Rollarball

Running head: ROLLERBALL

Violence Analysis of Rollerball

Nikki Fiedler

Barry University

1.

In the film Rollerball, the ideas of violence will be related to Coakley's views and theories. Historically violence was an accepted idea and large part of sport. From the blood-sports of ancient Greece to the cock and dog fighting in Folk games, these sports were built around brutal violence and lack of rules until the modernization of sports where violence decreased dramatically and organized rules took over the game. In Rollerball both historical violence as well modern can be evaluated Rollerball although a futuristic sport and society, was based on a combination of rules and some violence.

In the start of the movie there is obvious violence with bodies flying around and medics carrying off the injured, but this was a controlled violence as Coakley describes it as brutal body contact or borderline violence (Coakley 2001). On several occasions the main character Johnathen made references of this control by saying "don't fight when you're supposed to be somewhere else" and even teaching other teammates how to take out a biker in a clean way, comparable to a clean take out in baseball. As the movie progressed I believe this is where the futuristic sport turned into a blood-sport of ancient times. With rule changes or even lack of rules the officials made in the Rollerball playoffs, this mimicked the lack of rules and emphasis of violence in the historical blood-sports (Coakley 2001). These were the characteristics of historical violence described by Coakley: increased violence, bloodshed, lack of rules, and lack of self-control.

Defined as verbal or physical actions grounded in an intent to dominate, control, or do harm to another person, aggression will now be discussed (Coakley 2001). I felt the entire game of Rollerball was played in an aggressive manor. At no time did I witness finesse in the sport, only hitting and taking out players. There were also several verbal references such as: "drive their jaw into their head", "hit the little fellas", "bash in their faces", and "feelin' mean", to name a few. Furthermore, there were aggressive acts outside of the game. For example, Johnathen choking Dapheny and even Johanthen and Swoop wrestling for fun.

Rollerball also demonstrated deviant behavior as defined by Coakley, specifically deviant overconformity. In the Rollerball semi-finals and finals I felt this was the best example of Coakley's deviant overconformity. In these two games many players were killed playing Rollerball. These intentional acts were plotted out and then carried out by these athletes, which falls under unquestionable unacceptance (Coakley 2001). These acts also demonstrated criminal violence. A different view of deviant behavior was the fact that corporate was trying to force Johnathen to retire with not really telling him first and with no reason, more importantly though, how corporate talked of Rollerball. "It (Rollerball) wasn't meant to be a game, ever". Corporate purposefully and deviantly planned the death game it became without ever telling the athletes or coaches which essentially led to the blatant deaths of some Rollerballers.

Coakley discusses commercialization in sport and how it relates to promoting these athletes. The Rollerball athlete, especially Johnathen, were looked at by the public as Gods. With the popularity of Rollerball and the violence it contained, this is what drove the fans to love and adore the sport seeing nothing wrong with the violence. Almost like our beloved hockey of today, the fans dying to see and good fight and bloodshed. It is very easy for the fans of Rollerball to blame commercialization for their crazed passion and possibly their own violent acts of their culture. This theory can be compared to Coakley's discussion of the NFL and WWF (Coakley 2001). These sports glorified violence which could make it an easy cop out for a fans behavior.

As stated by Coakley violence is not limited to men and if we want to understand violence in sports we must understand gender ideology and issues of masculinity in culture (Coakley 2001). Many times violence by women in sport may not be thought of because typically women do not participate in contact sports. Most violence is glorified because of the interest in men contact sports such as football and hockey. This does not mean women do not par take in violent acts. Today contact sports for women are becoming more popular such as women's professional football and boxing. Coakley goes even further saying masculinity is defined by being tough to participate in violent confrontations and avoiding social label (Coakley 2001). One example of masculinity in Rollerball is once again Johanthen choking Dapheny. This was portrayed as a powerful masculine position that seemed accepted by both man and women. Another example of masculinity was at the tree burning party where men traded off their women for others almost turning into a swinger party. But the most obvious idea of violence and masculinity was when (although I thought it was drug induced) the women shooting down enormous trees with large flame throwing guns, turning the trees to ashes. The film Rollerball was made in the 70's when women were not thought of committing violent acts, but staying at home cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children, not shooting trees. In Rollerball this was perceived as an accepted practice by both men and women. As the trees were burning to the ground both men and women were laughing, clapping, and cheering and even passing the gun from man to women to participate in this disturbing activity. Could Rollerball this highly popular film started the women's movement of violent acts and women leaving the kitchen? Who knows?

As discussed before Rollerball also demonstrated off-the-field violence. Coakley's views on off-the-field violence is described as a carryover by the athletes (Coakley 2001). He goes on to say that these high profile athletes in contact sports may have difficulty in controlling their rages and possibly their reputations which eventually lead to off-the-field violence of assault or sexual abuse (Coakley 2001). Once again the prime example in Rollerball is Johanthen choking Dapheny in a fit of rage when he became upset with corporate and Rollerball.

Spectators attending contact sports tend to be vocal and emotional and can lead to fan violence (Coakley 2001). Coakley describes this fan violence as a manly and tough expression, especially when the fans