Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #14 May 2015 | Page 34

All of these dystopias show worlds that are unappealing. Few people would want to live in a world
where Big Brother is watching you or where you can
be arrested for drug evasion. Rollerball is different,
in that it presents a ‘gilded cage’ utopia, one that on
the surface seems like a world worth living in, even
striving for.
‘Now everyone has all the comforts, you know that.
No poverty, no sickness. No needs and many luxuries.’
- Bartholomew
Set in the near future, the world is run by the Corporations (Transport, Food, Communications, Housing,
Luxury, and Energy), a handful of monopolies that
control all aspects of economic and political life. In
order to keep the masses placated the Corporations
have created the sport of Rollerball. The game is a
mix of roller derby, hockey and gladiatorial combat.
It is meant to ‘demonstrate the futility of individual
effort.’ Jonathan E (James Caan), however, is breaking
the system. He has been the top Rollerball player for
years and has developed a personal following among
the masses. The Corporations, personified by Mr. Bartholomew (John Houseman) decide that people must
be shown that no man can beat the game or the system
it represents. After refusing to retire, Jonathan finds
the rules of the game are increasingly being stripped
away in an effort to kill him on the track. While trying
to survive, he also begins a journey to find out how
the world is run and why people gave up their freedom to the Corporations.
‘It’s like people had a choice a long time ago between
having all them nice things or freedom. Of course,
they chose comfort.’ - Jonathan
The world of Rollerball is attractive. While the
set-design leans towards a cold, concrete-and-glass
aesthetic, everything is clean and orderly. Although
the characters the film focuses on are society’s elites,
there is no indication that the masses exist in squalor.
The imagery is meant to inspire a feeling that, while
on the surface the world is pleasant enough, it is really
bland, colourless and meaningless. It is only during
the game with its bright colours - the vibrant uniforms

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and banners, the blood and flames on the track - and
kinetic action that people seem fully alive.
The glimpses we have of the average citizen - or,
more correctly, employees - show people who are
healthy-looking and seemingly happy. The Executives,
seem to enjoy their own power and privilege. The plot
shifts from the raw, real, bone-crunching action on
the track to subdued conversations that dance around
issues rather than address them directly. The dialogue
and the rhythm of the plot reveal that off the track, the
characters display a mix of boredom and restlessness.
The refrain that Jonathan hears when he expresses discontent is that since all material needs are taken care
of, people are content; but the reality is that no one
seems particularly happy.
Jonathan’s quest for knowledge doesn’t lead to any
direct answers. When he finds that all publicly available books exist only as approved summaries, he
visits Zero, the super-computer that serves as ‘the
central brain, the world’s brain.’ He discovers that
the machine is becoming senile. As the head librarian/
programmer (Ralph Richardson) puts it, ‘[h]e’s become so ambiguous now, as if he knows nothing at all.’
Many dystopias hinge on a control of information. As
Orwell put it, ‘He who controls the past controls the
future. He who controls the present controls the past.’
While there is a sinister and effective attempt to control information in the world of Big Brother and the
Thought Police, in Rollerball, whatever the original
point of censor the information, it no longer matters.
The population doesn’t seem to care and the equivalent of the Ministry of Truth is being run by a machine
that is losing its mind.
Although Rollerball’s corporate society seems stable,
the story offers enough information so that the finale,
with the masses chanting Jonathan’s name and, by
extension, endorsing his rebellion, is a natural progression. The treatment of people like a commodity
is what starts Jonathan on the road to revolution. His
wife, Ella (Maud Adams) is reassigned to another
man, an executive who wants her. She accepts this
as just the way things are; but Jonathan doesn’t understand how people can be treated like this. During
an extended party sequence in the middle of the film,

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