In the latest episode of our podcast, Christoper and I welcome two of our friends, and friends of the podcast, Joe Belfeuil and Clelia Sweeney, to discuss George Miller’s feature debut, Mad Max (1979). But we don’t stop there, weaving into our discussion all of the franchise, including the most recent one, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). Indeed, we wanted to discuss the original ozploitation film right now because of the success of this most recent film.

Much has been written lately about the portrayal and role of women in the film, and how feminist the film really is. Indeed, it feels like the film has been having more of a pop cultural impact so far this summer season than the heavy hitter Avengers: Age of Ultron — and perhaps has more of a positive feminist message as well.

So we use this public conversation about feminism as the foundation for our discussion on the original film and all of its sequels. We weave in examinations of violence, dystopia and masculinity to understand the messages of the films and how they relate to their historical periods.

As always, would love to hear your thoughts — do you agree with how we connect the ideas of violence, dystopia, violence, and feminism together across these four films?