MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

This presentation examines the filmic apparatuses at work in Mad Max: Fury Road creating a compelling visual and narrative space without traditional patriarchal constructs; using the body as a visceral existential agent, the film subverts formal and narrative dependence on the male gaze and associated paradigms. I analyze the relationships cinematography and editing styles have on the presentation, agency, and power of characters, particularly women, who exist in the frame as subjects. The film’s kinetic energy and centralized visual focus are forms which engender strong, causative agents whose bodies are represented as essential; physicality is the basis for conflict and plot, making the un-euphemized human body the subject of the image and diegesis. Tangible results measure all success in post-fallout Australia, where ideological systems hold power thinly over partitioned resources, a setting which emphasizes existential ability and responsibility; a theme established by a diverse group of heroes who challenge hypermasculinity on and off screen. My reading will consider how Fury Road exemplifies the irrelevance of the male gaze to successful visual storytelling, and that a rigorous development process and strict honesty to story results in a subversion rather than affirmation of existing patriarchal constructs in mainstream film.