121-464: Rollerball is a 1975 dystopian science fiction sports film directed and produced by Norman Jewison . It stars James Caan , John Houseman , Maud Adams , John Beck , Moses Gunn and Ralph Richardson . The screenplay, written by William Harrison , adapted his own short story "Roller Ball Murder", which had first appeared in the September 1973 issue of Esquire . Although Rollerball had
242-404: A non-metropolitan district (i.e. with lower-tier local government functions only) within a modified non-metropolitan county of Hampshire (Bournemouth and Christchurch were transferred to the neighbouring non-metropolitan county of Dorset ). From this date, Hampshire County Council became responsible for all upper-tier functions within its boundaries, including Southampton, until local government
363-403: A one-child policy place in this futuristic dystopian society. In a 1967 study, Frank Kermode suggests that the failure of religious prophecies led to a shift in how society apprehends this ancient mode. Christopher Schmidt notes that, while the world goes to waste for future generations, people distract themselves from disaster by passively watching it as entertainment. In the 2010s, there
484-561: A bath house. Clausentum was not abandoned until around 410. The Anglo-Saxons formed a new, larger, settlement across the Itchen centred on what is now the St Mary's area of the city. The settlement was known as Hamwic , which evolved into Hamtun and then Hampton . Archaeological excavations of this site have uncovered one of the best collections of Saxon artefacts in Europe. It
605-566: A boot stamping on a human face – forever , would aptly describe the situation of the denizens in Dante's Hell. Conversely, Dante's famous inscription Abandon all hope, ye who enter here would have been equally appropriate if placed at the entrance to Orwell's " Ministry of Love " and its notorious " Room 101 ". Dystopias typically reflect contemporary sociopolitical realities and extrapolate worst-case scenarios as warnings for necessary social change or caution. Dystopian fictions invariably reflect
726-572: A cacotopia (or the imagined seat of the worst government) discovered and described". Though dystopia became the more popular term, cacotopia finds occasional use; Anthony Burgess , author of A Clockwork Orange (1962), said it was a better fit for Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four because "it sounds worse than dystopia". Some scholars, such as Gregory Claeys and Lyman Tower Sargent , make certain distinctions between typical synonyms of dystopias. For example, Claeys and Sargent define literary dystopias as societies imagined as substantially worse than
847-467: A cataclysmic decline in society. Themes typical of a dystopian society include: complete control over the people in a society through the usage of propaganda and police state tactics, heavy censoring of information or denial of free thought, worshiping an unattainable goal, the complete loss of individuality, and heavy enforcement of conformity. Despite certain overlaps, dystopian fiction is distinct from post-apocalyptic fiction, and an undesirable society
968-578: A county borough with responsibility for all aspects of local government. On 24 February 1964 Elizabeth II, by Letters Patent, granted the County Borough of Southampton the title of "City", so creating "The City and County of the City of Southampton". This did not, however, affect its composition or powers. The city has undergone many changes to its governance over the centuries and once again became administratively independent from Hampshire County as it
1089-404: A four-year term, so there are elections three years out of four. The Labour Party has held overall control since 2022; after the 2023 council elections the composition of the council is: There are three members of Parliament for the city: Darren Paffey (Labour) for Southampton Itchen , the constituency covering the east of the city; Satvir Kaur (Labour) for Southampton Test , which covers
1210-494: A joint venture of academia and government to promote an anti-traditionalist social agenda, are contemptuous of religion and require initiates to desecrate Christian symbols. Margaret Atwood 's novel The Handmaid's Tale takes place in a future United States under a Christian-based theocratic regime. In the Russian novel We by Yevgeny Zamyatin , first published in 1921, people are permitted to live out of public view twice
1331-619: A large portion of those walls remain. A Royal Charter in 1952 upgraded University College at Highfield to the University of Southampton. In 1964 Southampton acquired city status , becoming the City of Southampton, and because of the Local Government Act 1972 was turned into a non-metropolitan district within Hampshire in 1973. Southampton City Council took over most of the functions of Hampshire County Council within
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#17327804214731452-663: A largely American cast, a Canadian director, and was released by the American company United Artists , it was produced in London and Munich . Rollerball was a box office success, and critical review were initially mixed but have warmed somewhat over time. In 2018, Jonathan E. is the team captain and veteran star of the Houston Rollerball team. Mr. Bartholomew, chairman of the Energy Corporation - one of
1573-416: A long time period, the roles were eventually reversed – the rich degenerated and became a decadent "livestock" regularly caught and eaten by the underground cannibal Morlocks. Some fictional dystopias, such as Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 , have eradicated the family and kept it from re-establishing itself as a social institution. In Brave New World , where children are reproduced artificially,
1694-601: A major commercial port and industrial area. Prior to the Invasion of Europe , components for a Mulberry harbour were built here. After D-Day , Southampton docks handled military cargo to help keep the Allied forces supplied, making it a key target of Luftwaffe bombing raids until late 1944. Southampton docks was featured in the television show 24: Live Another Day in Day 9: 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Some 630 people died as
1815-411: A nuclear holocaust and civilization has reverted to a neo-stone Age. In the second, of which " Rollerball " is an elaborate and very silly example, all of mankind's problems have been solved but at the terrible price of individual freedom. ... The only way science-fiction of this sort makes sense is as a comment on the society for which it's intended, and the only way " Rollerball " would have made sense in
