Mad Max and the Rejection of Nihilism

I can say that without any doubt in my mind, Mad Max: Fury Road completely rejects the notion of nihilism. The movie in itself, from start to finish, is quite literally a battle between the forces of nihilism and the forces of hope, represented by Max and Furiosa, and Immortan Joe, respectfully. Immortan Joe, and those aligned with the Bullet Farm and Gas Town clearly represent nihilism in the film. They are all very often seen wearing dark clothing, and the camera is shot from a low angle on them many times throughout the film to make them appear larger and stronger. They are often accompanied by the aggressive sounds of engines and the sound of drums and very heavy music. The drums are even beaten in such a way to make them sound much like battle drums. With all of this being said, however, the film still, in the end, rejects nihilism. From the very start of the movie, nihilism is challenged. Throughout the film, Max is ridden with guilt because of the lives he could not previously save. This alone is a total rejection of nihilism, given that one of its key principles is that life has no meaning. It is very unlikely that Max would have the said feelings of guilt if in the back of his mind he knew that life had no meaning. The lives that he could not save would not have mattered to him because he would have known that their lives were meaningless anyways. Additionally, throughout the film, there are many glimmers of what can be perceived as hope or peace in a clearly ravaged world. Specifically, when the characters are somehow interacting with nature as we see it today in the film, the soundtrack would go noticeably silent, such as when Max briefly breaks out of the Citadel toward the beginning of the movie, or later on in the movie, when Max, Furiosa, and the rest of their crew are gazing at the stars, watching a satellite pass by. It is the resolution of the film, however, that most clearly rejects nihilism. After Immortan Joe is killed, and the protagonists safely make it back to the Citadel, they release the water for all the people living there. At this point, given that the antagonist is no longer in the picture, the protagonists had the power to essentially do what they want. They could have done what they did in the film, or they simply could have assumed the power that Immortan Joe had and claim all the fresh water for themselves. They, however, chose to share it with everybody, because they were able to recognize that life is important and has meaning. In this case, hope and meaning in life clearly defeated nihilism.

Rejecting Nihilism

When first reviewing Mad Max Fury Road, it is easy to believe that the movie and underlying message of it supports nihilistic views. Nihilism is the rejection of all religious and moral views and because of the rejection seeing that life is meaningless. It is easy to see the support early on in the movie when you hear countless reports from news one specifically saying that, “Man has gone rogue.” However, the rejection of nihilism is present through the actions of max, the wives and furioso, and through the actions of the mutants as well.

If Mad Max supported nihilism, then Max, Furioso and the wives would not have escaped Immortal Joe’s imprisonment. They would have stayed imprisoned awaiting on the inevitable death because there would be no point in fighting. But even as Max said, he “exist[s] in [the] wasteland… reduced to a single instinct: surviv[al].” Regardless of the difficulties he or Furioso experience throughout the movie, they persevere through it to make it to the green place. They still have hope in this hopeless chaos.

Max makes it clear that “everyone has gone out of their minds.” Regardless of the lack of hope there is for the mutants especially, since they are under the rule of Immortal Joe, they reject nihilism. Though some of their actions seem immoral due to our own current society, they are doing it for their own good. They do it so they may, “ride eternal, shiny and chrome” in the promised afterlife of Valhalla. Everything they do, they do in hopes of one day returning to this promise land. This rejects nihilism in both aspects of religion and a meaningful life.

Max Mad:Fury Road: a hopeful commentary.

     The movie and hopeful commentary of "Mad Max: Fury Road," directed by George Miller, rejects the idea of nihilism by presenting a world full of pain and little hope in which a select group of characters deny their "destiny" and find hope in the darkness of their bleak reality.
     The character of "Max," portrayed by Tom Hardy, particularly finds hope in this world when, he and the group of rebels, fight back against the oppressive "Immortan Joe," played by Hugh Keays-Byrne, whom employs a superimposed rule. This occurs when Max is given a motorcycle full of gasoline attached to a road of little opposition or, literally, the easy and isolated path of running from this life and continuing on from the escape of Joe. This is something he has done his whole life that has, obviously, only brought pain and suffering in his past, portrayed in the flashbacks of his former friends (that are now are dead and haunting him). Throughout the movie it is heavily implied that because he abandoned his past friends and that he, in turn, essentially killed them himself. But, Max, in this case, decides to fight back with this new group which later helps create a better and more holistic society. This moment is the biggest point of evidence that proves that this movie is all about selflessness and looking for hope in the darkest of places thus, solidifying that this movie is anti-nihilistic and therefore hopeful and positive.

