Re-casting nature as feminist space in Mad Max: Fury Road. (October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yates, Michelle
• Is Part Of: Science fiction film and television. Volume 10:Number 3(2017)
• Page Start: 353
• Page End: 370
• Publication Date: 2017-10
• Subjects: Keywords: -- Mad Max Fury Road -- environment -- feminism -- gender -- nature -- Edenic recovery narrative -- captivity narrative -- ecofeminism; Science fiction films -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Science fiction television programs -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; 791.43615
• DOI: 10.3828/sfftv.2017.24
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1754-3770

Abstract

Abstract : This article shows how Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) transforms nature into a space of feminist possibility. In particular, I show how the film disrupts a dominant narrative within Western environmentalism, what Carolyn Merchant calls the Edenic recovery narrative. The traditional Edenic recovery narrative reproduces the dyadic relationship between woman/nature as passive (object) and man as active agent (subject). Yet, in disrupting the traditional Edenic recovery narrative, Fury Road allows for a representation of female nature that breaks from its traditionally accorded passive status. In the film, female nature gains agency not traditionally accorded to it. In this way, the film draws connections between women and nature, not in the service of capitalist patriarchy, but rather, as Alaimo writes, to re-cast nature as feminist space.