1936-403: A player threaten the underlying agenda of Rollerball: to demonstrate the futility of individualism. Jonathan makes his way to Geneva to access the world's repository of all human knowledge, a central supercomputer known as "Zero," only to find its memory corrupted. Afterwards, Jonathan receives a visit from his former wife Ella, who has been sent to convince him to retire and to make it clear that
2057-723: A regular transatlantic service to New York from the city. Southampton is also one of the largest retail destinations in the South of England. Southampton was heavily bombed during the Second World War during what was known as the Southampton Blitz . It was one of the major embarkation points for D-Day . In the Middle Ages Southampton was where troops left England for the Battle of Agincourt . It
2178-478: A result of the air raids on Southampton and nearly 2,000 more were injured, not to mention the thousands of buildings damaged or destroyed. Pockets of Georgian architecture survived the war, but much of the city was levelled. There has been extensive redevelopment since World War II. Increasing traffic congestion in the 1920s led to partial demolition of medieval walls around the Bargate in 1932 and 1938. However,
2299-481: A satire of our national preoccupation with televised professional sports, particularly weekend football. Yet " Rollerball " isn't a satire. It's not funny at all and, not being funny, it becomes, instead, frivolous. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 2 stars out of 4 and called it "a movie in love with itself" and "vapid, pretentious, and arrogant. Not even John Houseman's fine performance as
2420-472: A series of corporations that now govern society - and team sponsor, offers Jonathan a lavish retirement package if Jonathan will announce his retirement during an upcoming television special detailing his career. Jonathan refuses, and requests to see his former wife Ella, who had been taken from him some years earlier by a corporate executive who wanted her for himself. Jonathan goes to a library, where he finds that all books have been digitized and edited to suit
2541-544: A simplified version of A Clockwork Orange without any intimations of wit or satire to carry the vague moralistic message." James Monaco wrote that Rollerball "like most paranoid fantasies offers no hope: If James Caan can't beat the system, who can?" TV Guide gave the film three out of four stars; it said "the performances of Caan and Richardson are excellent, and the rollerball sequences are fast-paced and interesting." Jay Cocks of Time said Caan looked "unconvinced and uncomfortable" as Jonathan E. Filmink said
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#17327804214732662-502: A term that was coined by Thomas More and figures as the title of his best known work , published in 1516, which created a blueprint for an ideal society with minimal crime, violence, and poverty. The relationship between utopia and dystopia is in actuality, not one of simple opposition, as many dystopias claim to be utopias and vice versa . Dystopias are often characterized by fear or distress, tyrannical governments, environmental disaster , or other characteristics associated with
2783-549: A vast industrial and mining complex, which is totally devoted to the production of ever more powerful and destructive weapons, and which is ruled by the dictatorial and totally ruthless Prof. Schultze – a militarist and racist who dreams of world conquest and as the first step plots the complete destruction of the nearby Ville-France, a utopian model city constructed and maintained with public health as its government's primary concern. The economic structures of dystopian societies in literature and other media have many variations, as
2904-511: A villainous corporate director is sufficient to make Rollerball tolerable. The only way to enjoy it, I suppose, is to cheer at the rollerball game's mayhem." Arthur D. Murphy of Variety , wrote that it "packs an emotional and intellectual wallop" and that James Caan gave an "excellent performance". Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times was also positive, calling it "a fresh, unusual and stimulating movie. In its portraying of
3025-453: A water supply system in 1290, which carried water from Conduit Head (remnants of which survive near Hill Lane, Shirley ) some 1.1 mi (1.7 km) to the site of the friary inside the town walls. Further remains can be observed at Conduit House on Commercial Road. The friars granted use of the water to the town in 1310. Between 1327 and 1330, the King and Council received a petition from
3146-427: A week for one hour and are only referred to by numbers instead of names. The latter feature also appears in the film THX 1138 . In some dystopian works, such as Kurt Vonnegut 's Harrison Bergeron , society forces individuals to conform to radical egalitarian social norms that discourage or suppress accomplishment or even competence as forms of inequality. Complete conformity and suppression of individuality (to
3267-579: A world in which Nazi Germany won the Second World War can be considered as dystopias. So can other works of Alternative History, in which a historical turning point led to a manifestly repressive world. For example, the 2004 mockumentary C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America , and Ben Winters ' Underground Airlines , in which slavery in the United States continues to the present, with "electronic slave auctions" carried out via
3388-575: A world we should like to live in, but one we must be sure to avoid. 1968 New Scientist 11 July 96/3 It is a pleasant change to read some hope for our future is trevor ingram ... I fear that our real future is more likely to be dystopian. See also Gregory Claeys. "When Does Utopianism Produce Dystopia?" in: Zsolt Czigányik, ed. Utopian Horizons. Utopia and Ideology – The Interaction of Political and Utopian Thought (Budapest: CEU Press, 2016), pp. 41–61. Southampton Southampton ( / s aʊ θ ˈ ( h ) æ m p t ə n / )
3509-730: Is Alan Spencer Southampton City Council has developed twinning links with Le Havre in France (since 1973), Rems-Murr-Kreis in Germany (since 1991), Trieste in Italy (since 2002), Hampton, Virginia , in the US, Qingdao in China (since 1998), Busan in South Korea (since 1978), and Miami, Florida , also in the US (since 14 June 2019). The geography of Southampton is influenced by
3630-468: Is Councillor David Shields Southampton is one of 16 cities and towns in England and Wales to have a ceremonial sheriff who acts as a deputy for the mayor. Traditionally the sheriff serves for one year after, which they will become the mayor of Southampton. Southampton's submission of an application for Lord Mayor status, as part of Queen Elizabeth II 's Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours Competition 2022,
