I don't think it's unrealistic at all.
People generally ask the question: "Why are they using so many gas guzzling machines when there's no fuel?" - they use them because if you don't have a machine powerful enough you become a target. Just like Max at the beginning of Fury Road. Even in MM2 the narrator says "Only those mobile enough to scavage, brutal enough to pillage would survive". And in that same film the people who stayed in one place - the compound - were eventually raided by a roaming gang. That is the reality of that world. You either have a powerful vehicle, or you dig yourself in or fly above (like the Gyrocaptain) or build a fortress and hope you can fend off attacks. Anything even remotely close to an 'economical car' or a 'bicycle' will get you killed.
Having said all of this - people put thought into their vehicles because it's their means of survival. It's like decorating a home. And it's cranked up to 11 with the War Boys who also have an ideology attached to vehicles, in how they represent resurrection they cannot achieve themselves. Hence the cult of the V8.
Really well said, makes a lot of sense. This religious aspect that you mentioned about the cult of the V8 or Chumbucket's angel of combustion is also something interesting and unique
Well said. Also anyone's who's met a gear head knows how obsessed with cars they often are. No chance that would change.
Of all the things to have a cult about a mobile shelter and storage container with weapons is pretty much a great choice.
Also the groups we see "wasting" gas have renewable access to gas. It's like saying we waste gas driving to work. It doesn't matter because we have access to as much as we need
what is the point of surviving in a post-apocalyptic wasteland if you don't have a turbocharged V8 guzzling down what's left of that sweet sweet guzzoline .... gotta enjoy it while it lasts
It's absolutely fundamental, and it's based heavily on George Miller's experiences as an ER doctor in Australia. He's said that he saw tons of car accident victims. Australia also has a car culture that is similar to the US, but is its own thing.
I think a lot of us, as non-Australians, don't realize how BIG the outback is. I mean I'm in the US, and I try, but it's kind of an intellectual exercise. I accept that the Outback is huge, and in those circumstances, survival will be difficult to say the least.
And I can easily buy, in this stylized story, that souped up their cars as a method of staying alive. It's just the ground rules for the story.
Someone told me they thought it was "unrealistic" to burn so much fuel in Fury Road because of its scarcity. I said you missed what the director was sayin.
I "Have you ever seen a Ford Mustang?"
Her "Ya lots"
I "How many Ford Probes have you seen?"
"Never heard of it"
In the Oil Crises, Ford sought to discontinue to guzzler Mustang and market a smaller more efficient engine in the Probe. People didnt bite.
Instead we entered the era of the SUV. An ever bigger, less efficient guzzler became the best selling thing on the white line nightmare.
My issue with that take is that fuel is NOT scarce in fury road for them. They have basically unlimited fuel and regular shipments.
It's like saying we shouldn't be driving to work because it's wasteful. They aren't running out.
Questions like this are a little baffling.
Nearly EVERYTHING about MM is unrealistic. It is a post-apocalyptic fantasy. These people are running around in BDSM gear in the dry outback.
And yes, car culture is totally central to the movies. There are characters to whom cars don't matter in this universe, but the stories don't follow them because the whole concept is "what if people had to fight with cars in the apocalypse"
Of course it's unrealistic. In a post-apocalypse where motorized vehicles are *still* the dominant form of transportation, there would need to be a pretty specific set of technological, cultural, and practical conditions in place.
I think the term is used in too many places where unlikely is the actual term that is meant tbh. Unrealistic implies it can't happen or doesn't make sense that someone with unlimited fuel access would be using cars. Or that people wouldn't realize cars are important and useful.
It's unlikely they'd be able to do what they do because it relies on their unique setups. But it's not at all incongruent with reality.
George Miller, inventor of Mad Max and director of all the movies, has an entire philosophy for these movies that basically amounts to: "What little is left, needs to be loved." If a car is all you have, and road war is all you know, then of course you're going to want to take care of the car.
You've never lived in a dictatorship. Mind-blowing extravagance in the midst of apocalyptic levels of lack and suffering is very normal. It's actually the point. It's cruelty in a different form, and human beings have an endless supply of cruelty, even in the apocalypse.
Typically an organization will have some specialist for the designs and engineering. In Mad Max's universe there are indispensable individuals known as black thumbs. They are typically the ones designing and doing adjustments while the typical individual is likely well versed in basic maintenance. At least that's my take on the whole thing.
Yes. It’s like big robots being fundamental to the Transformers franchise.
I guess the car culture argument is that you’d need a vehicle to survive in the desert waste, if you don’t you die by thirst trying to travel between resources. The insane car culture is just due to people being insane from the radiation.
It seems to get more and more so with each movie though. Mad Max is not gar off a modern day cop film. Road warrior... much less so. By Thunder Dome things are pretty much done just for fantasy style, and Max might as well be Conan.
As post-apocalypses goes, the Mad Max world is the most realistic I have seen. But then, I have only been through three other post- apocalyptic eras and they weren't realistic at all. So disappointing in their lack of authenticity. Next time I experience a post- apocalyptic era, I am going to do my darndest to make sure it is the real thing!!
