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And god created woman

Abbey Lee Kershaw for Vogue Australia May 2009

"We are not things… We are not things!"

The Five Wives of Mad Max: Fury Road

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Splendid

Riley Keough as Capable

Zoë Kravitz as Toast

Courtney Eaton as Fragile

Abbey Lee Kershaw as The Dag

The reviews are finally in! MAD MAX: FURY ROAD is an explosive, high-octane, runaway hit with a surprising yet refreshingly strong and welcome feminist message among film critics! Have no fear: this truly is a very LOVELY DAY!

"A relentless action spectacle that will dazzle audiences with its visceral torque and blazing vehicular madness... [George Miller] takes a traditionally testosterone-fueled series and reimagines it as a kind of feminist manifesto with much on its mind... 'Fury Road' might be the most intense and bruising action ride of the year, but the film also moves like a speeding maniac in possession of big and provocative ideas — ideas it scatters out the window while it’s moving at breakneck speeds... Come for the blistering, full-tilt action, stay for the thought-provoking consideration of the post-apocalypse... ‘Fury Road’ is ultimately a satisfying and ferocious piece of machinery; its batshit badassness should provoke primal screams of joy in even the most ardent and hardcore action purists."

— Rodrigo Perez @ The Playlist

"In a movie season exhaustingly cluttered with never-ending superhero sagas and reboots, ‘Fury Road’ arrives, despite its pedigree, as a daring, fascinating, thrilling jolt of original energy. It’s invigorating the way a big cinema spectacular should be, reveling in the medium’s towering possibilities, and transporting us to a thoroughly realized world that’s wholly unlike our own... We’re not talking about a particularly profound film here—survival is its chief big, blockish theme—but it is the rare mega-budget movie that has both heft and playfulness; it’s dark but fun, a churning orgy of sand and fire that pirouettes with balletic grace. It’s startlingly well-choreographed, impossibly nimble for all its heavy metal-and-bone construction... The film’s musculature is both lean and intricate, to supremely satisfying effect. It’s a crunching, grinding thing, ornate and ludicrous, that somehow still glides. ‘Fury Road’ is a bracing, nervy, weirdo adventure that more than lives up to its beautifully cut trailers. I doubt there will be a more rousing potential blockbuster released this summer. Go see it. It’s maddeningly good."

— Richard Lawson @ Vanity Fair

"In any other movie those women would be background noise, showing up just to be menaced/sexually assaulted. ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ isn’t any other movie, and the Five Wives — Zoe Kravitz, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Abbey Lee, and Courtney Eaton — each get their own character arcs and moments, and each react to their situation differently. Some fight, some cower, some want to return to the familiarity of their abuse, but all react as humans, not as plot devices. “We Are Not Things,” they write on the wall of their chamber before escaping. This is where the film’s surprising feminism shines through. Max isn’t the savior of these women, Furiosa is. It’s about women helping women, and Max is there as a (reluctant) ally. There’s a question that lingers over the whole film, “Who killed the world?,” and the answer, of course, is men. And they continue to grind it down ever further, and so Furiosa takes the women away in search of a Green Place, where a woman warrior group known as the Vulvani live. In the world of ‘Mad Max’, women can have traditional female qualities—they’re life givers, they’re caretakers—while also kicking copious amounts of ass and riding around on cool motorcycles."

— Devin Faraci @ Badass Digest

"We live in an era in which the word ‘awesome’ can be used to describe a fast food sandwich, so perhaps we have either become immune to hyperbole, or perhaps our standards are far too low. In either case, into this jaded epoch power-slides ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, a film that actively tries to be one of the greatest action movies ever made, and actually succeeds... Let that sink in. George Miller’s long-awaited fourth film in the ‘Mad Max’ series achieves what few action movies even dare to attempt: a nerve-jangling adrenaline freakout, packed to the gills with amazing (and real) stunt work, exciting characters, luxurious cinematography and manic detail... It’s smart and thoughtful but more than anything else, it is an experience that must be seen to be believed. No hyperbole, no joke: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ is the real deal, the kind of superlative action filmmaking that rips away at our collective acceptance of mediocrity. The bar has been raised, and it is the definition of awesome."

— William Bibbiani @ Crave Online

"’Mad Max: Fury Road’ may well be the “Götterdämerung” of drive-in movies. It has its roots in the Western and the post-apocalyptic road-rage action saga, but it also feels like an epic mic-drop, where Miller dares anyone else to follow in his tire treads.... If nothing else, this could be the movie that kills the blue-and-orange color scheme, if only because no one else is ever going to blue-and-orange as hard as ‘Fury Road’ does... Despite the testosterone on display here, it’s girl power that fuels a great deal of ‘Fury Road’, with some indelible moments provided by a talented ensemble of actresses both young and more experienced... Miller redefined action cinema with ‘The Road Warrior’, and it’s no stretch to suggest that ‘Fury Road’ ups the ante on what the genre might deliver in the future."

— Alonso Duralde @ The Wrap

"What compounds the fun is Fury Road’s wholesale rejection of the generally accepted blockbuster code of conduct, which dictates that expensive films have to be marketable to teenagers but still watchable by eight-year-olds in order to maximise box-office returns... Enormous, naked women are milked like cattle, dwarfs are hoisted on palanquins, and men as pale and gaunt as Méliès aliens are knocked out, gnawed on, sawn up and catapulted through explosions. Imagine if Cirque du Soleil reenacted a Hieronymus Bosch painting and someone set the theatre on fire. This is more or less what Miller has come up with... Few people, surely, were expecting robust feminism from the new ‘Mad Max’ film – yet here we are, and Theron’s character is far from the only instance of it. See also Immortan’s escaping wives, who may be young and sylphlike, but are the opposite of damsels in distress, and play an instrumental part in their own dash for freedom..."

— Robbie Collin @ The Daily Telegraph

"All these goofy, psychotic tribes outfitted like thrash-metal gladiators battling over the last dregs of petrol in jerry-built hot-rods. The brand name refers not only to its tortured hero — it is a statement of intent. And now, with $150 million-plus change at his disposal and the devil’s gleam in his eye, Miller has surely achieved maximum madness... Miller has put all the money, all the perverse and poetic flights of his imagination, on the screen. The scope is more operatic, the attitude still punk rock. It’s almost as if a petrol-head David Lynch has been given license to despoil the homogenised blueprint of the modern blockbuster. Racing into a gigantic, surreal sandstorm, the pursuit is assaulted by forks of lightning, tornadoes and scarlet fireballs, an echo of the nuclear holocaust that has left the world mad... ‘Fury Road’ is a defiantly, at times deliriously, cinematic experience. Utilising 3,500 storyboards, 480 hours of raw footage, multiple frame rates, handhelds, swooping cranes, crash zooms, a blithe disregard for the personal safety of a garrison of stuntmen and the tangible bulk of real metal being hurled about at ridiculous speeds, he has created a symphony of destruction. IMAX will melt your brain."

