Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

Mad Max and Motherhood

penfairy:

damnmydooah:

penfairy:

When Furiosa finds the Vuvalini, she announces herself with the following words: ‘I am one of the Vuvalini, of the many mothers. My initiate mother was Katie Concannon. I am the daughter of Mary Jo Bassa. My clan was Swaddle Dog.’

This tells us Furiosa came from a matriarchal culture where ‘initiate mothers’ and older female role models were considered just as important as real mothers. She was raised and taught by a whole host of mother figures, and she clings tightly to this part of her identity.

We also know that Furiosa was stolen to act as breeding stock, but when she failed to produce any children she was discarded as worthless and had to become ‘one of the boys.’ By her skill and determination, she worked her way up through the ranks of Immortan Joe’s war boys until she reached a position where she was able to escape.

And all this makes me realise how cathartic it must have been to meet the wives and form a relationship with them. Throughout the film we watch her care for them, protect them and teach them. We watch her pass on her skills and knowledge to this new generation of women. We watch her relate to these women as a woman herself. We watch as her attitude towards them becomes almost entirely protective and maternal. Her mention of having an ‘initiate mother’ is particularly striking, since it would appear that Furiosa became just such a mother to the wives.

The only part of motherhood Joe valued was the actual birthgiving - a sentiment gruesomely displayed by the crude caesarean forced on Angharad. But the Vuvalini had many different ways to be mothers, and Furiosa proves that the most important part of motherhood is not the production of children, but the act of teaching and protecting. This, alongside the wives’ assertion that ‘Our babies will not be warlords,’ the culture of toxic masculinity that surrounds the war boys from being separated from their mothers at birth and the fact that a new, peaceful generation is ushered in by the war pups lowering the lift and the Milking Mothers throwing off their chains to give water to Wretched, tells us that the true value of motherhood does not lie in the ability to bear children, but in a woman’s ability to teach, influence and shape future generations.

Marvel are you paying attention?

I’m sorry for the self-reblog, but thanks to this comment I can’t stop thinking about the contrast between the way Age of Ultron and Mad Max dealt with having an infertile female lead.

Natasha called herself a monster. It was her deep, dark, tragic secret. She feared no man would ever be able to love her. She thought it would keep her from being with the one she loved.

On the other hand, it was patriarchal society that told Furiosa she was worthless because she couldn’t have children. She was stolen to act as breeding stock, and when she failed to accomplish the one thing she was considered useful for, she was discarded.

And in response, Furiosa says fuck that.

“I am one of the Vuvalini,” she says. “I am one of the many mothers.” She may be infertile, but so what? Her place is still with the many mothers because motherhood is so much more than birth and pregnancy. She is the initiate mother of the wives and she protects them with all her rage and love and ferocity. She’s welcomed as the new ruler of the Citadel by children and the Milking Mothers.

Furiosa of the many mothers refused to let her worth be defined by the patriarchy’s narrow definition of motherhood. She spat in its face and tore the entire toxic institution to the ground so she could create a world where women’s roles as mothers went far beyond the mere production of children.

So yeah, take notes Marvel.

(via fuckyeahisawthat)

sheafrotherdon:

Alright, wait a second, hoooold up.  Many sources are telling us that in the Civil War trailer, Iron Man says, “If we have no limitations, we’re no better than the bad guys.”

That jives pretty well with the Tony who, at the end of IM3, blew up all his drones after realizing meaningful things about weaponry and power.  But how the merry fuck does that jive with the Tony Stark in Ultron who created not one, but TWO overblown robots that could have ended the world?

All I can summise is that we are being canonically asked to pretend Ultron never happened.

Let it be so.

(via yea-lets-do-this-shit)

ssoulpunks:

so how much u wanna bet the russo bros are gonna erase the entire bruce/nat subplot with one well-timed throwaway line

PLEASE GOD.

(Source: bonesleo, via clintashamcu97)

sweethoneysempai:

Y'know what, I’ve decided that Clint met Nat after he was already married, and as they became better and better friends, she’s coming over to the house, she’s playing with the kids, she’s connecting with Laura, etc he was horrified to find that he was falling in love with her, because he loves Laura and didn’t want to ruin his family. And one night he confesses this all to Laura and says “if you don’t want me to work with her anymore I’ll explain it to her and move to a different department” and instead of making him do that Laura was all “…actually I’m sorta in love with her too; I mean I’m not interested in having sex with her but I fantasize about touching her romantically and I really want her to be part of our family”

So they open up their marriage to Nat and at first Nat is like “sure” because she loves them both back, but as Nat starts to outgrow the Red Room brainwashing and integrating into normal society she also starts losing her comfort with doing things outside the norm. Because their arrangement isn’t hurting anybody right now but surely it will in the future, right? Otherwise more people would be poly. And while she knows it’s completely wrongheaded and irrational, the fact that she can’t have kids makes her feel like she’s “not really part of the marriage”, especially after she tries to pick the kids up from school and isn’t allowed because “you’re not their mom” even though Clint and Laura both authorized her to do so.

So she asks Clint and Laura if they can take a break from the whole thing while she sorts things out, and they say of course because they love her and want her to be in a good headspace.

And that’s when she convinces herself that she’s in love with Bruce (Tony’s got Pepper, Thor has Jane, and Steve has his own issues because he’s stuck on both Peggy and Bucky), and that’s why the BruTasha in AoU was so forced and awkward and out of character.

And after Bruce leaves Nat goes back to Clint and Laura all “I fucked up. Start over?” in her trademark deadpan and of course they take her back.

(via cthulhu-with-a-fez)