3751-505: Is a port city and unitary authority in Hampshire , England. It is located approximately 80 miles (130 km) southwest of London , 20 miles (32 km) west of Portsmouth , and 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Salisbury . Southampton had a population of 253,651 at the 2011 census, making it one of the most populous cities in southern England. Southampton forms part of the larger South Hampshire conurbation which includes
Rollerball (1975 film) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3872-711: Is also explained in Suzanne Berne 's essay "Ground Zero", where she explains her experience of the aftermath of 11 September 2001. Fictional dystopias are commonly urban and frequently isolate their characters from all contact with the natural world. Sometimes they require their characters to avoid nature, as when walks are regarded as dangerously anti-social in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 , as well as within Bradbury's short story " The Pedestrian ". In That Hideous Strength , science coordinated by government
3993-546: Is as bad as possible; opp. UTOPIA (cf. CACOTOPIA). So dystopian n., one who advocates or describes a dystopia; dystopian a., of or pertaining to a dystopia; dystopianism, dystopian quality or characteristics." The example of first usage given in the OED (1989 ed.) refers to the 1868 speech by John Stuart Mill quoted above. Other examples given in the OED include: 1952 Negley & Patrick Quest for Utopia xvii. 298 The Mundus Alter et Idem [of Joseph Hall] is...the opposite of eutopia,
4114-400: Is commonly called Utopian is something too good to be practicable; but what they appear to favour is too bad to be practicable". Decades before the first documented use of the word "dystopia" was "cacotopia"/"kakotopia" (using Ancient Greek : κακόs , "bad, wicked") originally proposed in 1818 by Jeremy Bentham , "As a match for utopia (or the imagined seat of the best government) suppose
4235-490: Is different. These are things that are very visceral and very obvious, and they make you question the future, and how we will survive. It's so much a part of everyday life that young people inevitably – consciously or not – are questioning their futures and how the Earth will be. I certainly do. I wonder what kind of world my children's kids will live in." The entire substantial sub-genre of alternative history works depicting
4356-403: Is directed toward the control of nature and the elimination of natural human instincts. In Brave New World , the lower class is conditioned to be afraid of nature but also to visit the countryside and consume transport and games to promote economic activity. Lois Lowry's " The Giver " shows a society where technology and the desire to create a utopia has led humanity to enforce climate control on
4477-496: Is from this town that the county of Hampshire gets its name. Viking raids from 840 onwards contributed to the decline of Hamwic in the 9th century, and by the 10th century a fortified settlement, which became medieval Southampton, had been established. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, Southampton became the major port of transit between the then capital of England, Winchester, and Normandy . Southampton Castle
4598-674: Is later used by Hugh Howey in his series of dystopias of the Silo Series . Excessive pollution that destroys nature is common in many dystopian films, such as The Matrix , RoboCop , WALL-E , April and the Extraordinary World and Soylent Green , as well as in videogames like Half-Life 2 . A few "green" fictional dystopias do exist, such as in Michael Carson 's short story " The Punishment of Luxury ", and Russell Hoban 's Riddley Walker . The latter
4719-596: Is located between the two rivers. Town Quay is the original public quay, and dates from the 13th century. Today's Eastern Docks were created in the 1830s by land reclamation of the mud flats between the Itchen and Test estuaries. The Western Docks date from the 1930s when the Southern Railway Company commissioned a major land reclamation and dredging programme. Most of the material used for reclamation came from dredging of Southampton Water, to ensure that
4840-408: Is not necessarily dystopian. Dystopian societies appear in many fictional works and artistic representations, particularly in historical fiction , such as A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens , Quo Vadis? by Henryk Sienkiewicz , and A Man for All Seasons (1960) by Robert Bolt , stories set in the alternate history timelines, like Robert Harris ' Fatherland (1992), or in
4961-500: Is reflected in Norman Jewison 's 1975 film Rollerball (1975). Some dystopias, such as that of Nineteen Eighty-Four , feature black markets with goods that are dangerous and difficult to obtain or the characters may be at the mercy of the state-controlled economy. Kurt Vonnegut 's Player Piano depicts a dystopia in which the centrally controlled economic system has indeed made material abundance plentiful but deprived
Rollerball (1975 film) - Misplaced Pages Continue
5082-720: Is set in the aftermath of nuclear war, "a post-nuclear holocaust Kent, where technology has reduced to the level of the Iron Age ". Contrary to the technologically utopian claims, which view technology as a beneficial addition to all aspects of humanity, technological dystopia concerns itself with and focuses largely (but not always) on the negative effects caused by new technology. Dystopian themes are in many television shows and video games such as Cyberpunk 2077 , Half Life 2 , The Hunger Games , Cyberpunk: Edgerunners , ' Blade Runner 2049 , Elysium and Titanfall . "An imaginary place or condition in which everything
5203-400: Is stressed, and the addition of other themes—the dangers of science and technology, of social inequality, of corporate dictatorship, of nuclear war—are also traced. A psychological approach is also favored here, with the principle of fear being identified with despotic forms of rule, carried forward from the history of political thought, and group psychology introduced as a means of understanding
5324-585: The Largo movement from Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 are also used to establish tone, mood, and atmosphere for certain scenes in the film. The classical music was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra , conducted by André Previn , who also wrote the "Executive Party" music for the film and the corporate anthems performed before certain matches. The film was released in the United States on June 25, 1975. It had its European premiere at
