I kind of thought Mad Max: Fury Road would make crazy money for its opening weekend, but it made just $44 million (or thereabouts). I also thought it would win the weekend, but Pitch Perfect 2 ended up scoring just shy of $70 million this weekend too. All in all, it was a good weekend to be a lady. You had two great, well-reviewed and feminist films to choose from. Which brings me to what I wanted to talk about: Mad Max and feminism. Every woman who has seen Mad Max has raved about Charlize Theron’s Furiosa character, and how the whole film seems like a very pro-woman, feminist action film. When Charlize was at Cannes last Friday, she was asked about feminism and her answers were pretty amazing:

Charlize on whether Mad Max is ‘sort of a feminist film’: “You know what I think is even more powerful about it? That I think George didn’t have a feminist agenda up his sleeve, and I think that’s what makes the story even more powerful, especially how the women are represented in it. It’s just very truthful, and I really applaud him for that. I think when we use the word ‘feminism’ people get a little freaked out, it’s like we’re somehow, like, being put on a pedestal or anything like that. George has this innate understanding that women are just as complex and interesting as men, and he was really interested in discovering all of that. I think through just his need and want for the truth he actually made an incredible feminist movie.”

Charlize on truthful representations of women: “It’s crazy that we live in a world, not just in Hollywood, where women get paid less than men for doing the same job. And also just the representation of women in film, it hasn’t been that authentic and true. So when something comes along where women are represented in a truthful manner, all of a sudden, people really respond to it. And it’s kind of like, ‘You guys, this isn’t anything new.’”

What feminism means to her: “Feminism is such a tricky thing to throw around because I don’t think a lot of people know what women mean when they speak in that articulation. Really, what it boils down to is just equal rights.”

[From Fox News and HuffPo]

The “pedestal” quote is interesting. I don’t think there’s a complaint that “feminism” means women need to be put on pedestals. I think to many of the MRA-types, the complaint is that feminism means women in charge of everything, not equality between the sexes. But I agree with Charlize’s larger statements, which are basically that this is a feminist film because it has a fully realized, complicated and capable female lead.

Photos courtesy of WENN.