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The media has been overwhelmed by images of the ‘freedom convoy’ that began converging on Ottawa on Jan. 28. This convoy is a reflection of our inability to find a middle road in the debates around COVID-19 mandates, and proposed vaccine passports.
The visuals produced by the ‘freedom convoy’ — loud, honking semi trucks and a party atmosphere — is eerily similar to the monstrous machines that rumble through the desolate landscapes in the 2015 Australian movie Mad Max: Fury Road. As a popular cultural researcher, I am interested to see how this similarity prompts us to consider what continues to fuel these ongoing discussions.
War trucks and war boys
Mad Max: Fury Road is the fourth film in George Miller’s franchise, after Mad Max (1979), Mad Max 2 – The Road Warrior(1981) Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985).
Fury RoadFollow Max (Tom Hardy), Imperator Furiosa(Charlize Theron), and a group women who are used to breed stock as they flee across a desert isteland in search for a rumoured paradisiacal haven. They are defeated and must return to the Citadel from which they fled. They are relentlessly chased by the Citadel’s dictator, Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and his band of War Boys.
Immortan Joe controls both fuel and water access. He urges his citizens not to become addicted to water, in case “it will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence.” Immortan Joe understands restraint in a world of limited resources, and he restricts access to both the water and the fuel. Contrary to this, Immortan Joe’s War Boys consume too much fuel for most of the film.
The film is dominated by car chase scenes, which are typical of the Mad Max franchise. However, the film ends with the characters returning home to the Citadel, making the chase scenes redundant. Fury RoadThis gives us a glimpse into the world of diminishing fuel stocks, where the only thing that is enjoyable is to engage in futile and excessive car chases.
Continue reading:
Frenzy on Fury Road. Mad Max faces an apocalypse after the digital age.
The film shows vehicles taking up a special spot due to limited fuel supplies, and the subsequent death in automobile manufacturing. The film shows how the vehicles transform into monstrous machine/machine hybrids.. Rather than adopt alternative forms of energy or transportation, the survivors in the film create ever more dangerous vehicles — “Frankenbeasts” — and revere them.
What is the? Mad Max franchise — and Fury Road in particular — really gives us is a warning about our over-reliance on fossil fuels.
(Warner Bros)
Freedom to drive
Petroculture refers the methods in which Petroculture is practiced. Fuel is a major part of our lives. It’s not just in our cars or pipelines and generators. It seeps into every aspect and aspect of our existence.. As such, we have trouble imagining a world that is beyond fuel — post-apocalyptic films embody this limitation.
When the ‘freedom convoy’ set their sights on Ottawa, even though the protest was ostensibly in response to Mandates for COVID-19Part of their plight lies in threats to petroculture.
Protests were started by The recent announcement that truckers must show proof of vaccinationTo cross the U.S.-Canada frontier. This limitation to the open road suggests that the “freedom” within the ‘freedom convoy’ is really about the privilege to drive — perhaps across a borderless, unregulated landscape similar to the one in Fury Road.
Ottawa police have taken fuel supplies for truckers and warned anyone caught transporting fuel that they would be arrested, An oil tanker was taken out. The Ottawa police target the fuel because they are strengthening the threats to petroculture.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
The most valuable commodity
The first film of the trilogy is Mad Max franchise, Max becomes “The fastest thing on road” after the deaths of his wife and son. He drives a modified 1973 Ford XB Falcon, a car almost exclusively manufactured by Ford Australia.
In Mad Max 2Fuel has become one the most valuable commodities and characters are willing to kill each others to keep their cars on roads. One of the movie’s plots revolves around the transport of fuel in a fuel tanker.
In Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the car chases are relegated to the final scenes of the film and involve a stolen power generator, revealing the franchise’s focus on the procurement and protection of fuel sources.
The success of Mad MaxIts impact on popular popular culture came at a time when petroculture was under threat. The release of the first three films came right on the heelsof the 1970s energy crisisAt a time when American car chase films also reached their peak.
Car chase films were created during a time of fuel shortages and rising gas prices in America. However, there was also outrage as American truckers went on strikes, chanting, “More gas! More gas!”
Fuel for disruption
FuriosaThe prequel to the franchise starring Anya Taylor-JoyFuriosa young, will be released in 2024.
It is quite remarkable that the franchise is being revived after nine years. What is it that today calls for a revival of the franchise? Is it a longing for freedom and the freedom to travel without restrictions? Is it the possibility that petroculture is responsible? Climate change is becoming more difficult to address? After all, the post-apocalyptic universe of Mad MaxThis is a nightmare climate crisis.
The Mad MaxFranchise is an extension our anxieties about our dependence upon fossil fuels. This is also reflected in petroculture’s support of the ‘freedom convoy’ and Its potential to disrupt our lives. Fuel is the fuel that fuels the occupation.
