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Ayn Rand and the Celebrities that Love Her
Mother
Jones highlights a few "celebrity fans of the cult of
selfishness." Christina Ricci? Eva Mendes? Who knew. Here are a
few:
Angelina Jolie: "I just think [Ayn Rand] has a very interesting philosophy...You reevaluate your own life and what's important to you."
Christina Ricci: "My favorite book is The Fountainhead...I relate to it because of the idea that you're not a bad person if you don't love everyone."
Vince Vaughn: "The last book I read was the book I've been rereading most of my life—The Fountainhead."
Rob Lowe: "Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is a stupendous achievement and I just adore it."
Eva Mendes: Any potential boyfriend "has to be an Ayn Rand fan."
Read the rest here. And while you're at it, check out Reason's years of Rand-O-Rama.
Anonymous|8.5.09 @ 9:04PM|#
I relate to it because of the idea that you're not a bad
person if you don't love everyone.
I love her, but that's got to be the strangest takeaway I've ever
heard.
Mad Max|8.5.09 @ 9:12PM|#
Here's a good quote (assuming MJ got it right):
'Mark Cuban: "I don't know how many times I have read [The
Fountainhead], but it got to the point where I had to stop because
I would get too fired up."'
Any scene in particular, Mr. Cuban?
Jesse Walker|8.5.09 @ 9:24PM|#
Vince Vaughn also blurbed Ron Paul's upcoming anti-Fed book. (So did Arlo Guthrie, who I strongly suspect is not an Ayn Rand fan, but who knows?)
System Of A Rounding Error|8.5.09 @ 9:27PM|#
You can keep your fucking ugly retard, Gweneth Paltrow, moonbats. Eva Mendes, holy shit, you can't ask for better than that.
Franklin Harris|8.5.09 @ 9:28PM|#
Eva Mendes: Any potential boyfriend "has to be an Ayn Rand fan."
That's one point for me!
Franklin Harris|8.5.09 @ 9:29PM|#
Does this mean they all have detailed rape fantasies?
One can hope.
*ducks*
alan|8.5.09 @ 9:37PM|#
Does this mean they all have detailed rape
fantasies?
So long as it doesn't have to take place in a boring
little lodge in the Catskills, I'm game.
adskl|8.5.09 @ 9:37PM|#
Just beware celebrities who claim to like Ayn Rand or a book of
hers.
More likely than not, many if not most of them, do not understand,
let alone even accept, objectivism as a philosophy.
Unless they are talking about Atlas Shrugged, because that book
beats you silly with objectivism.
Most probably just want to seem well-read and differentiate
themselves from other celebrities.
Still small victories...
24AheadDotCom|8.5.09 @ 10:05PM|#
Other famous Randroids include: Tom Arnold, Al Sharpton, Rosie O'Donnell, and John Wayne Gacy.
Mr. Chartreuse|8.5.09 @ 10:05PM|#
Christina Ricci likes Ayn Rand? My fantasies just got even
better.
I concur with the above statement.
Anonymous|8.5.09 @ 10:09PM|#
Rosie O'Donnell
Bull-fucking-dyke shit, LoneWacko. That's 520 pounds of pure
Stalinist hate.
24AheadDotCom|8.5.09 @ 10:09PM|#
It is only a matter of time before I am more popular than
Rand.
My plan is to send everyone in the USA (legals only!) a picture of
me blowing myself.
This should easily make me more beloved than Rand.
Tricky Prickears |8.5.09 @ 10:11PM|#
More likely than not, many if not most of them, do not
understand, let alone even accept, objectivism as a
philosophy.
Right. They are just atheists that have affairs with
married men.
*|8.5.09 @ 10:18PM|#
My plan is to send everyone in the USA (legals only!) a
picture of me blowing myself.
Probably be the best piece of ass you've ever had. Probably be the
only peice of ass you've ever had. ;-)
Symptomsofavacuum|8.5.09 @ 10:19PM|#
Brad Pitt: The Fountainhead "is so dense and complex, it would
have to be a six-hour movie."
Probably didn't read the book, definitely didn't see the movie.
Hugh Akston|8.5.09 @ 10:30PM|#
Hugh Hefner: The Fountainhead "is a compelling tribute to
man's quest for personal freedom."
Fuck yes. From the Horse's mouth. If the Hef approves, that's
enough for me.
alan|8.5.09 @ 10:34PM|#
Rosie O'Donnell, Tom Arnold, Rick Astley, you can even throw
Oprah's wild growth snatch hair into the mix, Wacko,
Eva Fucking Mendes, that's a bullet proof win, baby!
