Stage Models of Relationship Development in Mad Max: Fury Road
Mad Max: Fury Road is a fast-paced post-apocalyptic movie directed by George Miller that does a unique job of telling a story and forming very intense bonds between the characters by having very little dialogue. For example one of the main characters, Max, only has 52 lines in the entire film. It is a perfect example of show-not-tell in a narrative, so the viewer is tasked with inferring many of the motives and interactions between the characters. The reason the characters are so action driven is because their environment is harsh and unforgiving, yielding very little resources. Fighting both the elements and the half-humans called War Boys trying to kill them, characters Furiosa …show more content…
While both are driven by the need to survive, their causes are very different. Furiosa’s focus is escaping a warlord and freeing the five women he kept as wives. Max on the other hand suffers from PTSD and he began the movie by getting captured by the warlord’s minions, the War Boys. In the beginning of their relationship Max acts mainly out of self-preservation; he acts almost like a feral dog when he first initiates contact. According to Knapp’s Stage Model the first step of forming a relationship is initiating and to appear “pleasant and likeable” to each other (Alberts 2016, pg. 196). However Max’s first move when he comes across Furiosa and the wives is waving a double barrel shotgun at them in order to get water and to remove the muzzle the War Boys had strapped to his face. This leads directly to an intense fight where Furiosa attempts to kill him. Max, instead of killing her, only ends up stealing the tank truck she used to escape. The experimenting stage where they learn about each other doesn’t develop with words for the most part. Furiosa tries to get to know Max a little but he’s reluctant to form any connections. He does not even tell her his name until the end of the movie. They do, regardless, form a very
Mad Max: Fury Road is a fast-paced post-apocalyptic movie directed by George Miller that does a unique job of telling a story and forming very intense bonds between the characters by having very little dialogue. For example one of the main characters, Max, only has 52 lines in the entire film. It is a perfect example of show-not-tell in a narrative, so the viewer is tasked with inferring many of the motives and interactions between the characters. The reason the characters are so action driven is because their environment is harsh and unforgiving, yielding very little resources. Fighting both the elements and the half-humans called War Boys trying to kill them, characters Furiosa …show more content…
While both are driven by the need to survive, their causes are very different. Furiosa’s focus is escaping a warlord and freeing the five women he kept as wives. Max on the other hand suffers from PTSD and he began the movie by getting captured by the warlord’s minions, the War Boys. In the beginning of their relationship Max acts mainly out of self-preservation; he acts almost like a feral dog when he first initiates contact. According to Knapp’s Stage Model the first step of forming a relationship is initiating and to appear “pleasant and likeable” to each other (Alberts 2016, pg. 196). However Max’s first move when he comes across Furiosa and the wives is waving a double barrel shotgun at them in order to get water and to remove the muzzle the War Boys had strapped to his face. This leads directly to an intense fight where Furiosa attempts to kill him. Max, instead of killing her, only ends up stealing the tank truck she used to escape. The experimenting stage where they learn about each other doesn’t develop with words for the most part. Furiosa tries to get to know Max a little but he’s reluctant to form any connections. He does not even tell her his name until the end of the movie. They do, regardless, form a very