Rollerball : Gladiators, “Corporatism” and Proto-Cyberpunk Dystopia

[@michaelmayo]

There's an ironic note to all this. When Jewison was making the film, he was annoyed that the stunt team would get together on the down time between setups and actually play the game. They loved it, and apparently there were even inquires about making Rollerball a real sport. And yeah, the remake really stunk.

[@feralhistorian]

It does seem like it would be a fun game. Until someone got hit with a motorcycle anyway.

[@Sedgewise47]

Oh come on! The remake wasn’t THAT bad. Granted, not really connected to the original film’s premise, but… OK, it was rather stupid, but a good popcorn flick IMO. (😏I’ll give this much: this seems to be first film where the Good Guys were trying to flee *into* Russia…)

[@sheets75]

Sort of like how anyone who watches The Blood of Heroes/Salute of the Jugger is compelled to try and create a relatively safe version of Jugger to play in real life.

[@johnard611]

I've read that some version of rollerball was played at the filming location in Berlin for two or three years after the movie was made. I've also read that the stunt team peed on the rollerball track on the last day of filming, so perhaps they got tired of the game.

[@LegendStormcrow]

​@@Sedgewise47I'd flee almost anywhere before Russia.

[@rexpowercolt5230]

Its so cool to see this channel before it gets big, theres gold here.

[@feralhistorian]

Thanks, appreciate it.

[@Yehochanan72]

I'm furious I only found it last week. Fucking al gore rhythm.

[@gadzilla6664]

Paul Harell of Nerdom. 😂😂😂 Also:Paul rocks. 🤘

[@steveelder5306]

RIP Paul Harrell

[@joshcarter-com]

I’m just glad that my new favorite historian knows about Paul Harrell, RIP.

[@MrSquigglies]

That Paul Harrell comment hits different now...

[@Laotzu.Goldbug]

RIP

[@america-san]

Rip

[@cristianespinal9917]

RIP

[@shaider1982]

Yup, RIP Paul.

[@newportbot7709]

RIP

[@chrishutt66yt]

Jonathan's revenge at the end?.....he SURVIVED!❤

[@DistractionMan]

The greatest sports film ever made about a sport that never existed.

[@masterofrockets]

That Paul, joke at the end was golden

[@danschneider7531]

That was a good film. But an even scarier film, from the late 60s, is Seconds, w Rock Hudson as a man who is given a fantasy life by a corporation/cult, and then regrets it, but finds he is on a production belt, of sorts. It has this film's would be oligarch- Will Geer- Grampa on the Waltons, as well as a biting critique of shallow consumerism, and the narcissism so familiar in the Internet Age. It's a more realistic version of what was to come in Soylent Green. Check it out. That Rock Hudson, a closeted gay man, is in the role as a man trying to flee from, then recover, his life, it's something.

[@feralhistorian]

I don't recall ever hearing of that film. Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out.

[@danschneider7531]

@@feralhistorian Directed by John Frankenheimer, who did Manchurian Candidate.

[@henrya3530]

Fun fact: the fictional sport of Rollerball is based on the very real sport of Roller Derby but with the addition of a banked track, metal ball, and motorcycles. Roller Derby is almost always played on a flat track.

[@archstanton3931]

Didn't expect to get a reference to the big man out here, but cool to see it and the swathe of other commenters who caught it. RIP Paul.

[@jameslooker4791]

I was always struck by how the movie doesn't exploit a romantic B Plot, but his romantic history is central to the core of his motivation. If they had just let him keep his wife, he would have given up Rollerball without much complaint. Without his wife or Rollerball, wealth and comfort had almost no meaning to him. To me this is a very powerful element to the story because it conveys a lack of understanding of human intimacy and attachment by the corporate class. Women working for the corporations aren't on the level of prostitutes, but they are more loyal to their benefactors than their partners. To executives this type of relationship doesn't seem substantially different than a traditional marriage. That's why they see his attachment to his wife as just bitterness over being disempowered and why they can't understand his inability to form attachment to any other women.

[@johnwalsh4857]

another bunch of Dystopias I recomend are from the comics namely the 1980s comic American Flagg, written and drawn by Howard Chaykin, Scout written and drawn by Timothy Truman and 2020 visions by Jamie Delano.