— Ian Nathan @ Empire Magazine

"Vastly more complex on a technical scale but simpler on a conceptual one, “Fury Road” is, for all intents and purposes, a two-hour car chase interrupted by a brief stretch of anxious downtime, and realized with the sort of deranged grandiosity that confirms Miller’s franchise has entered its decadent phase. All the more remarkable, then, that the movie still manages to retain its focus, achieving at once a shrewd distillation and a ferocious acceleration of its predecessors’ sensibility. There is gargantuan excess here, to be sure — and no shortage of madness — but there is also an astonishing level of discipline... The feminist undercurrents rippling through this movie are by turns sincere, calculated and teasingly tongue-in-cheek: Our first good glimpse of the Wives, clad in skimpy white rags and gathered around a water spout, plays like a vision out of “Girls Gone Wild: Coed Car Wash.” Even when they join in the fight, it can be hard to tell where erotic fantasy ends and empowerment fantasy begins, which is very much in keeping with the film’s unapologetically grindhouse attitude. Yet if “Fury Road” doesn’t deliver as pure a hit of girl-power retribution as say, Quentin Tarantino’s “Death Proof,” it’s hard not to respect the dramatic stature with which Miller elevates his female characters; Huntington-Whiteley and Kravitz, in particular, embody the sort of quiet defiance that ensures these women, though victimized, are never reduced to mere victims."

— Justin Chang @ Variety

"The first two [Mad Max] features ran barely 90 minutes, and it takes guts and real confidence to dare push a straight chase film with very little dialogue to two hours. But Miller has pulled it off by coming up with innumerable new elements to keep the action compelling: The pitiless mindset of a brutish-minded society; bending poles sticking up from vehicles that allow marauders atop them to by lowered into enemy trucks for hand-to-hand combat; an insane heavy metal guitarist affixed to one of the Citadel's rigs, whose raucous wailing and flame-throwing ability perfectly express this world's extremity; and a central woman, missing one arm, who's as tough-minded as any man but also retains a special link to a remote society of women she intends to find..."

— Todd McCarthy @ The Hollywood Reporter

"Extravagantly deranged, ear-splittingly cacophonous, and entirely over the top, George Miller has revived his ‘Mad Max’ punk-western franchise as a bizarre convoy chase action-thriller in the post-apocalyptic desert... It’s like ‘Grand Theft Auto’ revamped by Hieronymus Bosch, with a dab of Robert Rodríguez’s ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’... Dialogue is at a minimum, and when Max says anything it is usually preceded by an eccentric rumbling, mumbling mmmm sound, like a macho Mr. Bean. He is impassive, to say the least: the nearest Tom Hardy’s Max comes to an emotional outburst is when Splendid does something very brave while hanging on to the side of the truck. Max gives her a little smile and boyish thumbs-up. It’s the Mad Max equivalent of hugging her and declaiming: “Darling, your courage is magnificent.” And when Nux wishes to express defiance or euphoria, he sprays his mouth with silver-grey paint, to make his face look even more like a skull. That is pretty dysfunctional..."

— Peter Bradshaw @ The Guardian

"The first act of the film is where most of the money shots from the trailer come from, and we are clued in quickly to something rather shocking: Max isn’t the main character. Oh sure, he’s there in one form or another for the duration of the picture, but the primary action figure is Ms. Theron. Even when Max goes from a bystander to an aggressive participant, the focus remains on Theron’s would-be rescuer, and all of her charges are given agency and sympathy. You may have heard that George Miller brought in ‘Vagina Monologues’ author Eve Ensler to consult on the film and wow does it show. ‘Fury Road’ is not a film that just uses the notion of human sex slavery for topical seasoning and/or an excuse to show quivering young girls half-naked in shipping containers or cages. It is very much about the notion of a world that has ditched most of the remnants of so-called civilized society yet has kept the patriarchal system that keeps women under the thumb of arbitrarily designated male rulers and consigns them to be no more than (often unwilling) breeders. If you’ve read me for any length of time, you’ve heard me whine about the quantity and quality of female characters in mainstream motion pictures. ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ is everything I say I want."

— Scott Mendelson @ Forbes

"Who KILLED the world?" "Our babies will NOT be warlords!" "We are NOT things!"

+++

The Five Wives of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as The Splendid Angharad

Riley Keough as Capable

Zoë Kravitz as Toast the Knowing

Abbey Lee as The Dag

Courtney Eaton as Cheedo the Fragile

"They’re looking for hope..." — Imperator Furiosa

A Personal Discourse on the Five Wives of “MAD MAX: FURY ROAD”

I'm pretty sure that most everyone on Tumblr has seen "MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" already and have been gushing about it. I confess that I have already seen the movie no less than FIVE TIMES since it premiered last May 14 in my country: twice in IMAX 3D and thrice in a regular 3D theater. And yes, all the hype surrounding the film is completely true and justified. It is indeed THE definitive film of 2015 that everyone will surely look back on and have endless watercooler discussions once the year ends. While the story largely focuses on the characters of Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, and Nicholas Hoult, I wanted to make a long post that talks more about the Five Wives, namely The Splendid Angharad, Capable, Toast the Knowing, Cheedo the Fragile, and The Dag played respectively by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Riley Keough, Zoë Kravitz, Courtney Eaton, and Abbey Lee.

Now I've noticed that majority of the viewers have expressed their undying love for Imperator Furiosa, Max Rockatansky, and Nux, and this is not a bad thing. I myself love those three characters with a fierce passion, but I have a special fondness for the Five Wives for so many reasons, hence this long post that talks about them in greater detail, and how I interpreted their presence within the film. I'll be starting off by talking about these women as a collective group before discussing them individually.

Fair warning: this post will contain hella MAJOR SPOILERS for "MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" so if you haven't seen the movie yet, I suggest you come back to this post after you've seen it. For those of you who already have seen the film and love the Five Wives (outside of Furiosa, Max, and Nux) just as much as I do, then read on to find out more about my thoughts on the girls under the cut.

When you really think about it, we have the Five Wives to thank for the awesomeness that is "MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" because they are the catalyst that sparks and drives the entire narrative of the film. In its bare bones, the plot is essentially an ugly, villainous man trying to get back his harem of beautiful girls liberated by a fierce warrior woman who takes no shit from anyone and ultimately fails in the process. And unlike so many similar female characters featured in other action movies, the Five Wives stand out because they aren't portrayed as the cliched "damsels in helpless distress" trope. George Miller understood that by creating a character as extremely tough as Imperator Furiosa, it simply wouldn't do for him to draw up five women who will simply sit out on the sidelines while crazy shit is happening around them.

