At first glance, the post-apocalyptic wastelands of Mad Max: Furiosa and the abstract canvases of Mark Rothko are worlds apart.

Keep reading to find out why there’s a oily Rothko smeared across the forehead of Furiosa.

Landscapes of desolation

In Mad Max: Furiosa, director George Miller crafts a world of vast, barren deserts and rusted machinery painting a picture of decay and desolation. This apocalyptic setting becomes a canvas for human struggle, resilience, and hope.

Rothko’s paintings, characterised by their large swaths of colour, evoke a sense of vastness and isolation. You lose yourself in the expansive fields of colour in Rothko’s work, much like the endless sands of Miller’s dystopian landscape.

In Furiosa, the barren world reflects the internal emptiness and yearning for redemption in its characters. Rothko’s canvases, with their layered colours, suggest a deep, often melancholic introspection. The emotional impact of a Rothko painting comes from its stark depths, exactly the same way as the brutal beauty of Mad Max elicits a visceral reaction.

The Struggle for redemption

Furiosa’s journey through the wasteland is a physical battle and a deeply emotional one. Furiosa’s character is layered with pain, hope, and a fierce determination to find a better future. This journey mirrors the emotional complexity found in Rothko’s work. His paintings, described as spiritual and existential, probe the depths of human emotion and the search for meaning.

Visual impact and emotional resonance

Miller’s dynamic cinematography, with its sweeping shots and intense action sequences, create a gut wrenching experience for the viewer. Just as Rothko’s paintings, with their large scale and bold use of colour, burst into our minds. embedding themselves there.

Rothko and Furiosa brilliantly use reds, oranges and black. The colour fields burst into us, pull our guts out and – for both Miller’s and Rothko’s work – create a bridge between the visual and the emotional.