Rand Appalling: New 'Atlas Shrugged' Movie Booed Off Planet

[marmar]

from The Nation:



Here's a sampling of commentary:

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: "Atlas Shrugged. I arched eyebrow, scrunched forehead, yawned."

Roger Ebert: "The most anticlimactic non-event since Geraldo Rivera broke into Al Capone’s vault. I suspect only someone very familiar with Rand’s 1957 novel could understand the film at all, and I doubt they will be happy with it. For the rest of us, it involves a series of business meetings in luxurious retro leather-and-brass board rooms and offices, and restaurants and bedrooms that look borrowed from a hotel no doubt known as the Robber Baron Arms."

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: "It has taken decades to bring Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" to the big screen.They should have waited longer."

Kurt Loder, the former Rolling Stone writer, for the Libertarian site, Reason Online: "The new, long-awaited film version of Atlas Shrugged is a mess, full of embalmed talk, enervated performances, impoverished effects, and cinematography that would barely pass muster in a TV show. Sitting through this picture is like watching early rehearsals of a stage play that's clearly doomed." .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blog/159963/rand-appalling-new-atlas-shrugged-movie-booed-planet

[CBGLuthier]

1. If Mel Gibson had made it, it would have had more blood and whipping

and scourging and oh boy they would have lined up to see the pain pour out of their savior.

But I guess that will have to wait for part three.

[Bucky]

47. Actually, that might not be a bad treatment if they ever make "Anthem" as a movie

Of course, based on how "Shrugged" fares, that might not ever happen.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

105. That might have made it interesting. Gibson is actually a pretty good director.

He's just nuts.

[underpants]

111. NOOOOOO! not that again

Things NOT to say when seeing "The Passion"
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/underpants/16

[TlalocW]

129. They left one out

(Chanting) Hit him again... Harder, Harder!

TlalocW

[AlbertCat]

127. If Mel Gibson had made it, it would have had more blood and whipping

And it would have been in some obscure language that no one understands... like Legalese....

[marmar]

2. Wow.....Apparently we have some un-rec'ing Ayn fans with us today.

nt

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Or maybe "Ayn Rand story is bad" is seen as an unsurprising event

and not worth much attention?

[marmar]

6. Well then you'd think they'd ignore the post altogether, n'est-ce pas?

nt

[Warren DeMontague]

62. LEAVE AYN RAND ALONE!!!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

89. LOL. I miss that underreaction.

[JVS]

65. That's officially beyond the pale!

[Enthusiast]

88. That comes as no surprise.

They defend right wing ideology on DU every day.

[Pacifist Patriot]

101. I don't unrec posts, but honestly don't see why this is Greatest Page material.

Has nothing to do with my opinion of Ayn Rand one way or the other.

[SpiralHawk]

3. "Orgasmic." - RepubliSuckers (R)

"Having been brainwashed by Fox and Rush and Hannity and the other Republicon chickenhawks, we luvs us anything that portrays our billionaire suckerpuppet MASTERS in a favorable light."

- RepubliSuckers (R)

[Norrin Radd]

5. kr Can the world forget Ayn, already?

[blondeatlast]

29. ...atLast Shrugged.

Sorry, I just could not resist!

[ooglymoogly]

39. +1

[loudsue]

59. Perfect. Aynd so true!

AtLast :shrug:

[Kurovski]

108. +1

:D

[StClone]

118. Is This Ayn Rand Limbaugh's Mother?

If so he inherited her black hole self-centricity or at least her bra size.

[Duck]

121. HAHAHA!

GOOOOD one.

[LeftinOH]

7. Maybe they just needed to add more t!ts and explosions. n/t

[Capitalocracy]

52. But, but...

Tits are immoral and explosions illustrate the need for safety regulations.

[Gman]

8. Conservatives don't get entertainment

what makes everyone else laugh leaves them with their scowl. They're not funny, but they think they are and no one else does. This just broadens the base of knowledge about their disorder. Yet they most assuredly felt this movie would enlighten the masses and had to be done to further the culture wars despite the fact that no one with any serious money was willing to finance this movie and conservatives have some very deep pockets. Nevertheless, before the film was complete, they were no doubt already resigned to the fact that the movie would go no where because they are so misunderstood. Still, they felt the movie had to be made. So they will blame the liberal media for why this movie not get an Academy Award.

[marmar]

9. "So they will blame the liberal media for why this movie not get an Academy Award."

..... or why it won't gross more than $5.50 at the box office. :)

[ieoeja]

57. As illustrated in the original "Cheaper by the Dozen".

I don't mean original as in "not the sequel", but as in "the movie made decades ago".

The movie would be moving along quite entertainingly. Then one of the characters would go off on a monologue exhorting some Rightist point ending with either some evil progressive running away in fright (?) or a bunch of wide-eyed teenagers saying things like, "wow, I never thought about that before; you make so much sense."

Then the movie would resume.

