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Opinion by E.C. McMullen Jr. |
I'm not going to link to an obscure Canadian blog presumably written by a male (not a man, there's a difference) negatively whining and wringing his dainty mitts over the strong woman character of Imperator Furiosa that actor Charlize Theron plays in George Miller's MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. I read it and that's enough. To me it came across as more like some opportunistic provocateur fabricated controversy intended as Cash-in /Click-bait, instead of a genuine person with a real issue1.
That's not to say I didn't feel a bit put off with George Miller choosing, of all people, a weak-kneed sap with a taste for pedophilia, Eve Ensler, to provide a "strong woman" perspective in her role of "advisor".
| MAD MAX SEQUELS |
Dafuq?
George writes the strongest most independent women characters in cinema for over 35 years. What the hell has a career caterwaller and endorser of child molesters ("If it was rape, then it was good rape") like the sniveling and self-styled "Hero Martyr", Eve Ensler2, ever brought to the table that remotely looks like a strong, independent woman?
Eve spent a great deal of her career and a chapter of her book, The Vagina Monologues, encouraging same-sex child molestation as a form of "Good Rape". She literally wouldn't shut up about it until her publisher basically said (and I'm paraphrasing), "God damn, Eve, enough already! Remove that shit!"
COME GET SOME!
At the same time that's not going to stop me from seeing MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, any more than I was stopped from watching a movie upon learning that some producers had a befuddled lunkhead like the late Anton Lavey as an advisor on THE DEVIL'S RAIN (sic) or THE CAR. I mean, it's not like having a unrepentant repeat child molester like Roman Polanski (also a whiny sniveler and a self-ordained "Hero-Martyr" - must go with the pedophile territory) actually making the movie. I won't pay to watch crap like that.
Yet here is the point that this blogger fails to mention: All three previous Mad Max's had fiercely strong women front and center.
All Of Them!
WHO WANTS SOME?
MAD MAX -
Max's wife Jessie, was a face-punching, ball-kicker, actually attacking the leader of a bike gang - while his gang surrounded her!
Max and Jessie's friend (Aunt) May Swasie was a Shotgun-toting old woman who took care of a dim, hulking giant and forced an entire bike gang into an old barn, at gun point.
The Singer was Sexually aggressive to the limit and brazenly seduced Goose in front of the entire club In Song through a freaking loud speaker.
THE ROAD WARRIOR -
The Gyro-Captain's "girl" was Self-sacrificing and loyal. When given the chance to save her own neck and run from sure death, she chose to stay and fight.
The Warrior Amazon woman was a take-charge ass-kicker from the start.
YOU'RE GONNA GET SOME WHETHER YOU WANT IT OR NOT
BEYOND THUMDERDOME -
The Big Boss who controls Bartertown is Auntie Entity.
The Fearless Rescuer and tribal leader is Savannah.
The fact is, in all three George Miller movies, the only weak women were those who -
Left others behind and Ran to save only their own skins
or,
Sought to Appease evil people doing evil things,
or,
Chose to help evil people doing evil things.
In the Mad Max movies, whether you survive or not is not the issue. For George's stories, only the strong people and children are worth saving; are worth risk, sacrifice, and revenge. The guy who wrote the blog telling people not to see FURY ROAD because the woman character is too strong, clearly isn't a fan of the MAD MAX movies.
To me, he feels like a hired marketing ploy. Whatever the case, he's obviously no fan of the MAD MAX movies.
 1
Wait. What the hell makes me say that? The fact that everything in this out-of-nowhere "damning blog", dovetails nicely with the latest style of marketing that Village Road Show and Charlize Theron are pushing. A Victim-Feminist "We're putting strong women BACK in Action Science Fiction movies!" as if that was something new, instead of something common. But nobody was actually pushing back against this strategy, until a nobody blogger waited until the Week Of Release on MAD MAX: FURY ROAD to pitch a bitch. You know, right at the moment when he can only enhance ticket sales but not harm them. Like in the 1980s when some Hollywood Hair bands were caught paying people to "protest" and act like outraged fundamentalist Christians outside their venue - moments before the conert would start and after the tickets were sold. I'm not doling out a conspiracy (money was offered, gifts were exchanged) kinda thing, mind you. Not applicable. Because this lop-sided blogger probably saw an opportunity in the wholly unnecessary victim-feminist marketing ploy for FURY ROAD and cash-register visions of visitor hit-counts began clanging through his pretty little head. Charlize Theron's own style of demanding an end to the dominance of something that doesn't exist, may have been the final foot in his ass. It was this week or never! He was awakened in Valhalla!Charlize Theron Questions Lack of Women in Action Films: "In a Post-Apocalyptic World, We Will Survive" The Post-Apocalyptic tag puts her statement firmly in the realm of science fiction. Lack of Women in Action / Science Fiction? Absolute 100% Bullshit. My rebuttal spans the beginning of Miller's career (all of the MAD MAX movies) and the entirety of Science Fiction action movies throughout Charlize Theron's life - I could go on and on with this, AEON FLUX (Charlize Theron), ANACONDA, THE FACULTY, GHOST IN THE SHELL (all), - hell, I could do this even if I handicapped myself to just the letter "E": EDGE OF TOMORROW, EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS...
Or wait. Maybe you don't like the letter "E"? How do you feel about the letter "S" as in SERENITY, SIGNAL, SLITHER, SPLICE, SPLINTER? It's not that there aren't some Directors who consistently put women in the background or treat them as no better than damsel-in-distress arm furniture to men. Of course there are (*cough!* BAY! RATNER! SPIELBERG! VERHOVEN! *ahem!*). It's not like there aren't some lead Actors who consistently play in movies where the woman is no better than damsel-in-distress arm furniture to the man (*cough!* BEN AFFLECK! MATT DAMON! WILL SMITH! DENZEL WASHINGTON! *ahem!*). But strong females are not dominant in Science Fiction? Particularly Action Science Fiction? No way. You know, the very least I expect from a movie actor, particularly an Oscar winning actor, is to know their own business when they speak of it. Then again, Charlize said this while promoting her movie, so maybe she's just engaging in some opportunistic provocateur fabricated controversy intended as Cash-in / Click-bait. 2 Ensler didn't edit her story because she realized it promotes the oppressive idea that if you get someone drunk and rape them, they'll be grateful once they're sober. Ensler also didn't edit her story because, despite Whoopie Goldberg's deranged rantings, Rape is Never "Good Rape". The only reason Ensler edited parts of that story in her book (The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could chapter) - and stage play (but only in selected venues) - is only because her income was threatened. Because Money If her audience doesn't have a problem with it, then she includes it. Eve still promotes the idea of "Good Rape" when it comes to children. |
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copyright 2015 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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