What Is The Use Of Narra In Mad Max: Fury Road?
Critical analysis of narration in Mad Max: Fury Road. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) is the fourth film in the “Mad Max” franchise, directed by George Miller. At its heart, Mad Max: Fury Road is an action film following protagonist Max Rockatansky’s fight for survival in an apocalyptic wasteland, but it could also be considered a revolutionary piece of cinema. Mad Max: Fury Road is interestingly constructed, with the main protagonist Max taking a back seat throughout the film and having little dialogue, allowing the power of the strong female characters such as Imperator Furiosa to shine through. This is an extremely standout approach, as many other action films of this time tend to exclusively feature strong male protagonists, with women taking
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Mad Max: Fury Road employs a common narrative structure known as “Torodov’s Theory of Equilibrium” (Torodov and Weinstein, 75). Torodov theorised that “the minimal complete plot can be seen as the shift from one equilibrium to another”, establishing the idea of a narrative structure that begins in equilibrium, then shifting to a state of disequilibrium and disruption before resolving to equilibrium once again. Mad Max: Fury Road follows this structure, with the opening shots of Max urinating by his car acting as the equilibrium. However, this equilibrium is only maintained in the film for a couple of minutes, as Max is quickly attacked by the antagonist Immortan Joe’s “war boy” army. Max is quickly captured by the war boys, creating a catalyst for the events in the rest of the film. The film finally ends in equilibrium when Max, Furiosa and the “many mothers” kill Immortan Joe and take over the Citadel, creating a satisfactory ending for the audience by creating closure and resolving the conflict that Immortan Joe created. The use of this narrative structure creates interest for the audience as most of the film shows the story in a state of disruption and chaos, with equilibrium only existing for a small duration of the film. This maintains the suspense for the audience, as with each resolved conflict such as Max escaping the war boys and stealing Furiosa’s “war rig” there is a new source of problem and conflict created, as Max cannot drive the war rig without Furiosa’s code and Immortan Joe is beginning to catch up with them, thus leaving the audience curious and wondering what will happen next for the majority of the film. Whilst Mad Max: Fury Road follows Torodov’s theory of equilibrium, much of the action in the film is motivated by characters and follows the chain of cause and effect, whilst following a linear structure. Cause and effect is a major motivation in most
Mad Max: Fury Road employs a common narrative structure known as “Torodov’s Theory of Equilibrium” (Torodov and Weinstein, 75). Torodov theorised that “the minimal complete plot can be seen as the shift from one equilibrium to another”, establishing the idea of a narrative structure that begins in equilibrium, then shifting to a state of disequilibrium and disruption before resolving to equilibrium once again. Mad Max: Fury Road follows this structure, with the opening shots of Max urinating by his car acting as the equilibrium. However, this equilibrium is only maintained in the film for a couple of minutes, as Max is quickly attacked by the antagonist Immortan Joe’s “war boy” army. Max is quickly captured by the war boys, creating a catalyst for the events in the rest of the film. The film finally ends in equilibrium when Max, Furiosa and the “many mothers” kill Immortan Joe and take over the Citadel, creating a satisfactory ending for the audience by creating closure and resolving the conflict that Immortan Joe created. The use of this narrative structure creates interest for the audience as most of the film shows the story in a state of disruption and chaos, with equilibrium only existing for a small duration of the film. This maintains the suspense for the audience, as with each resolved conflict such as Max escaping the war boys and stealing Furiosa’s “war rig” there is a new source of problem and conflict created, as Max cannot drive the war rig without Furiosa’s code and Immortan Joe is beginning to catch up with them, thus leaving the audience curious and wondering what will happen next for the majority of the film. Whilst Mad Max: Fury Road follows Torodov’s theory of equilibrium, much of the action in the film is motivated by characters and follows the chain of cause and effect, whilst following a linear structure. Cause and effect is a major motivation in most