Works Cited

     Mad Max: Fury Road. Dir. George Miller. Perf. Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Hugh Keays-Byrne.  Kennedy Miller Productions, 2015. Blu-ray.

The movie Mad Max: Road of Fury rejects the idea of nihilism and emphasized the ideas of survival and hope. In a post apocalyptic world with mutations, radiation, and harsh environments and where nihilistic desperation starts to take over, humanity still has a little hope, a hope to survive. They kill, fight, and steal in order to stay alive. For example, in the beginning when the War Boys captured Max Rockatansky they used him as a blood bag so that they had a chance to live a little longer.Throughout the whole movie the word hope was mentioned many times. Furiosa believes and hopes there is redemption and that there is still a home at her birthplace, the green place as they called it. The five wives of Immortan Joe hope that they will find peace, freedom and life at this green place and even Nux, when he was helping Max and the girls survive and planning on turning around to take over the citadel, says " yeah...feels like hope." This movie may have some nihilism in it but the whole time it was revolved around opposing it and fighting nihilism, fighting the hopeless and useless feeling Max had in the beginning and showing that there is more to just surviving. In the end they, Max, Furiosa, and the five wives,  find home at the citadel, family within each other, and living a life of their own as they take over the citadel and give freedom to everyone who was under Immortan Joe's rule. This indeed is not nihilistic.

Mad Max: Fury Road and Nihilism

I would say that as a whole Mad Max: Fury Road supports nihilism. The character Max (Tom Hardy) is the epitome of a Nihilist. In the opening scene Max describes his world as "fire and blood." Everything has been taken from him, and as a result he has nothing left to believe in. Later on in the rain and mud Max says to Furiosa that, "hope is a mistake. If you can't fix what's broken, you'll, uh... you'll go insane." These ideas that life is meaninglessness and that the only purpose in the apocalyptic world is to survive, nothing more, perfectly mirror the concepts of Nihilism. In Max’s world, there is no greater meaning, no purpose to fight for, he simply fights to survive.

While Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and her group of escaped wives began the journey with the hope for a better life, and the goal of seeking refuge in a legendary group of warrior women, it is later discovered that the majority of the clan has perished, and the earth had become “too sour” for crops to grow. While hope still persists in the form of seeds, the underlying belief of something better out in the wasteland proved to be false. This supports the Nihilistic concept that there is no greater truth in life, and that the world truly is nothing more than the immoral, harsh, chaotic mess that it appears to be.

The film not only supports Nihilism, but actively rejects the alternative. The main antagonist Immorten Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) rules over his army through the power of religious fanaticism. His disciples frequently use suicidal tactics in the hopes that they will “ride eternal, shiny and chrome” in the afterlife of Valhalla. This escapist mindset and promise of a land better than the relentless desert enables their extreme violent behavior, a direct contrast to Max’s cool and collected Nihilistic personality.

Between Furiosa and the wives reaching the end of their journey only to realize that “hope is a mistake,” and the violent and psychotic actions of Immorten Joe’s war boys, who are driven insane with the hope of Joe’s promised afterlife, it is clear that Mad Max: Fury Road represents a world where Nihilism is the only truth.

In Mad Max Fury Road, I believe the movie rejects nihilism. Max speaks on where he lives, saying, "My world is fire and blood". This post apocalyptic world is a wasteland where it seems as if the best option would be to just give up on life. The leader of this world is Immortan Joe and he barely gives the people enough water to survive. If the population as whole were to be nihilistic then they would rather die then fight to the death for a few drops of water- but they don't. The people hold on to their seemingly sad lives and do fight for their ration of water- which is the opposite of what nihilism is. The people all fight to live, in fact at the beginning of the movie Max describes himself as, "A man reduced to one single instinct, survive". The concept of nihilism is the exact opposite of Max's statement. In a world where Max says, "Everyone has gone out of their mind", it seems like nihilism would be the key theme of this movie, but because of everyone's willingness to keep on living, (no matter how bad their world seems to be) this movie rejects nihilism.