Instead, he had the foresight of evolving these oppressed girls into strong and confident women by the end of the film with Furiosa leading by great example. It helped a lot that Miller wisely enlisted the services of author, playwright, and feminist Eve Ensler (she of the famous Vagina Monologues) to coach the actresses playing the Wives on what it is really like to be a sexually abused woman treated in such unforgiving conditions like a desert landscape. Her input truly resonated within the finished product, and it's because of Miller and Ensler's collaboration that made me so attached with the Wives than I had initially expected, and from what I was able to ascertain from the trailers and promotional featurettes prior to seeing the film.

When the film starts at the Citadel, we don't actually see the Wives in the impressive desert kingdom of Immortan Joe. When it is made known to Joe that his most trusted Imperator has gone rogue during a routine mission to collect fuel and bullets from the Citadel's ally townships, his first instinct is to immediately check on the status of the Wives locked away in a literal vault within his private chambers. What I loved so much about the Miller's world-building in the film is that the little details of the overall production design can tell so much about the characters inhabiting this dystopian fictional universe, where other lesser filmmakers would not think to utilize the more superior "show-don't-tell" method of storytelling.

Going back to Joe's fearful inspection of his Wives, the first thing we see upon him entering the sacred space is a circular room with a broken glass skylight filled with objects such as several piles of books, a grand piano, and a dilapidated chandelier that Sia herself would probably be quite happy to swing from. For a world set in the ruins of civilization, this is the swankiest we’ll ever get as far as living in the post-apocalypse is concerned, but do not be fooled by such a place: this pampered location is nothing more than a gilded prison for the Five Wives, and that in itself is truly horrifying. Surveying the space, he discovers three taunting messages confirming that his precious Wives have indeed flown the coop with Furiosa in her War Rig. The first message written on the floor reads:

"Our babies will not be warlords!"

In that one single sentence, we already know how the Wives really feel about their captor without having seen them yet. Yes, their purpose under Joe's roof may be to sire him a healthy male heir, but this is practically one huge middle finger to Joe where the Wives take a big stance in steering their potentially male offspring away from such a malevolent path in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by violent machismo. Having had enough of Joe's sexist shit, the Wives have taken control over their bodies and declared that their babies will never become a despotic madman like their rapist subjugator. The second message we see when the camera pans around Joe is written on the wall above the room's main threshold which reads:

"Who killed the world?"

While the first farewell message talks about the Wives taking back ownership of their bodies, the second one carries a larger scope beyond their existence as they have strongly implied that it is men like Immortan Joe who have destroyed the world that we know and reduced it to the pitiful desert wasteland which we see in the film. By negating the importance of women as nurturing and caring beings, the greed and vanity of men in general fighting over fuel and water have greatly undermined the environment and by extension, the collapse of human society. Make no mistake, the Wives aren't the beautiful but dumb bimbos that other action films usually portray. With the harrowing experiences they have gone through, it's easy for them to see and understand just who it is that destroyed the planet and corrupted the struggling remains of humanity. And finally, we come to the last message which, in my opinion, is perhaps the most central theme that underscores the whole movie:

"We are not things!"

Reinforcing their first message on the floor, the Wives' final and in-your-face fuck-you-very-much-to-hell kiss-off to Immortan Joe is scrawled across their former bedroom wall, and made even powerful by the presence of their elderly caretaker/governess, Miss Giddy, wielding a shotgun aimed at Joe himself. This moment is so powerful and awesome because of the two things it implies based on my interpretation of it: (1) the effective simplicity of the message stating that the Wives should never be objectified by Joe or anyone and (2) that it was perhaps their tutelage under Miss Giddy by reading through all those salvaged books that the Wives learned about topics such as female empowerment and independence that prompted them to escape the clutches of Joe. What makes this moment even more astonishing was Miss Giddy's fierce declaration that it was not Furiosa who stole the Wives, but that the Wives themselves had begged Furiosa to take them away. This just adds to my argument and belief that the Wives clearly knew the risk they were taking, and put their faith in a woman who they felt had the immense courage to stand up against her master and to safely ferry them away from the Citadel and its many horrors.

So to reiterate: the Wives refuse to have their potential children born through rape and become just like their rapist; they spilled that scalding truth tea where they espouse that men—not women—brought down all the lush greenery of the world and modern society; and finally, they are calling out the completely sexist and fucked-up notion that women like them are just there to be used as "breeders" and slaves for sexual pleasure. Hell to the fuck no are they taking any more of that shit! Which brings us to the next part of my discussion that properly introduces the Five Wives...

Technically, our very first glimpse of them (or one of them, to be exact) was during the massive chase scene where Furiosa is evading her pursuers and led the hordes of vehicles into that glorious lightning-and-tornado filled sandstorm. We briefly see The Splendid Angharad exiting a hidden compartment in the massive tanker, with her clothing billowing wildly in the wind as she enters the secret hatch underneath the backseat of the War Rig. In the next instance, we see Splendid (even if it was just the back of her head) pop out from the hatch and screaming to Furiosa that they cannot breathe in the confined space while the chase was happening. But it was only after the sandstorm ended and Max approaching the War Rig with an unconscious Nux in tow that we are able to properly see all of the Wives.

Admittedly, the introduction of the Five Wives (pictured above) borders on the male gaze because of their appearance and the fact that they were cleaning themselves off with water gushing from a hose. I have read so many film reviews and comments comparing this moment in the film where the Wives looked like they were (a) ready for an edgy/sexy fashion photo shoot for Vogue or (b) having their version of a post-apocalyptic wet t-shirt contest by way of Hooters. Even the audience reactions from the screenings I have attended met this scene with varied reactions. Some people (particularly the women), were surprised and shocked that these supermodel-gorgeous girls in skimpy clothing were the reason why Joe was chasing down Furiosa in the first place. Others (of the heterosexual male persuasion) gave out more than appreciative moans, wolf-whistles, and leering statements of approval. While these reactions are understandable as a first impression, it should not be something that ultimately degrades these characters as pieces of lovely meat to be eaten with our eyes. A closer look at the scene would tell you a lot about them as a group without the need for unnecessary exposition. And if you are wondering why the hell are these women so pretty when everyone else looks so nasty as hell in a world that’s supposedly toxic, well then my good reader, let me direct you to this great post written by Donna Dickens over yonder at HitFix to let you understand why their beauty should not be questioned in the fictional world of Mad Max.

So back to my discussion.

