Preaching to the Post-Apocalypse Lovers

[dotinthesky]

I watched two films yesterday that fetishized leather and pain. The first one was Preaching to the Perverted, the story of a group of religious conservatives in Britain trying to bring down a S&M club. It was like an Eastenders episode dealing with buttplugs and pierced genitalia. The second film was Mad Max, a classic of the post-apocalypse genre which is full of leather men on bikes and cars fighting each other in the Australian Outback. For the first time in years of Mad Max re-runs, I saw the version featuring the original Ozzie accents rather than the American or Brasilian dubbed versions. There's something about the Ozzie accent that perfectly fits a crumbling civilization. :-P

The Mad Max trilogy is strangely allegorical and prophetic. Filmed in 1979, it could have easily dealt with nuclear war, or some other popular paranoia of the time, but it went for global warming and the power of petroleum instead (which I think is much more popular today than ever before). The first film lays the groundwork for the society coming apart: police turn vigilante when puny liberals destroy the justice system; marauding gangs take on nicknames and outfits that wouldn't be out of place in London's Torture Garden; and the Ballardesque setting hints at a society crumbling and self-imploding because of global warming/eco destruction. These themes are then further explored in episodes 2 & 3.

I haven't seen Tarantino's Death Proof yet, but the trailer - with its fast cars and seventies look - reminded me of Mad Max. Must be another movie Tarantino studied for inspiration. Actually, the first scene of Mad Max, with the insane couple causing havoc on the roads as they are chased by the police, reminded me of the couple in Pulp Fiction's diner. The midnight movie element is there.

There are some rumours that a new Mad Max movie is in production, but without Mel Gibson. In the meantime, it would be nice if a cinema in London held a showing of the three Mad Max movies, back to back. And it would also be nice if Mel Gibson wasn't such an asshole in real life; I hate feeling guilty for watching his films.

Comments

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

it would also be nice if Mel Gibson wasn't such an asshole in real life; I hate feeling guilty for watching his films.

Same here. I felt a sense of victory when I managed to procure a pirated version of Apocalypto for $1. It was like, I didn't even want to support him enough by renting it through Netflix. I really dug it, btw. Especially the scenes of the citizens in the Mayan city.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I thought the trailer for Apocalypto was awesome. I'm waiting for it to premiere on TV so I can see it. Other than that, he ain't getting my saved pennies.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

Yeah, know whatcha mean.

[sallypointzero.livejournal.com]

Yes, too much information killed Gibson for me unhappily. I did enjoy the first Max film too.
Braveheart was bad enough but when he pounded his Nobility Through Suffering ethos to death (again) in The Passions of Christ I choked on it.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

What kind after Braveheart was horrifying! The Patriot, The Passion of Christ... ugh!

[sallypointzero.livejournal.com]

He thinks like a priggish schoolboy who also happens to excel at sport

[steer.livejournal.com]

The Mad Max trilogy is strangely allegorical and prophetic

It foresaw a day when Mel Gibson would have bad hair and drive about swearing and upsetting people?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Something like that. ;-)

[pixxers.livejournal.com]

I remember watching Mad Max when I was a kid and during one (very inconsequential) scene, this big leather daddy got off his bike and I noticed that he had a pretty, girly little blonde boy riding with him instead of a girl. And I was filled with glee and joy.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Most Gibson films have these very problematic queer characters. The first Mad Max has a supremo police officer who is a total gayer, and one of the male victims of the biker gangs appears to be raped by them (he runs naked across the field with a VERY red ass). Then you've got the evil gayers from the second film... the evil gayers in Braveheart... jeez, I wonder what Gibson is trying to say!?!

[redcountess]

He didn't direct or produce the Mad Max films though, they were made by George Miller, the same man who made "Happy Feet"!

Australia has always taken the piss out of gay characters (even to an extent with "Priscilla"), but at least we didn't portray them as limp wristed as the British did in films like the Carry On series.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I tried watching a Carry On film once and had to turn it off after the first few minutes. Just don't get the appeal (and am very surprised that Morrissey likes them so much!)

[amanda-mary.livejournal.com]

And it would also be nice if Mel Gibson wasn't such an asshole in real life; I hate feeling guilty for watching his films.