It was like the movie was paused for a public service announcement or something.

If you can not understand something that is not explained to you in direct words, then I suppose you can not expound your own thoughts indirectly and embed the message in the movie.

[Stevenmarc]

10. The investors will have their market driven asses handed to them

[marmar]

11. True. Let's see how well the "free market" works out for them with this dog.

nt

[calimary]

41. Yes. And let them keep what they earned (a lot of zeroes)! Karma is a movie reviewer too!

I hope it bombs - as big as ayn rand's worship-of-selfishness philosophy deserves to do.

[sasha031]

12. there are a couple of teabagger blogs that had predicted the reviews would be bad

from the lefty, socialist, communist, media. They told their minions to go out and buy tickets anyway in support of the movie.

[Hugabear]

14. They sure do love their drivel

When you spend your hours lapping up the likes of Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, etc then perhaps their brains are numbed to the point where nothing really bothers them

[Lasher]

18. That won't work.

Libertarians are too cheap to buy tickets.

[cemaphonic]

50. KInda rings hollow when you consider that films like "Triumph of the Will" are celebrated

for their artistry in spite of their offensive content.

Funny that Randroids are encouraging a communal propaganda project, instead of letting the All-Knowing Free Market pass judgment on the film.

[Armstead]

70. Yes lime the Communistic Wall St. Journal and those socialized over at Reason

I was happy Ro see bed reviews from them too

[PATRICK]

13. A performance second only

to the GOP budget proposal.

In the myth Atlas shrugged then walked off only to be conned after his too brief vacation by the notoriously less than clever Hercules to taking back the burden. It was Hercules who shrugged and
had the last laugh, never to be fooled twice. What significance this could possibly have other than the world having to suffer the services of fools is anything but clear. All conservatism seems fairly loony tunes and a menace to the real world.

[deminks]

15. Musings of a Sociopath

Why should this author be any more interesting than any other societal deviant? She took the safety net in the end.

I find this kind of all for 'me ethics' boring. How to feed everyone, how to provide healthcare to everyone, how to provide security to all, now that kind of discourse interests me greatly. To just throw up ones hands and look out only for ones' self is too easy, too ignorant, too boring.

Ayn Rand is the opiate of the ignorant.

[SpiralHawk]

20. True, Rand was a consumate hypocrite, in the end slurping up the goobermint dole

That's why the RepubliBaggers luvs her so -- hyporcisy is one of their core Republcion Family Pharisee Values...

[66 dmhlt]

24. Anyone who admires Rand is an Ignoranus ...

Both dumb as $hit AND an a$$hole

[hifiguy]

26. The best description of Rand's typing

(I cannot in good conscience call it writing) was "Nietzsche for stupid people."

[blondeatlast]

32. An apt description. nt

[newspeak]

60. maybe, they should have made a movie about the author, Ayn Rand

It might have been a better sell. They could do a scene where she approaches James Joyce to join her little fantasy and turned down-then a scene where she is admiring a serial killer's lack of conscience-living out his id--then a scene where she is at the end of her life living off of the dreaded assistance.

[Duck]

120. They did

The Passion of Ayn Rand (TV 1999) She was as lacking in empathy as you might suspect.

[Duck]

119. well said

And to the point...I like this.

Read the work when I was 16, thought it deep. By the time I was 18, I saw the many flaws in it's logic. That was in the 60's.

[KittyWampus]

16. Does it work on a camp level?

[mikeytherat]

19. I've heard it has MST3K levels of set design and dialog, but even worse acting.

So it might not even work as camp or kitsch.

mikey_the_rat

[Tesha]

149. Maybe it needs little silhouetted figures at the bottom of the screen, ...

...mocking Libertarian economic theory?

"Oh, as if *THAT* would ever work in The Real World™!"

Tesha

[highplainsdem]

22. On the official site you can see two stunningly bad clips & buy a hideous metal bracelet ($159)

http://www.atlasshruggedpart1.com/

They're probably hoping to make most of their money off the bracelet.

Anyway, it's a ridiculous premise made worse by bad acting, a bad script, and creepy sets.

This is "Battlefield Earth" for Ayn Rand fans.

Some of whom have posted ludicrous rave reviews at IMDB.

[AlbertCat]

128. Does it work on a camp level?

Oh...if only Charles Busch had directed (and starred) in it!!!

[Brickbat]

17. Looking forward to the free market having its way with this one -- and if everyone who loves it

goes all John Galt and withdraws from society, that would be just fine, too.

My God, I'm a closet Randian!

[MilesColtrane]

21. It's a movie only an Ayn-us could love.

[hifiguy]

23. It is getting beaten like a rented mule

over at Rotten Tomatoes. I think that Gigli and Ishtar got better reviews. :rofl:

But with source material like that, what else could be expected.

[wickerwoman]

68. Love that expression.

Totally stealing it and you can't stop me. :hi:

[JHB]

25. Is it at least funnier than "An American Carol"?

The bar is low enough, even if the laughs are unintentional.