Aside from Splendid quenching her thirst and washing the dust off her face, you may notice that Capable and Toast are near her and hurriedly trying to dress themselves with large pieces of diaphanous white fabric while a little off to their left, Fragile is being helped out of her metallic chastity belt featuring a grotesque approximation of vagina dentata by The Dag wielding a giant pair of bolt cutters. This tells you quite a lot about their treatment by Joe because it possibly implies two very unnerving things:

That they were likely forced to be constantly naked at all times even when kept locked within their vault, much like those nude obese women we first saw being pumped for "mother's milk" after Joe made his speech to the citizens of his empire. At no point do we see any items of proper clothing left behind in their prison (however brief that scene was), and it could stand to mean that the only thing Furiosa (or more possibly Miss Giddy) was able to provide for them in terms of clothing their nude bodies are the large swaths of dirty white fabric with which they could fashion impromptu garments since they have no time or energy to waste carrying trivial things like clothes as they were trying to escape the Citadel. 

That aside from being possibly kept naked all the time, the only other things the Wives were allowed to wear were those horrifying chastity belts with metal fangs and sporting the Immortan’s flaming steering wheel insignia. This alone spoke volumes on their backstory without the need for them to explicitly state their purpose. Clearly, Joe knows that their beauty might tempt the other male generals under his command (and possibly even his own hulking brute of a son, Rictus Erectus) and so he forced them to wear those disgusting contraptions as a means to prevent others from using his "property" without his consent. So rather than being seen as helpful devices that would protect their virtue, they are instead viewed as menacing and oppressive tools used by an evil man for his greedy carnal desires.

On a side note, I really liked the fact that despite the Wives had used the same material to cover their bodies, they each styled the fabric in different ways as a means to identify and differentiate each of them as individuals with real personalities (again, see photo above). Angharad made a lovely version of an empire-waisted maternity dress; Capable crafted a gypsy skirt and paired it with a sporty-looking halter tube top; Toast opted for a long-sleeved shirt that largely covered her top half but wore boy shorts that showcased her legs; Cheedo basically wore a tube top and matching hot pants with The Dag wearing a similar version to Fragile’s but with her top having a slight variation featuring a twist in front of her cleavage to make it look more bikini-like and accessorizing her ensemble with a pair of fingerless gloves, a hair bonnet, and ratty brown boots. 

Clothing aside, the other key marker that helped us point out which one is which is through their hair. Toast is perhaps the most noticeable as she is the only one of the Wives with a brunette pixie cut that makes her look fiercely androgynous like Furiosa. The others are just as striking with their long, shampoo-commercial-worthy tresses: we have Capable with her bright, flame-red curls that makes for a wonderful contrast against the desert surroundings; Angharad living up to her adjective with her voluminous, honey-gold hair; Fragile is a picture of broken innocence with her silky, raven-black locks; and (my personal favorite because I have the same hair color) there’s The Dag with her breast-grazing waterfall of platinum-blonde waves. Had the Wives been a part of The Hunger Games universe, I’m pretty sure Effie Trinket would have a field day styling these women into shining symbols of rebellion like her charge, Katniss Everdeen.

But I digress.

Thankfully, the audience was taken for a refreshing surprise the second Furiosa assaulted Max and they discovered to their delight that the Wives (with the exception of Fragile, which I will comment further upon during my individual commentary of the Wives) chose to fight with Furiosa against Max and Nux. Angharad and Capable led the charge by yanking Max off Furiosa through his chains; Toast gets into the action by helping her sisters subdue Nux who managed to grab the magazine of bullets; and The Dag tossed her bolt cutters over to Furiosa (so she could use it as a makeshift club to beat Max into a pulp) and also pulled wildly on the chains to distract Max while the other Wives were busy dog-piling on Nux. Now let me ask you: are these the actions that other damsels-in-distress would do in a situation like that? ICH DON'T THINK SO! At that moment, they felt that Max and Nux were a threat to their survival, and so they did what they had to do to protect Furiosa. And when Splendid whined for like five seconds about her bleeding leg? Well, Furiosa basically told her to WOMAN UP and to do exactly what she says if she and her sisters want to survive in a world where everything hurts. And you know what? They totally did what they were told to do by a woman who knows what is really best for them.

And from that moment on, the Wives are never seen to be passive characters during high-tension scenes where the antagonists were chasing them down. Don't believe me? Let me count thy ways wherein the Wives got shit done while Furiosa and Max were on the front lines of action:

Toast loading Furiosa's rifle with bullets as the Biker Gang assaulted them with grenades and gunfire. She was also trusted with taking inventory of their ammunition and making sure that Nux didn't pull any traitorous shit on them when they were stuck in mud on the first night of their escape.

Angharad and Capable precariously cutting off the metal chain suffocating Max as the War Rig was in motion, with the former using her heavily pregnant belly as a shield so that Immortan Joe won't fire his gun aimed at Furiosa.

Cheedo and The Dag actively assisting the others by changing very large tires and lifting heavy car doors with Max to use as leverage in order to get the War Rig out of the sticky mud patches.

So as you can clearly see, the Wives truly play a very proactive role throughout "MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" and I am so happy that, as a collective unit, they were able to hold their own alongside Furiosa, Max, Nux, and the Vuvalini despite them not having proper combat training or any sort of self-defense skills. They just went with their natural instincts and chose to fight after making the initial flight decision. They were outspoken feminist characters who shared a decent amount of screen time with the lead protagonists, had more lines of dialogue combined than Max himself (from what I was able to ascertain after multiple viewings), participated in major action sequences, and most importantly: they had legit character arcs both as a group and as individuals. Seriously, how can you guys not root for the Five Wives just as hard as Furiosa, Max, Nux, and the Vuvalini?!

And you cannot deny that their transformation from frightened sex slaves to liberated and empowered warrior women is evident given that they returned to the Citadel triumphant in their defeat of their former captor and being hailed by the citizens as their new queens alongside Furiosa. George Miller did us all a massive solid by presenting us a group of women who were simply not defined because of their looks, but because of what they were able to bring to the table that counters our perception of the Five Wives as merely "pretty things to be rescued by the lead character". So yes, Furiosa isn't just the only reason that the stupid MRAs are ranting against the movie. If they were to see that five ridiculously good-looking women aren't just there to be sexually objectified and are actually—gasp, horror of meninist horrors!—taking no prisoners and shutting down the post-apocalyptic patriarchy, then they would certainly be having severe cases of male ego aneurysms apart from the ridiculous shit they're screaming about at the moment.

At this point, I'm now going to go through each of the Five Wives and talk about their respective roles within the film, and how they each made an impact with the rest of the characters in the movie.

