Mad Max Continuity Doesn’t Matter, And That’s The Point

Viewing the entire Mad Max saga as a series of campfire stories makes the most sense because we don’t have a definitive timeline but still want to bear witness to these post-apocalyptic happenings in the most stylish way possible.

Not unlike a series of religious texts recounting events from past centuries or millennia, we’re dealing with composite characters who were cobbled together through a long and troubled oral history that was established for the sake of perseverance and posterity. In this context, the franchise can go on forever because Mad Max isn’t a real person, but rather a near-mythological being whose actions will be revered throughout the ages as a Christ-like figure.

In my mind, the Mad Max in Fury Road is the same guy from the original trilogy, but he’s also an entirely different person. What we’re witnessing is the legend of Mad Max, and by extension, Furiosa, as the campfire stories evolve throughout the years.

In an effort to figure out Tom Hardy’s role in Mad Max: Fury Road, fans have suggested that this version of the titular character is actually the feral child from The Road Warrior. He remembers “Mad” Max Rockatansky’s heroic actions, and when he’s prompted by Furiosa to give her his name during their violent odyssey through the war-torn outback, he thinks about it for a second before telling her his name is Max. Thinking that he has become the living embodiment of the “original” Mad Max, this young man adopts the persona because there’s no real way to prove or disprove his identity.

While this is a solid Mad Max fan theory at face-value, George Miller has refuted these claims when asked directly if that was his intention, which makes the idea of campfire stories all the more valid.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga can be similarly viewed as another addition to the catalog of campfire stories as a means to piece together the ballsy heroin’s origin story that we were unaware of at the time of Fury Road’s release. In the 2015 film, we hear about the ever-elusive and highly sought-after Green Place of Many Mothers, but we never get that payoff. All we know is that Furiosa is a certified badass with a missing arm, was held captive in the Citadel under Immortan Joe’s rule, and was ready to blow the whole place sky-high as soon as she saw the right opportunity.

Imagine that you lived trough the events that took place in Fury Road, and wanted to tell people about what you just saw. All you know is that some woman with a shaved head and a prosthetic arm went on an absolute rampage in her quest to find her home that you’re not so certain actually exists. While sitting around a campfire in the desert with your friends, trying to unpack the entire ordeal, you’ll probably come up with a few stories to pass the time.

While trying to distract yourself from the harrowing day-to-day life you’ve been living since surviving the apocalypse, you’ll turn to campfire stories about Mad Max and Furiosa, the saviors of the wasteland who ended Immortan Joe’s tyrannical reign.

The same can be said about Dementus, who may or may not have actually existed as portrayed in Furiosa.

But as the decades pass, these campfire stories become more elaborate, epic, and triumphant as the celebrated characters, and their actions, transform from events that actually happened to folklore that just about sums everything up while also entertaining those sitting around the fire wondering when their next meal will be.

Within the fiction that Mad Max establishes, it makes the most sense if you think of Mad Max, Furiosa, Immortan Joe, Dementus, Auntie Entity, Jededia the Pilot, and even Master Blaster, as composite characters who were created through generations of campfire stories. These people, or versions of them, certainly existed at some point in the timeline, but these aren’t the people we’re seeing on-screen. Instead, we’re seeing representations of their reputations as these stories have been passed down from generation to generation.

In this context, continuity doesn’t matter in the Mad Max universe because we’re watching an oral history play out over the decades.

It doesn’t matter if Furiosa is portrayed by Charlize Theron or Anya Taylor-Joy. It doesn’t matter if Mad Max is Mel Gibson or Tom Hardy. The important part, which I think is the entire point of the franchise, is to keep these stories alive so people can cling onto something that keeps them pressing forward through the wasteland until peace is restored.