Mad Max|8.5.09 @ 10:36PM|#
"Christina Ricci likes Ayn Rand? My fantasies just got even
better."
'I concur with the above statement.'
Christina Ricci's hand trembled as she gently raised the latch on
Ayn Rand's apartment door in response to the novelist's brusque
'come in!'
Inside, Ricci saw Rand sprawled on the sofa of her living
room.
'Come closer,' said Rand, 'und let me look at you.'
Timidly, Ricci went up to the sofa and sat down. Rand put her arm
around Ricci's shoulders.
'So,' said Rand, 'you haf been readink my works?'
'Yes,' gasped Ricci breathlessly. 'I read Atlas Shrugged and the
Fountainhead and Anthem and the Virtue of Selfishness and . .
.'
'Vy did you like zem?' Rand pressed, squeezing Ricci tighter and
leaning her face closer, so that the lighted tip of her cigarette
almost scorched Ricci's nose hairs.
'Well,' Ricci stammered, 'I suppose the best thing about your books
is that they taught me that you're not a bad person if you don't
love everyone.'
Rand stared intently at her. 'Not everyone? Zen who *do* you
love?'
'You, of course,' said Ricci.
'Of course, of course,' said Rand, 'zat is a given. Anyone who
truly understands my works must love me. But is there anyone else
you love? Besides me?'
'My boyfriends, I guess,' said Ricci, 'and of course my
fans.'
'Your fans!' Rand bellowed, leaping up from the sofa and belting
Ricci across the face with a backhand slap. 'Your fans! Pathetic
second-handers who do not understand you, and you love them! For
this deviation, you must be punished . . .'
Then I wake up screaming, and the fantasy ends. Was it that way
with you?
24AheadDotCom|8.5.09 @ 10:41PM|#
I see that Jesse Walker is here, so:
1. Is the person who posted using my name and URL pretending to be
me (in the second comment on this page; the first is from me)
located in Texas? Why do you allow things like that to continue,
Jesse? Has Reason checked with their lawyers vis-a-vis
liability?
2. I previously issued a challenge to you to debate me on my coverage of the Obama
citizenship issue. I can probably set aside some time to
discuss that over YIM or the like sometime within the next several
days. Note: I'm only willing to discuss my
coverage; I can't answer for what others have said about
this issue. The email associated with this message works. The only
requirement I make is that Reason must post the full transcript of
the debate.
|8.5.09 @ 10:45PM|#
The Vince Vaughn who blurbed RP's book is probably the OTHER Vince Vaughn. The one who is best friends with Jon Favreau, Obama's speechwriter.
¢|8.5.09 @ 10:49PM|#
Was it that way with you?
Basically, but the part of Ayn Rand was played by my penis.
Jesse Walker|8.5.09 @ 11:01PM|#
Lonewacko: Sorry, but I'm not interested in joining one of your self-promotion schemes.
Enyap|8.5.09 @ 11:02PM|#
According to Wikipedia Eva Mendes supported Obama for president. Sorry to bust your fantasies.
alan|8.5.09 @ 11:14PM|#
Wacko is at the bat, he swings his cock annnnnd --
1. Is the person who posted using my name and URL pretending to
be me (in the second comment on this page; the first is from me)
located in Texas? Why do you allow things like that to continue,
Jesse? Has Reason checked with their lawyers vis-a-vis
liability?
He misses!
Best laugh I have had this week.
hmm|8.5.09 @ 11:41PM|#
I will accept the debate challenge! I will need a whole broiler,
two tubs of lite whip cream, two cans of arousal whip cream, a
goat, handcuffs, some cream cheese, a spool of thread, a case of
red bull, two silk neckties, and one spatula.
Then it's on!!
|8.5.09 @ 11:53PM|#
Hmm - do you mean arousal whipped cream as in flavored non-dairy sex substitutes or aerosol whipped cream as in Redi-Whip. I need verification for the visualization. I've worked in both a porno shop and a dairy farm so i know the differences all too well.
|8.6.09 @ 12:01AM|#
only one handle fits in his mouth. his hands are for fisting. the whipped cream is for a little bit of theatrical flair. kinda like when david copperfeild makes claudia schiffer's clittoris disappear and reappear on the lincoln memorial as lincoln's mole.
