Popular Culture Review Vol. 3, No. 2, August 1992 | Page 57

The Transformation of Mad Max 53 nuclear war Charles Bronson figure of the Death Wish movies, to an unwilling self-sacrifice and the continuing desire to be alone and selfsufficient, like Shane, to a final conunitment to the future of the race, and a self-sacrifice that will allow this. The Mad Max films, then move from the simplistic biker gang nonsense of the first film, through an increasing complexity and strange murderous revenge motif, to a joyful participation in fte rebirth of decent human society; from a devastated landscape to the reclamation of farms and cities; from the death of a child, to the births of babies of the cargo cult clan and the promise of a future for all children. Westminster College Patricia Frazer Lamb Filins: Mad Max. George Miller, director. Australia: Kennedy-Miller Productions, 1979. James McCausland and George Miller, screenwriters. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. George Miller and George Ogilvie, directors. Australia: Kennedy-Miller Productions, 1985. Terry Hayes and George Miller, screenwriters. The Road Warrior. George Miller, director. Australia: Kennedy-Miller Productions, 1981. Terry Hayes, George Miller and Brian Hannant, screenwriters.