[mikeytherat]

31. I once had a compound fracture that was funnier than "An American Carol."

I swear to Dog, "Gallagher" is too subtle for these freaks.

mikey_the_rat

[EOTE]

33. Yeah. But then again, so is chlamydia. NT

[mikeytherat]

27. "Crappy, self-indulgent, long-winded tripe translates to crappy, self-indulgent, long-winded movie."

Who'd a thunk it?

mikey_the_rat

[JHB]

28. Can I use the term "Petarded"?

and that's not a typo

[Sentath]

63. Does that mean

farted upon? My French is rusty.

[JHB]

69. related to "hoist by one's own..."

[TrogL]

30. I still love this quote

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

from http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/03/ephemera-2009-7.html

[hifiguy]

83. Best. Nutshell. Ever

:rofl:

[Pacifist Patriot]

102. *snort*

[Wounded Bear]

34. Has anyone ever actually read that book?

I think I got through about 20 pages or so.

It read like Dostoevski to me, only slower.

[marmar]

35. No, Dostoyevsky made sense.

nt

[hifiguy]

36. Someone must have.

I managed to get through some of the shorter books and The Fountainhead, which was poorly written campy trash but at least had a somewhat intriguing premise, but as for Fatlas Sharted ((C) DUer HughBeaumont) I managed about to wade through about 300-400 pages of its turgid, self-righteous and childish sludge before, paraphrasing Dorothy Parker, I flung it away with great force.

Ayn Rand's books are the most dangerous and atrociously written garbage this side of "Mein Kampf" but only because there are so many dimbulbs who mistake her cartoons for reality, just as they did with A.H.

One really is obligated to outgrow adolescent power fantasies as one mature.

[themadstork]

44. Maybe I should make an AS parody

I've been wanting to write a teabertarian satire for awhile now and just couldn't decide how.

Good titles for a parody?

Atlas farted?

Atlas reclined

Atlas shrugged II: the cake is a lie

Galts Gone Wild

Atlas Assumes the Position

[jmowreader]

131. I hope you just set it on the table and walked away

Flinging Atlas Shrugged aside with great force is a great way to throw your shoulders out.

[Journeyman]

38. I got to within 20 pages of the end. . .

I was in college, on summer break, and the guy I worked for recommended I read it. Most of my studies at that time concerned socialism, so I thought the contrast would be amusing, if nothing else.

There were some interesting passages, particularly one where Galt explained the nature of money, and the story moved along well enough (if somewhat bogged down by prolix prose), but on the whole I was unimpressed. Unfortunately, classes resumed before I could finish and I chose my education over Rand's propaganda. I didn't finish it and never will. I can't imagine sitting through this film. Especially as it's only the first part and the producers expect me to capitalize their indulgence. The way I see it, it's somewhat a slap in the face of Rand and her "objectivism."

As an aside, I found Dostoevsky infinitely more satisfying and far more relevant to my life. He was the inspiration for Vonnegut's "Kilgore Trout": his ideas were brilliant, he just couldn't write.

[hifiguy]

58. I am so grateful that I found Vonnegut, Orwell,

Tolkein and Bradbury during my impressionable mid-teens rather than Rand .

[abelenkpe]

78. Love Vonnegut!

I cannot tell you how many times I've read and re-read his books. And Orwell, Bradbury and Tolkien the same.

Gotta admit Asimovs I, Robot really shaped my life as well. I read it the summer after fifth grade and remember thinking it was so cool that the main character was a woman who was highly regarded and an important person involved with science and robots. It was the first time I saw that my future didn't have to be as a secretary or housewife (not that those aren't important roles) just that it could be more. Silly I know...but whatever.

[costahawk1987]

154. That's not silly at all

I love hearing (or reading) about how books can change lives. Reading about different cultures has helped me eliminate (most of) my former prejudices. I still have problems with oppressive religions but don't necessarily consider that a bad thing. If people use religion as a guide for their own lives, that's fine. But when they try to dictate the lives of others because of words in their "holy books," that's another matter entirely.

[chervilant]

113. And,

how about Asimov, LeGuin, Ellison, Pynchon, Heller, Steinbeck, Tuchman, Carson, Marx, LeFeber, Conrad, Hemingway, and a host of other erudite, creative people? Rand didn't even constitute scraping the bottom of the barrel...

[Zorra]

40. Yep. The book is useful only when you run out of cat litter. nt

[louslobbs]

55. Exactly lol......or wee wee pads for your puppy. Thanks Zorra.

Lou

[themadstork]

42. omg you just compared FMD to the aynus

Please qualify that with something like "read like FMD if FMD had a literally tin ear and an entire mountain range wedged up his ass."

But seriously, I read all her novels a few years ago. One weird lady. FMD was pretty weird too, but his penhand was solid fucking gold.

