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 :/ :/ :/
