Genre Character of the Week: Max Rockatansky

Realizing I hadn't talked about my personal favourite sub-genre (post-apocalyptic) in a little while, I figured that this weeks character should be a classic of that sub-genre for me - so I picked the character who first got me excited about the genre - Max Rockatansky (aka, Mad Max, aka The Road Warrior).

As a kid, I first watched Max in the film The Road Warrior on a cable network called Superchannel (a movie network in Canada). I had no idea that the film was a sequel and was simply in awe of this strange world filled with marauders and villains who terrorized anyone they came across. Max shows up as an emotionally shut down loner, completely unwilling to help the only group of decent people the film introduces us to, until he looses pretty much everything he owns and effectively has no choice.

What I loved about this film (not counting the costumes or that amazing boomerang!), was how in-depth it got into the character of Max without saying anything directly. It didn't tell me about Max, it simply showed me who he was. Max was someone who had lost everything and was merely surviving, not living. By the end of the film he begins to connect a little with the people around him, but for me this larger-than-life character started my interest in post-apocalyptic stories.

As an older teen I found Max Max and then re-watched the Road warrior just before Thunderdome came out. As a series, Max goes through a lot more emotionally than you would expect from your average run-of-the-mill action flicks. Although the last two films as they are among my personal favourites, check out all three if you want to see Max's entire journey - they are definitely worth the viewing.