[Johonny]

48. I see people in Hollywood carry this book around

I assume people buy this book carry it around and hope it makes them appear intellectual. I've never seen anyone read this book. It does come in handy for propping up a couch.

[JVS]

66. I read it, although I scanned through the 50 page speech at the end

[The Magistrate]

72. Steady On, Sir: Dostoevski Is One Of the Very Best there Has Ever Been

[Hoyt]

73. An awful, dreary book. Right down there with another right wing classic -- "The Turner Diaries".

[abelenkpe]

76. I read it when I was 14

cause my mother wanted me to. I remember thinking the 'heroine' was a whore who liked men to treat her badly (great role model for girls there :P ) and that it was kinda warped that 'workers' aka the people who actually did the work, were seen as parasites to be viewed with scorn. The book gives the impression that leaders of industry are super humans blessing workers (half witted dependent sub humans) with jobs. That workers should be grateful that their leaders are there to tell them how to utilize their every hour. That without the 'leaders' society would unravel and descend into hell without their guidance. It's just an elaborate justification in support of a class society that places some above others based on wealth. I think the heroine inherited her wealth too, which even at 14 made me think it was nuts that she thought she was 'above' workers who were only 'workers' because of the family they were born into.

It's been years since I read it. It was hooey.

Still, imagine this played out today, if those who caused the financial crisis disappeared or went on strike? Do you think the world would descend into chaos? Or would new perhaps more competent people rise to the occasion?

[fasttense]

148. it's been so many years since I read any of her books, so I don't remember

which one (Atlas Shrugged or the Fountain Head) had the scene where the hero refused to wear clothes because it was too conformist, too restricting of his personal expression. He saw wearing clothes as only something he had to do to fit into society. (I think, I'm not sure, because the hero goes off on yet another 10 page rambling speech.)

Ever since, whenever I hear someone say they admired her writings, I think they must be nudists.

[valerief]

91. I did on audio years ago. It was dull as dishwater. I don't even remember it, except

for the dullness. I wanted to see what stirred Republicans. Apparently, nothing does.

[Nostradammit]

103. Dostoevski???!!!

Dostoevski ???!!!

One page of Dostoevski contains more insight
into the human condition than Ayn Rand ever
had in her entire life, Mr. Bear.

[Incitatus]

116. There is a copy on my bookshelf.

I have skimmed through it. With so many other books that are more worthy of my time, I doubt I will ever get around to actually reading it.

[Arctic Dave]

117. Read it all. Terribly long winded circle jerk of self aggrandment.

Ayn Rand owes me time for all that I wasted reading her book.

[ismnotwasm]

159. I read it

It's that kind of irritating, self indulging style of writing, but at first it can fool you into thinking it could be a good story. Or even an interesting point of view About, oh, I don't know maybe a third of the way through it, you realize it's crap. Halfway, I figure, ok, I am going to get through this piece of shit even though by this time I could care less about the characters and I think the author is either crazy or used to have a career writing bodice rippers. (I didn't know much about Rand at the time)At the end, it was what. the. fuck. and why, WHY did I just waste my time. Outside of the main characters, Rand apparently wanted to give the impression that everybody else in the entire world is just a waste of time and. of course, money.

[ooglymoogly]

37. Even though the critics appear to be uninthralled by this movie;

many of them spoke of things like Rand spinning in her grave.

Either they have not read the Rand books or they are enthralled by her simpleton rhetoric.

The critic who got it right was at the
Washington Post: "nearly as stilted, didactic and simplistic as Rand’s free-market fable."

The question is, why would anyone expect a good movie to come from such drivel coupled with the fact that pugs have no style, creativity or imagination.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

43. Of the viewer reviews on the Internet Movie Database, most seem to be

from die-hard Ayn Rand fanboys and fangirls.

I'd love to make the opposite movie, in which all the "little people" disappear and civilization REALLY falls apart.

[LynneSin]

46. To get the true review on IMDB eliminate all the 10s and 1s

You have to assume that all the diehard fans will give it a 10 no matter what and all the folks totally hating on it will give it a 1 no matter what.

The rest of the numbers are usually the true rating from those who saw the movie.

[LynneSin]

45. The guy who starred in it use to play John Sears, frat boy who used Kelly on Beverly Hills 90210

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0424035/

http://90210.wikia.com/wiki/John_Sears

John Sears, played by Paul Johansson, is a recurring character seen on Beverly Hills, 90210, the first series of the Beverly Hills, 90210 continuity.

The confident and brash John was introduced in the fourth season as a student of California University, where he, Steve Sanders, and several others shared a prestigious fraternity, the KEG House. Though he and Steve were friendly at first, John's attitude eventually made them competitive.

John had known Kelly Taylor prior to her enrollment in the school, and began romancing her as they became reacquainted. In time, Kelly's feelings for John, among other factors, led her to separate from her boyfriend Dylan, stating that she no longer wanted to go steady. However, Kelly eventually found herself reluctant to sleep with John. When John expressed anger, and indicated that he was most interested in Kelly for her looks, Kelly stated that he hadn't changed at all, and that he didn't know the first thing about what it meant to care for someone. She then stormed out of the room.

