The world does not get more advanced, it gets more creative. The result is an uncanny mix of futuristic and primordial that makes the Mad Max universe great. Blaster used as a literal vehicle, Max captured to be literally scrapped for parts. The two function in a symbiosis that makes them almost a single character.Ĭyborg theory is most often talked about in terms of the blending of human and machine, but in Mad Max we see the human body used as the machine. The diminutive Master is the genius mastermind running Bartertown, but his position is dependent on the brute strength of Blaster, who is basically a human vessel to transport and defend him. The two of them recall Master/Blaster, the character(s) at the center of Beyond Thunderdome. Ultimately his physical weakness is too great and we see his helplessness at the end when Joe is dead and the power has shifted.
His physical disability is accommodated only because of his position of power as Joe’s son. Corpus Colossus is the ironic name of the disabled dwarf son who is shown to be the chief ‘brains’ running the Citadel. He is the most physically robust character in the film, although his scarce dialogue reveals a rather child-like mind. Rictus Erectus is the hulking but simple-minded warrior son. Nux, the almost charmingly enthusiastic suicide warrior, reveals his intimate fear of being killed by his tumors rather than dying gloriously in battle.ĭespite the extreme measures Joe takes to produce and maintain his offspring, even they suffer. They are driven to sacrifice their lives for Joe through a manufactured mythology, but helped by the fact that they face certain death by disease if they live long enough.
In fact, illness is key to the creation of Joe’s cultish society of War Boys. Physical disabilities and chronic illness are the norm, seen in the routine way that characters use blood transfusions and oxygen masks. We see the lengths that Immortan Joe goes through to maintain himself and his sons, and to a lesser extent, his War Boys. In Fury Road, physical health is a scarce commodity that is available to few and hoarded by the powerful. Fertility treatments and, in many cases, general medical care for disease or those with disabilities are things that, increasingly, only the wealthy can afford. Like any good dystopia, the loss of health and sexual agency is a real phenomenon taken to the extreme. At least climate change has never looked more badass.
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