I should ask for a refund of my $19.95, shouldn’t I? (Goddamn, has the Chinese Theater gotten spendy!)
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You seem to be saying “Either everything is objectification or nothing is—so nothing is.” It’s the kind of convenient false dichotomy that spares us having to think, but I like thinking.
Let’s look at those scenes. The “nekkid Valkyrie” was, as Max tells us, bait. She had a reason to be there, and she had a reason to be naked. It certainly could have been filmed in an objectifying way—we would have gotten lingering pans across her bare legs and belly, or boobs pressed together with her upper arms. She would have had a seductive expression on her face, which would have made no sense in the context of the world (the war rig was too far away to see her expression) but would have satisfied the implied male gaze in the audience. Instead, we got shots of her from a distance, in about the least titillating way possible, which fit in neatly with the audience POV in the cab of the war rig. Miller didn’t bend or break the logic of the scene to satisfy horny dudes, even though it would have been trivial to do so. It was as sexy as the nude scene in Life of Brian.
The water scene was addressed to the male gaze—one male gaze in particular. Max’s. We got lingering shots of sexy wet women because we were in Max’s head, and he was momentarily gobsmacked when he came around the corner and saw them. It’s not innately objectifying for a film to show us a man being distracted by beautiful women. (See Under the Skin, which is as far from sexy as you can get, despite a frequently naked Scarlett Johansson.) It had reasons for being there: It was funny by contrast, it made character sense for the women in the context of a rest stop after a long dirty ride in an oil tank, and it illuminated Max’s character—he didn’t drop his guard, didn’t try to join up with them, didn’t flirt. Even if there were no horny men in the audience, it would have had reasons for being there—and after Max got over his momentary gobsmackedness, the lingering shots went away, and we began learning about the women as characters.
Again, the presence of scantily-clad women is not, in and of itself, proof of objectification. Going out of the way to satisfy the implied male gaze of the audience with scantily-clad women is.
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This discussion thread (and the Redlettermedia review, to a lesser extent) solidified my wish to see this movie again — this time in IMAX, while I still can. I’m going tomorrow.
Are there any particular things I should pay special attention to on a second viewing, while I’m not busy translating the dialog for my mom?
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I’d say he’s quite good it! That is at making my head hurt, trying to understand his point of view.
Poor half-life warboys, needing a top-up from a full-life blood bag like Max.
I’d never heard “sickly mutant kid” referred to as half-lives before, and it’s perfect.
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Thats ones of the reasons I want to watch the film again, all the new slang to pick up on.
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Great point.
the obvious name would be “Water World”
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I am a horny dude, and I didn’t even notice the nipples you are complaining about…this was a great movie, get a life!
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Start with Borderlands 2. I kinda hated Borderlands, the first game. Two fixed a lot of gameplay issues that bothered me, and I loved it. If you play 2 and like it, then you can move on to the pre-sequel game that came after.
Speak for yourself, pal. I definitely noticed. But it was all in context, and hardly exploitative.
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The big yellow arrow in the last pic completely made this comment for me. 
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Who’s complaining? I was merely calling out the reviewer for a transparent double standard.
And it was a terrible movie - one of the dumbest I’ve seen in years. I guess you liked “Battlefield Earth” as well?
Yes, it’s purpose was titillation.
It’s a scene presented as such, and it ends by showing you a big, pregnant belly. It’s meant to knock you off balance. It wants you to objectify these woman before you realise they are slaves who have been regularly raped.
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Also I as think stated earlier, from Max’s POV of well wait hello this is not what I expected, then aha I know why they are running away now.
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hmm… let’s see here, 98% on rotten tomatoes 89% on meta critic… yeah, we’re the crazy ones!
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well more to the point, Max’s priorities are: OMG they have water! Followed by they have a vehicle and weapons and when he had to take any of them he went for only the one who can drive.
To Max a bunch of supermodels mean absolutely nothing but liability.
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I feel like the plastic armor is less a protection from attack and just defense for sensitive skin.
Assuming that it’s radiation poisoning that they suffer from, it’s an even better term. I love the language d/evolution that they play with in these films.
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One review I read described it as bullet-proof.
