Posted on 04/23/2011 7:23:00 AM PDT by Kaslin
“To the Colorado renaissance.” That’s the oilman’s toast to the steelmaker and the railroad mogul in the new film version of “Atlas Shrugged.” As Ayn Rand’s epic novel of capitalism finally comes to the screen, more timely now than when she wrote it in 1957, my home state has a starring role. You never saw the aspens so golden, the individualism so heroic, the bureaucrats so villainous.
Audiences applaud as the movie ends – with Ellis Wyatt having set his own oilfield on fire and gone off with the rebel messiah John Galt. His signboard of defiance to big government, “Take it. It’s yours,” brings railroader Dagny Taggart to her knees. Washington central planner Wesley Mouch has either killed Colorado’s ascendancy or delayed it. We’ll find out in Part II, next April 15.
The book is not great literature, and this isn't great cinema. But as an indictment of false collectivist compassion, it works. Let’s hope millions see it and wake up. In a March 2009 column entitled “When Will Atlas Shrug?”, I took note of the already stiff resistance to Obama’s redistributionist guilt trip. With the John Galt message in theaters, Americans’ defense of our liberties may stiffen more.
So far so good. Yet after emerging into the spring night and reassuring myself there was no smoke on the Rocky Mountain skyline from the torching of Wyatt Oil, I wondered how much real difference there is between the “Atlas Shrugged” movie and the sensationalistic sci-fi stuff like “X-Men” and “Priest” that we had just seen trailers for.
Fantasy is fantasy, after all: diverting at best, narcotic at worst. The energy time warp that could make Taggart’s trains dominant over trucks and planes by 2016, and the magic technology that could power Galt’s miracle motor, both of which “Atlas” asks us to believe in, only provide a stage backdrop for the superhuman intelligence, virtue, and charisma of John Galt himself.
It all requires the myth-spinner’s precondition, suspension of disbelief – and someone will have to tell me how that is helpful. The only basis for getting anywhere politically, economically, culturally, or morally, is practical realism about the limitations of the human condition and the imperfections of us all, not hero-worship and panacea dreams. Thirty disillusioning months of Barack the Great have surely taught us that.
Remember his megalomaniacal boast upon securing the Democratic nomination? “I am absolutely certain,” Obama said, that history will record “this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal. This was the moment when we came together to remake this great nation.” Right. Even if we did need the nation remade or the planet healed – and we don’t – this president has done neither.
Messianism is messianism: foolish at best, hypnotic at worst. The grandiosity of Barack Obama and the will to power of Saul Alinsky cry for relief. The country must be rid of them, and soon. But the antidote is not John Galt and Ayn Rand. The messianic similarities are too close. One political panacea can’t cure another.
The novel’s final scene (coming on film, year after next) tells how Galt “raised his hand and traced in space the sign of the dollar,” while nearby one of his disciples rewrote the Constitution. No sign of the Cross for the atheist Rand; no great reverence for the Founders either. Her secular religion, Objectivism, would improve on both. Right.
There is no political panacea, and most Americans know it. Those who regard this as a holy week with Easter and Passover know it best. Keeping faith, civically and spiritually, honors liberty better than any objectivist shrug. It will not be the “Atlas” sequel on Tax Day, but the president’s dismissal on election day, that heralds our 2012 renaissance.
Very small audience in yesterday’s showing (understandable: Good Friday, holiday weekend, rush hour, poor locale for the above combination) — maybe a dozen or so, but there was still applause at the end.
Thanks for the spoiler alert. Heh, heh.
Rand lived through the Bolsheviks. She lived through FDR's New Deal. She saw the historical trends and what happens to societies over many years when their values are skewed and their respect for individual freedom is diminished. She wrote a story to highlight the value of individuality and the damage done by the Looter mentality. It's not "myth spinning" and it need not demand too much suspension of disbelief. She's being didactic -- in the novel this is a stylistic weak point; in the film, the droning didacticism is lessened.
The movie is a good representation of her novel. Her novel is a good representation of the forces that have damaged America.
People should see the film.
A rather odd attack
I was riveted.
I concur - people should see the film. The first movie captures what the book tries to convey and people ‘get it.’ I hope parts two and three do the same. We need to hear the ‘Atlas Shrugged’ message.
The far left statists seem to take Atlas as a blueprint for expanding government. The bad news for them is that the productive class is going Galt, and (in real life as in the book) the looters have no power to stop us.
Odd attack because the idiot missed the point. The movie isn’t about a motor. This unwillingness or inability to understand the underlying point only, for me, underscores my belief that many who claim to be Christian or conservative or a combination of both don’t really want smaller, less intrusive government. The only want a government that will advocate on behalf of their own personal, social or political agenda. They will never truly see big government as the problem.
I know folks here on FR will probably take this as heresy—but how many have actually read this over-long message book.
I found that after reading the same message over and over I got bored and wished the author had given me some credit for enough intelligence to “get it.” The same effect could have been obtained in about half the pages.
After a while, Atlas Shrugged and so did I.
I have read it twice and the only place i skip is the overly long speech John Galt gives towards the end of the book..
I agree with you it could have been shortened and still got it’s message across..
In 7 days, ‘Atlas Shrugged Part 1’ outgrossed ‘Che’s’ all time receipts. Capitalism trumps communism...again.
I have never read the book, but since the movie is not playing in my area, I am thinking of checking it out in our library
The author misses the point about human nature.
The Dems realize that people are emotional, not rational beings. They make their points by telling sob stories and appealing to people’s emotions. That’s why they have been so successful in the last couple of generations.
Conservatives need to accept this dynamic and find a way to work within it, not just talk facts and figures about how bad the economy is. Reagan understood this and appealed to people’s emotions — “It’s morning in America”. He understood that people need to be inspired. The GOP has no one with an ounce of inspiration, and that’s why they have trouble winning. The Tea Party at least has some inspiring people in the vanguard.
A fair and reasoned post. Dare I say, objective?
Ayn Rand was brilliant, but not omniscient. Her works have had far more influence than is generally acknowledged or even understood. Her flat out rejection by many conservative camps has always puzzled me. I note, however, that some of those camps have completely lost the plot and sunk into the swamps of various pools of hyphenated conservatism and compromise.
“This unwillingness or inability to understand the underlying point only, for me, underscores my belief that many who claim to be Christian or conservative or a combination of both don’t really want smaller, less intrusive government. The only want a government that will advocate on behalf of their own personal, social or political agenda. They will never truly see big government as the problem.”
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You hit it right between the eyes. The tax code is a perfect expression of that Gadarene swine herd of personal, social and political agendas.
Ayn's works describe the state of existence under communism and it's affect on the people who live under it. She could write about it authoritatively, because she experienced it, and in some ways she herself is a testament as much as her writings. I don't think that gets it's due consideration in too many cases.
I have been conservative all my life. My wife was borderline. We watch current events together, which sparks interesting debate. I have read the book, she has not. We both saw the movie last night...
Needless to say, the ride home was quite quiet. When conversation was made, it was heavy. I found it appropriate that the time-line of the move was 2016. She has quietly watch me prepare for years, and now has a new appreciation for my efforts...
I am encouraging my (grown) children to also see the movie before it's gone (strangled by the looters to kill the message?). I encourage all of you to see it. We need to send a message to those who are watching this darkly that we hear, we see, and we know what's going on.
If ever there was a time to be focused, it is now. One second after is way too late....
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