I’ve been thinking about Mad Max: Fury Road a lot lately, which is only slightly more than I’ve thought about it since 2016. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you know why, just as I’m sure you know why I don’t really want to go on that deep dive right now. Instead, I’m going to start a series I feel strongly about using one of its characters. It’s April! It’s National Autism Awareness Month. Let’s do it.
So: your fave (The Dag, played by Abbey Lee) is… autistic. And queer.
(In future essays, I might split up neurodivergence and queerness into separate essays. I’m not sure. In Dag’s case they’re so intertwined that I’m talking about both of them.)
Her nickname, for one, is literally a crude Australian slang word for a weirdo, which tells you a lot about her right off the bat (from a note on the Mad Max wiki: “an affectionate insult for someone who is unfashionable, lacks self-consciousness about their appearance, and has poor social skills, yet is affable and amusing”). She’s physically odd, with her messy hair and cartoon-large eyes, her scribbly tattoos and gawky stance; she acts notably off a lot of the time.
And, of course, she’s soulbonded to Cheedo (Courtney Eaton). From their first appearance, they’re a definite pair, working together and all but clinging to each other (see also: my banner). Dag wraps around Cheedo at the slightest sign of the younger girl’s anxiety. When Max (Tom Hardy) insists that Dag come use the boltcutters on his chains and Dag walks over (moving rather awkwardly, possibly from anxiety or possibly because autistic folks are known to have poor or at least strange motor skills) Cheedo looks legitimately lost without her, and after Max and Furiosa (Charlize Theron) start fighting, Dag scurries back to Cheedo and comforts her while also keeping her out of the ensuing scuffle.
Full story here.