The toxic pasts of Nux and Max become manifest in Slit catching up using Max’ Interceptor and endangering all of them. Check out this great post about details.

But it’s also Furiosa’s toxic past that strikes back in the very same scene. She gets stabbed in the ribs - not by just any random knife, but by the bone handled knife she hid in the drvier’s cab (excuse the pun, bonehandledknife​). Someone here on tumblr had the theory it might be a bone of Furiosa’s mother (I don’t remember who had that idea, I’m sorry!). In any case, it’s a knife we first learn about because Furiosa mistrusts Max, is ready to kill him and later Nux with. It’s a knife she most likely crafted herself, it’s one of the many weapons she stores to kill people and probably already killed people with.

Unlike Max, who doesen’t kill until it’s necessary for survival, Furiosa in the bathing scene doesn’t hesitate to use that shotgun pointed at his throat, which turns out to be defect. Max on the other hand wastes several shots to intimdate her after he pinned her down. I think this is a turning point for Furiosa and part of the reason she trusts him so easily. There is a person who’d rather waste valuable bullets than shoot a opponent. Max is a person who does not kill.

So maybe all this has already been pointed out, but I saw Mad Max the third time today (after learning the DVD wont be out until december), and I wanted to write that down :)

You know how people usually point out that George Miller writes so wildly different genres like Mad Max and then Babe.

But upon rewatching the latter, it hit me how similar the premises of both worlds are. Both worlds are meritocratic (in lack of another word) dystopias.

A central message of Mad Max Fury Road is “We Are Not Things”, which means demanding, forcefully if needed, for humans to be seen as more than a commodity that serves a purpose, the purpose of bearing children for example, or of being battle fodder etc.

And Babe? Half of the movie, there is this threat looming over the farm that certain animals might end up as food, and it is specifically made clear that these are the animals that “serve no purpose”. No purpose but to serve as food, as a commodity for the boss and his wife. Simply put, Babe only survives living on this farm not because he’s so cute and loveable, but because he finds a purpose besides being food by herding sheep.

And that’s it. Either you serve the boss, or you get thrown under the bus. Same with Furiosa: The visuals tell us she used to be one of Joe’s wives, but didn’t serve the purpose of bearing children. She only survives because she finds another way to serve Joe by leading his warboys and killing Buzzards.

In other words, Furiosa is Babe 2.0

Furiosa is Babe killing the boss and taking over the farm to create a place where animals don’t have to serve a designated purpose or die.