5445-549: The 1888 Local Government Act , Southampton became a county borough within the county of Hampshire, which meant that the Corporation in Southampton had the combined powers of a lower-tier (borough) and an upper-tier (county) council within the city boundaries, while the new county council was responsible for upper-tier functions outside the city of Southampton. The ancient shire county, along with its associated assizes,
5566-494: The Antichrist have taken over the world and the only remaining source of dissent is a tiny and persecuted Catholic minority. In Brave New World the establishment of the state included lopping off the tops of all crosses (as symbols of Christianity) to make them "T"s (as symbols of Henry Ford's Model T ). In C. S. Lewis 's That Hideous Strength the leaders of the fictional National Institute of Coordinated Experiments,
5687-587: The Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the ringleaders of the " Southampton Plot "— Richard, Earl of Cambridge , Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham , and Sir Thomas Grey of Heton —were accused of high treason and tried at what is now the Red Lion public house in the High Street. They were found guilty and summarily executed outside the Bargate . The city walls include God's House Tower , built in 1417,
5808-526: The Odeon Leicester Square in London on September 3, 1975 before opening to the public there the following day. The film earned $ 6.2 million in theatrical rentals at the box office in the United States and Canada. On Rotten Tomatoes , the film has an approval rating of 67% based on reviews from 36 critics, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's consensus reads: "In Rollerball , social commentary collides with high-speed action – and
5929-491: The Palace of Nations . Recognizing their contribution to the film's many crucial action sequences, Rollerball was the first major Hollywood production to give screen credit to its stunt performers. The film was shot in 35mm with a 1.85 aspect ratio but was released in some theaters in 70mm with a 2:1 aspect ratio. The game of Rollerball was so realistic that the cast, extras, and stunt personnel played it between takes on
6050-574: The Titanic Engineers' Memorial in East Park, built in 1914, dedicated to the ship's engineers who died on board. Nearby is another Titanic memorial, commemorating the ship's musicians. Southampton subsequently became the home port for the transatlantic passenger services operated by Cunard with their Blue Riband liner RMS Queen Mary and her running mate RMS Queen Elizabeth . In 1938, Southampton docks also became home to
6171-413: The flying boats of Imperial Airways . Southampton Container Terminals first opened in 1968 and has continued to expand. Southampton was designated No. 1 Military Embarkation port during World War I and became a major centre for treating the returning wounded and POWs . It was also central to the preparations for the Invasion of Europe during World War II in 1944. The Supermarine Spitfire
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#17327804214736292-473: The "slow cancellation of the future". Theo James , an actor in Divergent (originally a novel by Veronica Roth ), explains that "young people in particular have such a fascination with this kind of story [...] It's becoming part of the consciousness. You grow up in a world where it's part of the conversation all the time – the statistics of our planet warming up . The environment is changing. The weather
6413-595: The 1940s. The port was the point of departure for the Pilgrim Fathers aboard Mayflower in 1620. In 1642, during the English Civil War , a Parliamentary garrison moved into Southampton. The Royalists advanced as far as Redbridge in March 1644 but were prevented from taking the town. Southampton became a spa town in 1740. It had also become a popular site for sea bathing by the 1760s, despite
6534-530: The Cinque Port men to damage Southampton, a flourishing port in the fourteenth century. When King Edward III came to the throne, this petition was given to the king and his mother, Queen Isabella , who was in charge of the town, and the country at this stage likely organised the writ of trespass that took any guilt away from the community at Southampton. The town was sacked in 1338 by French, Genoese and Monegasque ships (under Charles Grimaldi , who used
6655-524: The Commodore 64 computer, with the scoring rules based on the game in the movie. In 1989, Microïds published an unofficial successor called Killerball for the Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, and MS-DOS. In 1997, Z-Axis Games was developing an official Rollerball video game adaptation based on the film As part of MGM Interactive video game showcase lineup. The game's promise was to recreate the action of
6776-406: The Earth in luxury with access to technologies that cure all diseases, reverse aging, and regenerate body parts. Written a century earlier, the future society depicted in H. G. Wells ' The Time Machine had started in a similar way to Elysium – the workers consigned to living and working in underground tunnels while the wealthy live on a surface made into an enormous beautiful garden. But over
6897-616: The Empire . In his 1854 book The Cruise of the Steam Yacht North Star John Choules described Southampton thus: "I hardly know a town that can show a more beautiful Main Street than Southampton, except it be Oxford. The High Street opens from the quay, and under various names it winds in a gently sweeping line for one mile and a half, and is of very handsome width. The variety of style and color of material in
7018-591: The French. The town experienced major expansion during the Victorian era . The Southampton Docks company had been formed in 1835. In October 1838 the foundation stone of the docks was laid and the first dock opened in 1842. The structural and economic development of docks continued for the next few decades. The railway link to London was fully opened in May 1840. Southampton subsequently became known as The Gateway to
7139-699: The Internet and slaves controlled by electronic devices implanted in their spines, or Keith Roberts Pavane in which 20th Century Britain is ruled by a Catholic theocracy and the Inquisition is actively torturing and burning "heretics". In When the Sleeper Wakes , H. G. Wells depicted the governing class as hedonistic and shallow. George Orwell contrasted Wells's world to that depicted in Jack London's The Iron Heel , where
7260-532: The Port of Portsmouth; this tax farm was granted for an annual fee of £200 in the charter dated at Orival on 29 June 1199. The definition of the port of Southampton was apparently broader than today and embraced all of the area between Lymington and Langstone. The corporation had resident representatives in Newport, Lymington and Portsmouth. By a charter of Henry VI , granted on 9 March 1446/7 (25+26 Hen. VI, m. 52),
