Pop Culture for Fun

  It was one of those movies made for the male ego: fast cars, leather outfits, highway races and explosions. Not to mention the man who lost a family looking for revenge. Pretty much typical fare for the testosterone ruled cinema. But it was a movie that spawned 2 sequels, defined post-apocalyptic visions and lone heroes. It still stands as inspiration for numerous films( the latest Doomsday being only one) and not only (for those of you who played them, the Fallout games are modelled after the whole Mad Max universe).
  The first one had the horse power and fresh ideas. But it was The Road Warrior that made Mad Max a cult franchise, and Mel Gibson a bona fide star(don’t listen to anyone that names Lethal Weapon as his breakthrough role). It had all that’s become cliche today: comic relief side kick, the raiders, the faceless villain and the anti-hero main character (“I’m just here for the gasoline. “). Hey there’s even the tough little kid that gets attached to our hero. And no matter how underrated it is, Beyond Thunderdome brought us more than just (another) funky hairdo from Tina Turner (and the quite catchy “We Don’t Need Another Hero”): does anyone recall Master-Blaster, or the Thunderdome itself (hey, that Tupac video seems familiar!) ?
  Mad Max still stands through time as an iconic character, one of the archetypes, along with Snake Plissken, of the modern cynical anti-hero. Oh and those wacky raiders inspired more than a couple of music videos with their leathery look and crazy haircuts.