Does McDonald’s still exist in the ‘Mad Max’ universe?
George Miller could never have predicted that he would still be making Mad Max movies more than 40 years on from the original, but the success of Fury Road proved that audiences everywhere remain as eager and willing as ever to revisit his distinctive brand of post-apocalyptic carnage.
The franchise has always been presented as akin to myths and fables passed down from generation to generation as opposed to the filmmaker’s visions of what a dystopian future could potentially hold, even if there are certain real-world elements carried through from the 1979 opener to the upcoming prequel spinoff Furiosa.
For one thing, petrol is the hottest commodity available and has been since the very beginning, but a subtle clue indicated that even in a nuclear wasteland that’s ravaged humanity to its core and created splinter factions willing to kill, maim, and consume for their own personal gain, corporate synergy is alive and well.
Of course, it’s not the first time blockbuster cinema has operated under the assumption such things are an inevitability of society’s obsession and reliance on consumerism, with Demolition Man establishing Taco Bell as the dominant force in the culinary world having emerged victorious in the ‘Franchise Wars’.
That film’s aesthetically pleasing San Angeles is a lot different from Mad Max‘s arid landscapes, though, even if the evidence is there to suggest that the fast food chain McDonald’s has somehow remained a force in pop culture despite a clear absence of drive-throughs, burgers, fries, shakes, and broken ice cream machines.
In Fury Road, Nicholas Hoult’s Nux tells Riley Keough’s Capable of his dreams. “I should be walking with Immorta, McFeasting with the heroes of our time,” he says. Given that the fast food company’s penchant for marketing its own products is simply to slap a “Mc” in front of various items, it can’t be a coincidence.
It does create several possibilities, all of which are equally ridiculous. One of them is that McDonald’s is still at the forefront of the public and collective consciousness even in times of ruin, while another suggests that the brand ended up becoming so powerful its use in the lexicon eventually evolved into a byword for either food itself, or the greatest feasts imaginable.
The legacy of McDonald’s in relation to Mad Max is furthered by Immortan Joe’s reference to his vast stockpiles of water as “aqua cola”, even though it’s not carbonated. His most precious resource being likened to cola – presumably Coke without risking a copyright infringement lawsuit on Miller’s part – opens the door to the belief both Coca-Cola and McDonald’s have taken on mythical, near-deified status in the future, turning them into by-words for the best food and drink has to offer.
The downfall of civilisation has unfolded, and rival tribes battle for supremacy, but at the end of the day, somebody out there is still lovin’ it.
