Atlas Shrugged, part 1
Feb. 12th, 2011 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spoonlessAtlas Shrugged The Movie, part 1 is being released on April 15, 2011. The trailer is now online:
http://www.atlasshruggedpart1.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480239/
Watching this trailer brings up so many mixed emotions for me, I am very excited about seeing this, and yet also a bit scared of how it will make me feel. In undergrad, between the ages of 19 and 21, Ayn Rand was my hero and I spent a lot of time with other Ayn Rand fans, worshiping her, praising her, discussing her ideas, and spreading her propaganda to new recruits (with the help of the Ayn Rand Institute, several speakers from which we invited to our school to speak).
Slowly, over the years I came to realize that a lot of what she believed was pretty nutty. Sadly, my worldview has changed enough by this point that the first thing that comes to mind to describe how I feel about hers is that: she was right about almost everything, she just made the tiny but important mistake of confusing the villains with the heros =( That's an exaggeration, of course. But it's really strange to see her ideas on screen now, from such a different perspective than I had 15 years ago.
I still very much admire her romanticism. She considered herself a "romantic realist" and a "rational egoist". I no longer think she was much of a realist, and certainly not rational. And I'm also not that impressed by people with big egos any more... I prefer people who are more aware of their own limitations. But she was indeed a true romantic, and that part of her I will always be fond of. It's an integral part of myself as well.
Interestingly, the actor who plays Francisco (Jsu Garcia) was also in the movie Che. Che was another strongly ideological political movie, that also came in two parts. But in Che, the heros are Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, and they're fighting in the Cuban communist revolution against the capitalists. Ideologically, it's hard to think of more opposite movies, and yet Jsu Garcia decided to play in both. It's as if he likes movies with grand political themes, but doesn't care too much what the theme is.
Apparently, the humble director of this movie decided to cast himself as John Galt. Sounds like an Objectivist to me!
The fact that it's being release on April 15th (tax day for most years, although apparently not this year) makes me wonder if it was bankrolled by the same people who astroturfed the Tea Party movement.
In other news... Jane Fonda blogs about her recent tawdry rendezvous with Stephen Hawking:
http://janefonda.com/my-meeting-with-stephen-hawking/
http://www.atlasshruggedpart1.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480239/
Watching this trailer brings up so many mixed emotions for me, I am very excited about seeing this, and yet also a bit scared of how it will make me feel. In undergrad, between the ages of 19 and 21, Ayn Rand was my hero and I spent a lot of time with other Ayn Rand fans, worshiping her, praising her, discussing her ideas, and spreading her propaganda to new recruits (with the help of the Ayn Rand Institute, several speakers from which we invited to our school to speak).
Slowly, over the years I came to realize that a lot of what she believed was pretty nutty. Sadly, my worldview has changed enough by this point that the first thing that comes to mind to describe how I feel about hers is that: she was right about almost everything, she just made the tiny but important mistake of confusing the villains with the heros =( That's an exaggeration, of course. But it's really strange to see her ideas on screen now, from such a different perspective than I had 15 years ago.
I still very much admire her romanticism. She considered herself a "romantic realist" and a "rational egoist". I no longer think she was much of a realist, and certainly not rational. And I'm also not that impressed by people with big egos any more... I prefer people who are more aware of their own limitations. But she was indeed a true romantic, and that part of her I will always be fond of. It's an integral part of myself as well.
Interestingly, the actor who plays Francisco (Jsu Garcia) was also in the movie Che. Che was another strongly ideological political movie, that also came in two parts. But in Che, the heros are Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, and they're fighting in the Cuban communist revolution against the capitalists. Ideologically, it's hard to think of more opposite movies, and yet Jsu Garcia decided to play in both. It's as if he likes movies with grand political themes, but doesn't care too much what the theme is.
Apparently, the humble director of this movie decided to cast himself as John Galt. Sounds like an Objectivist to me!
The fact that it's being release on April 15th (tax day for most years, although apparently not this year) makes me wonder if it was bankrolled by the same people who astroturfed the Tea Party movement.
In other news... Jane Fonda blogs about her recent tawdry rendezvous with Stephen Hawking:
http://janefonda.com/my-meeting-with-stephen-hawking/
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-12 06:40 pm (UTC)Needless to say, that means everything after a certain point is just balderdash.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-12 06:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-12 07:28 pm (UTC)It would make a great mini series. Not sure how well the story will distill down to a film, but I will definitely check it out - with the same mixed feelings as you.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-12 11:02 pm (UTC)I'm not actually sure it had to be bankrolled by the standard right-wing types; I've heard there are a lot of Objectivists in Hollywood.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-13 03:52 am (UTC)Huh. Maybe it'll get Republicans on the side of high-speed trains?
That would be nice =)
When I saw the hi speed train I had a similar thought--it reminded me of Obama's recent State of the Union address where he talks about hi speed rail, and I thought "how ironic".
I'm not actually sure it had to be bankrolled by the standard right-wing types; I've heard there are a lot of Objectivists in Hollywood.
It was only a $5-million budget, not a huge amount of capital so I suppose that's possible.
A friend of mine went to a sneak preview at this place in NYC he referred to as "The Atlas Club". It's possible he was talking about the Atlas Society because I can't actually find Atlas Club by googling:
http://www.atlassociety.org/atlas-shrugged-movie-atlas-society
Anyway, he mentioned that one of the speakers there during the preview was the guy who wrote this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123146363567166677.html
Jsu Garcia's next movie ...
Date: 2011-02-15 11:25 pm (UTC)Jsu's also loves Ayn Rand, and I would love to have you interview him or write a piece on a feature film he recently co-wrote, co-directed and starred in: The Wayshower Movie.
The Wayshower stars Eric Roberts, Peter Stormare, Sally Kirkland and of course Jsu Garcia.
Feel free to email me zoe@msia.org. Would love to have you do a piece on Jsu and his new movie.
Love and Light, Zoe Golightly