What does Mad Max: Fury Road's "shiny and chrome" really mean? George Miller's original Mad Max from 1979 was a low-budget b-movie starring a young, unknown actor named Mel Gibson. Its mix of intense car chases and memorable characters soon garnered it a major cult following, and sequel Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior arrived in 1981. The sequel greatly increased the scope in terms of action, especially in the finale, and the movie is considered one of the best action films ever made. It was also majorly influential on the post-apocalypse genre, inspiring everything from the Fallout series to Duran Duran's "Wild Boys" video.
George Miller would end up co-directing 1985's Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome with George Ogilvie, which toned down the harshness of previous entries for a PG-13 rating. While the movie had a great setpiece with the titular arena and Tina Turner was a lot of fun as Aunty Entity, the movie is considered the franchise's weakest by some margin. It came roaring back to life after a staggering 30-year gap with 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road. This entry was once again directed by George Miller and starred Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. The movie received acclaim not only for its setpieces but also for its performances, production design, and music score. Fury Road is considered one of the best movies of the 21st century to date and certainly ranked high on Screen Rant's best of the 2010s list.
Mad Max: Fury Road famously spent years in development hell, and came close to being shot in 2003 with original lead Mel Gibson. The fifteen or so years it took to come together was to its benefit, as it allowed Miller and his collaborators to plan out and design every little element. Every character and even the props have a backstory, and while most of this goes unexplained in the narrative, it can still be felt. One key element of Fury Road is the War Boys, who are warriors for the tyrant Immortan Joe. When they're about to die they paint their teeth and face with chrome spray paint so they can die "shiny and chrome," but what is the context behind this term?
In Mad Max: Fury Road's bleak future, some children are selected to be part of Immortan Joe's War Boys and are thought from an early age to be skilled mechanics and trained in combat. These War Pups aren't ready to fight in battles and some of them don't survive long due to cancer and disease. This is the reason behind their ghostly appearances as they know they won't live long and they exist purely to serve Joe. They're also part of the Cult of the V8 religion, where they worship car engines and other machines, and as seen in the movie, they have custom steering wheels for their vehicles at the V8's altar.
There's also a worship of chrome and the shinier something is, the more beautiful. The ultimate wish for a War Boy in Mad Max: Fury Road is to die in battle for Immortan Joe and enter Valhalla. The more violent their death, the more glorious the afterlife will supposedly be, so in their dying moments, they spray paint their faces "shiny and chrome" and ask their brothers to "witness" their deaths. Of course, this is all propaganda by Joe designed to brainwash his War Boys into blindly obeying his orders, which Nux (Nicholas Hoult, X-Men: First Class) eventually comes to realize.