ps: in case u guys didn’t know, this is Jim Obergefell, the named plaintiff in the case that just made gay marriage LEGAL for EVERYBODY IN AMERICA. His husband and partner of 21 years, John Arthur, died of complications from ALS while they were fighting for their home state of Ohio to recognize the validity of their marriage (which took place in Maryland). The Obergefell case centers on Jim’s right to be recognized on his terminally-ill husband’s death certificate. That’s John in the photo. Jim is still carrying it on CNN right now.
You know what I love about the Fury Road fandom? We’ll all sit around here on Tumblr talking very seriously about the social implications of women-as-commodities and whether that renders them non-entities in a hypermasculine society and what that does for performative masculinity as we understand it now. And then someone will point out a costuming detail and we’ll ponder the significance of the Gatekeepers wearing leather aprons and executioners’ masks and whether they’re holding scythes or what, which will lead to headcanon about some old custom of the Gate being used for more purposes than just coming and going, that it was a platform for executions during the establishment of Joe’s regime. And the conversation will go on for a while, back and forth. And then we’ll all get quiet and nod along and consider these things…
And then someone will come along and say…
“But, wait: what if you gave a bunch of warboys some hamburgers. What would they even do???”
And we all get real quiet for a minute and look at each other. And then we’re all
“It’s about a man running away from his better self, and his better self catches up to him. It’s about a man that is ‘apart from,’ at the beginning; he becomes a part *of* at the end. The premise of it was that what’s broken is healed by love only. So these are organizing ideas that underpin not only the story, but how it’s going to be made and produced. In trying to articulate them, eventually, even as far as production, those ideas began to subtly change the choices that were made about the story. Not so much the storyboards, but the actual way the movie was made, and therefore what might be in any one of those hundred and fifty thousand frames.“
…
“For the character of Max, we had a little slogan written above the Electro-board, which said, ‘Engage to heal,’ which means, as you become engaged, healing can happen, emotionally and spiritually.”
–
The Art of Mad Max: Fury Road
, regarding underlying themes and Max’s characterization (via
“In trying to articulate them, [the theme that love heals] began to subtly change the choices that were made about the story […] and therefore what might be in any one of those hundred and fifty thousand frames.“
This is so important though, the idea of picking such a concept of connectedness and placing it in each 1/24th of a second, that it might not be conscious but that it threads through. And subconsciously or consciously you can tell.
When I first looked on her and perceived her unhappiness, it seemed to me that I saw a white flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily, and yet knew that it was hard, as if wrought by elf-wrights out of steel. Or was it, maybe, a frost that had turned its sap to ice, and so it stood, bitter-sweet, still fair to see, but stricken, soon to fall and die?
Summary: We learn from the comics that Rictus is afraid of Furiosa. I think we need more details than that.
—
The first time Rictus fought her (tried fighting her) she’d just been making a name for herself with the scouts. Furiosa had learned her way across every inch of her vehicle with the Repair boys and been given a trial promotion. She’d done well on the trip, they’ve just come back with a new bloodbag. She’d bolo’d them when they were running away. (She didn’t bother looking at their face.)
Rictus blocked her path from the garages.
“What’s this?” He jeered, “What’s this? Does she think she’s can do war?”
Furiosa tucked her chin down and the War Boys drifted back to the walls.
“Does she think she doesn’t belong in the breeding pens?” Rictus grinned, “I’ll move you there myself.”
He went at her fast, lifting a hand open palmed and as it swung at her face Furiosa darted both hands out and locked his wrist. Jerked it hard towards her core and pivoted with a sharp twist and brought down Rictus onto his back with a thump. Followed him with a knee to the tender of his sternum and, with her full weight behind it, slammed her elbow against his nose.
The room was silent but for her breathing, as she got up and put some distance between them. Blood ran in dribbles down her arm.
God damn you’re good at this. I keep trying to write stuff, but I get caught up in novella like writing. Time in the stuff you write is fluid but coherent, and I just… how?
