Fans of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ feel depressed, suicidal at not being able to live a violent post-apocalyptic life

George Miller’s completely immersive spectacle ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beautiful, gory utopia of the film’s post-apocalyptic world.

On the fan forum site “Fury Forums,” a topic thread entitled “Ways to cope with the depression that Fury Road isn’t real,” has received more than 1,000 posts from people depressed that they aren’t driving armored war machines. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Yorkin had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.

“I wasn’t depressed myself. In fact the movie made me happy,” Yorkin said. “But I can understand why it made people depressed. Fury Road showed us things we don’t have in real life, like high-speed combat in awesome death cars. I think people saw we could be living in a completely better world and that caused them to be depressed.”

“Ever since I went to see ‘Fury Road’ I have been depressed. Watching the beautiful clashes and all the War Boys made me want to be one of them. I can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it.” #

A post by a user called Mox expresses an almost obsessive relationship with the film.

“That’s all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about Immortan Joe. I guess that helps. It’s so hard! I can’t force myself to think that it’s just a movie, and to get over it, that I will never have a chance to die in holy battle for Joe and be awarded in Valhalla. I think I need a rebound movie,” Mox posted.

A user named Mark wrote on the fan Web site “RoadFury” that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.

“Ever since I went to see ‘Fury Road’ I have been depressed. Watching the beautiful clashes and all the War Boys made me want to be one of them. I can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it,” Mark posted. “I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world of automotive combat where everything is the same as in ‘Fury Road.’ ”

Other fans have expressed feelings of disgust with the world and disengagement with reality.

The world of Fury Road is like a biker punk fantasyland, where life is cheap and only the brutal survive. To many viewers, the real world is depressing in comparison to Miller’s gorgeous vision. #

Miller’s movie, which has pulled in more than $500 million in worldwide box office sales, is set in the future when the world has been devastated by nuclear war and the last remnants of the human race battle over scant resources in high-powered muscle cars. A powerful tyrant controls the largest remaining source of fresh water with a loyal cult of followers eager to die in battle for him.

A rebel rescues a harem of nubile young women, leading to epic desert chases and battles using amazing vehicles awesomely modified for war. The world of Fury Road is like a biker punk fantasyland, where life is cheap and only the brutal survive. To many viewers, the real world is depressing in comparison to Miller’s gorgeous vision.

Ivar Deeley posts to the “WarBoy” forum page under the name Talonz. He wrote about his post-‘Fury Road’ depression after he first saw the film earlier this month.

“When I woke up this morning after watching ‘Fury Road’ for the first time yesterday, the real world seemed … gray and fake. It was like my whole life, everything I’ve done and worked for, lost its meaning,” Deeley wrote on the forum. “It just seems so … meaningless. I still don’t really see any reason to keep … doing things at all. I live in a stupid world.”

“I was depressed because I really wanted to live in Immortan Joe’s Citadel, which seemed like such a perfect place, but I was also depressed and disgusted with the sight of our world, which is purged of all valor and motorized combat.” #

Reached via e-mail in Sweden where he is studying game design, Deeley, 17, explained that his feelings of despair made him desperately want to escape reality.

“One can say my depression was twofold: I was depressed because I really wanted to live in Immortan Joe’s Citadel, which seemed like such a perfect place, but I was also depressed and disgusted with the sight of our world, which is purged of all valor and motorized combat. I so much wanted to escape reality,” Deeley said.

Miller’s special effects masterpiece is very lifelike, and the 3-D performance capture and CGI effects essentially allow the viewer to enter the audacious world of ‘Fury Road’ for the movie’s 2½-hour running time, which only lends to the separation anxiety some individuals experience when they depart the movie theater.

“Virtual life is not real life and it never will be, but this is the pinnacle of what we can build in a virtual presentation so far,” said Dr. Joe Trumbull, psychiatrist and Medical Director for the Olmos Center for Media and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston. “It has taken the best of our technology to create this virtual world and real life will never be as awesome as it seems onscreen. ‘Fury Road’ makes real life seem pointless.”

Actor Nicholas Hoult, who plays the courageous Nux in the film, is sympathetic, saying he can understand the connection people are feeling with the movie.

“‘Fury Road’ shows a fabulous, violent world and there is the brotherhood between all of the War Boys and I think that strikes a deep chord within people that has a wishfulness and a wistfulness to it,” Hoult said. “George Miller had the technical resources to go along with this incredibly fertile imagination of his and his dream is built out of the same things that other peoples’ dreams are made of.“

Unfortunately for Deeley and others like him – who became dissatisfied with their own lives and with our dreary world after enjoying the fictional creation of George Miller – becoming a part of a community of like-minded people on an online forum hasn’t helped them emerge from the darkness.

"After discussing on the forums for a while now, my depression is growing worse. Having taken a part in many discussions concerning all this has really, really unbalanced me,” Deeley said. “Before, I had lost the reason to keep on living – but now it feels like these feelings are gradually being replaced with violent rage.”

Trumbull said creating relationships with others is one of the keys to human happiness, and that even if those connections are occurring online they are better than nothing.
“Obviously there is community building in these forums,” Trumbull said. “It may be technologically different from other community building, but it serves the same purpose.”

Within the fan community, suggestions for battling feelings of depression after seeing ‘Fury Road’ include things like playing combat video games or downloading the movie soundtrack, in addition to forming militias outside the virtual realm to work together to make the real world more like the one shown in the movie.

Apologies to CNN. Original article here.