Rejection of Nihilism

In Mad Max Fury Road, I believe that it rejects nihilism because the setting takes place in a post apocalyptic world where the charters don’t even fear death. That’s not to say that nihilism is in the movie, but the plot and mission of the movie is to have a better way of living for everyone in this apocalyptic life style. The whole movie showed the norm of death, harsh environments drive or die and life is such a fast pace Max says that “whatever happens just keep moving”, the charters have to fight to survive. Things where treasured in the movie were, the oil, guns, and water. War is everywhere in the dessert. The setting of the movie was a wasteland with no end. Life it self was hard to believe in and the conman people didn’t care about morals, religion and couldn’t see a life hope in peaceful living instead it’s a meanness lifestyle. However when Max thinks of a plan for redemption, by saving the people them from the king and his posy. At this turning point the change for a better way of living is the rejection of the nihilism. So I believe that because the end of the world has came true, the people having a belief that life is meaningless, it cant get any worse but to continue there is no way out but to have this shift of rebelling form the king and norm of harsh living for a chance of hope for something good. And save everyone. So that’s why I say that Mad Max represents  the rejects of nihilism for peaceful resolution.

The two essays both support the ideas of nihilism and how the world is slowly submerging in a state where people act like they don't care about anything and view the end of the world as just a simple event. In Courtney Heck's essay, Heck says, "In a time of fear, crises, and anxiety dystopian futures become more popular in pop culture,  this is because they give us a sense of control"(Heck 1). What Heck is saying is that the idea of nihilism and dystopian cultures is being seen more and more in pop culture and just society in general because people get to see what could happen to the world in the future and that knowledge gives people a sense of control. I also notice more characters in media that simply don't care about anything. A movie that just came out for example, "John Wick" Wick is an assasin that doesn't care about anything except for his dead wife and dog. This makes John Wick a badass.

Descent into Dystopia

In Enclosed. Encyclopedic. Endured: The Mall of America, David Guterson goes through a great deal to bring to light a critical addiction that is consuming the population in this modern age. Guterson shares a response from one of his many quick interviews with Mall of America shoppers, "it's a sickness. It’s like cocaine or something; it's a drug." (Guterson 163) People of the modern age are in a constant seeking out their next fix of stimulation, the next place or activity that allows them to sweep important things under the rug for just a little while longer. This need for escape is highly indicative of a dystopian society, we as people are ruled by materialism and constant stimulation, so turned off by the world we live in that we wish to remain in the metaphorical Mall of America.

Elaborating on this plunge into dystopia Anthony Burgess approaches the matter more directly. Is America falling Apart? Is an analyzation of America’s health as a community and a look into how our future may play out at this current speed. Burgess makes it clear that America is not in a state of health, and he attests this to America’s mass obsession with money “being the only example in history of genuine timocracy.” (Burgess 240) It is here that dystopian characteristics arise, corrupt government and ruling is a key factor in dystopian society, just like it is in today’s. Government more concerned with wealth than well-being, a people whose motivation lies not with the group but in a secluded selfishness, descent into dystopia has already begun. 

Americas Inevitable Destruction

David Guterson, the author of the essay Enclosed. Encyclopedia. Endured: The Mall of America, goes through a process to prove that the great Mall of America, is a prime example of a dystopian society. David starts out by showing how people are addicted to coming to the mall, and how the “media have comported themselves as if the new mall were a place of light and promise, full of hope and possibilities (Guterson 168).” He walks us through his trip at the mall and shows how the mall is full of lies. Like how “the Mall of America claims to recycle up to 80 percent of its [trash] (Guterson 170).” When it actually “recycles only a third of the mall tenants waste (Guterson 170).”Or even how the integrated pest management was just a secret late night pesticide spraying.

 On the other hand, while reading is America Falling Apart, by Anthony Burgess, I noticed that he takes a different approach to the situation. He explains to the readers his experiences with asceticism. He writes how he “elected deprivation” of “an automobile (Burgess 236).”  After this he switches gears a little bit and talks about the inevitable self-inflicted destruction of America. He talked about a lot of different issues, everything from smog in LA to material items being cheaper to replace than repair. He gives many examples from other countries and states “that the whole marvelous fabric of American life is coming apart at its seams (Burgess 236).” At first glance these essays look completely different, but looking closely I can see many similarities.

Bibliography:

Guterson, David “Enclosed Encyclopedia Endured

            Mall of America “The Norton Reader” ED. Linda

            Peterson, ETK. 13^th ed. New York Norton,

            2012. 161- 172. Print

Burgess, Anthony. “Is America Falling Apart?”