Also, I don’t even know if I saw you ever talking about how Rictus was supposed to not feel pain, and I was concerned the whole way through that he’d react in some way to pain, but aside from Maybe the groin kick, nope. You did it without him necessarily having needed to feel pain. *applause*
Haaa omg thank you. And I guess I try to just firmly stay in POV, basically as much as possible write the story as if it’s experienced.
I… Honestly forgot that fact about Rictus. I was just writing the way I thought Furiosa would react. Also felt there was barely time for pacing and the action scenes still feel weirdly mistimed, or like… It’s not happening at the speed of experience but at the speed of audience comprehension and that makes me twitchy because that means I’m guessing (and second guessing) at the audience.
“You do not need to crush human rights, civil liberties, or international conventions to protect yourself.”
– lieutenant general dallaire, railing about the canadian and american governments’ treatment of omar khadr, military torture, and guantanamo bay, amongst other things. (via of-a-toast-and-tea)
Pluto and Charon as seen by the New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on June 19, 2015, from about 20 million miles. North is up in this image. Pluto is displaying a widely varied range of surface markings and Charon is showing a surprising, unexpected dark spot at its north pole that New Horizons discovered in June. (via New Horizons)
Pluto and Charon as seen by the New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on June 19, 2015, from about 20 million miles. North is up in this image. Pluto is displaying a widely varied range of surface markings and Charon is showing a surprising, unexpected dark spot at its north pole that New Horizons discovered in June. (via New Horizons)
Yo fandom, talk to me about Slit and Nux now. Not Sux, I mean, just what’s going on in the film. Because I can’t figure Slit out.
What are Slit’s priorities? What does he even care about?
-he takes Nux’s wheel. Dick move?
-did you even see the look on his face? He’s determined. He walks past Nux twice. DICK MOVE but perhaps also something more.
-ah, but I guess he thinks Nux is dead meat. Like he could sit there and pretend like he can do something but what’s the point? No feels among warboys.
-he looks pretty happy that Nux turns out to have fight left. He had to be convinced, but he gives up the wheel and now he’s pumped that they’re going together.
-Ergo, he cares more about his driver than about his ride.
Or maybe he would have preferred that all along because it works better that way. Is it that if the car hadn’t gone, Slit wouldn’t have had a vehicle to ride to battle at all? Probably not true since he was on the Interceptor soon after. But maybe that car’s lancer got killed so stroke of luck for Slit.
Who would have taken Nux’s car if neither Slit nor Nux had grabbed the wheel?
Further:
– “Mediocre, Morsov!” Can you be more of an asshole, Slit? Do you even believe in this cult or are you just out there to have fun? You did a pretty respectful V8 at the altar and at Joe just then, so maybe you’re just a dick to your fellow warboys because you need to feel superior. Like that’s your idea of a ‘joke’, maybe? Disrespecting a witnessing?
-Also what exactly is the idea with ‘Decapito’? What’s the point here, Slit? Destroying a perfectly good bloodbag?
Moving on:
-Slit is still alive after the storm, but Nux doesn’t even stop to say hi. Dick move?
– “I got his boot, take me!” No wonder he’s jealous now. But he sounds so pathetic. By now the film consistently tells us ‘dislike this guy, he is rude and annoying’.
Finally:
-Slit on the Interceptor. “You filth, you traitored him”. Seems emotional enough for when you’ve just seen your war buddy defect.
-Except he doesn’t seem to be particularly hurt? This is not personal at all for Slit?
-Huh?
-He’s just trying to show off like some creep and he’s very happy to see Nux fail.
-He is HAVING FUN. I know that’s the warboy style but we’ve been set up to see warboys as people and to notice a tight partnership between Slit and Nux, so where’s the resolution?
-So…religious fanaticism (traitors don’t deserve a second’s thought), drugs, or Slit u asshole?