[@robertlehnert4148]

YES, thank you!!! We are far closer to this dystopia than the gibberish of the Handmaid's Tale

[@edmundscycles1]

Re: Paul Harrell . Yes you even have the Shatner.......esque pauses and gentle delivery Paul had. I miss his videos . Please keep going.

[@paulfortney4725]

Gary K Wolf (author of the book "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was based on) wrote a novel called "Killerbowl" that has a similar premise to "Rollerball", and he adds an epilogue that seems to indicate that most people would opt to just go on and consume the next game and be angry that the match at the end did not have a satisfactory conclusion.

[@SirWilliamKidney]

Can I just say--I saw Rollerball 2000 in the theatre with my dad and Hollywood owes us an apology

[@feralhistorian]

I have steadfastly avoided seeing Rollerball 2000.

[@ideologybot4592]

that movie was the last gasp of John McTiernan and basically ruined him. It should have been better, but while I love McTiernan, it's not really his kind of material.

[@MastemaJack]

That was a remake in name only.

[@Fred-rv2tu]

Hero level statement with Paul Harrell of Nerds. Now don’t get pancreatic cancer. (RIP Paul)

[@misobeno]

All he needs is pop tarts and regular cancer screenings

[@jironthunder7519]

That was a great take on a classic. I requested Rollerball on a few channels as i see the resemblance to to corporate takeover and rule aligned with collectivism in current society. The ironic part of Rollerball is that is was supposed to be set in 2018 approximately 45 years after the 1975 release date

[@TheMightyPika]

70's scifi and fantasy titles are so choice. I was't born yet, but I feel vicarious nostalgia for those high concept stories. And the AESTHETICS!! We've slid backwards, man. Any idea why the 70's were such a great experimental era for wildly interesting scifi and fantasy?

[@ideologybot4592]

It was a good combination of influences going on. Technology rising, the auteur success at the movies, cynicism from oncoming malaise and the failures of the civil rights movement, and a culture that had also been creatively liberated by those changes. You could say whatever you want, so people decided to say that the system sucks in the most creative way possible. At least, those with studio backing did. It changed when the success of Star Wars crowded out high-concept for the glossiest of space operas in the genre, driven by the 80's producer control over the movie industry from guys like Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, seen as necessary when the auteurs went decadent with their films. Read into the movie market effects of Heaven's Gate by Cimino. I think it's necessary to add that there was a lot of trash at the time too. For every Rollerball or Soylent Green or even Logan's Run, there were half a dozen half-baked nonsensical social critiques with basically no redeeming intellectual stimulation and horribly garish style choices that make it unwatchable.

[@TheMightyPika]

@@ideologybot4592 But if we didn't have awful films from that era, we wouldn't have Mystery Science Theater 3000!

[@cristianespinal9917]

Just started watching this channel and have been binging the living hell out of it. Hearing that you used to watch Paul Harrell confirms your coolness.

[@PvtSchlock]

Rollerball and Slap Shot were my favorite films as a kid.

[@chrisloUSA]

RIP Paul Harrell...

[@VirtualHolocaust]

YOU ARE THE PAUL HERREL I WAS WONDERING WHAT YOU REMINDED ME OF! Thats great. also RIP loved that guy..

[@iwatchyoutubealot]

It's funny seeing you mention being the Paul Harrell of nerd stuff, that was my initial thought upon one of my friends showing me your videos. You make great stuff, glad to see a quality channel on subjects like this can still spring up on youtube from time to time.

[@stardog62]

This is the second time he’s made a reference to a gun tuber. First Ian McCollum of forgotten weapons and now Paul Harrell. I feel as though we may be subscribing to the same channels

[@ScrapKing73]

Good video. You really had a ZX81, not a Timex Sinclair 1000 or 1500?

[@paulholmaniii9691]

Your vocabulary and vocal delivery are excellent! I wish more people could communicate as well as you do!

[@mtnimt4724]

I always found it interesting how the party goers run to the empty field to destroy the few lone trees standing. I guess in the future most remaining trees are protected and the Uber rich get there kicks by shitting on what's left of nature.

[@antherthalmhersser7239]

We have that sport today. It goes by the name... Twitter

[@cynbartek9324]

"Charlie's Angels" did a take on this. Jill held her own, with perfect hair and no smudged mascara.