As the de facto leader of the Five Wives, the golden-haired beauty known as The Splendid Angharad also holds the rather unfortunate distinction of being Immortan Joe's most favorite "breeder" among the five of them. Think about that for a fucking second, okay?! Just imagine the all horrible hours she must have clocked in unwillingly warming Joe’s nasty bed. You know that she spent far more time being raped by Joe than her sisters-in-arms and the end result is her getting pregnant with his heir. And in a way, Splendid’s story reminded me strongly of Alfonso Cuarón’s seminal sci-fi thriller Children Of Men where the protagonist was charged with ferrying a pregnant woman to a safe sanctuary in a dystopian society. Also, it was during my second or third viewing of the film that I noticed the many raised pattern of scars visible on her forehead and arms (see GIF above). Whether these scars were self-inflicted or created by the hands of Joe is something that adds to the mystery of Angharad as one of the Wives. And yet despite her nightmarish ordeal, she still comes across as a fierce and protective mother figure that does not believe in violence to solve problems.

This was made clear when Angharad screamed to Furiosa that they agreed to have no "unnecessary killing" when Nux attempted to kill Furiosa; explaining that War Boys like Nux only had half-lives due to the toxic world they lived in and the fact that they were equally victims of Immortan Joe by means of zealous indoctrination via his cult of personality. We can thank her for sparing Nux's life because had Splendid not intervened, we would not be able to relish Nux's stunning redemption arc by the end of the movie. I truly rooted for her as a character and I was so pleased to see that Rosie Huntington-Whiteley fared much better as an actress under the direction of George Miller than by the sexist douchebag that is Michael Bay the director of those stupid Transformers movies. She really gave Angharad justice and was indeed quite splendid to see on screen, all the more so when she willingly used her pregnant belly as a formidable shield to fend off Immortan Joe from shooting Furiosa, knowing that her former captor would never dare to hurt her or his unborn heir. The fact that Angharad was able to push her body to its limits (and at several points, we even see her going into labor) while performing such dangerous acts of heroism is something to be highly commended as no regular pregnant woman would willingly endanger her life and that of her child in that kind of high-octane situation.

And let me just say that I was utterly devastated by her death, and I was relieved to see that the audiences I was with voiced their complete shock when they saw it happen. Although the featured videos and promos have hinted on this (those brief moments in the trailers where you saw one of the Wives fall down from the War Rig? Yep, that was indeed Angharad), it was still such a shock to see a character I quickly rooted for die off so soon (the Vuvalini would have LOVED her!). Just when you thought she died from impact when the War Rig crashed into that rock formation, your sigh of relief was short-lived when—just a few frames later—she tried to get back in the backseat, only to slip and fall away to her demise, caused by the blood seeping from her leg wound earlier in the film. Even if Max hadn’t shot the gun which caused the bullets to ricochet off Angharad’s leg, it still would not have been possible for her to safely get back on board knowing that the passenger door to the Rig was severely damaged upon impact and her weight would have been enough to set it off its hinges.

Splendid's heroic sacrifice cemented my admiration for her character, and the only thing that bothered me was the cruel way Joe treated Angharad in her dying moments by ordering the Organic Mechanic (what a way to call doctors in this world!) to slice open her stomach in order to retrieve his son. I can console myself with the fact that poetic justice was served to Joe in that moment: yes, you putrid plastic-covered asshole, you may have had a healthy male heir to your corrupt throne, but at the cost of the child's life and that of her strong and fierce mother. And as much as I wanted her to survive the ordeal, I should already be used to the fact that films like this tend to kill off characters we immediately connect with, and I hope that she and Nux find peace in the afterlife.

Fun fact: “Angharad” is a name that is Welsh in origin, and means “more love”, and has long associations with Welsh royalty, history, and myth. For all the fanciful and creatively named characters that George Miller came up with for the world of Mad Max, I find this to be the most fitting for an individual who had a regal bearing to her aura, whose heart is as big as her pregnant belly, and who is aptly dubbed as Splendid.

I loved Capable not just because I saw her as Splendid's best friend of sorts, but she was instrumental in the reformation of Nicholas Hoult's character. Initially, we see her agreeing with Splendid and screaming the truth about Immortan Joe's lies to Nux's face before dumping the poor War Boy's ass to the sandy curb as they drove away in the War Rig. But the next moment that we see her, she is once again with Nux, the latter hiding at the back of the War Rig's makeshift watchtower made out of the shell of an old Volkswagen Beetle. She is touched to discover him crying and remorseful at the fact that he witnessed Angharad die from the wheels of Joe's souped-up monster truck.

Okay, even though I ship these two so hard (the audience would also agree given their swooning reactions when the two laid down face-to-face and ended with Capable delicately putting her fingers on Nux's severely chapped lips), I was glad of the fact that George Miller put some well-placed restraint on their relationship. They were able to share a tender moment simply because of the fact that they were young individuals who were each wronged by the same man in their own ways: Capable was sexually abused by Joe, and Nux was led to believe a lifetime of lies and then immediately discarded by Joe when he tripped and fell trying to please his sadistic master. I mean, come on: poor kohai just wanted senpai to notice him, and at the first instance of a crucial mistake, Senpai Joe harshly bid him sayonara and branded Kohai Nux as mediocre.

Another key thing worthy of discussion: Capable was able to provide Nux with the one thing he desperately needed in his half-life which is compassion and empathy, two things that he clearly deserved aside from receiving healthy blood from Max. It became apparent that Capable's presence was the fuel that Nux needed to turn his image around in the eyes of her mistrustful companions. She was the one who told the others that Nux wanted to help them get free from the mud patches and away from their angry pursuers.

And they shared quite a lot of squee-worthy moments, too! Like when Nux kissed Capable on the cheek after she cut him free of the chains attached to his body, or that lovely nocturnal interlude when they were back up the Rig's watchtower after meeting the Vuvalini and cuddled together by the light of a small lantern as they watched the thousands of stars that dotted the night sky. Those moments certainly did not escape the audience (or yours, for that matter), where they let out rousing cheers of approval. Because yes, while Furiosa and Max should never be seen as a romantic pairing, it can't hurt to establish a non-sexual and tender bond between two important, supporting characters who are able to fulfill a love story subplot in an action movie without it being too obtrusive or detrimental to the overall plot, and I'm glad that George Miller was able to strike that right balance through Capable and Nux.

Of course, it broke my heart to see that at the end, they were never meant to be. Star-crossed lovers, indeed, but thanks to the forgiveness and acceptance of Capable, we all witnessed Nux die an honorable death and enter the gates of Valhalla as a worthy warrior who truly fought historic on a fury road. And Elvis should be proud of his granddaughter, Riley Keough, for doing such a fine job in fleshing out her flame-haired character.

