A few years back, I saw this really cute movie with Ellen Page, Jimmy Fallon, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis, and Drew Barrymore - Whip It. Did you see it? If not, it's a good rental...
In case you've never heard of the movie: Ellen Page's character is a teenager with typical problems and stresses who joins a local roller derby group and boosts her self-confidence along the way all while trying to avoid being a beauty pageant contestant (her mom's idea). That description sounds cheesy but the writing was actually really good and the characters weren't flat or predictable. Her scenes with her parents are some of the best...
The roller derby chicks each had their own alias like "Iron Maven" and "Maggie Mayhem" and really pounded the hell out of each other on the roller track. It was a funny movie that made me want to catch a live roller derby match one day. See them race along a large track on their roller skates and slam each other around ~ the action and violence! LOL
Unfortunately, this is one of those situations in life where the movie is much more high tech and fancy than the real thing. I went to see a local roller derby team at a nearby roller rink and they had the cool outfits and the clever names but their venue just wasn't good enough for them to play on. They only rolled around on the center part of the roller rink and it took them about 15 seconds to circle around the track once. Why weren't they using the entire track? Where was the shoving and fancy choreographed moves I saw in the movie?
It was really hard to follow what was going on and nearly impossible to see since there were so many women packed into such a small space. I felt like they "ended the jam" every 15 seconds and the point system was more complicated than college-level calculus. Someone tripped a ref once and that was fun...
There were only two breaks for injuries. Both times, everyone on the track got on a bended knee and total quiet came over the crowd. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop and that was respectful, I thought. In both cases, everyone was okay. Also, in both cases, the skee ball machine behind me started up VERY LOUDLY with crazy carnival music to attract customers. Probably not the best time, skee ball... Have a little class, okay?
What was pretty cool was that the majority of the athletes seemed to be in their late 30's and early 40's and had their spouses, kids, and parents there to cheer them on. The women seemed really excited and happy to be playing and were polite to each other and displayed good sportsmanship. It was obvious that they really loved what they were doing which was great to see. But, even then, I wanted what I saw in the movie. I had been spoiled. I felt like screaming aloud: "Use the entire track! Shove your Jammer to the front! Crash into those voyeurs sitting on the track instead of behind the wall! Turn on the disco ball and black lights!" Instead, I kept my mouth shut since a roller girl's 11-year old daughter was sitting next to me playing on her computer...
 |
| I wish I had the guts to wear my eyeliner like this... |
In case you've never heard of the movie: Ellen Page's character is a teenager with typical problems and stresses who joins a local roller derby group and boosts her self-confidence along the way all while trying to avoid being a beauty pageant contestant (her mom's idea). That description sounds cheesy but the writing was actually really good and the characters weren't flat or predictable. Her scenes with her parents are some of the best...
The roller derby chicks each had their own alias like "Iron Maven" and "Maggie Mayhem" and really pounded the hell out of each other on the roller track. It was a funny movie that made me want to catch a live roller derby match one day. See them race along a large track on their roller skates and slam each other around ~ the action and violence! LOL
Unfortunately, this is one of those situations in life where the movie is much more high tech and fancy than the real thing. I went to see a local roller derby team at a nearby roller rink and they had the cool outfits and the clever names but their venue just wasn't good enough for them to play on. They only rolled around on the center part of the roller rink and it took them about 15 seconds to circle around the track once. Why weren't they using the entire track? Where was the shoving and fancy choreographed moves I saw in the movie?
It was really hard to follow what was going on and nearly impossible to see since there were so many women packed into such a small space. I felt like they "ended the jam" every 15 seconds and the point system was more complicated than college-level calculus. Someone tripped a ref once and that was fun...
There were only two breaks for injuries. Both times, everyone on the track got on a bended knee and total quiet came over the crowd. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop and that was respectful, I thought. In both cases, everyone was okay. Also, in both cases, the skee ball machine behind me started up VERY LOUDLY with crazy carnival music to attract customers. Probably not the best time, skee ball... Have a little class, okay?
What was pretty cool was that the majority of the athletes seemed to be in their late 30's and early 40's and had their spouses, kids, and parents there to cheer them on. The women seemed really excited and happy to be playing and were polite to each other and displayed good sportsmanship. It was obvious that they really loved what they were doing which was great to see. But, even then, I wanted what I saw in the movie. I had been spoiled. I felt like screaming aloud: "Use the entire track! Shove your Jammer to the front! Crash into those voyeurs sitting on the track instead of behind the wall! Turn on the disco ball and black lights!" Instead, I kept my mouth shut since a roller girl's 11-year old daughter was sitting next to me playing on her computer...
.JPG) |
| Roller girls racing around the track (that purple blob is a cement wall) |
No comments:
Post a Comment