The first film with a western narrative that came mind was one of the best, in my opinion, to come out last year,
Mad Max: Fury Road. Set in a post apocalyptic world, Mad Max tells the story of
Max, an outsider and loner, as well as a group of very strong women, who escape
captivity from an evil leader of a corrupt society and his "war boys". The movie then becomes an
extended chase scene (with amazing cinematography). Underlying this action is
the group’s desire to free this society and give back control of its resources,
most importantly water, to its people.
I think this movie has many western
themes and motifs. Replacing the American frontier is a post apocalyptic world.
Its desolate landscape conjures up images of the American southwest. Water is
scarce and there’s a battle for control of limited resources. This, I think mirrors
the cowboy in the American west securing its resources and
land. Through this battle Max and the women attempt to bring order to the
constant chaos of an uncivilized place. He and the society he finds himself in
are under threat from corrupt and hostile forces. Max’s character has all the
elements of a cowboy. He’s white, self-reliant, strong, stoic and very
independent. He’s also at heart a moral character. At one point he wants to set
out into the landscape on his own. In the end, however, he decides to protect
those in danger and accompany the group of women in order to follow through
with their plan to bring order to what’s left of society. As Jennifer Moskowitz
point’s out in The Cultural Myth of the
Cowboy, or, How the West Was Won the myth of the cowboy began as a need to
pull together a fractured nation. The world in which Mad Max takes place is
also fractured and chaotic. Its in need of a figure around which a
community can coalesce. One of those figures is Max.
Photo: http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/bs0a2p6jyovlotmmwlre.jpg
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