Film based on the work of Ayn Rand

[Spike Killer]

I can't believe a movie has not been made of her work since 1949's Fountainhead. I haven't read Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged yet, but I have read We the Living and Anthem. Both of which are excellent.

[Offender_Mullet]

Hollywood prefers a lot of anti-capitalist messages, which is completely ironic.

Look here: https://forum.blu-ray.com/movies/143...ged-movie.html although the news is a bit out-dated.

[vegeta88]

Originally Posted by Offender_Mullet

Hollywood prefers a lot of anti-capitalist messages, which is completely ironic.

Look here: https://forum.blu-ray.com/movies/143...ged-movie.html although the news is a bit out-dated.

Nice work

I have only read Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead, but I think a lot of people would dislike the messages in each. I would like to see them properly done, but I think it would be difficult to translate some of it on the screen. I'm with you that it is surprising that there has not been a film adaptation of her writing since The Fountainhead. Atlas Shrugged is one of the most influential books out there.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by Spike Killer

I can't believe a movie has not been made of her work since 1949's Fountainhead. I haven't read Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged yet, but I have read We the Living and Anthem. Both of which are excellent.

If I ever get into a position where I can allow for the creation of or create a film adaptation of an Ayn Rand novel, I would create Anthem in a heartbeat. What do you think? Do you think the anti-communist message is too much for Hollywood to stomach?

I was an English major, read a book a week, and read everything from Dostoevsky to Saramago to Silva. I absolutely DESPISE Ayn Rand and her writings. I think her viewpoints were embarassing and her arrogance despicable. Watch an interview with her; I've seen many. If you want good reading, read Tom Carson's hilarious article about her in GQ magazine from last year.

[vegeta88]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I was an English major, read a book a week, and read everything from Dostoevsky to Saramago to Silva. I absolutely DESPISE Ayn Rand and her writings. I think her viewpoints were embarassing and her arrogance despicable. Watch an interview with her; I've seen many. If you want good reading, read Tom Carson's hilarious article about her in GQ magazine from last year.

Embarrassing viewpoints? Mind giving a couple examples? I am just curious.

She was definitely an egoist, but is that such a bad thing? She accomplished quite a bit and has some of the most well known and influential writings in regards to the subject matters she tackled. I think if I wrote a book that was the most influential book second only to the Bible, I might think highly of myself as well. Also, her books keep growing in popularity around the world even 50 years after the publication.

Don't get me wrong though. I am not the biggest Rand fan out there. I think she had a lot of personal problems and I think very differently from her when it comes to love and relationships (she was a bit psychotic). I also am amazed at some of her 'devout' followers that treat her ideas as a religion and are blind followers.

Anyway, I don't want to get into it too much. I just wanted to ask those questions and present a counter viewpoint. Here is an interesting article. I like it because it presents the good and bad influences it has on people.

[mjbethancourt]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I was an English major, read a book a week, and read everything from Dostoevsky to Saramago to Silva. I absolutely DESPISE Ayn Rand and her writings. I think her viewpoints were embarassing and her arrogance despicable. Watch an interview with her; I've seen many. If you want good reading, read Tom Carson's hilarious article about her in GQ magazine from last year.

Rand wasn't the first or the last major a**hole to write a great book. As a person, she was a hypocritical megalomaniac who set herself up as the sole valid measure of right and wrong. However, some of her work should be required reading in any academic program, because it expresses a viewpoint that is really not discussed in other writing, and education should be about exploring multiple viewpoints, not brainwashing the youth to the "correct politics" of the day. It's only fair that schoolkids should be exposed to at least some pro-individualist, pro-capitalist writing. I got a lot of good inspiration from it myself, and I know a lot of other people have, too. After reading it, I quit a dead-end job and went to engineering school. There are some critically important ideas in that writing, regarding the rights of the individual, the power of saying "no", and the need to resist the tyranny of the majority. Plus, as a conservative/libertarian atheist, I don't find a lot of sympathetic voices in the world's literature, but I sure found one there. Attacking her interviews in proxy of her writing is a bit of ad hominem that I think should be well beneath you, I think better of you than that. I can think of a lot of very talented and productive people that are total jackasses based off of the interviews they give, especially among actors, directors, and writers.

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I don't think it would be possible to make an interesting movie out of 'Atlas Shrugged'. It's far too non-visual to work well in a visual medium, the writing consists mostly of lenthy monologues, and action that only serves the purpose of affording the characters an excuse to deliver essays. I think, at best, it would end up something like 'There Will be Blood', (which, ironically and conversely, was a tedious anti-capitalist screed), where, in an effort to partially de-politicize the writing and pare down the pontificating, the film is left as a spectacle of fine acting and directing of individual scenes, but without a coherent narrative or point. As with TWbB, the result of trimming the book down to what is visually presentable would be a movie somewhat removed from the original purpose of the book, and bereft of focus.