Mad Max and Philosophy

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