Mad Max 2: The Australian New Wave

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The Australian Film Industry has produced some remarkable films, starting from the earliest date of 1906. Some of these films are considered to be the best films of all time within the filming industry of the world. They are also known to be produced during the time of the Australian New Wave, my chosen film movement. Throughout this essay, I will discuss in detail how the Australian New Wave was formed and what made Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and Crocodile Dundee, to an extent, a representative of Australian New Wave by discussing aspects from mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is everything we see and hear in the frame of the film. So for this particular analysis of the two films, I will be discussing aspects from mise-en-scene such as Actors…show more content…
With my first film Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, Mel Gibson does what he does best and puts on a show that made him into the successful well-known, worldwide actor that we see him as today. The Mad Max series gave Mel Gibson the opportunity to be recognized within the wider audiences around the world, especially the United States. The director George Miller created a film that felt like it was made in Hollywood with all the stunts and hugely populated scenes. By doing this it broadened up the different kinds of audience all over the world with interest. One of the things that made Mad Max 2 such a great success was not only the visuals and Mel Gibson as the main lead, but the clothing and the designs of the vehicles and props that were used. The film got several award nominations for costume designs by Norma Moriceau. His designs for the bandits were leather bondage, gear-wearing bikers with punk looking Mohawks. The film's comic-book and post-apocalyptic/punk look and style made the genre popular for fictional writing in film. With the film Crocodile Dundee, we get to see Paul Hogan in the typical Australian clothing of a cowboy hat and leather top and pants with crocodile teeth as accessories. With Paul Hogan as the star of the film, he brings to the film a good amount of jokes that leaves people laughing. With his strong Australian accent and…show more content…
Here is a quote from a review by Craig J. Koban “Like the Western, one of the most evocative of all genres, THE ROAD WARRIOR places its stock on simple themes and noble-minded anti-heroes. It also works stupendously as a pure jolt of adrenaline” [444]. With the style of the Mad Max series, they didn’t use CGI to help lead the story; instead they used their experience of cinematography and created a film that was pure. George Miller always refers to these kinds of films as “Pure Cinema”. Here is a quote from an article that I read about Crocodile Dundee, “A common stereotype of Australians is that they are good natured, down to earth, use slang, have a pragmatic sense of humour, have a larrikin streak, are free of worries and are quite adaptable” [333]. When Crocodile Dundee was released, this stereotype about Australians was introduced. This was how the rest of the world looked at Australia and expected it to be like it was in the movie, especially the people. I guess this can be considered a bad thing due to the fact that Australians might feel that this film portrayed them wrong as not all of them talk, dress and behave like Mick Dundee. Here is an example from a review “Australia's inner-city intelligentsia, who don't share the movie's sense of humour, became concerned that the movie portrayed an unrealistic image of Australians. They argued that most Australians don't have blond hair, don't

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