[mrs_p]

49. i've never read the book

but from the trailer it looks like a yawnfest. no thanks.

[bemildred]

51. Soon to be a late-night classic for dopers. nt

[Initech]

53. Good to know there's a movie to rent if I need a cure for insomnia.

[cemaphonic]

54. I do feel bad for John Polito though

He can't be that hard-up for work, can he? C'mon Coens, throw him a bone - he's done great work for you.

Not Armin Shimerman though. He played Andrew Ryan in Bioshock, so he's gotta be in on the joke.

[The Green Manalishi]

56. I'll wait until I can torrent the ripped video :-)

Should be right up there with Battlefield Earth and the first Dune as far as being a great drinking movie. But darned if I'm gonna give 'em a cent:evilgrin:

[AlbertCat]

132. the first Dune

That version of "Dune" had great costumes (by Bob Ringwood) and sets! Almost worth seeing it once.

(of course the "Dune' miniseries is even more boring! And has lousy costumes)

[era veteran]

61. Leni Riefenstahl would not be impressed.

Ayn Rand died alone, bitter, and unloved. Dependent on the government she hated. Typical 'bagger.

[hifiguy]

98. Say what one will about Riefenstahl

and brother there is a lot, most of it highly complicated. to be said, she was an artist of a very high caliber when viewed strictly as a filmmaker. "Olympia" is an aesthetically exquisite film.

Her mammoth autobiography (she lived to 101, IIRC) is a deep and fascinating read. And that comes from a guy with Karl Marx as his avatar.

[era veteran]

104. A most unusual life for sure.

[sabrina 1]

124. Greenspan loved her, you mean they took her philosophy to

heart and left her to fend for herself?

I never read the book, but have read a little about her and she sounds like someone who was so traumatized as a child that what she really needed was deep therapy probably for life. Which is fine. But what is astounding is that some of our top government officials revered this sad speciman of human life.

[era veteran]

146. A talent wasted through her associations

She could make great propaganda movies.

[JVS]

64. Well if it's not better than Battleship Potemkin or Dovzhenko's Ukrainian Trilogy, then that means..

the Collectivists win! Oh noes!

[Pharaoh]

67. kickin for later

[cui bono]

71. The Tomatometer says: "Rotten" at 6% rating (out of 100%)

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlas_shrugged_part_i/

I'm surprised Nick Cassavetes is in it. Not that I know that much about him but I don't think his dad would have wanted anything to do with it, not sure why I think that either. ;)

The lone positive review is from the NY Post:

"Though a bit stiff in the joints and acted by an undistinguished cast amid TV-movie trappings, this low-budget adaptation of Ayn Rand's novel nevertheless contains a fire and a fury that makes it more compelling than the average mass-produced studio item." -Kyle Smith

[LiberalLovinLug]

75. yet the Audience rating is 86%!

That never happens, that kind of disparagy between the critics and the audience reviews. Obviously the Rushbots and Hannitoids are out in force to counter the critics.

You know they will use this in their marketing. How the movie is unanimously praised by the average red-blooded American patriot, but predictably trashed by the liberal elite movie critic, and hey FAUX viewers....who ya gonna trust?

[chervilant]

122. hmm...

...praised by the average red-blooded American easily manipulated, under-educated sycophant, you meant, right?

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

77. it was at 0% last night

did Medved (or some other rw hack) weigh in and save it from being the all-time worst?

[Bjorn Against]

Right-wing hack Kyle Smith gave the lone positive review

Smith works for the Murdoch rag the NY Post and gives negative reviews to all movies with progressive themes, he is a tea bagger who bases his movie reviews on what fits his ideology. Even though he gave it a mostly positive review however even he had to admit it was poorly made and had bad acting, so of course the tea baggers are mad at him for not calling it the greatest film since American Carol.

[Bjorn Against]

92. Right-wing hack Kyle Smith gave the lone positive review

Smith works for the Murdoch rag the NY Post and gives negative reviews to all movies with progressive themes, he is a tea bagger who bases his movie reviews on what fits his ideology. Even though he gave it a mostly positive review however even he had to admit it was poorly made and had bad acting, so of course the tea baggers are mad at him for not calling it the greatest film since American Carol.

[TNLib]

96. I really don't know much about Ann Rand

Except this guy who I use to be friends with really likes Ann Rand and Atlus Shrugged. Because of the movie I read a little bit about Ann Rand and it dawned on my why I really dislike my old friend. Ann Rand is a self proclaimed ethical egotist which basically means she believes the ethical position individuals ought to do what is in their own self-interest. This is exactly why I am no longer friends with him. He is so self absorbed and only thinks of himself in any situation. He was a terrible friend.

[classof56]

107. Did he know about her "perfect male hero" William Hickman?

Just learned about that recently, and I hate myself for ever reading any of Rand's books. Sick, sick human being and she thought he was amazingly awesome. Makes her pretty sick, too, in my book, yet to be published.

Gag!

[Maru Kitteh]

152. that is rather hideous - truly :-(

[cui bono]

156. But that was an incorrect statement.

see http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=896705&mesg_id=905289

[cui bono]

155. He wasn't her hero, his situation was the inspiration for the hero of her idea.

It's not as if she thought what he did to the little girl was great, just that his situation caused her to think about certain things in society. That's entirely different.


From Wikipedia:

"In 1928, the writer Ayn Rand began planning a novel called The Little Street, whose hero named Danny Renahan, was to be based on "what Hickman suggested to ." The novel was never finished, but Rand wrote notes for it which were published after her death in the book Journals of Ayn Rand. Rand wanted the hero of her novel to be "A Hickman with a purpose. And without the degeneracy. It is more exact to say that the model is not Hickman, but what Hickman suggested to me."<3> Rand scholars Chris Matthew Sciabarra and Jennifer Burns both interpret Rand's interest in Hickman as a sign of her early admiration of the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche - espcially since she several times reffered to Hickman as a "Superman" (in the Nietzschean sense).<4><5> Rand also wrote, "The first thing that impresses me about the case is the ferocious rage of a whole society against one man. No matter what the man did, there is always something loathsome in the 'virtuous' indignation and mass-hatred of the 'majority.'... It is repulsive to see all these beings with worse sins and crimes in their own lives, virtuously condemning a criminal..."<6>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hickman

[Maru Kitteh]

162. Yeah, um... still hideous.

Truly.

[chervilant]

123. Most

Randians are...

[sweetloukillbot]

139. A Rand friend of mine just posted an anti-tax rant on FB...

Complaining about his high taxes and how the government better watch out for when all the makers and shakers like him just stop paying taxes.
The guy is a truck driver.

Note: This is in no way intended to disparage truck drivers.

[Enthusiast]

140. His taxes are the lowest in 50 years.

They believe Obama raised their taxes. You can't beat stupid.

[sweetloukillbot]

142. It's this delusion of importance that I find sad

This guy is a good guy - Republican and Evangelical, but a good friend who I can talk to about certain problems and I know will lend a hand in certain situations. But he thinks he is far higher on the social/business ladder than he is - he imagines himself as part of the upper 1% when in reality he is solidly middle class. I think that delusion is what fuels the whole Tea Party phenomena - these people really think they are much more important than they actually are - not to say that middle class workers aren't important, mind you, but they seem to ignore the dignity of the middle class and see it more as some sort of shackle that they just need to break free of to show their true potential.
I guess that's the essence of Objectivism...

[AlbertCat]

133. nevertheless contains a fire and a fury ....

That was the movie multiplex....on fire....

[cui bono]

157. And the fury came from the people who paid for Atlas Shrugged tickets!

:)

[nxylas]

74. Pity $cott Holleran doesn't work for Box Office Mojo any more

I'm sure he'd be creaming his pants over it however bad it was. When he was there, he wrote so many news articles about it that you'd think it was the latest entry in a major blockbuster franchise.

[malaise]

79. Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaah hahhahah

Now I want to see this flop

[Moonwalk]

80. Wouldn't a True Randian pirate the movie and sell it online to other Randians at less than it costs-

--to see it in theaters? Thus making themselves a profit? That would be the the "Me" thing to do, wouldn't it?

Poor Atlas is gonna lose out at the box office to a cartoon about a parrot.

[JVS]

81. I'm sure that very question is the topic of many online flamewars among Objectivists.

[cemaphonic]

82. I think the ideologically correct position for Randroids would frown on that.

Mooching parasites growing fat on the honest labors of the creators and all that.

They just don't make the connection that to avoid that, you need a social contract, and a government with strong regulatory and enforcement powers.

[joshcryer]

147. Hahahahahaha

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Randians can justify copyright through the almighty contract. Want to see something? You must sign a contract to see it. If you copy it and give it away for free? Servitude for life.

It's in the CONTRACT.

[Moonwalk]

158. I seem to recall in the Fountainhead that there is a way around contracts--

--One can build a building--as one is under contract to do so--and then blow it up because it's your creation even if it belongs to someone else and they paid for it. I've never quite figured out how that works. Does that mean that if I buy the DVD of this movie I own it and copy it and sell it as I wish or not? At what point does what you buy = what you own? Or is what someone creates theirs forever even if they "sell" it? If so, do none of us own anything we buy?

As for the contract--what if you don't sign it? Pirates won't. And servitude for life? Who is going to enforce that in this "Me" world. Those you pay to do so, maybe, but what if the pirate pays them more not to?

Things do get so terribly sticky in utopias where everyone is out for themselves.....

