Immortan Joe's Mad Max: Fury Road

Immortan Joe’s group of “war boys” painted white and believing that upon death as a warrior they shall fight with their “godly” leader in “Valhalla,” chanting, “Witness me” as they plummet to their death; is clearly the group’s social identity reinforced through Immortan Joe’s leadership (Cite Film). Furiosa, however, dares to break away from the Immortan’s group to create a new group with the former slave-wives; their chant of “We are not Things!” and visible fierce fight for freedom exemplifies the new group identity they established in their betrayal of the “Citadel,” the Immortan’s base territory, and then uphold against the chasing of Immortan’s own forces (Cite Film). The social identity theory assists in the understanding of such overt

At first analysis, his primary task oriented behaviors are only to “monitor operations” of his people in “The Citadel,” as well as “assign[ing] work” to his subordinates such his former Imperator, Furiosa (Yukl, pg. 52, 1981). However, upon further analysis, it can be interpreted that his relations oriented behavior all contribute to his domination over his followers and allows him to make outrageous demands of them, such as dying for him and thus “reaching Valhalla” (Yukl, pg. 52, 1981). This adaption of numerous symbols of engines, ceremonies of martyrdom, and legends surrounding the figure of Immortan Joe are used to “build [the] team identity” of the war-boys, and illustrate how this leader manipulates his relations behavior for his own benefit, not his followers’ (Yukl, pg. 52, 1981). Aside from this behavior pattern of leadership, the Immortan also uses various types of power to keep ahold of his position as the single ruler of his territory. Chiefly his power stems from his control over the water supply in “the Citadel,” this jurisdiction over the “physical environment” leaving Immortan Joe powerful in his influence over other people, though

The charismatic Immortan, with his patriarchal system of governance that only served to manipulate his followers into their needless deaths, proved no match for Furiosa, who proactive tactics and change oriented behavior empowered her followers into improving the group capabilities relentlessly, through requirement of new members and open discussion of innovative plans. The film illustrates the physical results of leadership what exactly proves effective in desperate circumstances, most significantly in that a harsh land such as the deserts of the post-apocalypse does not necessitate a harsh leader, merely one who will assist her people in more than survival but in