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Okay, my recommendation for Mad Max: Fury Road? GO SEE IT.
It passes the Bechdel test. It passes the Mako Mori test. It would be the post-apocalyptic version of the feminist movie Joss Whedon thinks he's been making, only it's WAY WAY BETTER THAN ANYTHING HE COULD DREAM OF PUTTING HIS NAME TO.
And the thing I love best about it is that it's set in a patriarchal world. The women do not inherently have power - in fact the women who are independent are pretty much independent because they have rejected men, relegated men to an inferior position. And yet women are depicted as self-determining in this world, in so far as they can - making their own choices, choosing their own courses of action, doing what they can so far as their background permits.
Their choices are not always ones that I would characterise as 'good', but they are the best choices that the character can make in that moment with the knowledge she has available to her, and the upbringing that she has. And it is always her choices.
Also: Furiosa - bitch, yes, but not wantonly cruel. How many movies have failed to make that distinction?
AND THE PROSTHETIC. No mention. No comment. No reason. NO angsty backstory given. Just there.
Actually, that's just the way Furiosa and the girls are treated. You interpret their backstory, but it's not there for pathos or angst; it's the reason for what they do but we (and they) don't sob over it. It's there, it's fucked up, TAKE THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE AND RIDE INTO THE FUTURE.
Max is the catalyst for all this - in much the same way that Raleigh is the catalyst for Mako. Only Max is much more explicitly written as the catalyst. He doesn't have a goal other than to escape, and then he makes his goal to help Furiosa and the girls. So, yeah, he has goals and they're realised, but they're not the movie's goals. That belongs to Furiosa (and, to a lesser extent, the "wives": Angharad, Capable, Cheedo, Toast, and The Dag).
I am going to mention those names every time I have the opportunity. Because: THOSE NAMES. Angharad, Capable, Cheedo, Toast, and The Dag. I have no idea which one is which, but I need to go back and watch it again.
Go forth, enjoy, META.
Just....GO.
It passes the Bechdel test. It passes the Mako Mori test. It would be the post-apocalyptic version of the feminist movie Joss Whedon thinks he's been making, only it's WAY WAY BETTER THAN ANYTHING HE COULD DREAM OF PUTTING HIS NAME TO.
And the thing I love best about it is that it's set in a patriarchal world. The women do not inherently have power - in fact the women who are independent are pretty much independent because they have rejected men, relegated men to an inferior position. And yet women are depicted as self-determining in this world, in so far as they can - making their own choices, choosing their own courses of action, doing what they can so far as their background permits.
Their choices are not always ones that I would characterise as 'good', but they are the best choices that the character can make in that moment with the knowledge she has available to her, and the upbringing that she has. And it is always her choices.
Also: Furiosa - bitch, yes, but not wantonly cruel. How many movies have failed to make that distinction?
AND THE PROSTHETIC. No mention. No comment. No reason. NO angsty backstory given. Just there.
Actually, that's just the way Furiosa and the girls are treated. You interpret their backstory, but it's not there for pathos or angst; it's the reason for what they do but we (and they) don't sob over it. It's there, it's fucked up, TAKE THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE AND RIDE INTO THE FUTURE.
Max is the catalyst for all this - in much the same way that Raleigh is the catalyst for Mako. Only Max is much more explicitly written as the catalyst. He doesn't have a goal other than to escape, and then he makes his goal to help Furiosa and the girls. So, yeah, he has goals and they're realised, but they're not the movie's goals. That belongs to Furiosa (and, to a lesser extent, the "wives": Angharad, Capable, Cheedo, Toast, and The Dag).
I am going to mention those names every time I have the opportunity. Because: THOSE NAMES. Angharad, Capable, Cheedo, Toast, and The Dag. I have no idea which one is which, but I need to go back and watch it again.
Go forth, enjoy, META.
Just....GO.