Whip It, the Drew Barrymore-directed roller derby flick that opens Friday, is designed in every way to melt the cool indie heart. Ellen Page plays a disaffected teen trapped in a flyspeck Texas town, the only kid in high school who wears ironic Stryper T-shirts. She finds her escape, and glory, in the scruffy sport of roller derby—a strange confection of post-punk irony, earnest feminist self-discovery, and full-on girl-on-girl violence. Only a true churl could dislike this bouncy, dewy-eyed she-pup of a movie.
But for all the charm, Whip It misses something crucial about its sport of choice. In Whip It, roller derby’s underground cool is conveyed by all the trappings—dyed hair, tattoos, uniforms that look like variations on fetish gear, and a hint of grrl-power politics. But the most interesting thing about derby has nothing to do with fashion, sex appeal, or even self-actualization. In real life, roller derby has become the goliath of underground athletics because it challenges the status quo of American sports. Spunky, loveable, and predictable to the last atom, Whip It skimps on the real radicalism of America’s most revolutionary sport.
True to its cultural roots in underground rock, roller derby is like an alternative-universe version of corporate American sports. It operates on something like the values of a commune—players really do play for love, and the good of the sport really does come first. At less than a decade old, derby has created a full-blooded internal world—and has done so without corporate cash, deep-pocketed owners, or even a shred of attention from mainstream sports media. This has come to pass not because it is so totally awesome to see hot, tattooed chicks on skates attack one another—though I admit that the appeal therein is not lost on me—but because these particular hot, tattooed chicks on skates have seized control of their own sport to a degree no other American athletes can claim. Compared with derby’s empowered amateurs, the highest-paid NBA or NFL star is just a pampered serf.
Simply put, the players own roller derby. The motto of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, the sport’s bootstrapping national organizing body, is “by the skaters, for the skaters.” Players own roller derby’s teams and leagues and vote on every aspect of the sport’s direction in a big, messy, and surprisingly effective grassroots process. A national sport, entirely run by players, with no fat-cat owners, corporate backers, sports-marketing specialists or entrenched, Olympics-style sports bureaucrats pulling the strings? Scan American sports history and you will see only one other attempt at such a thing: baseball’s Players’ League, a rebel circuit launched during an 1890s labor dispute. The Players’ League lasted all of one season but did, to its eternal credit, include a team called the “Cleveland Infants.” Since then, self-dealing cabals of team owners have controlled all our major leagues, and provided the model for all our minor ones. So while roller derby may look like gonzo fringe entertainment—perfect fodder for an inch-deep movie frolic—it actually deserves far more credit and acclaim for breaking that mold.
Urban lore dates roller derby back to the 1930s, when legendary sports journalist Damon Runyon decided rollerskating races—a popular diversion in those pre-Tivo days—could use some body contact. By the '70s, derby became a low-rent curiosity and staple of grainy, Z-grade television. This original incarnation of the sport more or less died out in the '80s. Then, about a decade ago, a bunch of punk-rock-inclined women in Austin reinvented the sport, accessorizing it with sexy/aggro pseudonyms, goofy costumes, and a beery rock-and-roll social vibe. This concoction unexpectedly caught on, as women around the country—usually of a type more closely associated with nonstandard body piercings than Title IX—formed teams. Today, the WFTDA confederates more than 40 city leagues, which attract hundreds of dedicated players. Many of them are attracted to the sport because it offers a sense of ownership, not just a chance to suffer visible contusions.
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Comments
Whip it good!
By: Lizette L | Sat, 10/17/2009 - 01:50
The movie has been getting positive reviews, in spite of putting it at no. 6. It seems that Whip It is a great first time effort, and might be worth to see. Whip It, the Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, which she also produced and acted in, has been getting a generally positive response among the movie review crowd. The film, which stars Ellen Page as a young woman fed up with what she's told is normal, decides to join a female roller derby team, but it's a bit deeper than that – the gist of the film is more about young people finding what makes them happy, rather than just a rote glorification of roller derby.
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When did I say that?
By: Kami Sutra | Tue, 10/06/2009 - 10:36
In my 5 year roller derby career I have talked with many people/reporters/journalists so it all starts to blur together, but I'm wondering when I once said what I'm quoted saying to this guy. I don't think I would've mentioned "sleazy promoters" since Jerry Seltzer has been rather close with our league and a supporter of modern roller derby and I do not find him to be sleazy in the least. And if this is, in fact, an accurate quote I must sincerely apologize. I'm sure in my head I was speaking to the overall perception of what once was.
I appreciate this article, but I also appreciate the diverse history of our sport that got us, eventually, to where we are now.
