Description
Drawing on numerous sources, including little examined documents in the archive of the film's screenwriter William Harrison, Andrew Nette examines the many dimensions of Rollerball's making and reception: the way it simultaneously exhibits the aesthetics and narrative tropes of mainstream action and art-house cinema; the elaborate and painstaking process of world creation undertaken by Jewison and Harrison; and the cultural forces and debates that influenced them, including the increasing corporate power and growing violence in Western society in late 1960s and early 1970s. Nette shows how a film that was derided by many critics for its violence works as a sophisticated and disturbing portrayal of a dystopian future that anticipates numerous contemporary concerns, including "fake news" and declining literary and historical memory. The book includes an interview with Jewison on Rollerball's influences, making, and reception.
About the Author
Andrew Nette is the coeditor of Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction and Youth Culture, 1950 to 1980 (2017). He was a co-recipient of the Australian Film Institute Research Fellowship, examining depictions of crime and policing in early Australian television crime drama. He has written on film for a wide range of publications and organizations, including the Los Angeles Review of Books, Sight and Sound, the British Film Institute, and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.
Book Information
ISBN 9781911325666
Author Andrew Nette
Format Paperback
Page Count 120
Imprint Auteur Publishing
Publisher Liverpool University Press
Dimensions(mm) 190mm * 135mm * 8mm