Post-Apocalyptic Ham

Apparently, the worst thing about the post-apocalyptic world won't be the shortages of food and resources, or the breakdown of all social structures, but rather the large numbers of bad actors wandering around the wastelands.  At least, that that's what I've learned from watching post-apocalyptic science fiction movies.  There's always some poor, remote settlement being menaced by a local warlord, who sends out any army of henchmen to terrorise the settlers with their eye-rolling, overacting, characterised by shouty line readings, over-exaggerated facial expressions and maniacal laughing.  Perhaps their inability to act is down to all the radiation or pollution in the atmosphere of their broken down world.  Or, more likely, it is perhaps down to budgetary restrictions meaning that the only extras they can afford are a bunch of overweight WWE rejects, (actually, one of them in the film I've just seen  was played by Big Van Vader of WCW and WWE fame), who equate acting evil with talking like a Hollywood pirate.  That said, Fist of the North Star (1995) which is what I've just been watching, includes Chris Penn and Clint Howard among its henchmen, both of whom have been known to give acting performances, but clearly hadn't been paid enough to do so here.  To be absolutely fair, if they had acted, it would have risked undermining the performances of the leads, which included Gary Daniels (the British martial artist who was popular in low budget action films for a while) - he's great at the fighting, but barely adequate at the acting.

Personally, I blame Mad Max, or to be accurate, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, a film described by one critic, at the time of its release, as involving lots of men in black leather acting like Marlon Brando on valium.  While Fist of the North Star might have been a rather mangled live action version of a Japanese Manga (with British, American and Australian actors in the lead roles), it was clearly drawing on Mad Max as the inspiration for its costumes, judging by the number of scuffed black leather jackets on display.  It was the Italian Mad Max knock offs that really went overboard for the bizarre costumes, though.  Less black leather and more PVC, plastic space helmets and the like.  The costumes looked like they had been assembled from components salvaged from a junk yard.  Which is hardly surprising, as many of these Italian efforts look as if they were shot in a junk yard - one where the likes of Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson could be found running around toting huge guns.  But at least such films give us a clue as to how to avoid this post-apocalyptic Hell: keep recycling stuff, so as to clear the junk yards.  That and make out sure that when all the other institutions start failing, we at least keep the drama schools open, (the current collapse of live performances thanks to the pandemic doesn't bode well, in this respect).  That way, when we inevitably find ourselves being menaced by a warlord's minions, they'll at least be able to threaten us with proper diction and convey the sub-text of their existential angst through subtle gestures and expressions, rather than by shouting and arm waving accompanied by wild-eyed stares.  At least that way, we can feel that some vestige of civilised society has survived.