{"id":214,"date":"2016-02-29T08:43:06","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T08:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeatthemovies\/?p=214"},"modified":"2016-11-22T09:23:03","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T09:23:03","slug":"their-better-selves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeatthemovies\/2016\/02\/their-better-selves.html","title":{"rendered":"Their better selves"},"content":{"rendered":"

DVD movie commentary<\/strong><\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t win best picture at tonight\u2019s Academy Awards, but Mad Max Fury Road<\/em> (2015, USA) took home six statuettes nevertheless, for technical achievements. It was also nominated for best picture and director. Is there more to this film than big budget special effects? What do viewers take with them, cerebrally, after watching this film? What is it about? It is about finding our better selves.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>
Image sourced via google images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fury Road<\/em> is an action film that draws you in and takes you into this dog eats dog world.\u00a0But taking a moment to detach is a natural response to the mayhem and graphic violence\u2014and you got to ask, what are we being drawn into?<\/p>\n

The graphic incidents are not worth repeating here, but suffice to say that Fury Road<\/em> is a wild chase movie in the desert with a nihilistic worldview: no meaning or purpose in life and a rejection of morality, institutions and religion. It is doubtful a Citadel that keeps the water supplies for a select few is the exception.<\/p>\n

\"George<\/a>
George Miller (Pictured) directed Mad Max Fury Road. Image sourced via google images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is no guiding philosophy, as if that was blown off the map, because philosophy and guiding principles had not worked in the pre-apocalyptic world.<\/p>\n

However, when the old world fails, the world still becomes a place where people need to seek their \u2018better selves\u2019.<\/p>\n

Even at the end of the world, when destruction should have obliterated goodness, finding a ‘better self’ is still present.<\/p>\n

A better self goes deeper than a principle or guide. It goes to the very heart and soul and enables someone to live a better life.<\/p>\n

This is the great need exposed in Fury Road<\/em>.\u00a0 In the Mad Max world, inner transformation is needed to solve the problems within one\u2019s self.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DVD movie commentary It didn\u2019t win best picture at tonight\u2019s Academy Awards, but Mad Max Fury Road (2015, USA) took home six statuettes nevertheless, for technical achievements. It was also nominated for best picture and director. Is there more to this film than big budget special effects? What do viewers take with them, cerebrally, after…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":602,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,317],"tags":[6,26,33,46,8,10,9,16,7,24,12,25,29],"class_list":["post-214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-action-movies","category-survival","tag-action-movies","tag-change","tag-drama","tag-existentialism","tag-film","tag-film-commentaries","tag-film-reviews","tag-life","tag-movies","tag-problems","tag-second-chance","tag-survival-movies","tag-thriller"],"yoast_head":"\nTheir better selves - Life at the Movies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mad Max Fury Road won six Oscars--but what is it about? Survival, dog eats dog world, and finding our better selves. 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