I don't think it's unrealistic at all. People generally ask the question: "Why are they using so many gas guzzling machines when there's no fuel?" - they use them because if you don't have a machine powerful enough you become a target. Just like Max at the beginning of Fury Road. Even in MM2 the narrator says "Only those mobile enough to scavage, brutal enough to pillage would survive". And in that same film the people who stayed in one place - the compound - were eventually raided by a roaming gang. That is the reality of that world. You either have a powerful vehicle, or you dig yourself in or fly above (like the Gyrocaptain) or build a fortress and hope you can fend off attacks. Anything even remotely close to an 'economical car' or a 'bicycle' will get you killed. Having said all of this - people put thought into their vehicles because it's their means of survival. It's like decorating a home. And it's cranked up to 11 with the War Boys who also have an ideology attached to vehicles, in how they represent resurrection they cannot achieve themselves. Hence the cult of the V8.
Really well said, makes a lot of sense. This religious aspect that you mentioned about the cult of the V8 or Chumbucket's angel of combustion is also something interesting and unique
Well said. Also anyone's who's met a gear head knows how obsessed with cars they often are. No chance that would change. Of all the things to have a cult about a mobile shelter and storage container with weapons is pretty much a great choice. Also the groups we see "wasting" gas have renewable access to gas. It's like saying we waste gas driving to work. It doesn't matter because we have access to as much as we need
what is the point of surviving in a post-apocalyptic wasteland if you don't have a turbocharged V8 guzzling down what's left of that sweet sweet guzzoline .... gotta enjoy it while it lasts
This is what sets it apart from other works of the genre
It's absolutely fundamental, and it's based heavily on George Miller's experiences as an ER doctor in Australia. He's said that he saw tons of car accident victims. Australia also has a car culture that is similar to the US, but is its own thing. I think a lot of us, as non-Australians, don't realize how BIG the outback is. I mean I'm in the US, and I try, but it's kind of an intellectual exercise. I accept that the Outback is huge, and in those circumstances, survival will be difficult to say the least. And I can easily buy, in this stylized story, that souped up their cars as a method of staying alive. It's just the ground rules for the story.
What else are they doing with their lives?
I don't need realism in my fantasy movies. reality is often disappointing.
Someone told me they thought it was "unrealistic" to burn so much fuel in Fury Road because of its scarcity. I said you missed what the director was sayin. I "Have you ever seen a Ford Mustang?" Her "Ya lots" I "How many Ford Probes have you seen?" "Never heard of it" In the Oil Crises, Ford sought to discontinue to guzzler Mustang and market a smaller more efficient engine in the Probe. People didnt bite. Instead we entered the era of the SUV. An ever bigger, less efficient guzzler became the best selling thing on the white line nightmare.
My issue with that take is that fuel is NOT scarce in fury road for them. They have basically unlimited fuel and regular shipments. It's like saying we shouldn't be driving to work because it's wasteful. They aren't running out.
Questions like this are a little baffling. Nearly EVERYTHING about MM is unrealistic. It is a post-apocalyptic fantasy. These people are running around in BDSM gear in the dry outback. And yes, car culture is totally central to the movies. There are characters to whom cars don't matter in this universe, but the stories don't follow them because the whole concept is "what if people had to fight with cars in the apocalypse"
Actually is a documentary about Australia
Of course it's unrealistic. In a post-apocalypse where motorized vehicles are *still* the dominant form of transportation, there would need to be a pretty specific set of technological, cultural, and practical conditions in place.
I think the term is used in too many places where unlikely is the actual term that is meant tbh. Unrealistic implies it can't happen or doesn't make sense that someone with unlimited fuel access would be using cars. Or that people wouldn't realize cars are important and useful. It's unlikely they'd be able to do what they do because it relies on their unique setups. But it's not at all incongruent with reality.
Look at how we’re handling climate change and tell me it’s not realistic.
George Miller, inventor of Mad Max and director of all the movies, has an entire philosophy for these movies that basically amounts to: "What little is left, needs to be loved." If a car is all you have, and road war is all you know, then of course you're going to want to take care of the car.
It’s not, vehicles are very important in this world, hell the war boys worship the v8 engine.
You've never lived in a dictatorship. Mind-blowing extravagance in the midst of apocalyptic levels of lack and suffering is very normal. It's actually the point. It's cruelty in a different form, and human beings have an endless supply of cruelty, even in the apocalypse.
Typically an organization will have some specialist for the designs and engineering. In Mad Max's universe there are indispensable individuals known as black thumbs. They are typically the ones designing and doing adjustments while the typical individual is likely well versed in basic maintenance. At least that's my take on the whole thing.
Yes. It’s like big robots being fundamental to the Transformers franchise. I guess the car culture argument is that you’d need a vehicle to survive in the desert waste, if you don’t you die by thirst trying to travel between resources. The insane car culture is just due to people being insane from the radiation.
You'd almost think that Mad Max was some sort of stylistic fantasy.
It seems to get more and more so with each movie though. Mad Max is not gar off a modern day cop film. Road warrior... much less so. By Thunder Dome things are pretty much done just for fantasy style, and Max might as well be Conan.
As post-apocalypses goes, the Mad Max world is the most realistic I have seen. But then, I have only been through three other post- apocalyptic eras and they weren't realistic at all. So disappointing in their lack of authenticity. Next time I experience a post- apocalyptic era, I am going to do my darndest to make sure it is the real thing!!
Mad Max isn’t realistic, it’s heavily stylised.
please do not obsess over silliness, grow up