7381-536: The Sower , Darkness at Noon , Nineteen Eighty-Four , Brave New World , The Handmaid's Tale , The Hunger Games , Divergent and Fahrenheit 451 and such films as Metropolis , Brazil (1985), Battle Royale , FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions , Soylent Green , The Purge: Election Year , Logan's Run , and The Running Man (1987). . An earlier example is Jules Verne 's The Begum's Millions with its depiction of Stahlstadt (Steel City),
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#17327804214737502-579: The area has been inhabited since the Stone Age . Following the Roman invasion of Britain in AD ;43 and the conquering of the local Britons in AD 70 the fortress settlement of Clausentum was established. It was an important trading port and defensive outpost of Winchester , at the site of modern Bitterne Manor . Clausentum was defended by a wall and two ditches and is thought to have contained
7623-406: The audience is the winner." On Metacritic the film has a score of 56 out of 100 based on reviews from 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Most major critics were negative about the film upon its original release. Vincent Canby of The New York Times was unimpressed: All science-fiction can be roughly divided into two types of nightmares. In the first the world has gone through
7744-543: The ball home and scoring the game's only point. Jonathan then takes a victory lap as the crowd chants his name, first softly, then slowly rising to a roar while Mr. Bartholomew hastily exits the stands. Rollerball ' s arena sequences were shot at the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle in Munich , West Germany. This hall was selected because it was the only sports arena in the world with a near-circular profile, which
7865-559: The buildings affords an exhibition of outline, light and colour, that I think is seldom equalled. The shops are very elegant, and the streets are kept exceedingly clean." The port was used for military embarkation, including the Crimean war and the Boer War . A new pier, with ten landing stages, was opened by the Duke of Connaught on 2 June 1892. The Grand Theatre opened in 1898. It
7986-488: The city in April 1997 (including education and social services, but not the fire service), and thus became a unitary authority . In the 2010s several developments to the inner-city of Southampton were completed. In 2016 the south section of West Quay, or West Quay South, originally known as West Quay Watermark, was opened to the public. Its public plaza has been used for several annual events, such as an ice skating rink during
8107-672: The city of Portsmouth and the boroughs of Havant , Eastleigh , Fareham and Gosport . A major port, and close to the New Forest , Southampton lies at the northernmost point of Southampton Water , at the confluence of the River Test and Itchen , with the River Hamble joining to the south. Southampton is classified as a Medium-Port City. Southampton was the departure point for the RMS ; Titanic and home to 500 of
8228-459: The coming game will be "to the death". Jonathan realizes his wife's visit was set up by the Executives, and erases a long-cherished movie of the two of them, stating, "I just wanted you on my side." Jonathan decides that despite the dangers, he will play in the championship game against New York. The final match devolves into a brutal gladiatorial fight. Jonathan is soon the only player left on
8349-456: The concepts of "mother" and "father" are considered obscene . In some novels, such as We , the state is hostile to motherhood, as a pregnant woman from One State is in revolt. In dystopias, religious groups may play the role of oppressed or oppressor. One of the earliest examples is Robert Hugh Benson 's Lord of the World , about a futuristic world where Marxists and Freemasons led by
8470-415: The concerns and fears of their creators' contemporaneous culture. Due to this, they can be considered a subject of social studies . In dystopias, citizens may live in a dehumanized state, be under constant surveillance, or have a fear of the outside world. In the film What Happened to Monday the protagonists (identical septuplet sisters) risk their lives by taking turns onto the outside world because of
8591-470: The conventional way but which the World Government describes as "savages". In George Orwell 's Nineteen Eighty-Four , the dystopian society described within has a tiered class structure with the ruling elite "Inner Party" at the top, the "Outer Party" below them functioning as a type of middle-class with minor privileges, and the working-class "Proles" (short for proletariat ) at the bottom of
8712-526: The corporations, and are now stored on supercomputers at large protected corporate locations. Jonathan's friend and former coach Cletus, now an Energy executive, warns him that the Executive Committee is afraid of him, though he cannot find out why. Rollerball soon degrades into senseless violence as the rules are changed to force Jonathan out. The semi-final match between Houston and Tokyo is played with no penalties and limited substitutions in
8833-530: The dystopian rulers are brutal and dedicated to the point of fanaticism, which Orwell considered more plausible. The political principles at the root of fictional utopias (or "perfect worlds") are idealistic in principle and result in positive consequences for the inhabitants; the political principles on which fictional dystopias are based, while often based on utopian ideals, result in negative consequences for inhabitants because of at least one fatal flaw . Dystopias are often filled with pessimistic views of
8954-502: The economic system is not the source of the society's flaws, as in Brave New World , the state often controls the economy; a character, reacting with horror to the suggestion of not being part of the social body, cites as a reason that works for everyone else. Other works feature extensive privatization and corporatism ; both consequences of capitalism , where privately owned and unaccountable large corporations have replaced
9075-405: The economy often relates directly to the elements that the writer is depicting as the source of the oppression. There are several archetypes that such societies tend to follow. A theme is the dichotomy of planned economies versus free market economies, a conflict which is found in such works as Ayn Rand 's Anthem and Henry Kuttner 's short story "The Iron Standard". Another example of this
