Sunday, October 18, 2015
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.
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I agree that the film, Mad Max: Road of Fury, emphasizes the ideas of survival but I disagree that that means it rejects the idea of nihilism. The main character, Max, is a prime example of a nihilist. In the opening scene his voice over admits "I exist in this waste land, a man, reduced to a single instinct. Survive." There is no meaning to his life. Instinct is all that keeps him living. Instinctive survival is emotionless. He represents that of the average inhabitant of this post apostolic "waste land". He, Max, dismissive the idea of hope on several occasions and twice say " hope is a mistake." The situation of the world has destroyed hope and rised awareness of the lack of meaning left in the world. The attitude of the characters supports the idea of nihilism.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that Mad Max: Road of Fury, rejects the idea of nihilism but uses it as a mean of conflict. The movie is actually set around the idea of nihilism. For example the main character Mad Max is extremely nihilistic. The opening scene portrays him standing on a hill with in the wasteland talking about how his life no longer has meaning and that the only reason he is basically alive is because of his survival instincts. The movie uses a motive of dystopia and nihilism to also create the setting. The setting is pretty much just a huge wasteland that has almost nothing in it except for crazy people who have descended down only to the instinct of survival. Through out the movie the setting is also a orange and blue color which those colors help to create the whole nihilistic dystopian view. The movie uses nihilism to portray the main character and to also create the setting thus meaning it is not rejected but acknowledged in the movie.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say that the film, Mad Max: Road of Fury, rejected the idea of nihilism. And now that you mentioned it, the word hope was said a lot in the movie. I think that it was to show that they still had hope. However I additionally think that plants were a sign of hope. Like when they saw that first dead tree with the crows around it, I think that it gave them their first little bit of hope, and then when they got the plants from the people that used to be in the "green place" I think that it gave them ever more hope, and motivation to keep doing what they were doing. I also think that water was almost their currency, which is kind of terrible if you think about it because you have to have water.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this movie Mad Max had the idea of survival. Like you mentioned how they used Max for his blood so the the War Boys can survive a little bit longer. But also Max needed to survive as well. In the movie the girls that got away wanted hope and hope was mentioned a few times in this movie. When bad things are happening all around you, hope is the only thing that can save you. Hope can be the most powerful tool you can have or it can not, just depends how you use it. There was nihilism through out the movie. It looked like the War boys were pretty much brain washed on thinking that they way to freedom was to sacrifice their lives.
ReplyDeleteI disagree that Mad Max: Road of Fury, rejects the idea of nihilism. This movie is set up around the whole idea of nihilism in my opinion. There’s a scene when they are going to go back to where they came from, one of the girls begins praying and another girl asks her what's she's doing due to the fact that none of them believe in higher god. The other girl seems confused because they do not believe in a god or anything superior to them. They believe that if there really were a god none of the stuff that happens to them would be happening. This portrays the idea that Mad Max does portray the idea of nihilism. The idea is not hope and survival, its revenge. They are tired of being ruled by a person who treats them like animals so they get revenge it's not survival.
ReplyDeleteI disagree, I personally feel that mad max supports Nihilism. I feel this is most present when furiosa, who has been dreaming of a better life for her and the wives for a large portion of her life, discovers that the perfect life she has been chasing for so long is non-existent. Also the mutants, who believe that they have a glorious action filled after life waiting for them if they die the proper way, are simply being manipulated by Immortal Joe. Its just a ruse he uses to get them to do his bidding with extreme passion, and without hesitation. Both Furiousa and the mutants believe that their lives have something great waiting for them at the end, however in reality there is nothing there for them.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I believe that Mad Max: Fury Road supports Nihilism to the extreme. In the movie, the human race was reduced to being “personal blood bags”, not even humans anymore, really, and I believe that the entire human race is a form of institution. So in that sense, institutions in general, are being rejected by the movie rejecting the biggest institution there is: the human race. And, of course, the most obvious rejection, which is when they get to the end and the “green place” they were so desperate to get to, didn’t even exist anymore. Another example would be the entire concept of “I live. I die. I live again.” They did not live again, they were just being manipulated to sacrifice themselves for Immortal Joe’s personal agenda.
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