-Someone pointed out that he doesn’t ask for a witness, doesn’t spray chrome, he just gets in between the two trucks. He tries to take out Max like THAT is personal. Coincidence? Misreading of Slit’s facial expression? Which is really not at all like what Morsov or Nux looked like when they were getting ready to die?
-Was that necessary, really? Was that a proper kamicrazy death or was that a waste of resources?
-Or a miscalculation?
-Slit u asshole?
-Slit is this your way of being pissed off at Nux?
-Slit are you putting extra crazy in the kamicrazy?
-Actually I am starting to get huffy about this bit because it would have been much prettier for an arc if Nux had been climbing out of the engine just then. He emerges seconds later to give Max a boost.
(or possibly all of these are just editing choices that served the main storyline better but create unfortunate assumptions about how the boys behaved. For those inclined to give a damn. Ahem.)
Obligatory gif:
Gah ok next week when i go home and have access to a computer I will answer all of these
Yeah! Good. Anyone who can shed light on this gets a Witness and full backstage pass to Valhalla.
OK SO I’M HERE I’M QUEER AND I’M READY TO ANALYZE SLIT’S CHARACTER
take note that most of this is directly copy + pasted from a conversation of this nature that i had last night:
http://ift.tt/1GM9lR6 [1:46:36 AM] KT: let’s start with the iconic scene though where we first see him [1:46:46 AM] KT: in this scene he’s pointedly walking past nux even as nux calls out to him [1:46:51 AM] KT: he’s making a point of not looking at him or acknowledging him at all [1:46:59 AM] KT: his gait here is very stereotypically masculine, strong [1:47:10 AM] KT: second gif – take a look at his hands, slowly clenching and then loosening. nervous [1:47:23 AM] KT: http://ift.tt/1BQdpRq [1:47:44 AM] KT: last gif, the lingering shot on his expression as he looks over his shoulder back into the blood shed where he passed nux [1:47:49 AM] KT: this is one of the only times we see him not smiling [1:48:04 AM] KT: he’s being openly defiant against his superior and he’s anxious about it [1:48:12 AM] KT: he’s weighing whether or not he can get away with it
and just lots of his behaviors throughout the movie [1:48:55 AM] KT: also going back to that first gifset that is not a confident walk lmfao
i know this because i learned how to do that walk out of crushing anxiety when i worked overnight shifts where i was the only woman [1:49:35 AM] KT: and the only time i ever naturally fell into that gait was when i was around a manager that i hated, who made me feel inferior and threatened [1:50:24 AM] KT: having such a strong walk is a learned characteristic and i can think of very few people for whom this is natural [1:51:00 AM] KT: i’ve boiled just his gait down to two possibilities 1) slit puts this on to appear more solid and fierce when being openly defiant 2) slit is afraid/anxious literally all the time [1:52:18 AM] KT: but also just like [1:52:21 AM] KT: his general behavior throughout the movie
he is clearly happiest when he’s surrounded by mayhem and bloodshed, especially when he gets to be at the front of the pack [1:53:06 AM] KT: but he’s a usurper by nature [1:53:14 AM] KT: he is DESPERATE for positive attention [1:53:30 AM] KT: to the point where the second nux seems down for the count, he’s scrambling to steal his position [1:53:55 AM] KT: and as soon as nux is aggressive toward him, he backs down with extremely little fight
nux doesn’t even need to strike out at him more than once, even when slit physically challenges him – nux knows slit is all bark and no bite [1:54:40 AM] KT: slit is a dog constantly barking at passerbys and choking himself on his chain [1:55:06 AM] KT: and then when they’re out with the war party, slit displays three additional displays of just [1:55:08 AM] KT: horrible jealousy [1:55:37 AM] KT: being quick to try to dash nux’s enthusiasm when nux thinks that immortan joe had looked at him [1:56:46 AM] KT: when morsov leaps to his death, you can actually see slit draw a lance and try to blow up the buzzard vehicle as morsov is in mid-leap to sacrifice himself because he wants to take the glory and simultaneously sabotage someone who is doing “better” than him [1:57:46 AM] KT: and then when nux regroups with the war boys, slit just goes full-on child mode seeing nux get attention [1:59:35 AM] KT: he can’t stand not being the center of attention, and he’s constantly chasing after opportunities to garner positive attention or destroy/steal other people’s hard work [2:00:35 AM] KT: we all can appreciate his bouncing pecs but holy shit slit is a narcissistic, nervous wreck of a boy