[@Bronasaxon]

Of course.

[@RamblingsByCorey]

Watching this now that Paul Harrell line hits harder. But you're absolutely right

[@rainbowsprankles6085]

phenomenal execution of this entry. Kudos.

[@pastorjerrykliner3162]

Long live the Timex Sinclair with a tape deck and a massive 2 bytes of RAM...with a RAM expander pack to bring it up to 6!!!

[@8_Bit]

Enjoyed this! Would have appreciated a Commodore PET mention as that was the true first "plug & play" computer that inspired the TRS-80 and was released the same year as it and the Apple II. And of course, the PET led to the VIC-20 and Commodore 64 which did more to put a personal computer in every home than any other brand for that first decade.

[@feralhistorian]

I did seem like everyone had a Commodore 64 for awhile there.

[@christophercoulter3217]

I owned a trs 82 as a kid.

[@goaway152]

​​I'm going to guess you were born in the early to late 70s. Didn't have an early computer but we did have an Atari 2600. Complete with station wagon brown wood finish lol@@feralhistorian

[@johnwalsh4857]

Love rollerball , I first watched this on Bootleg betamax back in 79. Watched it about 30 times since then. The remake done about 20 years ago is really bad, not comparable to the original.

[@feralhistorian]

Bootleg Betamax is quite possibly the ideal format for films of the era.

[@johnwalsh4857]

@@feralhistorian yah I rented it out in Manila, Philippines, back then 100 percent of the video rentals in the PH were bootleg betamax, VHS never caught on.

[@johnscott6984]

Somewhat ironic that my spell checker keeps changing "Rollerball" to "Rollerblading" - Dire Straits' Skateaway points toward our current inward turn with personal media like Rollerball pointed toward the dystopian cyberpunk world we seem to be sliding toward.

[@bombfog1]

Your videos are never long enough.

[@feralhistorian]

I'm a little hesitant to do anything long-form, between copyright knock-downs and never really knowing what's going to resonate with anyone. That said, there's a few things in the works that will take longer to cover. Still kind of experimenting with the format a little.

[@bombfog1]

@@feralhistorian Please understand that my comment was given with mirth. I know that wasn’t obvious but I cannot bring myself to use emojis. Truly though, I hope you find your way to twenty minute long videos at some point.

[@danschneider7531]

@@bombfog1 I think this format works because it is to the point, unique, and assumes the viewer is intelligent, something most YT arts/politics/religion channels do not. I think he needs to stay unique.

[@johnwalsh4857]

Yah my first computer was an Apple 2 back in 83. first games I got were nuke war, santa paravia and Taipan , yep all bootleg had for about 0.50 USD each , with xeroxed manuals. hahah. Also my parents used the Peachtree spreadsheets to do accounting for their business.

[@feralhistorian]

PR#6 Apple II flashback . . .

[@RobertWScott523]

sharp thoughts. a favorite film of mine since I was a kid, covered it on my dead channel some years ago. I'm always struck watching now it as a exploration of MacLuhan's ideas- TV media as a driver for tribal acceleration in particular, and as a forgotten critique of how rapidly the sports entertainment complex expanded in that era, along w/the proliferation of imposing corporate complexes in American suburbs which lent to a feeling of a widening gulf between the corporate & working class... or that 'they' were already running things, like in the Parallax View (which I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on). cheers, RW

[@keithstewart934]

I saw RollerBall at the theater when I was about 14 years old when it was a new release. Was I fascinated with dystopian literature and movies because I saw it coming or did I see it coming because I was fascinated with dystopian literature and movies? It's a conundrum but I've had a sense of the fragility of modern society for the longest time.

[@bilboproudfoot]

Paul Harrell reference = subscribe! Your analogy is accepted and apt.

[@davechapman6609]

Glad you like it! 😀

[@indianajim]

You may be the Paul Harrell of nerddom, but you’re not dead…not yet. I hope. 😊

[@feralhistorian]

Still breathing and mobile. RIP Paul.

[@sparrow3439]

Man a Paul Harrell reference! Rip to a legend

[@gerardojg]

I saw this film when I was 10 yo. HBO quit broadcasting around 1 am CST. I didn't understand it completely till I saw it again around 20 yo. Realistically, Johnathan will die eventually. His martyrdom would fuel change. I believe, but not his survival.

