# Please Explain Mad Max to Me **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2005, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077 "2005-12-10T23:47:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/21 "2005-12-11T17:30:34Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s a metaphor. In The Road Warrior, Max, with his guns and gas guzzling car, is called apon to rescue a bunch of oil-rich conservatives who cling to the old world and are under seige by an army of homosexuals led by an intellectual. Yes, and the steel boomerang represents the circle of existence. Well, except of your fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/22 "2005-12-11T17:36:35Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > a bunch of oil-rich conservatives who cling to the old world and are under seige by an army of homosexuals led by an intellectual. There’s a Bush/Iraq joke in here somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/23 "2005-12-11T19:14:13Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > Well, Thunderdome did give us ‘Two men enter. One man leave.’ so that’s worth something. And the Pockyclypse! It also inspired one of the funniest South Park parodies ever. I thought the Thunderdome subplots were great, the Bartertown scenes were pure cheese though. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/24 "2005-12-11T20:53:51Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Civilization was already dying in Mad Max, though. I didn’t really get that. The premise was just the same as in a lot of very bad cowboy-cop movies – there are all those goddam punks, they get away with whatever they want because of those shitheel lawyers, “society is in decay” – but civilization is not dying. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/25 "2005-12-11T21:13:35Z")
good afternoon friends, i have often wondered about the football shoulder pads everyone seems to be wearing in all three movies. austrailian rules football is played (afair) without pads. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/26 "2005-12-11T21:26:14Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > And the Pockyclypse! That’s Pox Eclipse. ---
**Author:** ![Landshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@Landshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Landshark)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/27 "2005-12-11T23:11:00Z")
I’ll just add one personal opinion about _The Road Warrior_: It concludes with what I think is one of the best vehicular chase sequences ever. Simply amazing. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/28 "2005-12-12T00:35:21Z")
The shoulder pads are not American Football shoulder pads, but “general purpose” shoulder pads. I only know this because I attended a Halloween party with two gentlemen who are perhaps bigger fans of the movies than is really healthy. The shoulder pads they wore are usually used in Motocross. Football shoulder pads were much too large and bulky to use, especially with the spikes sticking out. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/29 "2005-12-12T02:03:00Z")
> [@Landshark](#): > > I’ll just add one personal opinion about _The Road Warrior_: It concludes with what I think is one of the best vehicular chase sequences ever. Simply amazing. Spoilers follow, but since the movies are from the early 80’s I won’t bother boxing them. The chase at the beginning of the movie and the 2 in the middle are pretty good too. I can forgive all of Burt Reynolds’ cheesey car movies because they lead to _Road Warrior_, the greatest of all car movies, and without them this movie might not have been made. I didn’t know that the warrior woman on the tanker also played the blue chick in _Farscape_. She really took good care of herself. I watched _Road Warrior_ and _Beyond Thunderdome_ again last night. You’re right, Max does redeem himself by refusing to kill Blaster, rescuing the kids and running interference for the plane. I noticed that Wez’s loss of his lover put him in the same situation Max found himself in _Mad Max_, with his love killed basically for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. His loss seemed to echo Max’s loss, as did his search for revenge. I get a strong gay vibe from the first 2 movies that I don’t detect in the 3rd one. Maybe that’s because while there were no homosexual characters in _BT_, the cops in the 1st movie were all leather boys and only Max and Goose were verifiably hetero, Fifi walked around in his leather pants and scarf with no shirt watering plants, Kundilini and Bubba Zanetti dance a Tango when they get off their bikes, and in the 2nd movie Wez was in love with Vince Neil. OK, I know that wasn’t really Vince Neil on Wez’s bike, but I can’t help but make the comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/30 "2005-12-12T11:02:20Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > I get a strong gay vibe from the first 2 movies that I don’t detect in the 3rd one. Maybe that’s because while there were no homosexual characters in _BT_… Well, a job-seeking Max _was_ informed the brothel was full. Bartertown itself was full of people dressed as if for a night at the local bondage club. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/31 "2005-12-12T12:50:15Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I didn’t really get that. The premise was just the same as in a lot of very bad cowboy-cop movies – there are all those goddam punks, they get away with whatever they want because of those shitheel lawyers, “society is in decay” – but civilization is not dying. I got a “[On the Beach](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053137/)” feel from Mad Max. This plot summary for OtB says it well,[ > [@](#): > > Someone, somewhere, pressed the button and started World War III. Australia has survived - temporarily. The radiation is on it’s way, the end inevitable. This is the story of the way in which people faced the coming end, focusing mainly on a young Australian couple and their friends… ]([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053137/plotsummary](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053137/plotsummary)) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/32 "2005-12-12T15:06:01Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Originally Posted by Revtim > Civilization was already dying in Mad Max, though. > > I didn’t really get that. The premise was just the same as in a lot of very bad cowboy-cop movies – there are all those goddam punks, they get away with whatever they want because of those shitheel lawyers, “society is in decay” – but civilization is not dying. > [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > I got a “[On the Beach](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053137/)” feel from Mad Max. > > This plot summary for OtB says it well,[URL=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053137/plotsummary] The difference is in cowboy movies, civilization hasn’t quite reached the Old West yet. In Mad Max, you definitely get the feel that civilization is winding down. Crime is getting worse. The government is losing control. It is in fact reverting to an Old West style of lawlessness. The world wasn’t ending, but you got that same sense of forboding you got in On The Beach - that change was coming and it would be for the worse. I always assumed that it was an economic collapse due to an oil shortage. Between Mad Max and The Road Warrior, the economic collapse precipitated a nuclear war and that, as they say is that. With no major urban areas left, the only survivors are now forced to live in small communities under constant threat from bandits and gangs. I never did understand why in Thunderdome they moved from their oasis paradise to go live in the burnt out remains of Sydney. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/33 "2005-12-12T15:09:58Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I never did understand why in Thunderdome they moved from their oasis paradise to go live in the burnt out remains of Sydney. I assumed they were not the same people. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/34 "2005-12-12T16:56:43Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I assumed they were not the same people. No, they were the same people. It was Savanna narrating that part too. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/35 "2005-12-12T17:00:53Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I assumed they were not the same people. Not sure what you mean. Who else would they be? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/36 "2005-12-12T17:33:40Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Not sure what you mean. Who else would they be? I’m not sure what you mean either. I simply thought the people in and around the refinery in ‘Road Warrior’ were one group of people, whereas the people in Bartertown in ‘Thunderdome’ were another, different, group of people. With the possible exception of the Bruce Spence character, who I seem to recall is supposed actually be a different character in each film bizarrely enough. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/37 "2005-12-12T17:37:36Z")
Oh dammit, I suppose it’s obvious now I misunderstood **msmith537’s** comment that I originally replied to. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/38 "2005-12-12T17:59:18Z")
I really liked BT but then I had a major thing for Tina Turner back then…her legs went on for ever… Anyhoo, maybe they went to Sydney because they were afraid they might be followed/spotted on the way back to the oasis paradise and they didn’t want to lead Auntie and co. there? Bruce Spence was indeed two different characters both of whom had machines that could fly. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/39 "2005-12-12T19:11:04Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > With the possible exception of the Bruce Spence character, who I seem to recall is supposed actually be a different character in each film bizarrely enough. I was never sure of that. He is credited as the Gyrocaptain in Road Warrior but as Jedadiah the Pilot in Thunderdome. But Max seemed to immediately recognize him - “YOU!! You’ve got a plane…” and I assumed 1) Gyrocaptain wasn’t his given name, 2) the kid was the offspring of him and the mousey faced girl he hit it off with in RW and 3) it would be stupid to have the same actor play two similar characters. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077/40 "2005-12-12T19:16:58Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I was never sure of that. He is credited as the Gyrocaptain in Road Warrior but as Jedadiah the Pilot in Thunderdome. But Max seemed to immediately recognize him - “YOU!! You’ve got a plane…” and I assumed 1) Gyrocaptain wasn’t his given name, 2) the kid was the offspring of him and the mousey faced girl he hit it off with in RW and 3) it would be stupid to have the same actor play two similar characters. I assumed the very same things, but came across a cite somewhere that said George Miller stated they were different characters. Sorry, don’t recall what the cite was. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-mad-max-to-me/335077.md?page=3)