and that’s the end of what i had discussed on skype but in response to nux and slit’s actual relationship, i’m not inclined that there is any real warmth or good intentions in their relationship canonically
they might be a good team but i really doubt that they are actually friends, when “friend” is defined as somebody you actually want to be around and willfully spend time with and enjoy their company. it’s probable that driver + lancer pairs are brought together either through skill matching or they’re just haphazardly smashed together, rather than picking each other because they actually like each other
slit is extremely quick to betray nux when nux can be easily overpowered, which doesn’t seem to be an explicit trait among war boys because when morsov is injured and dying, the war rig crew and nux all seem concerned and express as much caring as they can in such a fast-paced, dire moment (slit, of course, takes this opportunity to try and steal morsov’s thunder and then shames him in the aftermath)
meanwhile, slit and nux seem able to work together nicely but when slit falls from the lancer’s perch, nux doesn’t even seem the slightest bit concerned. he just glances back like, welp, there goes my lancer. eat shit nerd
granted, he was about to drive into a sandstorm and was very preoccupied with catching up to the war rig, and maybe nux knew that the war party would find him and dig him out of the sand. either way, nux did not seem to give a solitary fuck that slit had fallen off
then when nux regroups with the war party, while slit is begging to go and waving a boot around, nux doesn’t even look at him, even for a smug “neener-neener”. everybody ignores slit, it might even be slit’s “thing” to have childish fits of desperation whenever there’s an opportunity for him to steal the limelight
then when slit is bearing down on the war rig with the interceptor, nux doesn’t even look surprised or anything really. slit doesn’t look surprised. slit is not hurt or shocked that nux had his heel-face turn; he’s excited. he’s quick to start throwing “traitor” around. can you imagine the glory he’d get, bringing back the war rig and the wives, along with two traitors?? he was AMPED AS HELL to be the big hero and be rewarded. he’s still fighting for his glory, though, and even the way he proceeds while he’s lancing for the interceptor comes off as boyish competition and is horribly ineffective at doing. well, anything. slit is a fucking manchild
meanwhile, there’s not so much as lingering glance at slit from nux. it doesn’t surprise him that slit has no emotional attachment to him. of course slit is coming after him now, slit’s a dick
i do wish we had gotten to see nux’s reaction to slit’s death, but i doubt it would have been particularly emotional. slit comes off like a nasty, conceited boy who doesn’t have enough room to have any warm feelings when he’s so obsessed with himself, and nux probably wouldn’t miss him
i’m still gonna ship it tho
Gaaah this was worth staying up til half one in the morning for. “Usurper by nature”, that’s the words!
When I talked about emotion I don’t mean like crying or whatever, I just felt like there has to be SOME sort of reaction since they’re more connected to each other than to other warboys. Even just annoyance, like ‘ah no come on not that fucker’. Anything but nothing.
Especially for Nux as it would be yet another bond with his religion and community shattered.
I did think much of Nux not giving a shit when Slit fell off but figured it was like this: Nux knew Slit could fend for himself, falling off a car is clearly not so terrifying for war boys, and he had his own suicide to take care of so that was the important thing.
And while on the War Rig, he was no longer doped up like a typical War Boy, and would be questioning his own actions like he’d never had to do before, so that was enough trauma. I did hope for a reaction shot to being called a traitor by Slit, though.
