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This movie gives non-derby-folk a false idea of the derby world?

posted 14 years ago by NewEnglandClamChowder
46 replies | jump to latest

I am support staff for a roller derby league and went to see this movie with a bunch of my roller girls, most of us felt obligated, I think, to see it, since it was about derby. And most of us thought it was just okay for a film based on a book about someone's personal experiences, but as a movie about derby, it sucked. We were pretty much alone in the theater when we saw it, it was after our event for the premiere had ended and the crowd had left, so we spent a lot of the movie talking freely about all the illegal hits and other things the movie just got wrong about the sport.

What irks me is, there are people who aren't involved in derby, who loved the movie and seem to come away from the movie assuming they have a complete knowledge of all things derby. I think because this movie showed not only bout scenes, but practice, locker room, and afterparty scenes, non-derby-folk (being people who aren't even fans, and are seeing this movie because it "looks interesting") feel like they have an inside view of the derby world.

Basically I've found: Derby people thought the movie was stupid, non-derby people loved it.

Derby has been a huge part of my life over the past two years, I love, appreciate, and understand the sport from a lot of different angles. And now I feel like the kind of people who look down on it, don't really care for it, or don't understand it think they have an advantage over all the people who've put time, effort, and love into roller derby. I mostly hate that these people will probably never get to see it from the actual insider's point of view.

So am I completely wrong? Is anyone out there a non-derby-person who feels a little more educated? Is there any derby-folk who feel the same way I do?

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[–] balducci2 10 years ago

I don't really have a strong opinion on this, but I have read that there are hundreds of small roller derby leagues in the U.S.

I suspect that the derby experience varies quite a bit between the different leagues, in different cities.

So the movie may give an accurate representation of the derby experience in some leagues, and not others.

I played baseball and hockey as a kid and I know that my league experiences were very different compared to that of some friends who played these sports elsewhere.

[–] jutuomin 10 years ago

I am not really any kind of person in the World of roller derby, but my friend plays in a team and I have watched the team play perhaps 3-4 times. I don't get the rules, but I enjoy watching the game. My friend's team plays only flat track roller derby so the rules might also differ from the ones in the movie. And while enjoying roller derby I also do like the movie Whip it (or Roller Girl as it's known here in Finland).
To me it seems to introduce the sport of roller derby quite well while also being a well made film. I know some of the rules are totally wrong and as it's not a documentary you cannot really tell what happens in the locker rooms etc. but that's how it goes with all sports. And probably different things will happen in different teams locker rooms, practises etc. all the time.

If I'd want to show someone what roller derby is like, I'd probably show them this movie. Sport movies are always an exaggeration and I think people do know this. And to compare to some other sport films, I think Whip it represents roller derby much better than for instant The Mighty Ducks movies represent ice hockey. So you could have done much worse than this.