5 ms·

I don't know how I feel about this. It's my favorite book, and I've read it many times, but I feel like it's something that either means a lot to you or means

by frisco 18y ago

I don't know how I feel about this. It's my favorite book, and I've read it many times, but I feel like it's something that either means a lot to you or means nothing. It doesn't translate very well beyond how you personally take it, and I'm afraid of flamewars breaking out over the content, which can have no winner. Or the studios missing the point to make it more mainstream. I also just have a very good internal idea of what it looks like, and I'm somewhat afraid of it being ruined by a movie which misses the mark, but that's remedied easily enough by me not seeing it. Atlas Shrugged is a powerful book, but the arguments it makes highlight fundamental disagreements between sections of society. We'll do as we will, and others will do likewise. Bringing it to a national stage I don't think would cause many to go "Oh! I get it now!". At worst, it could cause sentiment to turn against entrepreneurs given the current political climate, casting them as arrogant and malicious towards the rest of society. Not that popular opinion should influence the entrepreneurs, though.

electromagnetic 18y ago
Don't worry about it, Atlas Shrugged is never going to get made. 35 years and counting kind of testifies to that effect. Angelina Jolie was cast, but she got pregnant and left the project with all the prospect of it ever being made.
- arakyd 18y ago
  Of course, that's what everybody said about Watchmen. I've never read the book, but I've heard a lot about Ayn Rand's philosophy, none of it good.
  - unalone 18y ago
    Well, obviously. People who hate Rand loathe her, and people who love Rand are annoying and misphrase her stuff and say stupid things. At the core of her philosophy is the belief that you should live for yourself, that you should do things not because other people want you to but because you want to, that you should never feel guilty for the things that you can do that other people can't, and that the worst kind of person is the person who leeches off of other people. Is that none good?
    - electromagnetic 18y ago
      The philosophy behind the book is good, the politics are stupid from whatever point you look at it. It typifies both stereotypes of capitalism, for the left wing 'capitalism = evil' and for the right wing 'capitalism = glorious'. From a literary stand point, Rands work is the pulp fiction of politics. It plays the traditional stereotypes and helped make the woman famous (specifically in the USA, I believe the word is infamous elsewhere) without contributing anything truly new or unique to the discourse.
      - Devilboy 18y ago
        I always think of Bob's take on it all: http://www.angryflower.com/atlass.gif http://www.angryflower.com/atlass.gif
        unalone 18y ago
        Ugh, such a gross misinterpretation. One of Rand's big points is that it doesn't matter what you're doing as long as you do it well. One of her physicists becomes a janitor, and when the misguided protagonist expresses horror at that, he says that there's nothing wrong in doing menial tasks. Bob is incredibly stupid because he makes fun of something that Rand expressly says is a good thing. Furthermore, the Rearden parody ("I only know how to pay people to invent alloys") ignores that in the book, Rearden is the scientist who invents the alloy himself. He's portrayed as a very skilled mathematician. So it's a good parody IF you're okay with laughing at something that Rand never actually wrote.
        jobeirne 18y ago
        This is a perfect testament to the masses of people who think they understand (and thus have license to lay valid criticism on) Rand because they read the first 30 pages of Atlas Shrugged. I'm so sick and tired of hearing some pseudo-sophisto unload on Rand at a cocktail party, their insults and blind lambasting only to abate when confronted with questions about Rand's actual philosophy and works as opposed to her reputation.
      - unalone 18y ago
endtime 18y ago
Agreed 100%. I love the book, but I can't see how it could possible be turned into a good movie. I almost don't want the movie to be made at all...if it's not done well it'll just convince people the book isn't worth reading. Some things just don't translate well. I also love the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the movie was painfully bad.

by frisco 18y ago

electromagnetic 18y ago

Don't worry about it, Atlas Shrugged is never going to get made. 35 years and counting kind of testifies to that effect. Angelina Jolie was cast, but she got pregnant and left the project with all the prospect of it ever being made.

arakyd 18y ago
Of course, that's what everybody said about Watchmen. I've never read the book, but I've heard a lot about Ayn Rand's philosophy, none of it good.
- unalone 18y ago
  Well, obviously. People who hate Rand loathe her, and people who love Rand are annoying and misphrase her stuff and say stupid things. At the core of her philosophy is the belief that you should live for yourself, that you should do things not because other people want you to but because you want to, that you should never feel guilty for the things that you can do that other people can't, and that the worst kind of person is the person who leeches off of other people. Is that none good?
  - electromagnetic 18y ago
    The philosophy behind the book is good, the politics are stupid from whatever point you look at it. It typifies both stereotypes of capitalism, for the left wing 'capitalism = evil' and for the right wing 'capitalism = glorious'. From a literary stand point, Rands work is the pulp fiction of politics. It plays the traditional stereotypes and helped make the woman famous (specifically in the USA, I believe the word is infamous elsewhere) without contributing anything truly new or unique to the discourse.
    - Devilboy 18y ago
      I always think of Bob's take on it all: http://www.angryflower.com/atlass.gif http://www.angryflower.com/atlass.gif
      - unalone 18y ago
        Ugh, such a gross misinterpretation. One of Rand's big points is that it doesn't matter what you're doing as long as you do it well. One of her physicists becomes a janitor, and when the misguided protagonist expresses horror at that, he says that there's nothing wrong in doing menial tasks. Bob is incredibly stupid because he makes fun of something that Rand expressly says is a good thing. Furthermore, the Rearden parody ("I only know how to pay people to invent alloys") ignores that in the book, Rearden is the scientist who invents the alloy himself. He's portrayed as a very skilled mathematician. So it's a good parody IF you're okay with laughing at something that Rand never actually wrote.
      - jobeirne 18y ago
        This is a perfect testament to the masses of people who think they understand (and thus have license to lay valid criticism on) Rand because they read the first 30 pages of Atlas Shrugged. I'm so sick and tired of hearing some pseudo-sophisto unload on Rand at a cocktail party, their insults and blind lambasting only to abate when confronted with questions about Rand's actual philosophy and works as opposed to her reputation.
    - unalone 18y ago

endtime 18y ago

Agreed 100%. I love the book, but I can't see how it could possible be turned into a good movie. I almost don't want the movie to be made at all...if it's not done well it'll just convince people the book isn't worth reading. Some things just don't translate well. I also love the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the movie was painfully bad.