’s worth living for  #because there’s hope and weird screaming optimism in every frame #pessimism’s easy  #it’s much harder to hope at the end of the world (x)

Source: wonderlandinmymind

pcylockes:

Jillian Holtzmann taught me to embrace and not be ashamed of my sexuality. Furiosa taught me that I don’t have to fit into this world in order to be seen and heard. Wanda Maximoff taught me that no matter how scared I am someone is always going through the same thing. Ellen Ripley taught me to be my own woman and stand up for myself when faced with a challenge. Sarah Connor taught me that a woman can be strong and still be emotional. Wonder Woman taught me to respect myself in a society that might not always respect me. Mako Mori taught me to keep fighting even if it feels like there is nothing left to fight for. Rita Vrataski taught me to not take any shit from anybody. Rey taught me that even in dark times I can always find hope.
Don’t ever doubt the strength of fictional characters and the power they hold. These fictional women have taught me everything about myself and who I can strive to be, and I know I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for strong women everywhere giving me and every woman and girl in the world the opportunities that we deserve. 

If I may I add:
Buffy taught me it is okay to make mistakes. Hermione taught me not to worry about what others thought. She-Hulk taught me I could be kickass and still feminine. Xena taught me it was alright to embrace my darkness. Jessica Jones taught me that even the worst of times do not define me.