the 6 trees on fire
There were 6 trees set on fire by the gun at the party scene. Any speculators on what this whole thing was about? Any particular meaning?
shareDrunk women with guns are very dangerous.
share
MovieChat Forums > Rollerball (1975) Discussion > the 6 trees on fire
Decadence
You can't handle it. Get me Bruce Lee!
Ehh... Bruce Lee is dead.
Then get his brother!!!
Yeah, I had the same question as well, and the same answer as the poster above me. It was just to show the decadence of future society.
I asked the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
not sure, I read somewhere that it was symbolic. Perhaps that the trees were destroyed on account that they were majestic and stood tall - the mob mentality destroyed them.
shareI think it has something to do with the corporate destruction of nature. The constant whoring of resources and negligence with mother Earth.
shareThe last remnants of nature---being destroyed by drugged-out, rich corporate types. Human beings rule all. The planet be damned. That was the point of the sequence.
Human Beings...Wowshare
From the DVD commentary :
"Here is a scene where I wanted to devise something that would demonstrate the lack of morality, the lack of any kind of sensitive protection of something that was... that was alive and could be destroyed... a tree like this would take maybe 125 years, 150 years of life, and you will see it destroyed in an instant. Which is a warning I was trying to give of the lack of understanding of certain forces in the world that had no respect or little respect for the environment and living things, and where that would lead to because the greed of man indeed is destroying forests all over the world and as these few are left it gave us an opportunity to show that for fun and sport they would destroy a living thing in an instant."
They actually considered showing them all go out and taking turns to shoot a dog!
Yeah, this seems to be an obscure but very provoking scene. Essentially, I think its both about power and the victim of power. The people with the gun are effectively powerless, or are stuck in a game always attempting to get it. They live very empty lives, Rollerball is their main diversion, watching it allows them to fantasize about visceral, physical power. Its an outlet for the repression they feel everyday. The gun group is fresh off watching replays of Jonathon's greatest 'hits', it gets them wanting to wield their own physical power. People without freedom need to feel power at any cost.
The gun is a very interesting prop. What use could it really have but to allow 'rich' people to blow things up? or is it a relic of the Corporate wars? It shows techology isn't neceesarily progressive but may in fact be an index of a society's degeneration and destructiveness. Also, in the gun we have a very small but very concentrated piece of firepower. It is physically analagous to the concentrated power of an oligarchy.
The tree scene is constrasted and spliced in with Jonathan's chat with Bartholomew (I think). Jonathan is asking for 'concessions', he is negotiating and contesting with structural power - this is real-, the gun party is off-letting from repression and frustration, from being dominated- this is indirect. (I think the woman with gun realizes this). The party is also contrasted with Jonathan in their treatment of 'plants'. Essentially, everybody is becoming a plant, all they need is to have a few basic needs met and be comfortable (drugs, sex, spectacle, food, water, power) so long as they stay planted, inert, and inactive (powerless). In a sense, all expressions of power not aimed at those who dominate you, become masochistic. I think the woman also realizes this after her shooting. Moonpie, the perfect plant, becomes a 'vegetable', that Jonathan refuses to let die. In his final game Jonathon also relents and doesn't bludgeon the New York player. He is, or becomes merciful to the powerless, he does not exploit every aspect of his power. Everything is still a game to him, people don't need to be hurt in a game (rollerball or outside of it). The executives and the yuppies that cling to them do not exercise such discretion. Jonathon E. maybe the most brutal and violent man on the Rollerball circuit, but in real life its those with the power (and without the power) who are the most ruthless and destructive.
Yeah, this seems to be an obscure but very provoking scene. Essentially, I think its both about power and the victim of power. The people with the gun are effectively powerless, or are stuck in a game always attempting to get it. They live very empty lives, Rollerball is their main diversion, watching it allows them to fantasize about visceral, physical power. Its an outlet for the repression they feel everyday. The gun group is fresh off watching replays of Jonathon's greatest 'hits', it gets them wanting to wield their own physical power. People without freedom need to feel power at any cost.
The gun is a very interesting prop. What use could it really have but to allow 'rich' people to blow things up? or is it a relic of the Corporate wars? It shows techology isn't neceesarily progressive but may in fact be an index of a society's degeneration and destructiveness. Also, in the gun we have a very small but very concentrated piece of firepower. It is physically analagous to the concentrated power of an oligarchy.
