Another interesting theme was innocence versus experience (or perhaps youth versus age), with the War Boys and the young Wives at one end, Immortan Joe and the Vuvalini at the other, and Furiosa and Max balanced on the fulcrum between the two. (What's the saying about youth and enthusiasm being defeated by age and treachery? These two characters still possess youthful strength and vigor, as well as the wisdom and knowledge of older, seasoned fighters, and I think their ages are not incidental to the plot.)

I know there is a lot of rahrah about feminism and all that jazz, but to me the real guts of this movie is Power. What are sources of power, what people do to get for power, what people do to keep power. Obviously, Immortan has the most Power - but how? He has the Citadel - the impregnible source of water and food. He controls all access to the healthy water. The water lets him get the gas and the bullets, and lets him give out life to those he wants. So he literally controls the life and death of everyone... Max's power is his madness - his ability to do anything to survive. But as with all the Mad Max movies he raises the question - is survival enough? Furiosa has power too - she has the power of competence. She is a person of importance to the Warboys: an Imperator. She has led the Warboys many times and has their trust and respect. But she herself raises the question - is it right to give up her decency and humanity for a place in Immortan Joe's World? The Wives appear to have no power - they are treasures for Immortan Joe. But they too have power - they are the only ones who can bring life into this world. Strangely this is possibly a higher power than Joe's, and when they get away they are able to use this power - this power of birth and creation - to scare Joe and drive him away a number of times. Whats amazing is the other warlords (Gun Farmer and People Eater) point how how much "wealth" is being expended in the attempt to recapture the Wives, and even though they try to dismiss Immortan's obsession, they are just as committed to reclaiming the Wives. They, as mothers, have more power than anyone - they just have to manipulate things to be able to claim it. Its shown in it's best way how Capable converts Nux to their cause. How all the indoctrination and violence of Immortan's teachings are worn away by the Empathy of the Wives.

Interesting you should say that. I actually found the Wives quite disparate. Splendid is anything but innocent, she can manipulate with the best of them. And Toast (the dark gunslinging Wife) is extremely bitter and cynical about everything But freedom vs entrapment - same grouping - makes a little more sense. Joe is more free to do what he wants, he has the whole power structure below him. The Vuvalini are also free - but more because they do not have anyone beholden to them - and similarly not beholden to anyone either. Both groups have set their own goals and have the ability to pursue those goals (with varying degrees of success). The wives and the warboys are totally entrapped by the society around them, and both have no real choice in the actions in their lives. The Warboys are ammunition - expendable cannon fodder. While the wives are breeding stock - kept well fed and pampered so that they will give rise to the next generation. Max and Furiosa are half way through - they have more knowledge of the world and how it works than the Warboys, and have more freedom to act than the Wives...

Matriarchy versus patriarchy. Rebellion by the former against the repression and exploitation by the latter. Another theme is the insane sacrificial/suicidal True Believer mentality (so trenchantly analyzed by Eric Hoffer). This is Nux's character arc -- transforming his consciousness from insanity to sanity, overcoming the delusion that if he can only sacrifice his life for Immortan Joe he will win a reward in the afterlife, in "Valhalla". An allusion, I venture, to the suicidal acts of "heroism" that have become standard operating procedure in fundamentalist (aka: True Believer) terrorism.

Let me add a few more themes to the mix, ones taken straight from dialogue. "As the world fell, each of us in our own ways were broken." "If you can't fix what's broken, you'll go insane..." Both spoken by Max. The first line is from his opening voiceover. I believe the second line is something he says to Furiosa. I think this idea of "brokenness" ties in with this exchange: Nux: We're not to blame! The Splendid Angharad: Then who killed the World? The World itself is fundamentally broken to the point of being 'killed' at least in the experience of most folks. Of course, Max himself is broken, a profound state of Disunity, wracked by visions and guilt of his tragic past, a survivor in a hellish world. Given this as a starting point for his transformation-journey, it seems fitting that what he chooses to do in the end is get the Women back to the Citadel, crush a broken system that Immortan Joe had created, and at least make a gesture toward unbreaking things (the seeds are symbolic of that, plants, new life, propagation). So brokenness. Here are two motifs which Max tips off, again from the opening V.O.: "My name is Max. My world is fire and blood." Fire. Plenty of that in the story. Blood. We have already tracked his role as a blood bag, first with Nux, then with Furiosa. Actually just look at the entirety of Max's opening dialogue: "My name is Max. My world is fire and blood. Once, I was a cop. A road warrior searching for a righteous cause. As the world fell, each of us in our own ways were broken. It was hard to tell who was more crazy... me... or everyone else." Every single talking point here is paid off in the story: * Road warrior ---> The journey to Green Places and back to the Citadel. * Righteous Cause ---> Helping Furiosa deliver the Wives and the Old Women to the Citadel. * Fire and blood (see above). * Broken (see above). That leaves crazy which circles us back to the line: "If you can't fix what's broken, you'll go insane..." So he is unsure of his sanity at the beginning. Perhaps by helping to make a move toward unbreaking what is broken, he determines that is not insane. Sometimes characters just come right out and say what some of the key themes and motifs are.