Film Review | Exploitation In Cinema | Mad Max Fury Road

Fig 1: Mad Max Fury Road Poster

Exploitation in cinema has many different forms. Films that are generally made to exploit the viewer with pastiche popular elements and genres which include but are not limited to,  sex, violence,  horror and romance. Exploitation in films are used to draw the audience in and captivate them with flashy trailers usually resulting in the films being low quality B movies. Exploitation films were extremely popular in the 1960's and 1970's especially around the time when drive in movies became popular as they would please the masses with the over excessive genres that B movies are known for. If the films did not pass the Hays code which was a code of conducts put in place to make sure that no overly offending scenes made it into films such as gore, sex, slavery and using any religious profanity, The movies were shown in grindhouses.  

Exploitation films can also revolve around exploiting the culture of different nationalities one of which is Ozploitation which is the exploitation of Australian culture and one film that exploits this is Mad Max Fury Road (2015) directed by George Miller 

Usually exploitation films have cheap cheesy special effects and props however Fury Road defers from the norm with the explosions of steampunk vehicles and barrage of fire, crashes and mammoth fight scenes on top of post apocalyptic vehicles is done with impressive stunts coupled with the orange haziness of the dystopian dessert is an adrenaline junkies dream. The use of CGI is limited as the majority of the stunts were real it is a nice change from the CGI ingested action films that are rampant today and shows that manufactured CGI cannot win against the real. 

"The first Mad Max film was made on a budget of $350,000 and became the most financially successful film for decades until CGI came along. Fury Road, shot over a 3-year period, done almost entirely with stunts and without graphics and with $150 million in the bank, eclipses any Marvel film and inspires a feeling of wonder that little art can muster." (Bunker, 2015)

Fig 2: Coma - Doof warte with a flame throwing guitar

Woman are presented in a different and admirable fashion in the film as they redress the usual damsel in distress that is excessively oversaturated in action films. The main female protagonist is Furiosa (Charlize Theron) - a buzz cut haired badass with a titanium arm who feels more like the hero and puts up more of a fight as her male counterpart Max (Tom Hardy) while trying to protect the five wives of the cults leader Immortal Joe. Furiosa along with the five wives of joe are all heroines in their own right as they can fend for themselves and fight for each other without needing the help of a man. "Fury Road’s alpha male is, in fact, a woman: the rogue soldier Imperator Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, who masterminds the escape while Max rides shotgun. Furiosa is one of the toughest, most resilient action heroes in years, with a metal prosthetic arm that hints at past trauma and a steely gaze that sees more on the way, Theron superbly embodies her stoicism, nerve and resolve."  R. (2015). 

Fig 3: Furiosa and Max

Miller has managed to pull off a 21st century masterpiece that is an adrenaline fuelled frenzy of fast paced steampunk car chases, skilful stunts and  beatufill backdrops of the derelict desert that puts the pedal to the medal and goes against the grain of exploitation films and is understandably hailed by critics and viewers. “Mad Max: Fury Road” is an action film about redemption and revolution. Never content to merely repeat what he’s done before (even the first three “Mad Max” have very distinct personalities), Miller has redefined his vision of the future yet again, vibrantly imagining a world in which men have become the pawns of insane leaders and women hold fiercely onto the last vestiges of hope."

Bibliography 

Bunker, C. (2015). Out in Theaters: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. [online] Silver Screen Riot. Available at: http://silverscreenriot.com/903-out-in-theaters-mad-max-fury-road/ 

[Accessed 17 Nov. 2017].

R. (2015). Mad Max: Fury Road review: 'a Krakatoan eruption of craziness'. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/mad-max-fury-road/review/ 

[Accessed 17 Nov. 2017].

Tallerico, B. (2017). Mad Max: Fury Road Movie Review (2015) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mad-max-fury-road-2015 

[Accessed 17 Nov. 2017].

Illustration list

Figure 1: "Mad Max Fury Road Poster". [image] Available at: https://cdn.empireonline.com/jpg/80/0/0/1000/563/0/north/0/0/0/0/0/t/films/76341/images/tbhdm8UJAb4ViCTsulYFL3lxMCd.jpg [Accessed 17 Nov. 2017].

Figure 2: "Coma - Doof warte with a flame throwing guitar" Available at: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UtjGTrVwRr4/maxresdefault.jpg 

[Accessed 17 Nov. 2017].

Figure 3: "Furiosa and Max"  Available at: http://www.syfy.com/sites/syfy/files/2017/07/mad-max-fury-road.jpg 

[Accessed 17 Nov. 2017].

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave