Philosophy of Film

Atlas Shrugged in production

Ayn Rand's philisophical novel, "Atlas Shrugged" is currently being made into a full lenth film.

For those who don't know, Ayn Rand is the founder of Objectivism, a philosophy based on individualism and the importance of self interest. Other novels of her's have been converted to screen such as Fountainhead,  and We The Living.  None of her novel have been as influential however as Atlas Shrugged. Although I am not an objectivist, I am a big fan of her writing and hope this film lives up to it's promise. I do think that her Orwellian novella, Anthem would have made a very interesteng leap to the silver screen.

Re:Atlas Shrugged in production

I've never read any of Raynd's work, but my brother was reading Atlas Shrugged the last time we talked and he said that it depicted society as primarily of consisting of two different kinds of peoples, those who contribute to society, and those who take from society. He seemed to feel that this is a very accurate interpretation of reality.While I can't say that I disagree per se, I find the act of attempting to determine who "adds" and who "takes" to be extremely subjective. Granted a set of rules could be created that might exactly separate a populace into one category or the other, but such a set of rules would be, most likely, lacking in many ways.

I look forward to seeing such a film though simply for its historical significance as a piece of literature.

Re:Atlas Shrugged in production

Huh. I went through a big Rand phase in high school, and I briefly counted myself as an objectivist. I was also reading some Anton LaVey(the man who founded the Church of Satan, and wrote the Satanic Bible). They actually championed the exact same ideals.

These days I have to say I disagree with most of what Rand says. Social Darwinism as a concept is flawed, because the entire idea of a society is to work together toward a common goal. Ayn Rand seems to think that anyone not working to further themselves, or anyone who accepts help from others, is unfit to live. It's a concept that's made some headway politically these last few years, and I think we're worse off because of it.

Re:Atlas Shrugged in production

TheWorkingDead:

Huh. I went through a big Rand phase in high school, and I briefly counted myself as an objectivist. I was also reading some Anton LaVey(the man who founded the Church of Satan, and wrote the Satanic Bible). They actually championed the exact same ideals.

These days I have to say I disagree with most of what Rand says. Social Darwinism as a concept is flawed, because the entire idea of a society is to work together toward a common goal. Ayn Rand seems to think that anyone not working to further themselves, or anyone who accepts help from others, is unfit to live. It's a concept that's made some headway politically these last few years, and I think we're worse off because of it.

 

I have to agree with you on this. It's been a few years since I last read Atlas Shrugged and I remember thinking how much I agreed with it the first time I read it. I realized later that I loved her writing style, but hated her philosophy. Now I just don't see the point of turning it into a movie.