While Zoë Kravitz has had previous supporting roles in other action film franchises like the X-Men films and the Divergent series, I think that she shone the brightest with her role as Toast the Knowing in "MAD MAX: FURY ROAD". And let me just start off by saying that I AM NOT HERE for any complaints about her being the only person of color among a primarily white cast. FYI, fellow cast member Courtney Eaton is of Chinese and Maori descent and lest you all forget, the world of Mad Max has had a fierce POC woman in the form of Tina Turner's iconic Aunty Entity back in "MAD MAX Beyond Thunderdome", so don't even get me started that the Mad Max franchise has no room whatsoever for POC actors, okay?

That being said, I'm just going to go out and say that Toast was perhaps the most street-savvy of the Five Wives. It's no surprise that she was branded as "the Knowing" given her knowledge of various types of guns and her recollection on what artificial satellites are as taught by Miss Giddy. She was also tough and unafraid to do things that her sisters probably wouldn't do, such as how she basically took the rifle away from Angharad's hands when Furiosa demanded that the weapon be reloaded immediately during an intense shootout with the Biker Gang. And she didn't hesitate one bit when Furiosa handed over a gun trained on Nux so he wouldn't do anything stupid while she took care of some sharp-shooting badassery against the Bullet Farmer. Let's not forget her bit of sass when she basically got in Max's face and reminded him to "not damage the goods".

What I greatly appreciated about Toast was the fact that she had the aura of someone so tough and hardened by her experiences that she is willing to fight back to protect herself and her sisters if shit got down real quick. Even though she was the only one captured by Joe's forces during the climactic race back to the Citadel, she still managed to be amazing by distracting Joe long enough for Furiosa to execute her "FUCK YEAH!" revenge moment (”Remember me?!” will surely be an iconic quotable line for the ages). And don’t forget: she was the one who took over the driving of the monster truck once Joe was confirmed dead, and even spat on his grody corpse for good measure!

On a design standpoint, I was so happy of the fact that Toast was the one who stood out the most from the rest of the Wives. She had gorgeous mocha skin and a cool pixie cut that suited Zoë's face really well, and this is a look that a lot of girls who don't have long hair or white skin would certainly relate to on a personal level. And even though you could still see her nipples poking through her gauzy clothes, I appreciated the fact that her costume design differed from her sisters because she essentially wore a long-sleeved top that covered a lot more skin than the others. Overall, Toast was able to channel her inner Furiosa: being a tough woman without losing her femininity, and that is something that we sorely need in future action movies like "MAD MAX: FURY ROAD".

If I had to pick a personal favorite out of the Wives, it would have to be The Dag played by Australian supermodel-turned-actress Abbey Lee. But first, a primer on her rather curious moniker. You might be wondering, "What the fuck is a Dag?" when you learned all the names of the Wives during the closing credits. Well, according to WikiPedia, Urban Dictionary, and other online sources, "Dag" is an Australian and New Zealand slang term used as "an affectionate insult for someone who is, or is perceived to be, unfashionable, lacking self-consciousness about their appearance and/or with poor social skills yet affable and amusing. it is also used to describe an amusing, quirky and likeable person and is non-pejorative."

With this knowledge and seeing Abbey Lee's character play out through the course of the film, I can understand why she is indeed THE Dag among the Wives. Far from being unfashionable, she cuts a striking, gamine figure with her white-blond hair, creamy skin, and piercing blue-grey eyes. She is shown to be quite eccentric, observant, and a bit of an oddity that makes her stand out from her sisters. This isn't to say that it's a bad thing; in fact, The Dag's strangeness is part of her appeal and gives life to her singular personality as shown when she hisses out her displeasure at the presence of Max sitting shotgun next to Furiosa with a gun aimed at them by declaring him as someone who "eats slanger" (assuming that's what I heard from the audio, unless I’m mistaken), and repeating the same insult when she sees the face of Joe driving next to the War Rig. And oh yes, she was the only one of the Wives who bit into Nux's arm when he popped out from under the secret hatch to subdue Furiosa. Pretty gnarly for someone who still has all her teeth in, as mentioned by one of the Vuvalini women.

Even the way she moves is quite distinct from the rest of the Wives. She constantly tilts her head and has these strange, jerky movements; as if she was constantly on edge or—if we really want to go deep about it—her nervous physical ministrations was a psychosomatic side effect caused by her sexual trauma at the hands of Immortan Joe. On a side note, I was mildly upset to see that they didn't include that great moment in the trailers where The Dag suddenly jerked to the side facing the camera and made a pinching gesture with her index finger and thumb to signify that the forces pursuing the War Rig were on their way. That was such a cool moment which I thought added to her quirky persona, and to have it edited out was such a disappointment for me.

That aside, I'm glad to see that The Dag also had a nice little bit of character development where she had a conversation with the Vuvalini's Keeper of the Seeds. The towheaded girl revealed that aside from Angharad, she was also confirmed as pregnant with Joe's child, though we can determine by her still slender frame that she's still in the early days of the first trimester. The Dag expressed her fear of having to give birth to a "little Joe" who would be ugly as fuck, but the Keeper of the Seeds assuaged her that she might possibly give birth to a girl before changing the uncomfortable topic and showing her the leather bag full of heirloom seeds which gave The Dag hope that things can still turn out for the better. And that moment was given a nice callback during the epic climax where The Dag honored the death of her elderly friend by saving the bag of seeds so she can plant them back at the Citadel.

Fun bit of trivia that you guys might not know: Charlize Theron has stated in one of her press tour interviews that the original look for Imperator Furiosa in the early stages of development of the film was initially that of The Dag (pale skin like the War Boys and ultra-bleached hair) before making the executive decision to give her a buzz cut, sun-drenched weather-beaten skin, and a greased forehead to rival The Winter Soldier’s raccoon eye makeup. I'm really glad that Charlize made that call because The Dag's look was more suited to Abbey Lee's character as a kept woman for a despotic tyrant as opposed to a fierce warrior woman who commanded a legion of War Boys to carry out marching orders.

Just like Abbey Lee, fellow Australian and model/actress Courtney Eaton makes her film debut in "MAD MAX: FURY ROAD" where she plays Cheedo the Fragile, the youngest of the Five Wives. And to refresh your memory in case you forgot, she’s also a POC actor (of Chinese and Maori heritage) aside from Lenny Kravitz’s fabulous daughter. It's pretty evident why she is dubbed as "Fragile" considering that she has this fearful expression on her face the first time we see her. Fragile indeed, given that she was the only one who didn't dare join her sisters in the initial skirmish with Max and Nux.