Eric H|8.6.09 @ 12:01AM|#
And if he did mean "aerosol," that could be the greatest incidence of RC'z Law ever.
hmm|8.6.09 @ 12:10AM|#
OMG fail on te spellage and typage.
I told you all it aint easy keeping this much stoopid under
control.
Tamahome Jenkins|8.6.09 @ 12:16AM|#
Why wouldn't the most narcissistic group in American society be into Ayn Rand?
Space Fiend|8.6.09 @ 12:24AM|#
Brad Pitt: The Fountainhead "is so dense and complex, it
would have to be a six-hour movie."
Probably didn't read the book, definitely didn't see the
movie.
I can almost guarantee he did. For a while, an Atlas Shrugged movie
with Brad as John Galt and Angelina Jolie as Dagny was supposedly
in pre-production - say what you will about their egos, I really
think they wanted to make it happen.
Hugh Akston|8.6.09 @ 12:26AM|#
1. Is the person who posted using my name and URL pretending
to be me (in the second comment on this page; the first is from me)
located in Texas? Why do you allow things like that to continue,
Jesse? Has Reason checked with their lawyers vis-a-vis
liability?
Lonewhacko actually has a point here. Although the URL was correct,
the post was definitely not him, as evidenced by the fact that
people read it, and it failed to mention his two favorite
aphrodisiacs: his (wholly imagined) feud with Jesse Walker, and
sock puppets.
Therefore, I submit that anyone using Lonewhacko's name to
impersonate him mockingly be required to do so under the moniker
$24ForheadDotCom, which is always what I think it says
anyway.
24AheadDotCom|8.6.09 @ 12:49AM|#
Hilarious: Jesse Walker's blog gets 18 visits per day. I'll bet
the Lonewacko Wiki
gets more than that.
But, it's sad that Walker doesn't want to help one of my
"promotion" schemes. Because, I'm sure that's the only thing he's
worried about: helping my self promotion. If not for that, he'd
jump at the opportunity. Have no doubt, he's only concerned about
not helping me promote myself. Yes, assuredly, that's it.
hmm|8.6.09 @ 12:55AM|#
I don't think he has the marketing department you have.
I told ya. A wicked good debate is one spatula and a little whip
cream away.
Ebeneezer Scrooge|8.6.09 @ 12:59AM|#
Once you've got the spatula and the whipped cream, what's there to debate?
|8.6.09 @ 1:11AM|#
Isn't Angelina Jolie the daughter of John Voit?
Voit is supposedly a big-time conservative. I don't know if it's
libertarian-conservative or social conservative or a mixture.
Art-P.O.G.|8.6.09 @ 1:50AM|#
Because, I'm sure that's the only thing he's worried about: helping my self promotion.
Using my advanced knowledge of human psychology, I'll hazard a guess that Jesse Walker might also be reluctant to waste a lot of time arguing with someone who has proven on multiple occasions to be a self-aggrandizing, monomaniacal clod.
Art-P.O.G.|8.6.09 @ 1:53AM|#
Mad Max,
Does your Catholicism-based sense of propriety often ruin the end
of your fantasies?
Jesse Walker|8.6.09 @ 2:46AM|#
Lonewacko: Oh, it's not just my reluctance to assist your
relentless self-pimping. I also don't care enough about the topic.
If I didn't want to make the case against birtherism in an article
that was about the birthers, and which I wrote as part
of my job, why would I want to do it in an extramural
debate?
There's also your notorious reading comprehension problems and your
inability to honestly engage your opponents' arguments. I prefer to
debate people who'll do me the courtesy of replying to the
statements I actually make, not the private scripts in their
heads.
Finally, I think it's kind of silly to get a "challenge" from
someone who has repeatedly refused to answer a trio of simple
questions I first posed to him six months ago. You don't get to
issue new challenges, Chris. Not when you've still got unattended
business on your desk.
|8.6.09 @ 3:11AM|#
I wonder if anyone here has ever read this from Rand
herself...
http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/libertarians.html
Ebeneezer Scrooge|8.6.09 @ 4:03AM|#
SusanM,
Yes, I read it a long time ago, and I'm sure I'm not the only one
around here.
But history shows that with rare exceptions, philosophers make poor
politicians and vice versa.
Much as I've liked Rand's philosophy, some of her "hands on" ideas
about politics have holes big enough to drive a Mac truck
through.
Ms Rand, the person she, herself, who that she was -- was in fact
further from omnipotence than she might have cared to believe.
