Rollerball – Freedom or Comfort?

Picture obtained from Yahoo Movie

My good colleague Dr.Mark Tolstedt is an info-savvy. My another colleague, Dr. Steve Hill also refers Mark a lot. As a matter of fact, Mark is like an information bank. He always gives me very good ideas!!

Mark lent me a movie Rollerball (1975), when I told him my vision as a sports communication scholar. I really think sports can play a positive role in society. Robert Putnam said, sports can bond members of society, but not bridge members of different societies. Mark suggested me to watch Rollerball when I told him sports may be able to bridge societies, too.

And, finally, I had a time to watch this movie made by Norman Jewison in 1975.

It was very interesting. Rollerball game in the movie looked like a combination of football, ice hockey, rugby, soccer, boxing, and even NASCAR race. Every city is playing this game and competing for the championship. The world consists of some corporations and each city produces the product decided by corporation owners. For example, Houston, which is the team of the main character, Jonathan E., produces energy for whole world. Chicago produces food for the world in this movie. Everyone follows the rule the corporation world decides.

Jonathan always had some questions, since his first wife had to leave him because of the corporate decision. Then, he finally, tries to resist, when the team wanted him to retire. The corporation put him on the TV show and wanted him to announce his retirement, but, Jonathan did not want it.

Finally, powers of corporations changed the rule of Rollerball game to kick out Jonathan from the league. They removed substitutions and even removed penalties. Being a very violent game itself, in a rollerball game, players could die and many players had to get injured. No substitution and no penalty means more possibility of death. Jonathan E. continuously resists and questions who really controls this society. At the almost end of the movie, his first wife comes back and tries to convince him to retire. Jonathan knows he can choose a comfort, if he gives up his freedom. His first wife, Ella, says, comfort is a freedom. And, Jonathan just feels he has no hope, when Ella, whom he really loved and tried to find, asks him to follow the rule and live in the system. In the final game between Houston and New York, the corporation power even removed the time limit. Jonathan survives at the end, while all other players either died or injured.

Can this kind of thing happen?

I was continuously thinking it might not happen. And, I had to ask to myself, is it the social bridging by sports I have thought for a long time?

Then, I thought, this movie might try to show the world  where communism conquers.Considering that this movie was made in 1975, which was during the cold war era, I think my impression from the movie might be right.

Well, then, is the social bridging idea very similar to communism?

I always thought communism is not an evil ideology, if it works correctly. One problem of communism is, it cannot work correctly.

Then, is the social bridging by sports impossible? If the movie suggested the social bridging of sports, it might be scary to see that happens. I don’t want to see that happens.

Mark also gave me the remake version of Rollerball (2002). Cold War era has been gone already, even though there still exist some crazy countries like North Korea. Well, then, I have to say I am still living in the cold war era. So, overall, tt was a good movie, overall, because it made me think. I don’t know, though, if my students, who may never have thought or experienced the ideology of cold war era, can understand this movie, if I show them in my sports PR class.^^

Anyway, I may need to watch the remake version. It might not have any ideology, hopefully. 🙂 Then, I may show my students the remake version. Should I? I don’t know.

Oh… It’s all happy white Thanksgiving morning  in Wisconsin.