[@SusCalvin]

Jugger is a more functional fictional blood sport, with a twist that players stand up for the nobility of their blood sport. They might smack other players with chain-balls but kicking a guy who is down is simply wrong.

[@stuartwashington2658]

I thought I was the only person to call this proto-cyber punk! But I think it's obviously anti-corporate (in the Exxon-Mobil sense of the word).

[@opforwarrior]

New watcher, very much enjoying your takes on my favorite films.

[@metalrules1135]

I always saw this film as being about the importance of having heroes for a society. The establishment can't have heroes because they are inspiring. They are a threat to their rule. Jonathan being the last man standing was the big middle finger to the system. I like how it ended with the viewer being able to decide for themselves what happened afterwards. Was Jonathan just set up for something else to take him out? Was that final game enough to inspire people to push for change? Did it end up not really even mattering one way or the other? Paul Harrel is missed.

[@peterhessedal8539]

There is an "i" in TEAM. It's the A hole...

[@danschneider7531]

If we wanna go down the rabbithole of Evil Corporation films, you gotta watch Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well. The ending is one of the bleakest in film history. That said, it's even scarier because it's NOT sci fi!

[@Grizabeebles]

There's a scene in "Rollerball" where Johnathan, Moonpie, and Blue are talking to the newly-drafted players as a way of explaining the game to the audience. That scene makes it pretty clear to me that Johnathan is probably *more aware than anyone* that his success comes from good teamwork and that he's the Rollerball equivalent of a top Striker in soccer. Which just makes the bug the executive has up his rear about Johnathan being "too good" seem even more like a problem confined to the inside of one entitled old man's head. Which can also be compared and contrasted with Royalton from the Speed Racer movie.

[@DavidCowie2022]

Jonathan knows that he depends on the rest of the team, but do the great unwashed whooping in sports bars know it?

[@PrivateIvan]

Great analysis! Would love to hear your comments on Death Race 2000--yes, Roger Corman's ripoff of Rollerball is goofy, but there's a political commentary going on that's deliciously absurdist--and kinda spot-on (and ties in with much you talk about--[spoiler] in Death Race 2000, if you examine it, Stallone's character is the better driver).

[@feralhistorian]

I'd have covered Death Race 2000 already if not for the treacherous French.

[@chrishutt66yt]

"GAME?...THIS WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE A GAME!"😮

[@tsoliot5913]

We miss you, Uncle Paul

[@jagd7102]

First time ive seen someone who isn't a Fascist actually explain what Corporatism means. My respect for you has increased.

[@giladpellaeon1691]

There's no "I" in team but you can make meat out of team.

[@jjohnson3469]

Loved James Caan in this.

[@Gruntvc]

As evil as the Corporation in Rollerball was, they've got nothing on video game companies like: EA, Ubisoft, and Activision Blizzard. Good movie, don't watch the remake. Some films, shows, video games, etc don't need remakes or sequels.

[@feralhistorian]

Fuckin' EA . . .

[@SusCalvin]

EA has not messed up the forest near me. The old industrial giants are still there while not as flashy as media companies.

[@BrokenEyes00]

I feel like there was a Dean Cane remake on the Syfy channel back in the early 2000s for this.

[@dairallan]

I think any analysis of Rollerball is incomplete without relating it to Slap Shot. In some ways they are the same movie. But while the sci fi drama is a dark dystopia, the present day satire is a comedy. I think taken together they show that people can recognise dangers but when actually presented with that danger in the flesh, all they can do is gawk and laugh.

[@johnard611]

Great point about Slap Shot, although it gives us two hero figures, one who rebels for personal reasons and one (Pual Newman) who disrupts because of ambition and ends up being rewarded for it. After watching this video essay, it occurs to me that Gladiator also hits many of the story beats of Rollerball.

[@kurkkamambusu4063]

To answer your question. Now i am consume the next stuff (video) ;)

[@lahuk1194]

Isn't "Corportism" in regards to Fascism from the Latin "Corpus" (body), in reference to the Fascist focus on the nation and views of the nation being like an organism with all people within like cells with their specific roles to play.

[@johnwalsh4857]

Next up talk about the great sci fi movies world of the 70s called Soylent Green.

