Mad Max Fury Road is a two-hour film where an action-packed desert chase sequence takes up the majority of the runtime. The film focusing on these long action scenes instead of a traditional story highlights Waltern Serner’s idea of the audience’s “desire to watch” and Zhou Xian’s concept of spectacle “images with strong visual appeal and created using various high cinematic techniques.” (2022, p7) We can see the real-life consequences of this spectacle in Mad Max’s high critic score, great box office and Oscar nominations. Outside of being a cinematic spectacle, the film is a prime example of gamification in chaos cinema.

Dixon et al. defines gamification as “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts.” (2016, p37) We can see these game elements in director George Miller’s auteur approach. He does not follow conventional shots, instead opting for close-ups followed by expansive wide shots, and he has the characters engage with the camera. An example of this is during the opening of the chase, characters fly over the camera and look directly into it as though it is the opposing car they are chasing. This style of filming and interaction is similar to games like Metal Gear Solid and Fallout.  

These interactions and shots quickly create an incoherent idea of time and space. According to Chion, this rapid editing creates a “stroboscopic effect” which “produces the effect of continuous motion.” (2016, p2). The continuous motion produces the effect on the viewer of them being part of the action, creating competitiveness. Shaviro would hate Fury Road’s adherence to classical cinema editing and composition; however, Fury Road does adhere to the ontological rules of classic cinema.

The movie shot on location, with 90% of the movie using practical effects. A real car was in that desert, leaving behind authentic tire tracks. The film abides by classic indexical forms and pushes against the post-cinematic trends of being pure data-driven. Having so much ontology but adhering to a chaotic cinema style creates a hybrid film that is nearly pure post-cinema but neither a classic Hollywood film.

Sarah Angel Majeed 33729881

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References

Shane Denson & Julia Leyda (eds), Post-Cinema: Theorizing 21st-Century Film (Falmer: REFRAME Books, 2016).

Chen, Zhifei. “Gladiator Overview: Three Sides of the Spectacle in a Heroic Epic Film.” OALib, vol. 09, no. 09, 2022, pp. 1–7, https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1109246. Accessed 26 Sept. 2022.

Deterding, Sebastian, et al. “From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness.” Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference on Envisioning Future Media Environments – MindTrek ’11, 28 Sept. 2011, pp. 9–15.

Mad Max: Fury Road. Directed by George Miller, 2015.

Praderio, Caroline. “New Behind-The-Scenes “Mad Max: Fury Road” Video Shows That a Lot of the Wild Stunts Were Made without CGI.” Insider, 13 Sept. 2016. Accessed On http://www.insider.com/mad-max-fury-road-looks-without-cgi-2016-9#:~:text=Director%20George%20Miller%20previously%20claimed. Accessed 19 Oct. 2023.

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Sarah Angel Majeed