Moggy wrote:OrangeRKN wrote:Jenuall wrote:OrangeRKN wrote:Jenuall wrote:Yeah, stuff like flaming guitar guy and that flying guitar is the sort of thing that loses the film points in my book.
"It's a post apocalyptic world where civilisation has collapsed and we are starved for resources - we have to go on deadly excursions to try and grab whatever fuel we can to survive! ... but we also piss the stuff away sending out massive unnecessary vehicles with speakers, flames and guitar players on them because reasons!"
It's like Immortan Joe is demonstrating his wealth and power through extravagant and wasteful displays
That certainly never happens in the real world in poor countries run by dictators
Hmm, not quite convinced by the analogy. The difference is that in the poor real world countries the dictators are happy to be extravagant because in comparison to their subjects they
are wealthy, but here we are supposed to believe that nobody, including Joe, has much in the way of fuel so there's no logic in him pissing it away.
Immortan Joe is wealthy, he controls access to water and uses it to trade for ammunition from the Bullet Farm and for fuel from Gas Town - Furiosa making a trip to Gas Town is the setup for the film. We see very little of Gas Town in the film but we are told enough to assume that this provides a sufficient supply of fuel as required to support everything we see happen.
Immortan Joe's main motivation is his desire for a healthy heir, so when his wives make an escape (including one who is heavily pregnant) it makes sense that he throws everything he has into the pursuit. He is not acting particularly rationally.
OR is right. Joe is very wealthy. He’s also crazy and obsessed with getting revenge.
I get the setup of the film and the intended motivation for Joe, but sending your entire army to attack/shoot/explode the rig carrying your wives (one of whom is, as noted, heavily pregnant) seems like a bit of a stupid way to secure your potential for an heir!
If Gas Town is the only source of fuel, and the rig we see them send to collect the fuel is not exactly huge, it seems reasonable to assume that Joe's Citadel does not have significant local reserves of fuel. Therefore pissing the stuff away on pyrotechnics still seems counterproductive to me.
We're supposed to believe that Joe seems himself as the best leader for the people - they come to Joe as he's supposed to offer them a better life than the alternatives, and that they stick with him from a combination of "devotion to a charismatic leader" but also a healthy dose of "we haven't got any other strawberry floating choice". Doing stupid things like wasting the precious amount of fuel you have is a surefire way to make your followers think "hold on, maybe this Joe guy is just a twat and we should overthrow him? Also why is he not letting us have any of that plentiful water he seems to have? And why does he get to shag all the best looking birds?!"
It's hugely enjoyable as a big, dumb movie and I had a blast watching through for a second time recently. The only problem comes when it wants to hint at being more than a big dumb movie!