I really enjoyed the 80s vibe of Mad Max, but that’s probably the only good thing I can say about it. While I am a fan of apocalyptic stories, it was difficult to see the messages, if any, that Mad Max intended for audiences to grasp. Perhaps it’s one of those movies that you should watch multiple times before you understand the meaning. Perhaps it would’ve been better had I seen the first two movies.

It was a typical post-apocalypse film, but toward the end Max meets a lot of raggedy children, survivors of a crashed 747, which reminded me of Peter Pan’s “Lost Boys.” As with all movies, I try to look for symbols. I found it interesting that society in Bartertown is not actually that different from society today. There is a clear separation of classes in the movie: the ruler Aunty, the “regular” folk, and the pig workers underground. We worship sports and entertainment just like Bartertowners love the Thunderdome.

But I think most importantly–and I’m not completely sure this was intentional–it seems that in hard times people will always look up to someone, or something. Many people on this planet are religious, and while there was no religion in Mad Max, there was always someone that people looked up to or yearned for. For the people of Bartertown, this was Aunty and, for a little bit, Master Blaster. As for the kids? They basically worshipped the idea of their captain coming back to save them. In fact, they were so sure that when they found Max they believed he was their lost captain. Of course, Max made clear that he was not, but eventually, after saving them multiple times, was Max not their hero, their captain? Did he not eventually lead them to safety and thus become the captain whose story they carved into the sides of the oasis?

Perhaps we should remember that even if something we believe it isn’t true, there may be something else that’s just as good, and that when people are desperate, they will believe anything. Like fake news.