Mad Max: A Great Movie or Feminist Propaganda?

A Hollywood-based feminist activist group has infiltrated the creators of recently the released, Mad Max: Fury Road and secretly maneuvered behind the movie-making scenes in a bid to send feminist propaganda to a big screen near you.

Or has it?

It’s more difficult to tell than you might think, and a scuffle on the subject has erupted on the internet.

After the movie finally hit the cinemas, many have been quick to point out the fact that female “co-star” Charlize Theron (Imperator Furiosa) took more of a lead role and got stuck into the fighting more than frontman Tom Hardy (Mad Max).

One website being cited as a “men’s rights activist” by several, ReturnOfKings.com has found itself staunchly in the firing line of the mainstream press after it claimed that Mad Max: Fury Road should be boycotted. The so-called “menicist” article stated:

“So do yourself and all men across the world a favor. Not only REFUSE to see the movie, but spread the word to as many men as possible. Not all of them have the keen eye we do here at ROK.”

But it seems the author of the above comment, Aaron Clarey, is not alone in his assertions and comments have been appearing around the web to back up this idea. One article, written by The Poke, added comments from the news source, Daily Mail, to Mad Max promotional flyers stating things like,”Be a man and boycott this feminist propperganda.”

Possibly helping to fuel idea that there’s a feminist agenda portrayed in Mad Max is the fact that the popular feminist writer behind The Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler, was a consultant for the movie.

In an interview with Time magazine, Ensler was exclaiming her surprise when she got asked to fly to Namibia to work alongside the latest Mad Max flick.

“I think [director] George Miller heard me give a talk on human rights in Sydney. He asked me if I would be willing to come to Namibia for a week where they were shooting and work with the cast members—particularly the wives.”

Some of the feminist community, including feministfrequency.com have spoken out against this approach to create feminine heroes in the movie place.

We’re starved for representations of powerful women but we need to re-imagine concepts of power & move beyond the glorification of violence.

— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) May 19, 2015

A number of mainstream news outlets seemingly went on a simultaneous critique of ReturnOfKings.com, drawing particular attention to its About Us page that simply states:

“Women and homosexuals are strongly discouraged from commenting here.”

News sources, including CNN the Huffington Post, Guardian have criticized the article, the latter publication of which describes ‘ROK’ readers as the “man-o-sphere.” Details of a Mad Max: Fury Road sequel were recently revealed, so it will be interesting to find out if the recent events will shape decisions therein.

Is the new Mad Max movie a flat out piece of feminist propaganda that would inevitably set the ‘man-o-sphere’ ablaze, or was it the awesome movie we were all waiting for?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

[Photo via Mad Max: Fury Road website / Warner Bros. Pictures]