Recommendation: No Prehensilizing

I recently stumbled upon the tumblr account No Prehensilizing, a blog run by a 24-year-old graduate of film and philosophy.  She shares many of my obsessions (Marvel, Starkid, Doctor Who, Mad Max), and she writes wonderfully intelligent critiques of popular media.  Here are some of my favorite essays she has written, though I suggest you check out the whole blog!

I’m loving her site, and I hope you find something enjoyable there as well!

Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road was not on my radar until I learned that Men’s Rights Activists were protesting it (sight unseen, mostly) because it was “feminist propaganda.”  There aren’t many other phrases that will draw my attention quite so quickly.  I knew it was an extremely violent movie, so I did a ton of pre-movie research.  I quizzed a friend who had seen it, read dozens of articles about it, and googled “how gross is mad max fury road.”  It wasn’t until a friend texted and said she was interested in seeing it (also because of its ties to feminism) that I decided to bite the bullet and go to the theater.

I needn’t have worried so much.  It is definitely a violent movie, but I was relieved to see that the violence is mostly insinuated rather than shown.  It also helped that, thanks to my research, I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen.  Once I realized that the film wasn’t going to try to gross me out, I got lost in its story.

(So many spoilers ahead.  You’re forewarned.) Continue reading