            The Norton Reader. Ed. Joseph Bieap.

            John Brereton, Ane Fernald, Melissa beld,

            And Linda Peterson.   13^th ed.
            New York Norton, 2012. 235-239. Print.

American Dystopia

American Dystopia 

Enclosed. Encyclopedia. Endured: The Mall of America is about a huge mall that is built near Minneapolis that draws its customers in with supposedly fun felt family entertainment. But in the eyes of David Guterson, the mall is actually the opposite, to him the mall, “exploits our acquisitive instincts without honoring our communal requirements, our eternal desire for discourse and intimacy, needs that until the twentieth century were traditionally met in our marketplaces but that are not met at all in giant shopping malls.” (162) The malls are selfish industries that take no consideration into the customer’s communal duties and take advantage of the customer’s willingness to spend money. The megamall has evolved from traditional market places to where satisfaction was completed, to a marketplace where customer’s are drawn in like a trap and feel the need to continue to spend money. It is a nihilist article because it talks about how the malls corrupt consumer consumption.

The man Anthony Burgess returns to Bracciano after spending a year in New Jersey.  What he comes to find out from living in America is that he truly despises the United States.  Burgess feels that the future of mankind is being worked out on, “a scale typically American- vast, dramatic, almost apocalyptical.”(240) I feels he views, American people are evolving for the worse, which could have apocalyptic effects.

Is Nihilism relevant?

Nihilism refers to nothingness. The doubt in a sense of meaning. Eugene Thacker could be categorized as a nihilist for this belief that “There might not be a purpose to things, or to your life, or to our existence, or to the cosmos.” The word originates from Latin where it simply means “nothing”.

Eugene Thacker’s book, “In The Dust of this Planet”, Eugene deconstructs everything from new and old movies to music. He finds this common theme of nihilism with in our culture. This negative view of the world is shared among the raising generation. They predict the world and society will only get worse and that there is no point in trying. They are not only nihilist but also pessimists. They complain about it but are unlikely to do anything about the issue. Nihilism has become more popular through pop culture. Giving a “bad ass” characteristic to the persona of not caring and facing immortality. The spread of the idea constitutes to a lazier generation. With the belief that nothing matters and that everything you do is for nothing, you lose any sense of motivation. True nihilist have no goals and do not contribute to society. Nihilism has become indeed relevant to contemporary society. 

nihilism

"Nihilism or Pessimism. That there might not be a purpose  to things or your life or to our existence...we might not be here for a reason...that it just doesn't matter."

Nihilism can be expressed as the belief that life itself is meaningless, nothing in the world truly exists as something real. Nihilism is Latin for "nothing".  In this podcast, the author of "In the Dust Of This Planet" Eugene Thacker is a strong believer in nihilism, he is what we would call a pessimist. The nature of our life is un realistic and isn't worth meaning. He believes our existence does not matter. This negative view on the world is very common and is widely shared with other people all around the world. The questioning of what is real and what is the purpose for our existence springs from this concept, we see this negative view on the world every day and it is all around us. Whether it comes from religion, values you follow or even education. In some way everyone has asked the question "so what? why does this matter?". Our society in general can be very negative, hardly anyone likes to see the purpose or positive outlook on certain situations. One would rather see the glass half empty than half full. It is just a common instinct to think negative or always question the world. It just seems easier to put blame and be negative than to be positive and have hope. It is common to think its easier to believe in nothing rather than have hope and be disappointed in the end.

Nihilism

"There might not be a purpose to things, or to your life, or to our existence, or to the cosmos."

From the podcast I understood nihilism to mean to not care about anything or to think that life is just meaningless. Although it sounds to be horrible I think it is relevant and necessary for our society to have this idea around because having it put in movies, art, music and shirts makes us feel more brave and securer about the future. Like it said in the podcast “that all this pop nihilist around us is not about tearing down power structure or bracing nothingness its just, look at me, look at how brave I am.” Also in seeing all those world ending/nihilistic movies, shows, novels and etc. makes society think they can now prevent it from happening or if they can’t prevent it then at least they can be prepared and adapt better it anyone of those scenarios were to occur. Like the example they used about global warming, of how people used to talk about ways to prevent it but later on the figured global warming was inevitable and started talking about adapting to it. All in all nihilism is heavily relevant in this society because it just makes us feel brave and shows that we aren’t afraid.

