Or maybe we should say "Women and the Natural World"? In Mad Max: Fury Road, the natural world seems, well, like a shell of what it used to be. Nux can't even remember the word for tree at first, and who can blame him? There's nary a tree in sight. In fact, the only place plants seem able to grow is at the Citadel. But those plants are simply tools in Immortan Joe's brutal regime. If we are to believe the Vuvalini, who carry with them the seeds of a once flowering planet, it seems like the only solution here is to put women in charge. How's that for some ecofeminism?
Questions about Man and the Natural World
- What's the relationship between the eco-fabulous beliefs of the Vuvalini and the fact that they are women? Cause-and-effect or coincidence?
- Seriously, Shmoopers: who killed the world? Is Immortan Joe to blame? Is the past to blame?
- What is the Citadel's relationship to the natural world? What kinds of adjectives would you use to characterize that relationship, and why?
Chew on This
The ecological apocalypse we see in Fury Road is a direct result of industrialization and globalization.
The Wasteland would be far less, well, wasteland-y if Immortan Joe shared natural resources, rather than hoarding them.