I still think there has to be some sort of friendship there for a team to work that well, at least more than what we saw. Something more like the head-to-head in the blood shed. I thought I saw some sort of understanding there.
But I love how you’ve analysed Slit as an anxious, nervous, insecure jackass, it makes sense. I was trying to peg down a pattern for that shitty behaviour of his and now I can see it. Frighteningly, I can even identify with it :/ :/ :/
This took so long! I’m sorry! I’m sorry it’s short too. I’m terrible honestly. but don’t let that stop the one word prompts from coming because i’ll do them. eventually.
When Angharad becomes pregnant, Immortan Joe gives her gifts. A book about birds, a silver-backed mirror, guitar strings. She gives the book to Dag, who likes to think she can fly, and the mirror to Cheedo, who flashes messages to Toast on the ceiling, and the guitar strings to Capable, who plays a song about someone named Margaret who dies of a broken heart.
All of them pass on anything he gives them, like it draws his touch away from them, like it scratches out his name. He is generous with books but the girls thank Miss Giddy and smile at him with closed mouths. He gives them pools of water but the girls thank Miss Giddy for that too and turn away from him before he’s finished speaking.
“Little rebellions,” whispers Dag around her knuckles, and Angharad can taste their victory it’s so close.
Max gives gifts too, though no one calls them that. Like a boot or a steering wheel. Like a red skull on a map. Like blood. He comes back sometimes, while the Citadel is being remade, and he’s never empty handed. Everything he brings with him he gives to Furiosa who knows who it’s meant for. Tiny sprouts of green kept in the hollows of whatever vehicle he has, Furiosa passes those on to Dag. The stray children in rags with tyre-burnt fingers, she shuffles them on to Capable. Bullets go to Toast. Everything else goes to Cheedo and she, in turn, passes whatever-it-is on to the Wretched. Clothes and food and polished pebbles. Furiosa keeps nothing for herself. His blood was enough, she thinks.
One day he comes back without anything, just himself, in worn leather and worn skin and worn bones. He stands before her with empty hands that will probably always shake, and eyes that move around the room, pulling out secrets, and fire, and blood. Furiosa knows instantly that he has come back for good, and that it’s not a gift, because people can’t be given to anyone, but she is glad to have him all the same.
2/2 together a long time(I came to this conclusion after reading your
discussions about the two of them) so this seems a betrayal that hurts
more. I will vehemently agree that Furiousa made the right choice but I
like the little extra(possibly imaginary) depth to her character. Maybe
I’m wrong but I just had to get it out! Thanks for reading!!
My ask policy is ‘Yay! Somebody is talking to me!’
Also, YES. Absolutely. Let me talk to you about Furiosa and Ace. Things I see in that stretch of them interacting:
– She doesn’t look at him if she can avoid it – this is clearly puzzling him. He ducks his head to the side to try to make eye contact, like ‘What is up with her?’ so I have to think they normally interact very differently – She absolutely doesn’t lie to him. Like with making eye contact, I think she knows he would see right through her – Even though there is no explanation and it makes no sense, and she’s acting kind of weird, he trusts her – He’s clearly comfortable enough with her to make suggestions: “Should WE turn around and run them into our backup” even though she’s at the wheel – They have a well-practiced move to defend the rig’s flank: all he says is “Ready!” and they move perfectly smoothly around eachother. – She has tears in her eyes when the boys start dying – she keeps looking into her mirrors, and I read that as her way of Witnessing them. She sacrifices them to her escape and that plainly pains her, but I think this is her way of acknowledging them, of honouring them, of Witnessing them in the best way she can – The idea that Furiosa might be betraying Joe (and by extension him) doesn’t seem to occur to Ace for a really long time – He is more concerned with getting answers out of her than moving aside and letting Nux take her out. This is personal. He needs to know. – even though she has about five guns and a knife within easy reach, all she does is punch him to get him out of the way – Ace clearly survives and turns up at the Citadel and they work things out and become friendly again.
