Setting of Mad Max from first movie to second/third
I believe from the hints in the original Mad Max movie and the intro from the second Mad Max movie that the original Mad Max movie was placed after the decline-of-society-events (later established as a nuclear war over energy resources in 2 and 3). The hints in the original movie seem to be:
- The police station seems worn down and wrecked beyond what one might expect
- Populations seem extremely limited, sparse (As a counter: could be either just Australia or limited production budget)
- The government's ability to respond to crime seemed extremely limited
- Government overall seemed relatively unorganized and make-shift
Yet even so the original Mad Max setting seemed more or less modern civilization (it was a place where people took vacations from their job, and could reasonably expect ice cream shops to be on beaches), yet in Mad Max 2 and 3 society is instead near comical levels of post-apocalyptic with only barbaric traces of modern society remaining.
Further, the intro of Mad Max 2 seems to establish the apocalyptic events happening before Mad Max 1. In the intro narration it's said that (portions removed to shorten the passage):
...two mighty warrior tribes went to war... Their world crumbled. The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice. And in this maelstrom of decay, ordinary men were battered and smashed... men like Max... the warrior Max. In the roar of an engine, he lost everything...
Ignoring the titular character, the original Mad Max and the two sequels seem to be in entirely distinct, separate universes.
Is there an in-universe explanation for this apparent discrepancy?
(Note: I haven't seen Fury Road yet, so perhaps that explains something. If there's answers there, feel free to draw from it for your answer without fear of spoiling)
Best Answer
The explanation is in the part of the quote that you omitted:
Narrator: My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos... ruined dreams... this wasted land. But most of all, I remember The Road Warrior. The man we called "Max." To understand who he was, you have to go back to another time... when the world was powered by the black fuel... and the desert sprouted great cities of pipe and steel. Gone now... swept away. For reasons long forgotten, two mighty warrior tribes went to war, and touched off a blaze which engulfed them all. Without fuel they were nothing. They'd built a house of straw. The thundering machines sputtered and stopped.
Their leaders talked and talked and talked. But nothing could stem the avalanche.
Their world crumbled. The cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting, a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was a white line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice. And in this maelstrom of decay, ordinary men were battered and smashed... men like Max... the warrior Max. In the roar of an engine, he lost everything... and became a shell of a man... a burnt-out, desolate man, a man haunted by the demons of his past, a man who wandered out into the wasteland. And it was here, in this blighted place, that he learned to live again. –IMDB
There is no discrepancy. There is an ever decreasing amount of what's left of what was. These are not separate universes, it's a continuation of a dystopian society's descent into a post-apocalyptic world.
Mad Max takes place somewhere between building this "house of straw" and when the "thundering machines sputtered and stopped."
This intro establishes the apocalyptic events happening before Mad Max 1 that the world was headed irreversibly into a further state of dystopia, which culminated in global thermonuclear war.
If you can still get ice-cream, and gasoline at the pump, 'it' hasn't happened yet. Because as we all know, "Ice is civilization."
Do not confuse the 'decline of society' with all out nuclear war. One could say that the first movie takes place in present day; ever been to Detroit, or heard of ISIS? Are we not currently, in our own :
"maelstrom of decay"
Fury Road was lauded for explaining nothing, so I wouldn't bother trying to find any insight there. The Narrator's intro covers everything; front to back. Indeed however, these settings are quite distinct. The first movie was before, everything else is after.
Pictures about "Setting of Mad Max from first movie to second/third"
What is the setting of Mad Max?
Taking place in a dystopian Australia in the near future, Mad Max tells the story of a highway patrolman cruising the squalid back roads that have become the breeding ground of criminals foraging for gasoline and scraps.What is the chronological order of Mad Max movies?
- 1.1 Mad Max (1979)
- 1.2 Mad Max 2 (1981)
- 1.3 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
- 1.4 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
- 1.5 Furiosa (2024)
- 1.6 Mad Max: The Wasteland (TBA)
What year is Mad Max 3 set in?
The events of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome provide a date: 1999 written by Cpt. Walker, signifying his departure from the Crack In The Earth in search of civilization. That would be 10 years before the downfall of the society even begun in the comic book.Are all Mad Max movies connected?
Yes, some of them. First movie is followed by a sequel, Road Warrior. It is a direct sequel, following Max, who lost his family and friends to biker gang and is traveling alone through the wasteland. You can even notice his costume in Road Warrior and his injury are closely related to the events from the first one.Making of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
More answers regarding setting of Mad Max from first movie to second/third
Answer 2
@Mazura is spot on. In the first film society is in terminal decay leading to an apocalypse which takes place between Mad Max and The Road Warrior.
Mad Max: Dystopia.
The Road Warrior: Post Apocalypse.
Beyond Thunderdome: Post Apocalypse.
Fury Road: Post Apocalypse.
The prologue of the Fury Road prequel comic chronicles the events of the first three films, the breakdown of society - the apocalypse - the post apocalypse.
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