I won’t lie, I came to this movie thinking it was the new Mad Max, but I really enjoyed the old version. Obviously this one doesn’t have all of the amazing special effects that the new one has, but it has much better dialogue and a more interesting storyline.

That said, I found many themes in the movie very powerful–specifically the idea of justice. Justice sprang up numerous times throughout the movie, but the most concrete example was when Max was forced to spin the wheel of punishment. Tina Turner looked at him and said “justice is blind”, as if the randomization of a verdict somehow equated to the idea of our justice system. Blind justice in American law refers to the impartiality of judges. Theoretically, it should not matter what color you are or what your economic status is, in court you should only be judged based on the crime you are accused of committing. It is entirely debatable about whether or not this principle is a reality–personally I believe that the attempt by the courts to be “race-blind” has created a new kind of racialized discrimination. Either way, the idea of a completely random punishment is at odds with the American justice system, which relies heavily on an adversarial “combat” by lawyers to reveal the truth.

I suppose, in a way, Turner simply took upon herself the role of judge, and the clamoring horde screaming for blood constituted a type of “jury of one’s peers”. Nevertheless, Barter Town definitely adhered to their twisted idea of justice. Their laws are what allowed the town to function, and every person knew it. Thus, they obeyed, and they propagated the system.