Ebeneezer Scrooge|8.6.09 @ 4:14AM|#
It was Rand who said that people may only deal with each other
by persuasion or force, by rational debate or the blade of a
spatula.
Or something like that. Anyway, when it came to sex nobody ever
accused Rand of debating.
Art-P.O.G.|8.6.09 @ 4:26AM|#
Mad Max, lest you think I'm trolling you, there's supposed to be
a winking emoticon at the end of my last post. I forgot to type
it.
Also, re: Lonewacko: what Jesse said.
Metal Messiah|8.6.09 @ 6:13AM|#
"Once you've got the spatula and the whipped cream, what's there
to debate?"
So that was Ayn Rand with the big bowl in Devo's video for "Whip
It?" I've often thought it was her...
OneSTDV|8.6.09 @ 6:29AM|#
While I think the basic premise of Objectivism fails both
practically and philosophically (almost every objective morality
depends on a number of axioms), I find many of its maxims
refreshing and intellectually stimulating.
I do cite Virtue of Selfishness as one of my favorite books as she
wonderfully supports individualism and rational
self-interest.
Though I'm somewhat skeptical of these celebrities' claims. I think
they're probably just saying to look smart. Rand is en vogue now (I
think a Fountainhead movie is coming out next year) and they're
jumping on the bandwagon. Hollywood is a place of fads and like
women's shoulder pads, I imagine Rand won't be so popular there
forever.
Here's an article about Rand for anyone who is interested:
Rand's Uotpia
<strike>strike through</strike|8.6.09 @ 7:29AM|#
Shouldn't there be a special children's table here for Ayn Rand discussions? There could be little toys for the easily distracted, Kool-Aid and cookies, some nap mats close by.
Art-P.O.G.|8.6.09 @ 7:47AM|#
We hate when celebrities get involved with politics literature
and philosophy, except when we don't they're Paris Hilton.
FTFY
Art-P.O.G.|8.6.09 @ 7:50AM|#
On a non-ironic note, love that Art Decolicious cover art (even though I've seen it several times before).
The Appalachianist|8.6.09 @ 7:54AM|#
Brad Pitt is unaware that The Fountainhead was made into a movie.
<strike>strike through</strike|8.6.09 @ 7:55AM|#
From the Kathy Young article, wherein she swings and misses with
shocking persistency, there is however this perceptive
nugget:
"In her insistence that political philosophy must be based on a
proper epistemology, she rejected the libertarian movement, which
embraced a wide variety of reasons for advocating free markets and
free minds, as among her enemies."
Those libertarians, like unloved children, have despised her ever
since, for despising them.
Art-P.O.G.|8.6.09 @ 8:00AM|#
Vince Vaughn: "The last book I read was the book I've been rereading most of my life-The Fountainhead."
And I thought I was a slow reader, hyuk hyuk.
Art-P.O.G.|8.6.09 @ 8:01AM|#
DISCLAIMER: My last comment only makes sense if you missed the "re" on rereading in the first comment. I only noticed the "re" on the third reading.
Mad Max|8.6.09 @ 8:11AM|#
'Mad Max, lest you think I'm trolling you, there's supposed to
be a winking emoticon at the end of my last post. I forgot to type
it.'
Whew, for a second there I thought you hadn't gotten the point of
my joke. :)
I simply have trouble imagine how Ayn Rand could fit into an erotic
fantasy. Maybe I'm too strait-laced to see the potential.
Subcomandante Dave|8.6.09 @ 8:12AM|#
"...You reevaluate your own life and what's important to
you."
Yes, Jolie is such a follower of Ayn Rand that she:
-was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
-has donated millions to relief organizations
-met with members of congress at least 20 times over humanitarian
issues
-Founded the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant
Children
-filmed an MTV special, The Diary Of Angelina Jolie & Dr.
Jeffrey Sachs in Africa, portraying her and statist economist Dr.
Jeffrey Sachs on a trip to a remote group of villages in Western
Kenya.
-announced the founding of the Jolie/Pitt Foundation which made
initial donations to Global Action for Children and Doctors Without
Borders of $1 million each
-co-chairs the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict
-pledged $5 million to set up a wildlife sanctuary in
Cambodia
-became a member of the Council on Foreign Relations
-has adopted a bunch of rugrats
Pick one or the other, sweetie, you can save the world, or you can
embrace Ayn Rand. Personally, I'll pass on both.
<strike>strike through</strike|8.6.09 @ 8:39AM|#
That's monumentally silly, S.D. "Save the world"? What have
you accomplished lately?