But far from her being just a scared little girl, she showcased a surprising amount of emotional weight with her character. Cheedo was shown to be the most affected by Angharad's death out of the Wives, and her knee-jerk reaction to this tragic event was to run back to the clutches of her captor, justifying to her sisters that because of their status as Joe's "most prized breeders", they will be forgiven for their transgression. I cannot tell you how much this moment hits so close to home for victims of domestic abuse because there are a lot of women in Fragile's position who share the same sentiment, and it's clear that Eve Ensler was truly involved in this for not all women react the same way when they are physically, sexually, and emotionally abused by men. Had it not been for Capable and The Dag chasing her and reminding her that being with Joe is not a life worth living and it was not what Splendid would have wanted for her (remember the mantra: we are not things!), Fragile might not have realized her inner strength as the film progressed.

In the official featurette for the Five Wives released by Warner Bros., Courtney Eaton said that they were the "princesses of the post-apocalyptic world". And to a certain degree, she is quite right; which in turn gives texture to Cheedo's reaction on wanting to return to Joe. As the youngest of the group, she has only probably known the luxurious comforts of her Citadel prison despite being subjected to rape because it was the only life she knew and for her, going along with her sisters to the "Green Place of Many Mothers" was perhaps out of her comfort zone. It is only through Angharad's death and her proactive role in helping the others free the War Rig from the mud patches that Fragile learns to build her inner strength and realize that however comfortable her prison was, it was not a place she could truly call a safe and peaceful home.

But her real moment in the spotlight came during the eye-popping chase on the way to the Citadel. Knowing that Furiosa was attempting to reach Immortan Joe and was fatally wounded trying to board his vehicle, Cheedo performs a great fake-out by approaching Rictus Erectus and telling him she willingly wants to return. It did not escape me that Rictus' expression upon seeing Fragile was that of a sexual nature, possibly implying that he secretly favored her despite the knowledge that she and the other wives were strictly for his monstrous father. It is only when Rictus turned his back after being distracted that he realized Cheedo only asked to be placed in his father's vehicle so she could help Furiosa climb aboard in order for her to kill Joe. And in that triumphant moment where she confirmed the death of her former oppressor, she might as well change her name from Cheedo the Fragile to Cheedo the Valiant for her efforts in helping Team War Rig to victory.

So that basically concludes my personal thoughts on the Five Wives and I hoped you guys liked what you've read. If you want to see more posts that I made about the Wives, you can click here.

P.S. If someone can create a mashup video featuring clips of Furiosa and the Wives to the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt theme song, that would be awesome-sauce! Because let's be real here for a fucking sec: you know that it fits because FEMALES ARE STRONG AS HELL!

"The Dag has a flightiness to her, sort of like a frantic characteristic, and that can be mistaken as being like a nervous or careless person. But really, she has a very heightened sense of awareness of things that are going on around her. She sees things before a lot of other people see them."

— Abbey Lee on her role as The Dag in "Mad Max: Fury Road" (x)

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.

+++

So Mad Max: Fury Road and Snowpiercer are basically complementary post-apocalyptic films that share a lot of socio-political themes and complex characters. Don't believe me? Well...

There's the totally badass chief protagonist without a left forearm who wants to defeat the antagonist ruling over the oppressed (Curtis Everett and Imperator Furiosa).

There's the taciturn secondary protagonist who is also great but really lets the chief protagonist do all the cool shit (Max Rockatansky and Namgoong Minsoo).

There's the brutal antagonist who abuses a position of power to control the lower class and not to mention having a really hideous set of false teeth (Minister Mason and Immortan Joe).

There's the gung-ho and eager-to-please adorable younger sidekick who ends up dying for a good cause (Nux and Edgar).

There's also the supporting female character who's never portrayed in a sexualized manner, and who's a bit weird and eccentric and has a heightened sense of awareness that allows her to see things before other people (Yona Minsoo and The Dag).

The heat never bothered them anyway...

And I could hear the thunder And see the lightning crack And all around, the world was waking I never could go back Cause all the walls of dreaming They were torn wide open And finally it seemed that the spell was broken...

MY AMAZING FURY ROAD FAMILY YAS!

“My name is Max. My world is fire and blood.” - Mad Max: Fury Road

DID YOU MEAN THIS ONE?!

Because if so, then I’d have to agree with you. Even though I wasn’t yet aware of what her character was in the film before seeing it, this was such an incredible moment that showcased The Dag’s eccentric personality and made me fall in love with her instantly. I really hope they put this one back in the home video release, even if it’s just a deleted scene, because this is indeed an iconic shot of The Dag and it really disappointed me to know that this part was cut in the final version of the film.

upset that shot of the dag from the trailer wasn’t in the movie because it’s honestly kind of iconic

Mad Max: Fury Road x Harry Potter Headcanons

Imperator Furiosa

Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor. Gryffindor alum. Also a legacy member of the Vuvalini Vixens, an international and award-winning all-female Quidditch team where her mother, Mary Jo Bassa, served as lead Chaser for two decades. She is very famous in the Wizarding world because she successfully defeated a very evil Dark Wizard named Immortan Joe when she encountered him during her gap year travels in the Wasteland where he controlled an army of deranged warlocks and established a very dangerous Death cult that preyed on virginal witches. However, it was in this famous battle that she also lost her left arm due to a very powerful Severing Curse that Immortan Joe aimed at her. Undeterred by her irreversible injury, she promptly fashioned herself a fully-functional mechanical arm that never fails to impress the kids at Hogwarts. She has a slight discomfort teaching classroom theory, but definitely shines when it comes to demonstrating the practical spells in her classes. She's considered as one of the more popular teachers among the students at Hogwarts, and is fair and objective when it comes to grading students. but has a zero-tolerance policy when she catches students bullying others, especially if the victims are girls.

Max Rockatansky

Transfiguration instructor. Slytherin alum. Several rumors surround Professor Rockatansky due to his very taciturn personality and tendency to avoid socializing with his students or colleagues outside of classes. Some say he's a werewolf, even though he's been spotted several times in public during full moon nights. Some say he works undercover for the Ministry of Magic as an Unspeakable, hence his secretive and isolated nature. But the most popular story surrounding his mystique (though still largely viewed as unproven hearsay) is that he went slightly mad from the heat after accidentally Apparating himself to the Australian Outback desert and was unable to get back home for more a month, thus earning him the nickname of "Mad Max" among the students, though they use it more as an affectionate term since the students respect and admire him despite his reserved nature. He's actually quite nice and engaging whenever he's teaching classes, and has been known to crack a smile or two (and delivering rather awkward thumbs-up gestures) whenever his students successfully perform rather complicated spellwork. And even though he and Professor Furiosa share a strictly professional working relationship, that has not stopped the student body of Hogwarts from making good-natured comments about them looking really cute together.

