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asterrocWatching Mad Max 1 - this’s at least my second time, though it’s been so long I really don’t remember anything, except that I reread the Wikipedia page recently. It’s so interesting seeing the difference in pacing. The movie is a lot of driving, some racing, but not much of gun fights on moving vehicles with blowtorches.
Also, assuming that the four really are sequential in time (as opposed to a reboot), it’s neat seeing the history of how things change, the worldbuilding. In MM1, we’re in the near future (of 1979), with just a little bit of anarchy going on in this small part of Australia. I’ll be rewatching MM2 and MM3 soon to see how that progresses.
There’s definitely a theme here of the fine line between law and order, and chaos and anarchy. For Rockatansky in MM1 that line is his wife, Jessie, and son, Sprog. (Like Sprog is a totally normal thing to name a child. And that his is name not a nickname, as Jessie calls him the nickname of "Sproggy" at one point.) Watching this theme in the first movie is interesting, considering where it goes in the subsequent films - that Max is mad, but he's still not a bad person. Throughout the rest of the series, order and chaos are clearly a separate axis from good and evil, though here the two axes are not quite orthogonal, in that chaos and evil are closely aligned, and good and law. The world of this movie is still clearly one of more order than chaos, but perhaps Max's own tip into chaos is the final straw that brings the rest of the world into chaos with him in the subsequent films.
And yeah, I forgot until I reread the Wikipedia page that this movie is all about the fridging of Rockatansky’s wife. Unlike most fridging stories though, it's not just one short event near the start that then shapes the rest of the movie, instead it's a long drawn out affair where somewhere along there you realize what's going to happen, and then you're just sitting on your hands and trying not to shriek for the rest of the movie.
The genre of this film defies me. Wikipedia claims it's dystopian, but the feel is more action/horror.
Bechdel Test: Fail
While there are two named women, Jessie and May, who do talk to each other, it's about Rockatansky and Sprog.
Mako Mori Test: Fail
Jessie's story is about dying while trying (and failing) to protect Sprog. I wouldn't call that a character arc, but even if I did it was about a boy. But even if Sprog were replaced by Sprogette, everything bad that happens to Jessie is direct result of Rockatansky's actions in the line of duty, and everything good that happens to her is about her supporting him in his career.
Final verdict: Eh. It's okay. I'm kinda used to watching the pacing of older stuff due to a stint where T$ and I tried to watch all of Star Trek TOS (we've just got a few episodes left, but they're supposedly pretty bad), but for many modern viewers the pacing will be gruelingly slow. It doesn't stand particularly well on its own, it's really not post-apocalyptic sci-fi like the others, so the only good reason to watch it is to see where everything else came from.
See also my MM4 review.
Originally posted on Dreamwidth.
comments there. Comment here or there.
Also, assuming that the four really are sequential in time (as opposed to a reboot), it’s neat seeing the history of how things change, the worldbuilding. In MM1, we’re in the near future (of 1979), with just a little bit of anarchy going on in this small part of Australia. I’ll be rewatching MM2 and MM3 soon to see how that progresses.
“Look any longer out on that road and I’m one of them. A terminal crazy. Only a bronze badge to say I’m one of the good guys.”
There’s definitely a theme here of the fine line between law and order, and chaos and anarchy. For Rockatansky in MM1 that line is his wife, Jessie, and son, Sprog. (Like Sprog is a totally normal thing to name a child. And that his is name not a nickname, as Jessie calls him the nickname of "Sproggy" at one point.) Watching this theme in the first movie is interesting, considering where it goes in the subsequent films - that Max is mad, but he's still not a bad person. Throughout the rest of the series, order and chaos are clearly a separate axis from good and evil, though here the two axes are not quite orthogonal, in that chaos and evil are closely aligned, and good and law. The world of this movie is still clearly one of more order than chaos, but perhaps Max's own tip into chaos is the final straw that brings the rest of the world into chaos with him in the subsequent films.
And yeah, I forgot until I reread the Wikipedia page that this movie is all about the fridging of Rockatansky’s wife. Unlike most fridging stories though, it's not just one short event near the start that then shapes the rest of the movie, instead it's a long drawn out affair where somewhere along there you realize what's going to happen, and then you're just sitting on your hands and trying not to shriek for the rest of the movie.
The genre of this film defies me. Wikipedia claims it's dystopian, but the feel is more action/horror.
Bechdel Test: Fail
While there are two named women, Jessie and May, who do talk to each other, it's about Rockatansky and Sprog.
Mako Mori Test: Fail
Jessie's story is about dying while trying (and failing) to protect Sprog. I wouldn't call that a character arc, but even if I did it was about a boy. But even if Sprog were replaced by Sprogette, everything bad that happens to Jessie is direct result of Rockatansky's actions in the line of duty, and everything good that happens to her is about her supporting him in his career.
Final verdict: Eh. It's okay. I'm kinda used to watching the pacing of older stuff due to a stint where T$ and I tried to watch all of Star Trek TOS (we've just got a few episodes left, but they're supposedly pretty bad), but for many modern viewers the pacing will be gruelingly slow. It doesn't stand particularly well on its own, it's really not post-apocalyptic sci-fi like the others, so the only good reason to watch it is to see where everything else came from.
See also my MM4 review.
Originally posted on Dreamwidth.
