Mad Max and Philosophy

How do Max's choices illuminate the meaning of life? Can Furiosa inspire feminist revolution? Does life need to be nasty, brutish, and short in the wasteland? What is the real cost of guzzoline? What is "good" when you're on the road or in the Thunderdome? Why is violence not the same as power for Lord Humungus and Immortan Joe? Don't be fooled by the crashing cars and beautifully choreographed violence-the Mad Max franchise is ultimately about human redemption. In fact, these apocalyptic, futuristic films can tell us a lot about ourselves today. From a work-a-day policeman with a family, to a lost soul who is more than once mistaken as a savior, Max rebuilt himself and the world around him. In Mad Max and Philosophy, philosophers, political scientists, historians, and writers all come together to think through the wasteland, covering all of George Miller's Mad Max films, including Mad Max: Fury Road. The chapters in this volume explore everything from ethics and politics in an apocalyptic world, to the importance of costumes and music, to nature, commerce, madness, and more. Mad Max fans are in for the intellectual ride of a lifetime.

MATTHEW P. MEYER is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He has contributed chapters to several books in the Wiley "And Philosophy" series, as well as journal articles covering Nietzsche, Mystic River, environmental ethics, and colonialism. DAVID KOEPSELL is an entrepreneur, author, philosopher, attorney, and educator whose recent research focuses on the issues arising at the intersection of science, technology, ethics, and public policy. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at Texas A&M University.

Notes on Contributors viii Introduction: Doing Philosophy in the Wasteland xiv Acknowledgments xvi Part I Politics after the Pox-Eclipse: Anarchy, State, and Dystopia 1 1 Post-apocalyptic Anarchism in Mad Max 3
Aeon J. Skoble 2 Even on the Road, Violence Is Not the Same as Power 11
Anthony Petros Spanakos and Ian J. Drake 3 Thomas Hobbes and the State of Nature in the Wasteland 19
Greg Littmann 4 The Political Economy of Bartertown: Embeddedness of Markets, Peak Oil, the Tragedy of the Commons, and Lifeboat Ethics 29
Paul Thomas 5 From Wee Jerusalem to Fury Road: Does Mad Max Depict a Post-apocalyptic Dystopia? 38
Clint Jones Part II The Man with No Name: Heroes and Finding Oneself Post-apocalypse Style 49 6 "Pray He's Still out There": Heroism in the Mad Max Films 51
Karen Joan Kohoutek 7 Bloodbags and Artificial Arms: Bodily Parthood in Mad Max: Fury Road 60
Joshua L. Tepley 8 The Meaning of Life According to Mad Max: Fury Road 71
Kiki Berk Part III Building a Better Tomorrow! Ethics in Mad Max 83 9 What Saves the World? Care and Ecofeminism 85
Leigh Kellmann Kolb 10 Seeking the Good Life in the Wasteland 95
Andrew Kuzma 11 "We're Not to Blame!" Responsibility in the Wasteland 106
Justin Kitchen 12 "Look, Any Longer out on That Road and I'm One of Them, You Know?": Madness in Mad Max 116
Matthew P. Meyer 13 Justice, Reason, and the Road Warrior: A Mechanic Reads Plato 126
David H. Gordon Part IV Mother's Milk: Gender and Intersectionality 135 14 Homecoming as Homemaking: The Rise of the Matriarchy in Mad Max: Fury Road 137
Daniel Conway 15 Liberating Mother's Milk: Imperator Furiosa's Ecofeminist Revolution 148
Jacob Quick 16 Demarginalizing Aunty Entity and Dismantling Thunderdome 159
Edwardo Pérez and Thanayi Jackson 17 Gayboy Berserkers at the Gate: Sex and Gender in the Wasteland 170
Jacob M. Held Part V Wasteland Aesthetics: Music, Fashion, Australia, and Nature 181 18 Driving Insanity, Chaos, and Emotion: The Music of Mad Max: Fury Road 183
Lance Belluomini 19 Carapaces and Prosthetics: What Humans Wear in Mad Max: Fury Road 195
Laura T. Di Summa 20 Does It Matter How Australian the Apocalypse Is? 203
Greg Littmann 21 The Moral Aesthetics of Nature: Bioconservativism in Mad Max 215
David Koepsell Index 226