The Splendid Angharad

Seventh Year student. Head Girl. Gryffindor. Angharad is the leader of a popular all-girls clique in the school known simply as The Five. While most girls blessed with genetically good looks would be shallow and self-centered mean girls who make fun of other people, Angharad is actually a friendly and caring pureblood witch who is well-liked by most everyone in Hogwarts. She's a very vocal advocate for student rights, regardless of their Wizarding blood status, and takes her duties as the school's Head Girl very seriously. An unfortunate Potions accident during her Fourth Year has left part of her face and arms permanently covered in a webbed pattern of scars, but this physical deformity has not diminished her inner beauty and as a result, many of the underclassmen girls look up to her as a strong and aspirational figure for positive self-esteem because she refuses to hide her scars underneath glamour or concealment charms. Besides being one of Hogwarts’ top academic students, the school administration also approves of Angharad's many helpful initiatives she has enacted over the years like setting up tutoring sessions for students having difficulties with the curriculum and strengthening international academic relations with Beauxbatons and Durmstrang by establishing an annual cultural exchange program. Needless to say, there is no doubt as to why a lot of people often call her "Splendid".

Capable

Seventh Year student. Prefect. Gryffindor. Capable is considered as the second-in-command of the Five and is also Angharad's best friend since childhood. Living up to her name, Capable is highly skilled in the magical arts—with a natural affinity for Transfiguration and Astronomy—and is known to be exceptionally talented at fixing broken things without the use of magic since she grew up in a Muggle household where her parents work as service repair attendants. Because of this, she is the school's top student when it comes to Muggle Studies and she usually fields a lot of questions from curious pureblood students about how things work outside of the Wizarding world. Apart from her responsibilities as a Prefect, Capable is the president of several extracurricular clubs and is the go-to senior student chaperone whenever the Hogwarts underclassmen take regular field trips to the Muggle world. Although she’s not as sporty as Toast, Capable was the one who introduced, adapted, and popularized the concept of cheerleading for school Quidditch, and thus, all four Houses now have permanent Quidditch Cheerleading squads. She is also responsible for taking over Angharad's duties whenever her best friend is busy with other important engagements or is otherwise sick with illness. Despite being a good girl at heart, Capable is slightly prone to being attracted to guys with a bit of a bad boy streak in them.

The Dag

Sixth Year student. Slytherin. Out of the Five, the Dag has earned a reputation for being the most eccentric student in school despite her otherworldly good looks. Originally from Beauxbatons, she transferred to Hogwarts during her Third Year when she became good friends with Angharad while the latter was on a summer holiday in France with her parents. The Dag is fiercely proud of her Veela heritage (from her mother's side) although she largely feels she could do without the constant unwanted attention that boys with no sense of boundaries often place upon her due to her inherent allure. Both serene and cynical, the Dag is a fascinating amalgamation of personalities and often surprises people by doing things that are in contrast to her exterior beauty. Unlike many other girls in the school, the Dag is interested in the most esoteric of things, dresses in a very singular style, moves with a charming mixture of grace and awkwardness, and often speaks in strange turns of phrases that range from poetic (she often describes incoming trouble as "furious fixations") to head-scratchingly crude (she can deliver the harshest of insults in her own brand of slang). And apart from Divination, the Dag consistently gets Outstanding marks when it comes to Herbology, and she is usually found reading books about magical and Muggle plants by the greenhouses or at the edge of the Forbidden Forest whenever she likes to spend some time alone.

Toast the Knowing

Sixth Year student. Quidditch Team Seeker. Ravenclaw. Despite having a tough-as-nails personality indicative of a Gryffindor student, Toast is one of Ravenclaw's best assets and has earned her moniker of "The Knowing" for many reasons. Both book smart and street smart, Toast is a reliable source of information on various topics and the other members of the Five often seek her knowledge and input whenever they do group study sessions together. Outside of her impressive academic abilities, Toast is one of the most talented Seekers that Hogwarts has ever produced, and she hopes to one day join the Vuvalini Vixens as a first-string team player after she graduates since Professor Furiosa has confided to Toast that she will give the team her glowing recommendation. Should a career in professional Quidditch not be in the cards for her, Toast is ready to execute her backup career plan of becoming a top female wandmaker since it is very rare in the Wizarding world for witches to pursue wandmaking as a skilled profession. Despite her petite frame, Toast can handle student bullies twice her size with or without the use of her wand. While her social circle primarily consists of Quidditch boys from all four Hogwarts houses, Toast is still able to get in touch with her feminine side by spending quality girl time with the rest of the Five during weekends or regular trips to Hogsmeade.

Cheedo the Fragile

Fifth Year student. Hufflepuff. As the youngest of the Five, Cheedo is largely protected by the elder members of her clique since she gets a significant amount of (mostly unwarranted) attention from hormonal boys apart from The Dag. Though she was nicknamed "Fragile" during her early years in Hogwarts (she often cried a lot due to homesickness), Cheedo has considerably toughened up as she grew older and has been known to hold her own ground whenever her best friends aren't around; using her facade of fragility to her advantage whenever bullies try to pull a fast one on her. Boasting a formidable combination of brains and beauty, Cheedo has emerged as one of Hufflepuff's star students and is often credited for earning the most points for her House every year. And ever since Capable established Quidditch Cheerleading in Hogwarts, Cheedo has tried out for the Hufflepuff team and is on track to becoming the House’s squad captain when she ascends to her Seventh Year. She also often volunteers to be the head of any committee whenever Angharad announces plans to host fun events on the school's social calendar since this allows Cheedo to showcase her leadership abilities, take on more serious responsibilities outside of classes, and prove to herself and to others that her nickname does not define who she is as a person.

Nux

Seventh Year student. Quidditch Team Chaser. Slytherin. Known for being the fastest and the most dangerous broom rider in Hogwarts, Nux has also gained school notoriety since he was a transfer student from Durmstrang during his Fourth Year. Having entered the school midway through a typical Hogwarts student's academic tenure, Nux initially had a hard time fitting in with the rest of the student body until he showed up for the Slytherin Quidditch Team tryouts where he easily defeated the competition with his death-defying broom riding and Chasing skills. Since then, he has charmed most of the Hogwarts students with his impressive Quidditch talents (along with his rakish yet boyish good looks) and is largely credited for conceiving popular battle cries on the field which has evolved into now-legendary school catchphrases ("I live! I die! I live again!" and "Witness me!") that the Slytherin Quidditch Cheerleading squad loves to incorporate in their routines. Despite his knowledge and objectively keen interest in the Dark Arts due to being educated in Durmstrang, Nux has never once been inclined to use such negative forces in his magical studies or in everyday life. And while he does engage in typical shenanigans that is expected of mischievous adolescent boys like him, Nux has demonstrated remarkable restraint when it comes to improving his slightly mediocre grades and immature behavior considering that he hopes to catch the attention of a certain red-headed member of Hogwarts' most esteemed social group.

Mad Max: Fury Road Modern Style Aesthetics

The Five Wives • Jewelry + Accessories