movies

After watching Furiosa, I almost felt something for Immortan Joe.

• His alliance holds together the logistics of the only livable towns for maybe hundreds of miles, the next nearest nice place is the Land of Many Mothers
• They actually grow their own food, many other people in outlying areas are forced to live as nomads or bandits
• He's trying to conserve water, that aquifer might not last forever, and it's implied that the oceans might be gone, so there probably isn't a ton of rain or fresh water
• He reasonably tries to bargain with Dementus until it's obvious that Dementus needs to be crushed and have his bandit group dissolved
• He keeps a standing army, but who doesn't? Someone has to be prepared to fight so that the civilians can live peaceful and productive lives, and his cult of personality gives the War Boys something to do. Without that order, they would join or form raider bands.

But then after rewatching Fury Road I thought, no, I was right the first time - Keeping women as slaves for breeding is fucked-up. Maybe it's supposed to be for fixing the half-life blood poison thing, but they obviously don't want to be there, because they all beg Furiosa to help them escape.

Dementus is just so annoying and so familiar that I hated him more. Joe and his dynasty are selfish rapists, Dementus is selfish and also a thief who can't build civilization to save his own life, he just steals and breaks shit and promises his followers that they'll get a piece of the loot before everything is burned down. Like the President in my country.

Immortan Joe might be Bill Clinton, but Dementus is certainly Trump.