Go to the children's table.
Spoonman|8.6.09 @ 8:45AM|#
She's still a wackaloon, no matter how many famous people with
boobs claim they've read Atlas Shrugged.
/note: I found the description of decay in Atlas Shrugged
compelling.
24AheadDotCom |8.6.09 @ 9:07AM|#
I am a spoof. Have your checked your liability, Jesse, vis-a-vis *me*? Why do you allow such things as *me* to happen? Hm? You can't duck this issue forever!
Fluffy|8.6.09 @ 9:35AM|#
Maybe Pitt meant to say that it couldn't be successfully made into a movie, since the Gary Cooper version sucks.
kilroy|8.6.09 @ 9:50AM|#
Before you go all lovey with the Eva Mendes-Rand connection you might want to read the PeTA interview.
|8.6.09 @ 10:26AM|#
Paul,
Eva Mendes is a Miami born American of Cuban heritage. She's not
"Mexican".
My favorite, and by far the hottest of all the Hollywood Ayn Rand
fans, is Amber Heard. She's been quoted as saying, "I am my own God
and worship myself."
Federal Dog|8.6.09 @ 10:42AM|#
"Mother Jones highlights a few "celebrity fans of the cult of
selfishness."
I had no idea that Ayn Rand advocated people queuing up with their
hands extended, waiting for the state to drop into them what little
sustenance others have managed to eke out by dint of their
labors.
They honestly seem oblivious to the profound selfishness of that
level of parasitism.
Cliché Bandit|8.6.09 @ 11:26AM|#
SusanM | August 6, 2009, 3:11am | #
I wonder if anyone here has ever read this from Rand herself...
http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/libertarians.html
Well, It is a good thing then that Libertarians are not anarchists.
And yes, when Ayn Rand was approached years ago that was her
complaint. But the Party/philosophy was never about anarchy (even
with Rothbard in the mix). Anarchists, and only a small number of
them, are only along for the ride. By definition Libertarians want
government...only a crap load less than we have now.
Only time will tell
|8.6.09 @ 1:11PM|#
Isn't an Atlas movie pretty much predestined to be one of the biggest flops of all time?
|8.6.09 @ 2:45PM|#
Tony, you're confusing her with that Marx fellow.
Who, Groucho? I love his movies.
|8.6.09 @ 2:54PM|#
Subcomandante Dave | August 6, 2009, 8:12am | #
Rand was not specifically against any of that, except maybe most of
what the UN does with public money it gets from its member
states.
She condemned altruism and self-sacrifice and subservience to
others' demands. She was not opposed to compassion and charity give
freely and voluntarily and in pursuit of ones own values.
And trying to make the world a better place is only wrong if it
involves using force. Nothing on that list suggests that A Joli is
using any coercion.
|8.6.09 @ 3:53PM|#
I took three sincere runs at Atlas Shrugged in my life -- the third time was the charm. I was finally able to get past the first hundred pages -- which I had found, until then, to be unremittingly boring and impenetrable -- in my mid-30s, during a sabbatical from work. The story seemed a lot more interesting after the first hundred pages or so, and I ultimately counted A.S. as one of my favorite books, but with an asterisk.
|8.6.09 @ 4:14PM|#
I will need a whole broiler, two tubs of lite whip cream,
two cans of arousal whip cream, a goat, handcuffs,
some cream cheese, a spool of thread, a case of red bull, two silk
neckties, and one spatula.
And if he did mean "aerosol," that could be the greatest
incidence of RC'z Law ever.
That would definitely go on the short list.
|8.6.09 @ 4:31PM|#
I think that A.S. could be successfully and faithfully
"reimagined" into the future by supposing the following:
* On the political scene, the establishment left and right are
finally seen as the frauds they are, and abandoned by the majority.
In the place of the old, corrupt order, a new populist-flavored
libertarianism, which is environmentally conscious (but pragmatic
and not envriofascist), ascends, clearing the way and setting the
stage for a cultural, political, and economic renaissance, of
sorts.
* During this period, some far-sighted entrepreneurs, seeing to
fill the economic niche left by the collapsing auto-industry,
recognize the value of Personal Rapid Transit technology and manage
to build numerous privately owned-and-operated local transit
networks, which they then interconnect with higher-speed intercity
lines, to create a cost-effective and efficient, automated national
transport network without the need for State support or
intervention (this would be the long struggle of the builders that
would create the milieu, and influence the mindset, of the
protagonists and which, for example, would serve as the motivation
for creating Rearden Metal).
