Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Day 18: Mad William


I was pumped to watch Mad Max last night, 'cause i had this feeling it would be rad, but despite some visual style, really it was pretty dumb. (Yeah yeah, go ahead and shake your heads).

In fact, i was thinking of the next flick Mad Max 2: the Road Warrior, a flick where Max shares a can of Alpo with his dog, where guys tear through the desert in vehicles slapped together from scrap metal and wreckage, wearing the remnants of civilization, and killing themselves over an oil tanker truck.

Because a while ago, a coworker commented to me that he was stoked for the future to come: to a time when people by choice or necessity had pulled their shit together and created carbon neutral civilization, all public transit, etc. Yes, a nice dream, but i felt it a bit naive.

'Cause despite my optimistic outlook on many things, i don't believe humanity can get it together in time to avoid ecological catastrophe. Yes, of course there's some smart motherfuckers out there, who will make their little eco-havens, replete with solar powered wi-fi.

But there's no doubt in my mind that millions of people and governments will not be able to even come close to getting their shit together in time.

Which i imagine will make for a very dangerous situation of Haves and Have Nots. And then it dawned upon me that Mad Max might turn out to be prophetic.

Mad Max 2 begins with a prologue backstory; a narrator informs us that the world has "crumbled and...the cities have exploded;" uprisings and social disorder due to energy shortages have destabilized the country; and that "two mighty warrior tribes" had gone to war over "oil." The crumbling remnants of the government attempt to restore some form of order, but life has become a "whirlwind of looting and a firestorm of fear, in which 'men began to feed on men.'"

(from Wikipedia)

Shit, i can really SEE it. Except maybe on more of a global scale. No wonder it became a cult-classic.

i'm tempted to download part 2, but frankly, the battle scenes available on Youtube are pbly good enough.

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