[Wounded Bear]

84. I'll apologize for the "Dostoyevski" comparison....

I guess I was thinking of Russian prose in general, especially 19th Century stuff. Zhivago was pretty readable, I guess, but Big D and Tolstoy were rather stilted and drawn out. Perhaps I didn't read the right translations.

Anyway, I think I read one of Rand's shorter works, couldn't wade through the longer ones. Movie? It's not high on my must watch list, to be sure.

[themadstork]

94. aw

You should give ol' Leo and Fyodor another shot! The new Pevear translations tend to read pretty smooth, and I think they've done all the major books by now.

Tolstoy is one of the very few artists on the level of Shakespeare IMO. Or at least very very close. One of his later books, Hadji Murat, is quite short and the prose is completely fucking gorgeous.

[Anakin Skywalker]

85. The feature film for Teabagger Movie Night!

And the nominees for the CONservative Movie of the Year are:

Atlas Shrugged
Birth of a Nation
Triumph of the Will

Come on, folks! Vote for a winner at 1-800-TEA-BAGG

[hifiguy]

99. At least the last two

are beautifully made films qua films and should be seen regardless of their, shall we say, glaring philosophical failings. An aspiring filmmaker could learn something significant about technique by watching them. But something that looks like a TV series (per the critics) not so much. Sounds like the book got the treatment it deserved - hackneyed.

[AlbertCat]

135. The feature film for Teabagger Movie Night!

More like:

Atlas Shrugged
W
Passion of the Christ







"Birth of a Nation", and "Triumph of the Will" are period films steeped in period ideas. They have historical and, as mentioned above, technical worth.

Perhaps in 100 years, this too will be a period oddity.

Nah.... it'll still just be crap.

[bighughdiehl]

86. Oh, the irony

I think some folks are about to experience the wrath of their own
"free-market" GAWD!

[Enthusiast]

87. You seldom hear it, but

the far right simply lacks creativity. It's like Nazi art. Has the far right ever actually created a work of art or a beautiful piece of music? Have they written a piece of cherished literature? Are far right comedians funny? Does the far right even have a comedian? Their minds are crippled with hatred and false notions.

[Locrian]

93. humor

>>Does the far right even have a comedian? Their minds are crippled with hatred and false notions.

I just read something along the lines of that (can't remember who it was). The gist was that humor comes from that spark of when the person "gets" the other person's point of view (ie the punchline).

As they lack that capacity, they lack of humor.

[Tesha]

150. Humor at least requires a certain flexibility of mind.

Much (most?) humor is based on a sudden change of
direction, shifting of premise, exposé of the real
premise, etc.

"We've got to get them to a hospital!"

"A hospital? What is it, doctor?"

"It's a building full of patients, but that
doesn't matter now."

The hallmark of conservatism is *INFLEXIBILITY*,
the inability to adapt to changing situations
and new facts.

Tesha

[themadstork]

95. ts eliot

[hifiguy]

100. The last amusing rightwinger was P. J. O'Rourke

about ten years ago. I regularly bought his books because he was funny. Then he became a bitter, grouchy old libertarian and was no longer funny.

The problem with right wingers is that they can't understand that a king slipping on a banana peel is FUNNY and a commoner doing the same thing generally is not. Humor has traditionally been a weapon used against oppression - think Carlin and Bruce in our lifetimes - and falls flat as a tool of the oppressors.

[AlbertCat]

136. It's like Nazi art

I love Speer's architecture! (even Nazi's have more worth than Rand!)

[MedleyMisty]

141. That's why I will not survive fascism

They crush creativity and passion and art, and those are the things that make my life worth living. When I worked in fast food for four years, when I lived in their world, with no time for myself, no time to create, no time for anything....

I still have the scars on the inside of my left forearm.

I refuse to live in their world.

[Enthusiast]

143. None of us will survive fascism.

Most don't recognize this yet.

[nolabear]

90. If it's half as ham handed, overblown and simplistic as the book was, I can well imagine.

[Omnibus]

97. Atlas Walked Out

and asked for his money back.

[ReggieVeggie]

106. that's a great line

Atlas Walked Out :rofl:

other titles include: Atlas Wept Atlas Was Bored Atlas Left.

I'd bet the producers are already working on the sequel: Atlas Shrugged 2: Because We Had Ridiculous Money From These Right-Wing Bozos.

I guess I can't blame the actors.

[Omnibus]

125. Thank you!

Other alternate titles:

Atlas Can't Act
Atlas Shuddered
Atlas Dropped the Ball
Atlas Attends Boring Meetings
Atlas Was Too Dumb to Buy Congressmen
Atlas Should Have Stayed in His Mom's Basement and Ranted on FreeRepublic.com.

And, for the denouement, . Plow, you shruggy bastards, plow.

[freshwest]

109. The poor little randians whining that they are being overrun by the dumb, mediocre masses...

There is nothing dumber than a narrow minded, egotistical bunch who think their view of reality, people and society is superior.

