Mad Max: Fury Road = Peak Oil Porn

[brekin]

Mad Max: Fury Road was started to be discussed in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=34154&p=566748&hilit=fury+road#p566748

But I thought it might deserve its own thread.

After having seen the film I have to say I was pretty underwhelmed and the film imho is being over-hyped and up-critiqued to an astonishing degree. The film definitely has its merits and there was a lot of thought towards sets, costumes and many of the action sequences (although they all blur together and become pretty indistinct to almost have no meaning) I was honestly bored for long stretches, which is unforgivable in an action film. With the characters card board thin and the urgency balls to the walls death race flagging frequently into summer road trip film and cannon ball run territory at times I was sitting in the movie theatre wondering why this film is being embraced so deeply. The pageantry is a lot of fun and the gender/power themes it seems to be attempting are interesting but I could get that done better road trip across the desert wise in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (which I wondered a few times if it was reference material) while for over the top rallies I could get it done better with Speed Racer, Rat Race and Cannon Ball Run. I couldn't figure out why "Judge Dredd and Tank Girl trying to save the Fashion Models from the Insane Clown Posse Tour 2075" was resonating so deeply.

Then it hit me.

This isn't the film people have been waiting (wanting) for 30 years, and picking up speed the last 10, but the reality. Mad Max: Fury Road is basically Peak Oil Porn. I think because the film is so simplistic, almost mindless, but pleasing to the eye (really you spend more time admiring little touches on motorcycle padding and hood ornaments which take you out of the action) that you feel good experiencing a post apocalyptic reality. In a weird way it tickles the anxiety of such scenarios but only enough, to only hose you with another "Cirque De Soleil in collaboration with Gwar" sequence, ad nauseum, to where a "The Hills Have Eyes" for the whole family is created.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I like me post apocalyptic visions bleak, not chic.

Cirque De Soleil


GWAR


Priscilla Queen Of The Desert

[stillrobertpaulsen]

Rather than start a new thread, this looks like the best place to put my latest blog entry, which is a review of Fury Road from my friend, as well as my own analysis.

Mad Max: Fury Road - A Carbon Crisis Allegory with Review by Guest Blogger Don Crandall

On the one hand, brekin, I agree with you: this is Peak Oil Porn. But it's been Peak Oil Porn, probably since its inception, but explicitly spelled out in The Road Warrior. And on the other hand, I disagree with you: it's brilliant - the first resurrection of a film series from the 80s that actually belongs in the same canon.

[DrEvil]

^^Ditto, loved it too. The guitar player alone is worth the ticket, and any movie that riles up the men's rights hordes to such a degree is good in my book. It' so much fun watching them trying to be coherent.

[brekin]

Wasteland: The Mad Max Festival That Makes Burning Man Look Lame

For a fun, wholesome weekend activity, you really can’t beat the apocalypse.

Chaos is the norm at Wasteland, the “world’s largest post-apocalyptic festival” that turns the Mojave Desert into a glorious vision of hell on earth. For four days each September, thousands of survivors maraud a patch of dirt and sand east of Bakersfield, California, in wild jalopies and wage epic bungee-battles in a two-story Thunderdome.

Wasteland combines the coolest parts of Mad Max and Fallout with a dash of Dune in a simple premise: The end of civilization has left a scrappy band of survivors to pillage a scorched, dead planet. Some 2,500 people—the largest crowd in the event’s seven-year history—braved this brutal world last weekend, settling into themed tribes like Skulduggers and Vermin Vagabonds.

Wasteland is fully immersive. Costumes are mandatory—no gawkers allowed—and must be in character. Don’t even think about crossing over from another universe like Star Wars. Attendees come from all over the country and spend the year before planning their get-ups and car mods. And if the world ever really does go to hell? “Some will be well prepared,” says Jared Butler, Wasteland’s event director and cofounder. “The others, well, they’ll be poorly prepared, but they’ll look fabulous.”

During the day, the sun transforms every metal surface into a sheet of fire. The grime is inescapable, coating tents, vehicles, and bodies alike in a sheen of sweat and sand. The noise never lets up, the bass-heavy thud of the dance pit joining the roar of engines and the cheers of those watching fighters clash in jugger matches. And when night falls, things really get crazy.

https://www.wired.com/2016/09/wasteland ... look-lame/

[slimmouse]

Didnt anyone tell these people that in a post- apocolyptic world that clean food and water might be the order of the day?

If we have any kind of apocolyptic disaster in our time, gasoline will be the least of our worries, surely, as all our wonderful nuclear power stations go into meltdown.

Peak Oil Porn for sure- as if we even fukn need oil.

But hey, thats the deranged simpletons in hollywood for ya

[brekin]

Didnt anyone tell these people that in a post- apocolyptic world that clean food and water might be the order of the day?
If we have any kind of apocolyptic disaster in our time, gasoline will be the least of our worries, surely, as all our wonderful nuclear power stations go into meltdown.
Peak Oil Porn for sure- as if we even fukn need oil.
But hey, thats the deranged simpletons in hollywood for ya

I agree, but think that in a post-apocalyptic world it could skew some peoples already misplaced priorities even more.
Some people right now stake most of their identity on their car.
You take everything else away and they might just hold closer to their car, even if (or especially because) they are only subsisting on squirrel meat and cholera water.

[brekin]

Producer Of “Mad Max: Fury Road” Officially The Most Logical Choice To Run Trump’s Treasury Department

We’ve been transfixed by the bromance between Steven Mnuchin and Donald Trump for months now.

What started off as a financial flirtation has blossomed into a partnership as close as two men can have when one of those men is literally Donald Trump. Mnuchin has been a tireless bundler and cheerleader for The Donald, pulling in #MAGA cash as finance chair and giving advice on the economic team. All that has allowed Steve to carve out a position on the Trump campaign that seems best described as “Diet Jared Kushner.”
And now it seems like these two crazy kids are gonna make it official. According to Charlie Gasparino, The Donald is telling everyone that Mnuchin is his one and only choice to become the 77th United States Secretary of the Treasury.

Would Mnuchin be the least-qualified Treasury Secretary of the modern era?

That’s not for us to say – and frankly that question feels a little bit leading – but here’s a concise breakdown of Mnuchin’s curriculum vitae:
After 17 years at Goldman (where his dad, Bob, was a legendary rainmaker) Mnuchin worked for George Soros, then bought what was left of IndyMac at a post-crisis FDIC auction, spun it into gold by “reorganizing” it and selling it off at a major profit. He then started a now-defunct hedge fund before jumping into showbiz, eventually taking on the role of co-chairman at Relativity Media. A nascent studio that blew up in spectacular fashion relative moments after Mnuchin jumped ship in May of 2015. But while in Hollywood, Mnuchin worked on a little film called “Mad Max: Fury Road,” a charming tale circling around a death race through an apocalyptic desert.

So…yeah, he’s more than ready to oversee the US economy under President Donald J. Trump.