7000 days = about 19.4 years. According to the comics, Joe gives his wives three chances to give him a male heir with no deformities. Let’s say that Furiosa got tossed in 3 years, and it took her 3-6 years to climb the ranks.
That still leaves a group of maybe 13 year old and younger War Pups who’d only ever known of Furiosa as Imperator.
Nux spoke of Joe like he’d barely ever seen him, or only from a distance, maybe through binoculars. There were two other Imperators near Joe.
What if these other Imperators were as distant and aloof? Are they also black thumbs, or do they simply delegate, or only come out for war?
We know Furiosa probably modified her War Rig herself (see: kill switches and hidden weaponry), which means she HAS to have been in the shop and garages. We know from the film that the War Pups are in the background everywhere. We know there’s no way Furiosa could have been cruel to these children given the systematic way we’re shown her empathy; we also know that there’s a systemic pattern of cruelty, deprivation, and put-downs in the general War Boy culture (’mediocre’, being un-witnessed, witheld water and general human needs, the quick way that Nux blooms under the least bit of kindness).
So think about this generation of War Boys who knows in their hindbrains that the safest place to be (both physically and emotionally) is around their Imperator. Their’s because it’s the Imperator that they see the most, in the shop. The Imperator that Joe trusts on his most dangerous runs. The Imperator that is spoken of by older War Boys like Slit with fear and awe.
Is it any wonder the way they say her name?
furiosa: den mother of the apocalypse
you know, considering that, her takeover isn’t so much a coup as a natural succession. she’s the highest ranked warrior with loyal followers.
And it didn’t even occur to her. She didn’t even want it. Didn’t realize that if she went back to the Citadel that her face would be enough.
And even more: Max realized. Went out first so that everyone else were safe, and somehow knew that they needed to see her. (Though maybe it was one of the others? Or at least, he agreed enough to implement it.)
This post has been going around again and I feel the need to give a caveat that I tried writing the language in the original post very carefully. In no way do I think that Furiosa was actively nurturing or performing traditional motherly roles, there’d be no room and no safe space for it in the toxic environment of the Citadel.
However, I do think she was probably the least bad thing in a very bad situation, and that she’d be fair if you give her fairness. The War pups would be in no position to harm her; and if they deal with her honestly, I don’t see her giving them any less credit and responsibility and fairness and thanks than she did for Max.
The way that she got Max to stand down and to help her out willingly, even gladly? Other meta have pointed out that its a skill, and like most skills have been honed. (She treated him like he had trauma, and gave him things to do to be useful, and responsible.) And I wouldn’t be surprised if she used these same skills on the War pups as well as she did her own crew.
The comment continues in typical mansplaining manner but I want to address this first bit specifically. Because the assumption that the women are framed that way because it’s an action shot is wrong from a technical standpoint.
There is a difference between Wanda gesturing with her hands almost having no space for her head in a composition that highlighted her breasts …
…and the way Tony is given ‘headroom’ while gesturing with his hands (see: any Iron Man Trailer). He still has his face prominent at the sweet spot of the Golden Ratio (for more discussion on what/where this is scroll down to the diagrams), his hands are on the other sweet spot, and it’s a very dynamic pose with great use of diagonals both foreground and background.
There is also a difference between Natasha almost having to bend her head so that her face stays on the screen while her chest and hips land in the sweet spots…
And the headspace that is given Thor. Thor’s face lands on upper Third (Rule of Thirds). They are both holding/threatening with weapons.
But wait! you say, what if we want to emphasize the weapons?
Yeah there’s a way to do that too, without sexualizing your character and smashing their head almost off the frame…
I enjoyed Age of Ultron, but these are some very excellent points. Also, am I wrong in thinking that in Iron Man 2, when Natasha is going down that hallway, beating the crap out of the guys in it, that a lot of the focus is more on her face? Not entirely, but more than it is here? Oh…
oh.
I just looked it up (thanks Tumblr for the the new gif feature!)
….my eye goes to her face but also her boobs. It’s hard for me to analyze in a moving gif though why hat is, other than the top with a great big triangle of flesh screaming LOOK DOWN. (the coloring may or may not be altered in this gif, too, like an upped contrast that is aiding that, idk)
She’s also more off-center than I realized in this shot. It’s like this technique is so common I can’t even see it unless I’m looking for it o_O
The term you’re looking for here is diagonal composition. Where are the diagonals pointing?
Look again at the background spaces behind Thor and Tony, the arches are pointing at Thor’s face and the architecture is pointing at the repulsor. Now go look at what the edges of the building is doing for Wanda and Natasha.
Im on mobile and on a break, but Google “diagonal composition in photography” if you want to look into the effects of diagonals more. It’s a bit more advanced than golden rule framing but not by much. (Though I would hesitate to do composition analysis on that shot off a cropped gif, you still can’t get away from the diagonals.)
Ooh thank you! That actually makes total sense to me, because I’ve worked in picture framing before, and a lot of that is about: “are you bringing the eye in, or out? What are you drawing the eye towards, if you are drawing it in or out?” (because you don’t want to draw the eye towards the frame, usually – you want to draw it towards the picture or objects, or a specific part or aspect of the picture or objects). Though in the case of picture framing it’s usually more simple, in that it’s more on an actual outline or series of asymmetrical outlines it still serves the same function: to point the eye towards what’s in the “center”. So now that you’ve pointed that out, I can see it at work. :)
This also makes me suddenly realize that the reason they make so many female characters’ tops zip down is…even MORE male gazey than I thought >_> “hey look, my clothing is not only showing actual boobflesh, it’s also pointing towards my waist and hips and crotch!”
Getting off my ass and finally posting these because I’d finally gotten a free picture editor that did what I wanted it to. All AOU caps come from the main trailer, The IM2 screencap comes from one of the trailers.
(the rest of the discussion including how some of the most potentially objectifying moments in Fury Road is subverted by composition/blocking/lighting)
This is the no-drama-llama. Reblog it in the next 24 hours to have a drama-free day this week.
but seriously though i’m sick and tired of those masterposts that are like “here! A reference site on Greek mythology for all your needs! Look it has all fifteen Greek gods on it!” And I’m like. tHERE WERE LIKE HUNDREDS OF FIGURES IN MYTHOLOGY YOUR CRAPPY HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL BIBLIOGRAPHY SITE MEANS NOTHING TO ME
if you want a basic outline of Greek mythology okay sure fine??? but like. if you want an extensive fucking reference site you are looking in the wrong goddamn places
as a self-declared greek mythology snob my reference site is fucking alwaysthis fucker right here. almost every single figure ever mentioned in a Greek text is on it, it has the most obscure gods, spirits, nymphs— it’s GREAT. You really wanna extend your mythological knowledge past the basic 12 and like four others? USE THEOI. plus plus PLUS everything is cited so you can actually read the source material written about whoever it is you’re looking at.
fucking signal boost this. i’m so sick and tired of writer’s helpers blogs referring people to sites with as much information you would get from opening a third grade mythology book jesus chriiiiiist