i wanted to wait to post this mess until my anniversary….
two years ago today, i went to the movies and saw mad max: fury road. i pretty much knew three things about it going in: it had tom hardy, a lot of the stunts were real, and it had made men angry. i wasn’t expecting much, tbh, especially since it was a ~reboot~
i walked out in raptures, wanting more of the story, the characters, the vivid world i’d just seen. so bright! so shiny & chrome! when was the last time a movie had that much color, and told you that running away wasn’t the best choice, and had so damn many women who weren’t just set-dressing?
two years ago i was depressed as hell. i’d just dropped out of college for the second time, i wasn’t on any meds or in therapy, i had no interest in anything except sleeping & worrying about the bleak future
yet despite the fog i was in, something about this movie grabbed me and didn’t let go. i went home and immediately looked up the fandom, and within three days i’d downloaded a cam copy (sorry!) so i could watch it again, and again, and again. it was the only thing that made me feel, and i watched it on repeat…. more than once let’s say
and then, it took less than a week for me to dip my toes into writing fic. i’ve never been a fic writer. a reader, yes, but the last “fic” i’d written was a couple of short anonymous things on a kink meme years ago & some truly awful attempts in middle school. but this damn movie got inside my head and filled it with stories, stories that didn’t exist yet in the fandom, and i felt compelled to force them out
one fic became two became three became an avalanche, a hemorrhage of words. i realized that i love telling stories, that i love the rush of feedback & validation that comes from posting a fic, that i was waking up not excited exactly, but determined to get words down onto the page so i could share them
last year at this time i was embroiled in planning for wasteland weekend, an absolutely insane event that i would never have predicted i’d want to attend, much less love as much as i did. immersing myself in that atmosphere for a few days was amazing, an experience i’ll never forget & hope to repeat in the future
i also never would have guessed that i’d meet such wonderful people thanks to this movie, read such amazing fics and look at such fabulous art, and the meta! ye gods, the meta in this fandom is off the charts
two years ago i sat down to watch a two-hour-long car chase, and walked out of that experience irrevocably changed. i’d like to say something over-the-top inspirational like my life is magical now, but truth is i’m still struggling more than i’d like. i’m on meds now though, and trying to get back to school, and some days i even feel hopeful about the future for more reasons than “maybe i’ll wake up to a nice comment”
so thank you fury roadies, you’ve truly made this a fantastic two years. what a lovely day indeed
blakekathryn
kaledo-art
pixelskylines
vaporwave
theartofmadeline