* You can't keep a good statist down, however, so after the burst
of economic revitalization and creative innovation, decay begins to
set in and statism, like rust, begins to encroach again, and we
start moving toward the kind of economic-political watershed that
we just saw (and are still experiencing) in our own lives. This
point would correspond to the opening scenes of Rand's novel.
This future would probably be 20-40 years after our own time, which
would give enough opportunity for our present regime to implode,
the transport system to be constructed and to become an American
institution, and the process of social and political rust to begin
again.
Under the above circumstances, A.S. could be an excellent science
fiction miniseries (of six-hours or more in length -- don't make it
a movie, as too much would need to be cut!) that could be otherwise
(and in general plot, characterization and spirit) extremely
faithful to the book. Indeed, setting it in the future makes the
focus on rail travel and the establishment of the cloaking
technology used in Galt's Gulch all the more plausible, not to
mention Villers' tragic techno-frustration near the story's end.
Produce the reimagined A.S. as a "comic book" movie -- think Dark
Knight, Watchmen, and XMen for example, in which characters are
typically expressed with broad strokes and audiences love them --
and you'd have an epic that equaled or surpassed any of those
earlier works.
|8.6.09 @ 4:44PM|#
If you really wanted to tempt fate (in terms of creating an A.S. movie that was faithful to Rand), get Joss Whedon to produce, write, and/or direct. Even if his politics aren't especially Libertarian and his philosophy isn't especially Objectivist, I've seen a lot in his work that suggests he can and does understand these things and can treat them fairly -- even favorably -- in a screenplay. He and his team have famous insights into kick-ass heroines and female inter-relationships in general, useful for getting Dagny right, and he knows how to do SF that is decidedly, but only slightly, removed from our own time. His understanding of the persistence and resurgence of old styles and tropes with the passage of time and the growth, decay, and rebirth of societies (demonstrated in Firefly/Serenity), could also be worthwhile in this production.
|8.6.09 @ 7:24PM|#
# Tony | August 6, 2009, 5:15pm | #
# How would making Dagny a believable female
# character be faithful to Rand?
To whom are you addressing your comment? I certainly don't require
her to be "believable," any more than, for instance, I expect
Whedon's Buffy, Cordelia, Zoe, or Echo/Caroline to be believable,
but only relatable as human beings in the sense that they can
entertain and inspire in their heroic roles. Getting Dagny right
means that we see and believe in her caliber of person, and that
such a person would act and speak as she does (including making
all-too-human mistakes, but then recovering from them) -- not that
we necessarily believe that any such person could or does
exist.
In Rand's use of characters and a plot, instead of a simple lecture
(which many say Galt's long broadcast speech is, anyway), is
implicit her recognition that people learn from and are entertained
by stories about people dealing with situations that, in the
aggregate, have some level of plausibility, when compared against
the reader's understanding of the universe. Even if her characters
were deliberate archetypes, Rand clearly wanted readers to try each
one out for size, whether or not the character was likable or did
admirable things. Being faithful to Rand at one level means
treating the characters as adventure comic-book sketches. But being
faithful to Rand at a deeper level means being in service to her
and her work, by making it more possible -- within the confines of
plot and explicitly established characterization, of course -- for
people to slip those characters on and imagine living in their
skins for a few moments. What makes the characters believable is
not that the things they do and say would be things that the
viewer/reader would do and say in those same roles and situations,
but that they are things that, while perhaps ideally good or
perfectly bad, the audience COULD see themselves (or people that
they have met) doing or saying. Whedon, as just one example, is
pretty good at making people feel that way about the characters in
his shows, which is a reason he came to my mind in this
discussion.
If characters always had to be "believable," animated cartoons
would have to be much different than they are (and than they
historically have been), in order to find audiences. That said,
perhaps A.S. should be a cartoon series, to be most "faithful" to
Rand. But if it is to be a live-action feature or series, then I
think it can be even more "faithful" to her by adapting properly to
the medium, making sure to flesh out enough dimensions of the
characters, as to pique and maintain the interest of viewers who
would easily watch a cartoon instead, if that is what they wanted
to see.
|8.6.09 @ 9:04PM|#
Fair enough. I am much less opposed to the ideas of Libertarianism and Objectivism than I might appear at times but I tend to take a much more critical look those ideas than most. Having read alot of her work I think she has some very good, valid ideas but the philosophy tends to fail at the larger levels ("Anthem" should be required reading at any art school though!)
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