The tree scene is constrasted and spliced in with Jonathan's chat with Bartholomew (I think). Jonathan is asking for 'concessions', he is negotiating and contesting with structural power - this is real-, the gun party is off-letting from repression and frustration, from being dominated- this is indirect. (I think the woman with gun realizes this). The party is also contrasted with Jonathan in their treatment of 'plants'. Essentially, everybody is becoming a plant, all they need is to have a few basic needs met and be comfortable (drugs, sex, spectacle, food, water, power) so long as they stay planted, inert, and inactive (powerless). In a sense, all expressions of power not aimed at those who dominate you, become masochistic. I think the woman also realizes this after her shooting. Moonpie, the perfect plant, becomes a 'vegetable', that Jonathan refuses to let die. In his final game Jonathon also relents and doesn't bludgeon the New York player. He is, or becomes merciful to the powerless, he does not exploit every aspect of his power. Everything is still a game to him, people don't need to be hurt in a game (rollerball or outside of it). The executives and the yuppies that cling to them do not exercise such discretion. Jonathon E. maybe the most brutal and violent man on the Rollerball circuit, but in real life its those with the power (and without the power) who are the most ruthless and destructive.
Hey, I really like this a lot, very interesting stuff. Thanks for that.
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--The Nerd Gazette share
Excellent summation grayto.
shareI thought it was sad that a few trees had to be killed to make the movie.
shareHmm, well Johnny's number is 6 so thats my assumption, didnt really look into it that much.
ALso when that Japanese guy is talking the guy's number is 6 on the diagrams.
"I thought it was sad that a few trees had to be killed to make the movie."
In the real world, apparently the trees were already slated for the chop, and the movie maker just took the cut trees, stood them up in holes in the ground and let fly with the fire.
But the symbolism of the movie destruction is very poignant.
I think this scene and the very brief glimpse of "the crying woman" at the party are two of the most memorable in the whole movie. To me she's saying "What have I/we done? Can we save ourselves?" while the others are going on an orgy of mindless destruction.
This movie has SO much to say, even (or especially) today.
Proword
"In the real world, apparently the trees were already slated for the chop, and the movie maker just took the cut trees, stood them up in holes in the ground and let fly with the fire."
Oh, that's alright, then. :) I'm such a bleeding heart..
"Oh, that's alright, then. :) I'm such a bleeding heart.. "
I think in the world the way it is, that's nowt to be ashamed of.
;)
Proword
I'm so glad I read this thread and the behind-the-scenes info you posted, proword. I'm also glad to see a few fellow tree-huggers, or at least people who consider such things ;)
When I read Jewison's quote from the commentary: "Here is a scene where I wanted to devise something that would demonstrate the lack of morality ... a tree like this would take maybe 125 years, 150 years of life, and you will see it destroyed in an instant. Which is a warning I was trying to give of the lack of understanding of certain forces in the world that had no respect or little respect for the environment and living things"
My first thought was "But it's ok to destroy a 150 year old tree if you're filming it for a movie?" The thought sickened me until I read your post about how he took cut trees and stood them up in holes. It's still a little disturbing (like the decapitated horse in "The Godfather" which Coppola said he bought from a slaughterhouse), but the fact that Jewison took the trouble to set up dead trees rather than nuking live ones, which would have been so much easier, it shows that Jewison applies his own philosophy to himself.
Often in films, particularly with the maestro directors, there is a certain arrogance whereby the directors think they can moralize all they want, torture & abuse animals (and sometimes people) because their artistic vision is more important than common morality. In other words, I shouldn't kill a tree, but the director can in order to tell me not to. (huh?)
But it's nice to see in this case, the director shows us "do as I say AND as I do."
Another similar bit of trivia for anyone who cares... in Veerhoven's scifi satire "Starship Troopers" (which tells the story of a violent war between humans & "space bugs" simply because we don't like the way they look), there's a scene where a bunch of kids are laughing and squashing cockroaches. It was done with special effects. No bugs were harmed in the making of that movie haha.
"Oh, that's alright, then. :) I'm such a bleeding heart.. "
Heh. Nothing to be ashamed of, and I kind of question the sake of the pure destruction too, but when you think about it...I mean, "trees are burnt" to make a ton of movies, figuratively and literally speaking. It shocks us to see six trees outright burned on film, but think of all of the energy resources expended in total to make a movie. Think of all the money, all the travel, all the trees that went into construction of sets, all the gas that powered all the vehicles, all the travel. You have to ask whether all of it is worth it. In this case, to show a scene of pure decadence, I think burning six trees was worth it, and it's probably a modest sum.
Compared to all of the resources (natural, intellectual, resources of time and labor) that go into making crap movies, something like this in Rollerball, a movie with messages that cause us to think and question, isn't bad at all.