Mad Max: Fury Road (Textual Analysis)
The opening of the film is a plain black screen with the
main protagonist, Max is narrating some of his past, telling the audience who
he was and what the world has come to with cuts between his voice and the news.
We some footage of a strong wind breaking trees edited in with a fade effect
whilst the radio says “We have become half-life” (non-diegetic), this connotes
that the destruction was from a natural cause which was most likely influenced
by humans. We realise that it’s the protagonist speaking because he says “My
name is Max” during the narration. The audience can only hear Max’s dialogue with
the purpose of the audience creating their own picture of what the world looks
like. Beginning a film with a black screen builds suspension and makes the
audience more curious and eager as for what they’re going to be presented with.
Diegetic sound is used to create the effect of loneliness and emptiness. This
is shown through the whistling of the wind which connotes the lack of human
activity else we would hear very human sounds like chatter, footsteps, and
cars.
The scene is established with a LS of the protagonist beside
his car, looking at the scenery. There is a pull focus on a 3 headed lizard,
this gives the audience an idea of the twisted universe that the film is set
in. It is also a convention of both fantasy and sci-fi as no such creatures
exist in our world today. The establishing shot has a long duration, this is to
emphasise the apocalyptic state that the world is in through the huge scenery/mise-en-scene
of an empty desert. The whole scenery was created through CGI (Computer
Generated Imagery) because it costs less than setting up an actual set to film
in, therefore it doesn’t have as big of an impact on the budget. Another part of the mise-en-scene would be the
car of the protagonist. The car looks like it has been made from scratch, with
stuffed tyres indicating/connoting that the road is dangerous place, minding
the title of the film (Fury Road).
So far the plot seems to be linear with a single plot
strand, with events that only occur during the same time (no flashbacks or
different plots introduced into the film). This effects the younger demographic
as it makes it easier for them to follow the structure of the narrative as
there is only one plot. Another type of shot that we see is a CU of Max, our
protagonist, catching the lizard in his hand and swallowing it whole. Whilst
the lizard was climbing his clothes and the closer it got to his head, the
louder the diegetic voices in his head got. This indicates that there might be
another plot strand later on in the movie, something like a flashback because
the voices were people blaming him for their death. The eating of the lizard
connotes that sources of food aren’t easy to find and that nothing can come to
waste.
Todorov’s “5 stages” theory applies to the narrative of this
film. The narrative begins with the equilibrium, everything is calm and we see
no signs of imbalance, the protagonist is simply narrating and looking ahead.
The disruption of the equilibrium is recognised when we see the protagonist
getting chased by other humans, rushing into his car and trying to get away.
This connects to the binary opposite of two types of humans, those that gave up
to the new system, and those who are fighting it and are willing to do anything
for their own survival. In this scene Propp’s theory is presented through Max,
the “hero” who leads the narrative and appears to be on the quest for his own
survival. Another part of the theory would be “The goal/objective” which in
this case seems to be getting away from the people hunting him and surviving,
which seems to be a theme that is emphasised throughout the film.
We are introduced to some action during the first few
minutes of the film, this is a common convention used in action films as it
introduces the audience to some of the conflicts that typically are seen throughout
or make up the narrative. Later on in the movie we see some conventions of the
Dystopian genre, one of them conventions is the main “hero” who doesn’t want to
be the hero at all, but is somehow dragged into it anyway. Another Dystopian
convention could be seen through the chase sequence which connotes a lawless
society. Lawless societies are often used in Dystopian films because it shows a
sign of corruption and Dystopian films are all about setting the film in an
environment which the audience doesn’t want to be in. The lawless society
creates the ideology that the only way we will ever go extinct is through human
influence, as in this extract we are presented with humans hunting humans.
Max is represented as a survivalist that has been on the
road for months with no break. We see this through his messy hair and restless
facial expression. His clothes are also covered in dust and seem to have
decayed on him, connoting that he has no time to waste.
We never see the end of the chase sequence because of the
use of ellipsis. Ellipsis is used in editing to skip boring parts of the plot
that the audience shouldn’t, or doesn’t want to see. It also lets the film jump
straight to the action, in this case we don’t see the protagonist being taken
to the next location, and instead he is already on the spot, getting tortured.
As soon as the character is captured and after 20 seconds of calm footage we
break off into another chase scene with dare-devil stunts and near death
situations when the protagonist is hanging onto a rope far off the ground, this
makes it clear that action is one of the main genres of the film.
So far in the narrative all the characters are male,
creating a stereotype in which men are the more dominant species and have more
influence than women. Another stereotype seen is that men are animalistic with
a single instinct which in this sequence is to capture Max. Their animalistic
features are also seen through their costume as the characters are pale and
shirtless which connotes that they’ve been stripped from their human
characteristics.
The camera work and editing in the second chase sequence are
used to create anticipation or prediction. We see this through the camera
slowly moves closer to the protagonist’s face before he breaks free from his
chains and tries to escape. Editing creates suspense through the long duration
of the shot. These techniques are used to build suspense and create a climax
for the audience, but sometimes they are used to create an anti-climax in which
the suspense is built but the character ends up not escaping or is stopped by
the antagonist or the villain’s helper which is another part of Propp’s theory.
Slower editing also calms the target audience because it makes the footage less
extreme. Building suspense is a typical convention of the thriller genre.
The target audience for this film would be male teenagers
15+ because of the use of violence, cars, and guns throughout the film. The film
was also released as a video game shortly after the famous movie which would
attract the male dominated gaming community to buy the film on Blu-ray or DVD.
The film was a major hit in the box office therefore people would be more
likely to buy the game, expecting a similar thrill they got in the movie.
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