George Miller on Max
"First, I don't think you should use the words 'hero' or 'villain'. To me, a hero is not necessarily the
guy who rides around in a white suit. I believe the hero is the agent of change, the agent of evolution.
He is one who shatters the world that he belongs to, and out of that shattering comes a new order. It
happens to all things; they reach a functional ripeness. Often, the people who are responsible for the
building of a society become tyrannical, or hold-fast as [Joseph] Campbell says.
"Yesterday's heroes are today's tyrants. They build something, come to love it, then come to own it
too much. By desperately holding onto it, they become tyrannical, and then it's time for someone to
emerge to shatter that world, so there can be, yet again, something growing out of it. If you look at the
rhythm of the way that elements are formed in the stars, their evolution, the evolution of organisms,
tribal groups, the evolution of society, corporations --- it's always the same rhythm.
"So, that's what the hero is, in the mythological sense of the word. Of course, to many people, Max
appears a villain. But the so-called villain is really the tyrant who was yesterday's hero... But it's
inevitable that it changes. The world that the hero shatters is not a world that he shatters deliberately. He was part of that world and shatters it because --- surprisingly to himself --- he has compassion, and it's that compassion that shatters the world."