9196-406: The environment, as well as to eliminate many undomesticated species and to provide psychological and pharmaceutical repellent against human instincts. E. M. Forster 's " The Machine Stops " depicts a highly changed global environment which forces people to live underground due to an atmospheric contamination. As Angel Galdon-Rodriguez points out, this sort of isolation caused by external toxic hazard
9317-571: The film Blade Runner , influenced by and based upon Dick's novel). Dystopian fiction frequently draws stark contrasts between the privileges of the ruling class and the dreary existence of the working class. In the 1931 novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley , a class system is prenatally determined with Alphas, Betas, Gammas, Deltas and Epsilons, with the lower classes having reduced brain function and special conditioning to make them satisfied with their position in life. Outside of this society there also exist several human settlements that exist in
9438-414: The film "launched the dystopian sports movie genre and a series of rip-offs ( Death Race 2000 , etc) – most of which, to be frank, were a lot more fun than Rollerball , which could have stood to be a little less important and a little trashier." In 1977, Caan himself rated the film 8 out of 10, saying he "couldn't do much with the character." In 1985, IJK Software produced a game called Rocketball for
9559-437: The film are more of a coincidence. The developers of the 2022 game Rollerdrome cited the film as a major influence. Dystopian A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ ( dus ) 'bad' and τόπος ( tópos ) 'place'), also called a cacotopia or anti-utopia , is a community or society that is extremely bad or frightening. It is often treated as an antonym of utopia ,
9680-673: The first purpose-built artillery fortification in England. Over the years it has been used as home to the city's gunner, the Town Gaol and even as storage for the Southampton Harbour Board. Until September 2011, it housed the Museum of Archaeology. The walls were completed in the 15th century, but later development of several new fortifications along Southampton Water and the Solent by Henry VIII meant that Southampton
9801-512: The first quarter of 1998, but was delayed to mid-1998 and then was canceled due to the publisher, MGM Interactive , going bankrupt. In 2004, I-play developed and published a Rollerball game for mobile phones. It is based on the 1975 film, rather than the 2002 remake of the same name . Speedball and its sequel Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe are said to have been heavily inspired by Rollerball , though Bitmap Brothers co-founder Mike Montgomery denies this, saying Speedball 's similarities to
9922-501: The future. Famous examples set in the future included Robert Hugh Benson 's Lord of the World (1907), Yevgeny Zamyatin 's We (1920), Aldous Huxley 's Brave New World (1932), George Orwell 's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), and Ray Bradbury 's Fahrenheit 451 (1953). Dystopian societies appear in many sub-genres of fiction and are often used to draw attention to society, environment , politics, economics, religion, psychology, ethics, science, or technology. Some authors use
10043-460: The futuristic game played in the movie, and it was set 10 years after the events of the film in the 2098 Rollerball season, where the player would be in charge of managing their Rollerball teams around the world, made up of Rollerball players with roles such as strikers, enforcers, guard, and other players who compete using jet bikes and magnetic in-line skates. Rollerball: The Video Game was slated to be released for PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo 64 on
10164-522: The governance and regulation of the town and port which remained the "constitution" of the town until the local government organisation of the later Victorian period when the Local Government Act 1888 set up County Councils and County Borough Councils across England and Wales, including Southampton County Borough Council. Under this regime, "The Town and County of the Town of Southampton" became
10285-587: The government in setting policy and making decisions. They manipulate, infiltrate, control, bribe, are contracted by and function as government. This is seen in the novels Jennifer Government and Oryx and Crake and the movies Alien , Avatar , RoboCop , Visioneers , Idiocracy , Soylent Green , WALL-E and Rollerball . Corporate republics are common in the cyberpunk genre, as in Neal Stephenson 's Snow Crash and Philip K. Dick 's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (as well as
10406-411: The hierarchy with few rights, yet making up the vast majority of the population. In Ypsilon Minus by Herbert W. Franke , people are divided into numerous alphabetically ranked groups. In the film Elysium , the majority of Earth's population on the surface lives in poverty with little access to health care and are subject to worker exploitation and police brutality , while the wealthy live above
10527-441: The hope Jonathan will be injured and forced out. The brutality of the match kills several players and leaves Jonathan's best friend and teammate Moonpie in a coma , though Houston wins the game. In a teleconference , the Executive Committee decides that the final match will be played with no penalties, no substitutions, and no time limit in the hope that Jonathan will be killed during the game. Jonathan's popularity and longevity as
10648-457: The ideal society: it is a dystopia, if it is permissible to coin a word. 1962 C. WALSH From Utopia to Nightmare 11 The 'dystopia' or 'inverted utopia'. Ibid. 12 Stories...that seemed in their dystopian way to be saying something important. Ibid. ii. 27 A strand of utopianism or dystopianism. 1967 Listener 5 Jan. 22 The modern classics Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four are dystopias. They describe not
10769-484: The lack of a good quality beach. Innovative buildings specifically for this purpose were built at West Quay, with baths that were filled and emptied by the flow of the tide. Southampton engineer Walter Taylor 's 18th-century mechanisation of the block -making process was a significant step in the Industrial Revolution . The port was used for military embarkation, including during 18th-century wars with
10890-455: The mass of humanity of meaningful labor; virtually all work is menial, unsatisfying and only a small number of the small group that achieves education is admitted to the elite and its work. In Tanith Lee 's Don't Bite the Sun , there is no want of any kind – only unabashed consumption and hedonism, leading the protagonist to begin looking for a deeper meaning to existence. Even in dystopias where