Yep, yep. I really want to see The Year of Living Dangerously, because I'm getting into Peter Weir a bit and have never witnessed the infamous "Linda Hunt plays a Chinese man" performance. But I find it hard to look at him without picturing the phrase, "Jews are resopnsible for all the wars in the world," playing about his lips. Ugh.

Death Proof is a lot of fun, by the way.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I don't care what people say about Tarantino, or how many obscure films he plunders, I still enjoy his films! It makes me sad that they decided to split the Grindhouse movies here in the UK and not show the trailers. :-(

[amanda-mary.livejournal.com]

That's just not right! I hope that you're able to have the complete experience at some point (on DVD, at the very least), because it's highgly enjoyable. I don't know if either of the films are as successful independent of one another ... .

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Not only have they split the films, but they have been re-edited (stuff was added so they can be better stand-alones). I don't know who are these Marketing people but they suck.

WHAT???

[dilvsy.livejournal.com]

they didn't run Grindhouse as the double feature in England???
That royally sucks!!! The whole package with the fake trailers and everything, was what made the whole experience enjoyable!

You've been robbed!!!!

=(


(and again, I highly recommend you see Planet Terror, so much better than Death Proof!)

Re: WHAT???

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Yes, they decided to split the films because many people were leaving the cinema in America, after the first film, and were missing Death Proof and the fake trailers.

Re: WHAT???

[dilvsy.livejournal.com]

that is so stupid!

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

The Year of Living Dangerously is damned good, and Linda Hunt really deserved her Oscar (you forget it's a woman). Sigourney's fab, too. And Gibson looks so young (and therefore so unlike how he does now) that you might be able to forget how he thinks.

[amanda-mary.livejournal.com]

Aaaand ... if I add it to my Netflix queue, it's not like I'm spending any extra money on Gibson, right?

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

1) It's not "the themse are further explored in 2&3", it's "3 was a larger-budget version of 2, with added annoying children and some stunt casting".

2) It's probably OK to watch films where Gibson is simply a hired hand, and is not writer/director/producer. That way there's no subtext, just acting.

[dilvsy.livejournal.com]

Death Proof sucked. I don't know if it being lengthier, will improve it, but hopefully it does! (I like Tarantino, but this, and Jackie Brown, are the 2 films of his I liked least).
I am wondering when the hell Planet Terror will be released on dvd, as that was the better of the 2 films from the Grindhouse series.

And damn, you are making me want to watch Mad Max again, it's been decades!!!!!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Mad Max has aged well. Some bits of it still disturb, however, because of what they suggest.

[dilvsy.livejournal.com]

does beyond Thunderdome hold up still?

LOL

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I think they all do, in their own way. :-)

[dilvsy.livejournal.com]

I seriously want to rewatch them now!
I may look for any copies I can download, as I never rent anymore.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it will be easy to find downloadable copies. Maybe you could have a Mad Max session, watching all three movies back to back, in my honour. ;-)

[dilvsy.livejournal.com]

not worth me spending the money to rent them.
oh well.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

I love Preaching to the Perverted. I picked it up on DVD in New York earlier in the year and still haven't gotten round to rewatching it.

Mad Max 2 is the ultimate Mad Max movie. It's a work of true genius and almost wall to wall violence!

I am hopefully seeing Death Proof tonight. :D Did you know Tarantino's doing a personal appearance at HMV on Oxford Street at 1pm today?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

What does one do at a Tarantino personal appearance? :-P
I'd be worried he'd be rude to me.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

One tries to figure the incomprehensible queuing system, fails and finally gets to see Quentin Tarantino from about 50ft away, if one is me.

[sallypointzero.livejournal.com]

Hellol...dragon_diaries is selling tickets (at group discount price) for 'The Masque.....' for Wed. 5th Dec. I've just snapped one up and she has 5 more!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I saw! Unfortunately I am really broke at the moment. I'm waiting for Kevin to arrive on Saturday and speak to him about it. I want him to come too; he can then spot my ticket and I can confirm it. I'll let you know. :-)

[sallypointzero.livejournal.com]

I'll get, you can pay me later

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Awww thanks! But let me first hear what Kevin says beforehand. I wouldn't want you to get the tickets then find out I couldn't go!