A bit of a bum rap
By: Grand_Poobah | Sat, 10/03/2009 - 15:47
I love the article and its message, however...
"...back in the old days, roller derby was completely controlled by sleazy promoters."
I've had the chance to get to know a couple of former roller derby promoters. I wouldn't call either of them sleazy.
Founder Leo Seltzer worked to make the sport more legitimate in the 1950s, he had a dream to make it an Olympic sport.
Jerry Seltzer (one of the two I mention above) gave his skaters a profit-sharing plan back in the late 60s/early 70s. He lent teams to and borrowed teams from Bill Griffiths' Rollergames even while he was suing that organization for $15 million for trademark violations.
The skaters I know who worked with and for him seem to love the guy, even after leaving to join "the other outfit."
Jerry is very supportive of today's roller derby. He attended (and possibly even offered guidance to) the first WFTDA national roller derby tournament, Tucson Roller Derby's Dust Devil in 2006. He was at last year's Northwest Knockdown and has been a great keynote speaker at two RollerCons that I attended.
I don't doubt that there have been some less than savory individuals involved in promoting roller derby. Jerry and his late father Leo are and were good people.
I think the caricature of the greedy, cigar-smoking, fat old white guy ordering the skaters around is as untrue a stereotype as the ones about today's skaters being a bunch of tattooed man-hating lesbians who have a PBR in their mouth once the mouth guard comes out. Watch the movie "Jam," if you don't believe me.
Regards,
Grand Poobah
Derby News Network
Roc City Roller Derby
small world!
By: eustacia42 | Sat, 10/03/2009 - 01:44
LOL! i was totally at the WFTDA championship you're talking about (watching, not playing). what a great time it was!
--skäte moss 42 lbs.
oklahoma city roller derby
(tornado alley rollergirls)
What he said...
By: Ruby Rocker | Fri, 10/02/2009 - 16:49
Thanks for the review and article Zach.
I'm a skater with the OC Roller Girls in California and I can attest to the particular and excitingly unique nature of derby.
My first exposure to this sport came through my semester as a reporter for my university's newspaper. I was assigned to cover a roller derby bout. No one else wanted the story, but I jumped at the chance to write about something other than the new flavor of soft serve in the cafeteria.
I interviewed one of the OC Roller Girls league founders, attended a bout (for the uninitiated, that's what we call a derby game) and joined the league the day my story went to print.
I was most impressed by the great range of women involved in derby. We tend to think of roller girls as tattooed punks or counter culture stragglers. Yet my league has housemoms, administrative assistants, office managers, small business owners, hockey players, lawyers, a priest (yeah, you read that right), church girls and everything in between. And we range in age from 20 to 44.
Derby is a place where anyone can excel. I've always been somewhat athletic, but I've been more of a benchrider than a star athlete. Derby, however, is a sport where my particular body size and abilities serve me well. I was named MVP at a recent interleague bout. Me!? MVP!?
Therein lies the attraction for most women. We join together from all walks of life and, three times a week, we push our bodies to the brink of their abilities. We come in all shapes and sizes and each flavor has its place and use on the track. In a time when American women are receiving conflicting messages about their bodies and as a nation we're worried about rising obesity, this sport promotes strength and athleticism over a particular body size. You can't whip, hit, block, jam, fall, sprint and repeat unless you've been regularly conditioning your body. We actually embrace full hips and thighs! They're a badge of honor earned by hours and hours on the rink.
We fully expect derby to explode in popularity from this movie. We welcome anyone willing to put in the hours. It's a commitment of time, energy (lots of energy) and money. I'm not worried about the movie promoting the fringe element of the sport or attracting Looky Lous. The hangers-on are always weeded out when it comes time to practice getting hit. :)
See the movie, see a bout. We promise not to bite.
I am a proud season ticket
By: shanendoah | Fri, 10/02/2009 - 11:36
I am a proud season ticket holder for Seattle's Rat City Rollergirls. I won't actually see Whip It until Sunday morning, but I already know it won't be able to compare to a real Derby match. However, anything that helps the sport grow and gets these amazing women more attention is good with me.
This last season, Rat City moved from an old hanger at a park to Key Arena in the heart of Seattle. Attendance was amazing (more people came to the opening roller derby bout than I had seen there for the Thunderbirds, Seattle's minor league hockey team). The move coincided with the retirement of a number of Rat City's founding stars, so it was a bit of a rebuilding year, with new stars emerging. I'm certainly hoping that the established teams, along with the publicity from Whip It, will bring attendance up even more next year.
Of course, if you want to see a movie that focuses on the reality of roller derby, check out Blood on the Flat Track, a documentary about the Rat City team.
And since the WFTDA Western Regionals are starting in Denver today...
GO RAT CITY!