[@feralhistorian]

Soylent Green is definitely in the queue, along with a few other dystopian highlights of the era.

[@johnwalsh4857]

@@feralhistorian Yep the other fave dystopian films of the 70s were: Omega Man(well post apocalyptic but that was my most fave sci fi movies of the 70s), Silent Running, Final Programme., Mad Max, Clock Work Orange , THX 1138, No Blade Grass, Zardoz, also like to mention, the animated movie Wizards 1977 while not technically dystopian well its also some of my most fave sci fi fantasy movies of the time, along with Quintet 1979 where what is left of society revolved around playing a boardgame.

[@feralhistorian]

@@johnwalsh4857 Zardoz was on my short list when I started this channel. I have to get on that.

[@danschneider7531]

@@feralhistorian 1973 Czech-French cartoon called Fantastic Planet- it is a one of a kind film, whether you like it or not. Also the 78 version of LOTR by Ralph Bakshi- so much more interesting than Jackson's bloated mess.

[@danschneider7531]

@@johnwalsh4857 Not dystopian, but end of the world- Phase IV w intelligent ants- sort of a thinking Man's THEM!

[@chrisfromiowa3630]

I hadn’t seen how the cyberpunk future would happen until last week, I mean, I knew it was coming, but I just couldn’t see the big picture clearly

[@rvhill69]

Have you ever read, "Those About to Die." by Daniel P. Mannix?

[@PingOnThis]

RIP Paul Harrel

[@chrismac7416]

I watched the remake before I watched the original, the remake is more of a sports movie than the original

[@johnwalsh4857]

Also please analyze the world of Wizards 1977 Ralph Bakshi, yah Elves vs. mutant nazis with machineguns , panzers and stukas, haha even their version of Sauran was inspired by the mein Kampf a million years in the future haha

[@feralhistorian]

I haven't seen Wizards since I was a subliterate manling, but now that it's been brought up a couple times I almost have to watch it.

[@johnwalsh4857]

@@feralhistorian one of Bakshi's best.

[@arpharazon999]

Now I know where Rollerdrome came from.

[@elbarto6668]

Nice

[@ganjiblobflankis6581]

If we can manage to say "Zee Zee Top" you guys can surely manage "Zedex 81".

[@captainexcabier]

Do you take requests at all?

[@feralhistorian]

Yes. In fact Rollerball was by request. Of course some take awhile to get to. I still haven't done Silent Running . . .

[@captainexcabier]

You ever watch any anime? Both Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Ergo Proxy seem like they'd be up your alley, or maybe Yukikaze for something shorter.

[@dongately2817]

No Zima while watching Rollerball?

[@Marveryn]

it too bad that the remake did not capture the same feeling of the original. while the game was the same it lack the impact mostly i think cause of its villian. while in the original had what felt like a higher government. the villian on the remake was just a crocked businessman who once you leave his immediate influences you life return to normal. It went from an entire society glorifying the game and the man who play it. to a backyard wrestling type of atmosphere.

[@gotz2410]

To my mind, Rollerball was about a society where the rightful ruling caste of warriors has been usurped by spiteful weaker men, and then forced to perform meaningless staged conflicts that serve no real end. Despite this, one manages to rise to preeminence and wide acclaim, so the regime seeks to lay him low before the public.

[@reserva120]

" Anit no we either:)

[@reserva120]

Tom Brady ??

[@skiptoacceptancemdarlin]

You strike me as the type of guy for whom a mirror plays a prominent role in his sexuality.

[@Hurricanelive]

Ah yes, God Nuffle and how we as a society settle all wars and petty arguments on the field of green! Like civilized peoples!

[@SusCalvin]

Blood Bowl is a game of risk management. Losing a roll ends your turn and shifts the initiative. So you must understand which actions are safe and which can wait.

[@stephendaley266]

Rollerball is the final objective of techno-faclscists like Musk and Thiel. Project 2025 is merely the start. Rollerball is the final phase of totalitarian Capitalism. Way to miss the point, Feral! 😂😂😂😂

[@commonwunder]

The films subtext... is about Capitalist monopolies. What happens to a Capitalist society when each company reaches its zenith, or becomes a pure monopoly. If Capitalism is about competition, what is the end result... when the 'game' is over. What do those in power want from a society when they're crowned its king. To maintain the monopoly at all costs.