11011-466: The mayor, bailiffs and burgesses of the towns and ports of Southampton and Portsmouth became a County incorporate and separate from Hampshire. The status of the town was changed by a later charter of Charles I by at once the formal separation from Portsmouth and the recognition of Southampton as a county. The formal title of the town became "The Town and County of the Town of Southampton". These charters and Royal Grants, of which there were many, also set out
11132-406: The motte and bailey castle, only a section of the bailey wall remains today, lying just off Castle Way. In 1447 Henry VI granted Southampton a charter which made it a county of itself, separate for most purposes from the county of Hampshire. The town was granted its own sheriff , which it retains to this day. The friary was dissolved in 1538 but its ruins remained until they were swept away in
11253-400: The only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it"—and used the above quote as the title to the opening chapter of his book, Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? . In the book, he also refers to dystopian film such as Children of Men (originally a novel by P. D. James ) to illustrate what he describes as
11374-687: The people of Southampton. The community of Southampton claimed that Robert Batail of Winchelsea and other men of the Cinque Ports came to Southampton under the pretence that they were a part of Thomas of Lancaster 's rebellion against Edward II . The community thought that they were in conspiracy with Hugh le Despenser the Younger . The petition states that, the supposed rebels in the Despenser War 'came to Southampton harbour, and burnt their ships, and their goods, chattels and merchandise which
11495-484: The people who perished on board. The Spitfire was built in the city and Southampton has a strong association with the Mayflower , being the departure point before the vessel was forced to return to Plymouth . In the past century the city was one of Europe's main ports for ocean liners . More recently, Southampton is known as the home port of some of the largest cruise ships in the world. The Cunard Line maintains
11616-546: The plunder to help found the principality of Monaco ). On visiting Southampton in 1339, Edward III ordered that walls be built to "close the town". The extensive rebuilding — part of the walls dates from 1175 — culminated in the completion of the western walls in 1380. Roughly half of the walls, 13 of the original towers, and six gates survive. In 1348, the Black Death reached England via merchant vessels calling at Southampton. Prior to King Henry's departure for
11737-511: The point of acting in unison) is also depicted in Madeleine L'Engle 's A Wrinkle in Time . Violence is prevalent in many dystopias, often in the form of war, but also in urban crimes led by (predominately teenage) gangs (e.g. A Clockwork Orange ), or rampant crime met by blood sports (e.g. Battle Royale , The Running Man , The Hunger Games , Divergent , and The Purge ). It
11858-475: The production could take over and re-dress for shooting. The then-new BMW Headquarters and Museum buildings in Munich appear as the headquarters buildings of the Energy Corporation at Olympiapark, Munich . Scenes were also filmed at Fawley Power Station , near Southampton . The sequence where Jonathan E. visits Geneva to consult with Zero the supercomputer concerning corporate decisions uses exterior shots of
11979-459: The relationship between utopia and dystopia. Andrew Norton-Schwartzbard noted that "written many centuries before the concept "dystopia" existed, Dante 's Inferno in fact includes most of the typical characteristics associated with this genre – even if placed in a religious framework rather than in the future of the mundane world, as modern dystopias tend to be". In the same vein, Vicente Angeloti remarked that " George Orwell 's emblematic phrase,
12100-513: The ruling class or a government that is brutal or uncaring, ruling with an "iron fist". Dystopian governments are sometimes ruled by a fascist or communist regime or dictator. These dystopian government establishments often have protagonists or groups that lead a " resistance " to enact change within their society, as is seen in Alan Moore 's V for Vendetta . Dystopian political situations are depicted in novels such as We , Parable of
12221-522: The sea and rivers. The city lies at the northern tip of the Southampton Water , a deep water estuary, which is a ria formed at the end of the last Ice Age and which opens into The Solent . At the head of Southampton Water the rivers Test and Itchen converge. The Test — which has a salt marsh that makes it ideal for salmon fishing — runs along the western edge of the city, while the Itchen splits Southampton in two—east and west. The city centre
12342-444: The set. At the time of the film's release, Howard Cosell interviewed Norman Jewison and James Caan on ABC's Wide World of Sports , showing clips from the film and with the two of them explaining the rules of the game. Audiences who saw the film so loved the action of the game that Jewison was contacted multiple times by promoters, requesting that the "rights to the game" be sold so that real Rollerball leagues might be formed. Jewison
12463-507: The society in which the author writes. Some of these are anti-utopias , which criticise attempts to implement various concepts of utopia. In the most comprehensive treatment of the literary and real expressions of the concept, Dystopia: A Natural History , Claeys offers a historical approach to these definitions. Here the tradition is traced from early reactions to the French Revolution . Its commonly anti-collectivist character
12584-507: The term to refer to existing societies, many of which are, or have been, totalitarian states or societies in an advanced state of collapse. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, often make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system. "Dustopia", the original spelling of "dystopia", first appeared in Lewis Henry Younge's Utopia: or Apollo's Golden Days in 1747. Additionally, dystopia
12705-409: The track for Houston, while a skater and a biker remain from New York. After a violent struggle in front of Mr. Bartholomew's box, Jonathan kills the skater and takes the ball. The biker charges, and Jonathan knocks him off the bike and pins the biker down. He raises the ball over his head, then pauses. Refusing to kill his fallen opponent, Jonathan gets to his feet and makes his way to the goal, slamming
12826-525: The vast and essentially stateless multinational corporations , Rollerball plays off developments which have come since Huxley 's and Orwell 's time." The Hollywood Reporter claimed that it was “the most original, and imaginative and technically proficient peek into our future since 2001: A Space Odyssey . ” Jonathan Rosenbaum of The Monthly Film Bulletin panned Rollerball as "A classic demonstration of how several millions of dollars can be unenjoyably wasted ... this glib fable seems to be aiming at
