“No, there aren’t. There aren’t any rules at all.”
Jonathan E
Rollerball (1975)
while george orwell’s novels 1984 and animal farm describe the current world of politics and power. the 1975 movie “rollerball” offers an additional dimension.
have governments, social activists and corporations worked in concert to create a societal vision? this question, in part, can be answered within the movie “rollerball.”
the “rollerball” world was corporately owned and operated. the game “rollerball” created by this corporate world with the intent is to destroy human individuality. at these games, the “corporate” anthem was played.
the “rollerball” movie tells the tale of when a “superstar” player transcends the game intended to destroy individuality. he is then perceived as a threat to the corporate power structure. this superstar is the great jonathan e who was played by actor james caan. the story tells the tale of how the corporate society addresses the threat of the individual.
movie’s quotes of import are as follows:
“corporate society takes care of everything. and all it asks of anyone, all it’s ever asked of anyone ever, is not to interfere with management decisions.”
comment: does this sound familiar? we are told by leaders not to question them. we have been told that we as a country should vote on legislation and read it later. while these individuals may believe that they are the smartest and wisest ones, in reality, they are merely elected officials with varying ranges of intelligence and wisdom.
“the game [rollerball] was created to demonstrate the futility of individual effort. And the game must do its work. “
comment: societal leaders want to diminish our ability to function. they tell us that our destinations in life have nothing to do with our own abilities and efforts. we are told by leaders “if you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” they believe that it is the government that allows for things to happen. to the contrary, there are business that struggle to operate and function because the entrance to the stores are blocked by the homeless and their litter. as much as government may assist business, government also destroys businesses and lives with their policies. the pandemic is further proof. those in the beauty industry, hair and nails, have suffered greatly.
comment: social leaders are telling individuals that they cannot succeed. they are told that there is a supremacy in place that prevents them from succeeding. we told that children of color cannot succeed with science, technology, engineering and math coursework. these statement insult the individual. individuals, such as jaime escalante, defied the powers that be and proved that he could successfully teach calculus in the non-white underprivileged school. his students destroyed the narrative. it is not surprising that you hear little of his success and how it can be replicated currently. why bother? simply, the rules are changed to declare the fields of academia as racist. thus, you don’t have to make the effort to teach children valuable life changing subjects. instead, there is the push to teach them ethnic studies. these efforts have been clouded with race and religious hatred within those creating the material. thus, propaganda is to be taught in lieu of academics.
“if a champion defeats the meaning for which the game was designed, then he must lose.”
comment: are our government, corporations, and activists seek to destroy individuals? yes. we are seeing government act to punish those who break out from their new normal. they seek to destroy what is new and protect the powerful corporations which have monopolies. further, many of the individuals in turn, sell their businesses to these powerful corporations. thus, competition is thereby further diminished.
as the movie unfolds, to destroy jonathan e, the corporation changes the rules of the rollerball game. the rules of the game are designed in order to eliminate him. as the games proceed, there is increasing violence and death. in the final game, jonathan e is literally the last man standing as he scores and wins. as jonathan e realized, when society seeks to maintain their vision of the world, they will break any and all rules to do so. thus, he realizes that there are no rules.
god has a different societal vision. great weight is placed upon individuals. in the torah, he sought out individuals with merit in order to form a society and nation. he found noah. he found abraham. he found moses. he took these individuals as the foundation to build upon. further, god laid out rules and commandments. he set out these rules to be eternal. for example, the passover celebration is to be celebrated for all eternity.
as chanted at the end of rollerball, “jonathan, jonathan, jonathan!”
be well!!
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