Episode 168: Visions of the Wasteland: On George Miller's 'Mad Max' Films

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel — Wed, 01 May 2024 10:30:00 -0400

There are artists who express the vision of a place, person, or thing so vividly and originally that it sets the bar for all future imaginings. With his four Mad Max films, this is what George Miller did with the image of the Wasteland. No one has been able to capture the stark, raw energy and chaotic beauty of a post-apocalyptic desert quite like Miller. His portrayal not only defines the aesthetic of a cinematic world but also prompts us to think about the meaning of civilization, technology, humanity, and how they intertwine. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss how Mad Max challenges our perception of civilization, and our conception of the human.

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REFERENCES

George Miller (dir.), Mad Max
George Miller (dir.), Mad Max: The Road Warrior
George Miller (dir.), Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdrome
George Miller (dir.), Mad Max: Fury Road
Jaroslav Hašek, The Good Soldier Švejk
Stanley Kubrick (dir.), A Clockwork Orange
Sam Raimi (dir), The Quick and the Dead
Joe Bob Briggs, movie critic
Phil Ford, “The Wanderer”
Felix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze, Nomadology
Our Known Friend, Meditations on the Tarot

Episode 100: The Price of Beauty is Horror: On the Films of John Carpenter

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 10:30:00 -0400

Central to the tradition of cosmic horror is the suggestion that the ultimate truth about our universe is at once knowable and unthinkable, such that one learns it only at the cost of one's sanity and soul. John Carpenter is one of a handful of horror directors to have successfully ported this idea from literature to cinema. This episode is an attempt to unearth some of the eldritch symbols buried in a selection of Carpenter's apocalyptic works, including Escape from New York, The Thing, They Live,_ In the Mouth of Madness_, and the little known Cigarette Burns.

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REFERENCES

John Carpenter films discussed:
The Thing
Cigarette Burns
In the Mouth of Madness
Prince of Darkness
Halloween
They Live
Escape from New York
Escape from L.A.
Big Trouble in Little China

Other References:

Pascal Laugier (dir.), Martyrs
Srdjan Spasojevic (dir.), A Serbian Film
Weird Studies, Episode 90 on The Owl in Daylight
Roger Corman, American director
Northrup Frye, Words with Power
J. R. R. Tolkien, forward to The Fellowship of the Ring
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guatarri, “Percept, Affect, and Concept” in What is Philosophy
Weird Studies, Episode 72 on the Castrati
Weird Studies, Episode 46, Thomas Ligotti’s Angel
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”
China Mieville, British author
Karlheinz Stockhausen, comments on 9/11
H. P. Lovecraft, Nyarlothotep
H. P. Lovecraft, “The Haunter of the Dark”
Nick Land, Fanged Noumena
Zack Snyder, American director
Haeccaity and Quiddity, philosophical concepts
Samuel Delaney, Dahlgren
Weird Studies, Episode 98 on Exotica
Quentin Meillasoux, After Finitude
Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies

Weird Studies - Episodes Tagged with “Apocalypse”

Episode 168: Visions of the Wasteland: On George Miller's 'Mad Max' Films

Episode 100: The Price of Beauty is Horror: On the Films of John Carpenter