12947-489: The west of the city; and Caroline Nokes (Conservative) for Romsey and Southampton North , which includes a northern portion of the city. The first mayor of Southampton served in 1222 meaning 2022 was the 800th anniversary of the office. Early mayors of Southampton include: The first female mayor was Lucia Foster Welch , elected in 1927. In 1959 the city elected its sixth female mayor, Rosina Marie Stonehouse, mother to John Stonehouse . The current mayor of Southampton
13068-592: The winter season, and a public broadcast of the Wimbledon tennis championship . Two new buildings, the John Hansard Gallery with City Eye and a secondary site for the University of Southampton's Nuffield Theatre , in addition to several flats, were built in the "cultural quarter" adjacent to Guildhall Square in 2017. After the establishment of Hampshire County Council, following the passage of
13189-404: Was a surge of popular dystopian young adult literature and blockbuster films. Some have commented on this trend, saying that "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism ". Cultural theorist and critic Mark Fisher identified the phrase as encompassing the theory of capitalist realism —the perceived "widespread sense that not only is capitalism
13310-446: Was built in the 12th century and surviving remains of 12th-century merchants' houses such as King John's House and Canute's Palace are evidence of the wealth that existed in the town at this time. By the 13th century Southampton had become a leading port, particularly involved in the import of French wine in exchange for English cloth and wool . The Franciscan friary in Southampton was founded circa 1233. The friars constructed
13431-471: Was demolished in 1960. From 1904 to 2004, the Thornycroft shipbuilding yard was a major employer in Southampton, building and repairing ships used in the two World Wars. In 1912, the RMS Titanic sailed from Southampton. 497 men (four in five of the crew on board the vessel) were Sotonians, with about a third of those who perished in the tragedy hailing from the city. Today, visitors can see
13552-637: Was designed and developed in Southampton, evolving from the Schneider trophy -winning seaplanes of the 1920s and 1930s. Its designer, R J Mitchell, lived in the Portswood area of Southampton, and his house is today marked with a blue plaque. Heavy bombing of the Woolston factory in September 1940 destroyed it as well as homes in the vicinity, killing civilians and workers. World War II hit Southampton particularly hard because of its strategic importance as
13673-417: Was in them, and carried off other goods, chattels and merchandise of theirs found there, and took some of the ships with them, to a loss to them of £8000 and more.' For their petition to the King somewhere after 1321 and before 1327 earned some of the people of Southampton a prison sentence at Portchester Castle , possibly for insinuating the king's advisor Hugh le Despenser the Younger acted in conspiracy with
13794-477: Was itself raided by French pirates, leading to the construction of the fortified town walls , many of which still stand today. Jane Austen also lived in Southampton for a number of years. In 1964, the town of Southampton acquired city status , becoming the City of Southampton. Some notable employers in the city include the University of Southampton , Ordnance Survey , BBC South , Associated British Ports , and Carnival UK . Archaeological finds suggest that
13915-458: Was known as the County of Southampton or Southamptonshire . This was officially changed to Hampshire in 1959, although the county had been commonly known as Hampshire (and previously Hantescire – the origin of the abbreviation "Hants.") for centuries. In the reorganisation of English and Welsh local government that took effect on 1 April 1974 , Southampton lost its county borough when it became
14036-401: Was made into a unitary authority in a local government reorganisation on 1 April 1997, a result of the 1992 Local Government Act . The district remains part of the Hampshire ceremonial county . Southampton City Council consists of 51 councillors, 3 for each of the 17 wards. Council elections are held in early May for one third of the seats (one councillor for each ward), elected for
14157-550: Was no longer dependent upon its own fortifications. During the Middle Ages , shipbuilding had become an important industry for the town. Henry V 's famous warship Grace Dieu was built in Southampton and launched in 1418. The friars passed on ownership of the water supply system itself to the town in 1420. On the other hand, many of the medieval buildings once situated within the town walls are now in ruins or have disappeared altogether. From successive incarnations of
14278-405: Was once again reorganised in the late 1990s. Southampton as a port and city has had a long history of administrative independence of the surrounding County; as far back as the reign of King John the town and its port were removed from the writ of the King's Sheriff in Hampshire and the rights of custom and toll were granted by the King to the burgesses of Southampton over the port of Southampton and
14399-451: Was outraged, as the entire point of the movie was to show the "sickness and insanity of contact sports and their allure." English pro wrestler Mark Rocco was a stuntman for the film. He used the "Rollerball" name as his nickname. Bach 's Toccata and Fugue in D minor is performed on organ by Simon Preston during the opening title sequence and again at the final scene, bookending the film. Adagio in G minor by Albinoni / Giazotto and
14520-604: Was successful. Once the Letters Patent were published, the current Mayor (Councillor Jaqui Rayment) became the first Lord Mayor of Southampton. The Princess Royal presented the Lord Mayor with the Letters Patent in February 2023. The town crier from 2004 until his death in 2014 was John Melody, who acted as master of ceremonies in the city and who possessed a cry of 104 decibels . Southampton's current Town Crier
14641-509: Was used as an antonym for utopia by John Stuart Mill in one of his 1868 Parliamentary Speeches ( Hansard Commons ) by adding the prefix "dys" ( Ancient Greek : δυσ- "bad") to "topia", reinterpreting the initial "u" as the prefix "eu" ( Ancient Greek : ευ- "good") instead of "ou" ( Ancient Greek : οὐ "not"). It was used to denounce the government's Irish land policy: "It is, perhaps, too complimentary to call them Utopians, they ought rather to be called dys-topians, or caco-topians. What
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