Empress Ayn has no clothes, neither do her followers. And they are just too ugly to not be covered up.

Please go away you anti-human, anti-life, anti-planet bunch of selfish losers who never learned anything but how to count money!

[RamboLiberal]

110. Atlas shrugged – and The Tea Party poured in to Watch

Three hundred cinemas across America yesterday bore witness a curious social spectacle.

In place of overweight men queuing for the latest Star Wars re-hash or spotty youths awaiting another Twilight installment was line after line of middle-age white people wearing tricorn hats, stars-and-stripes T-shirts and pin badges suggesting that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. This is the Tea Party, on a big night out.

-----

Harmon Kaslow, the producer, has a simple business model. He admits that his film, which covers the first third of Rand's novel (it is "to be continued"), may prove to be a minority taste. But what matters is the size of that minority. He puts it at around nine million – roughly the number of Americans believed to sympathise strongly with the Tea Party. If they cough up for cinema tickets, then his project, which was made for a relatively paltry $10m (£7.4m) will make money.

-----

Mr Kaslow believes that target audience feels neglected by mainstream fare, so will rush to embrace a movie which plays to their libertarian preconceptions. He has duly turned the launch into a political event, branding it the film that Hollywood liberals "don' t want you to see" and persuading tens of thousands of visitors to its website to click on a petition for their local cinema to screen it. "Our PR company is in Washington DC, rather than Los Angeles, and it works with political groups who have worked with Tea Party groups," he says. "We are targeting Fox News, and talk radio shows, and believe me, they're listening. We are speaking directly to the sorts of people who can get a crowd to go out on a street corner to protest at a weekend. Because if they’re able to do that, then it's pretty likely that they can also persuade people to go see a movie.”



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/atlas-shrugged-ndash--and-the-tea-party-poured-in-to-watch-2268644.html

[underpants]

112. Has he heard of the capitalist thingies called NetFlix or the RedBox??

so if EVERY SINGLE (over hyped) number of Tea Baggers go pay full price for a movie ticket (these are people who don't even tip well) the movie could lose money......or the market speaks and Ayn Rand's delirium doesn't "sell".

[Kerrytravelers]

114. And they're making this thing a TRILOGY!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged:_Part_I


Someone, kill me now.

[tcaudilllg]

134. Oh boy, sounds like Dragonball.

[Wolf Frankula]

115. Imagine the Review Article Titles!

Atlas Bombed! Atlas Stunk! Atlas Bored! Although I tried reading that overwritten overlong tract and gave it up as a bad job, I am tempted to see Atlas Snored just to use one of those titles in a review.


Rand was a lousy novelist, a lousy playwright and a lousy thinker. Her talky boring novels can't be translated to the screen. Remember The Fountainhead? Even Gary Cooper couldn't save that snorefest.

I borrow a phrase from Mark Twain to describe her writing. "Chloroform in print."

Wolf

[and-justice-for-all]

126. I thought the book was about Communism? nt

[jillan]

130. Lol - the teabagger in my life is so excited about reading this book... I almost replied: I didn't

know you knew how to read, but decided to ignore the email instead.

[Moonwalk]

137. Of course they know how to read....

...thanks to the public school education they don't want to play taxes to maintain. :eyes: Ah, the bagger M.O. benefit from all that the last generation worked and paid for while whining that they shouldn't have to pay for the next generation to have even half that. Too bad public school didn't teach them the word "irony."

[LAGC]

138. How many religious teabaggers are going to rush out to see this movie...

...not realizing that Ayn Rand was a flaming atheist?

[Corruption Winz]

144. So... are the reviews bad or....... n/t

[FloridaJudy]

145. Atlas shrugged,

yawned, rolled over and went back to sleep.

[sendero]

151. It's no surprise..

... that you cannot make a good movie from a morally and intellectually bankrupt idea.

[roamer65]

153. Shitty book...shitty movie.

[lovuian]

160. Doomed philospophy

so sad the way of thinking

[scott_d]

161. Read Atlas Shrugged -- At Least The Part Republicans Would Hate

Atlas Shrugged contains a 50+ page speech made by the novel's hero, John Galt. Rand labored for over a year on the speech. It is a summation of her ideology and it's not what you think it is. The speech mocks people of faith. It declares irrational thought to be immoral. She takes the tale of Adam and Eve and the fall of man and turns it on its head. Adam and Eve were wise to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In doing so they gained the ability to think for themselves and discovered the joys of sexuality. It is a complete repudiation of the Christian religion. Basically Galt (i.e. Rand) is singing the praises of Satan. If you strip away the dogmatic free market part of Ayn Rand's ideology she sounds a lot like Richard Dawkins or any other "New Atheist". I can only conclude that the reason so many Republicans like Ayn Rand is that they have not actually read her. Have some fun! Read Ayn Rand and start quoting her at Republicans. They won't know what to do.