Nihilism in Today's Society

“Everything we look at is false”. This was said by Eugene Thacker, writer of the novel “The Dust of Our Planet” The main theme of the novel is Nihilism, which he describes as having a pessimistic outlook on life. Nihilism rejects all religion, and all morals. It is the belief that life is completely meaningless. I feel that nihilism is relevant to our society only to a certain extent. The idea is popular among young people who due to their young age aren’t really faced with death yet. I feel that nihilism is more of a trend, and is something young people “believe” to stand out. I think it as used as an alternative to organized religion. As stated in the podcast when people reach a riper age and are actually faced with death they must truly chose whether they really believe that there is nothing left for them, and that everything they’ve done has been for nothing. Most organized religion are based on working towards an afterlife. With nihilism you aren’t working towards anything. I think it is relevant only to the young people of our society since its somewhat rebellious, however I feel that its not something that will change the way people live their lives. 

Nihilism

"...nothing exists and nothing matters. ...That there might not be a purpose to things or to your life or to our existence or to the cosmos. And this all might be purely arbitrary, an accident. That there's no inherent meaning to anything." In the podcast "In The Dust of This Planet" by Radiolab, the speakers talk about what nihilism is in our contemporary society. I believe nihilism definitely is relevant to today’s society. A great deal of people no longer believe in life being meaningful because they believe once we die our existence and soul entirely just seizes to exist. We see this through the way people believe that the best way to live is to live life to the fullest. In teenagers especially, beliefs of living with no regrets and the thought of how “you only live once” is what guides their actions. People act this way because they don’t believe there is a purpose of why there are here. To them there is no cosmology. Nothing in the world matters so they use that belief to act in any way they want. To them, their existence is not based on the reason they were put on this planet, but merely just an action of reproduction of human beings. Since many people in our society today live with the mentality of how nothing matters, nihilism is surely a role of our contemporary society.

Nihilism in Contemporary Society

"Alexandria was a lot like Manhattan. There's an offshore island, it's the seat of all learning and culture in the ancient world. At a certain point in the 4th century, people start to leave. People wander off and they seem to want something else. The city just doesn't do it anymore."

This quote explains nihilism by using an actual example to relate it to modern times. By stating that Alexandria simply got bored with their culture paints a great picture of the idea of nihilism, that things in life/life itself are meaningless.  Alexandria was, like the quote mentions, "the seat of all learning and culture in the ancient world". Alexandria was an advanced civilization and had advancements in learning, yet people still left. People were becoming bored with the same thing, and it had become meaningless to them. I think the point that Simon was trying to make was that the city of Alexandria was desiring more in their lives and as a city, and everything else was meaningless. Expanding on that, I think that if they found that "something more" to fulfill them, they would get bored with that as well and move on. In today's culture, people tend to get in a routine of doing the same thing over and over, and get bored with it, therefore it becomes meaningless for them. Likewise with how I think Alexandria was, they will find something else to fill the void, and then become bored and move on again.

Nihilism

"...Nihilism or pessimism. That there might not be a purpose to things, or to your life, or to our existence, or to the cosmos. There might not be a order to things we might not be here for a reason.This all might be purely arbitrary and an accident that there's no inherent meaning to anything that it just doesn't matter..."

In the podcast Eugene Thacker wrote a book called "In The Dust of This Planet" which he didn't believe would catch anyone’s attention since he writes for "nobody to read." But his book did the opposite he began seeing it in clothing of famous celebrities. In this book he speaks of the "end of the world" in a different aspect known as Nihilism. In the quote I chose he explains that Nihilism is basically a pessimist, in other words you believe there is no meaning in life. I believe that many things in society portray this nihilism. There are many songs, movies, clothes, poster, etc. that portray this idea of nihilism. Our society is filled with these "pessimist" they are what keep religions going. Many teenagers believe that there is no god. They do not know what their purpose in life is, but its all because of the idea in their head that "there is no god" "theres no proof that a god ever existed." Also many of our music that we listen to now, mainly rap songs portray an idea of nihilism. We all have listened to at least one rap song that makes us rethink what they're really trying to say behind the dark lines. Our society portrays many of these things all around making nihilism still a current thing which shouldn't be because we all have a purpose in life.