[ClearCase_guy]

So long as Ayn Rand's villains continue to resemble the reality in Washington, the story of Atlas Shrugged will remain popular.

Rand wrote the novel, in part, as a reaction to FDR's New Deal. Her villains are his bureaucrats.
I first read the novel in the 1990's and I thought, "Her villains are Clinton's bureaucrats."
Anyone reading the novel or seing the film today will surely think, "Her villains are Obama's bureaucrats."

Same old same old. Until the revolution.

[keep your powder dry]

Went on Friday, Packed house in Boston (of all places!)...

[KarlInOhio]

Atlas Shrugged is compelling, not for its heroes, but for its villains. Published in 1957, Rand's description of politicians and lobbyists in a time of economic crisis is almost prophetic.

Her villains look much like the various government officials and associates of the largely forgotten early part of the Great Depression. Most people remember such things as Social Security and the huge construction projects of the Hoover Dam and the TVA, but if you look back to when the National Recovery Administration enforcement officers were raiding businesses to see if they were charging a nickel more than allowed.

[C. Edmund Wright]

Rand clearly had a prophetic gift. Too bad for her that she has no idea where that gifting came from — but she was gifted nonetheless. BTW, there was applause in our theatre in NC too. About half full, Saturday afternoon, right before we had all those tornado’s.

[cetarist]

The problem in tying Mouch to Jesse Jackson is that no one - not even my liberal neighbors - take Jesse Jackson seriously. He is a characterure, plain and simple.

The other problem is that when you worry too much about government intervention, it will happen. If you keep going out and making new things, you can keep ahead of them. Think google, think facebook, think twitter. Trying to control it? walk away from it and build something else. The problem is the characters in Atlas shrugged gave up. They were the weak ones.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

I’ll wait for the DVD release, which shouldn’t take long.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Homework Assignment: Read Ayn Rand’s “Return of the Primitive”.

With the Wisconsin thuggery fresh in mind, this collection of her writing’s will simply make you say “Wow!” out-loud.

[Stegall Tx]

I’ve been thinking of creating a new game: “Randian Villain or Democrat?”

[joe fonebone]

I read atlas shrugs, and was worried that it may come to pass....i recently read a paper by the Mackinaw Institute about the myths of the great depression. I was shocked to learn that most of the book DID come to pass under hoover and roosevelt......that paper was a real eye opener to me, and it debunked most of what I was taught about the depression, it’s causes and effects...totally shocking

[backwoods-engineer]

Somebody please tell me that "Atlas Shrugged" is better than "The Fountainhead." I got 1/3 of the way through the latter some years ago, and literally threw the book across the room, screaming, "there are no people like that!" I never read the rest, but gave the book back. The characters are completely un-human, one-dimensional, devoid of any emotion (least of which compassion), and acted like they did not care whether they lived or died, or whether anybody else did. I cannot relate to them at all.

So, if the protagonists of "Atlas Shrugged" are anything like that, I will neither read the book nor see the movie.

Talk me down from my tree here.

[denydenydeny]

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. took to the house floor to declare that Steve Jobs's iPad was killing jobs. Congress must, according to Jackson, recognize that Apple is driving companies such as Barnes & Noble and Borders out of business, and the company should be stopped in the interests of fairness.

We can call it "the Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Law."

[Ragnar54]

"Indeed, many of the film's difficulties are less the fault of the director, and more of Rand herself. The primary protagonists of the book are emotionless industrialists, stilted and one-dimensional in their behaviors, thinking only of metal, railroads, and factories. "

Actually, the protagonists are anything but "emotionless". They are extremely passionate about their work. This concept is foreign to the typical modern liberal arts graduate, for whom life should be a succession of cocktail party discussions about politics, ballgames, television shows, etc. Had Mr. Rhamey availed himself of the opportunity to take some courses in hard science or engineering, he would probably have a better appreciation of "metal, railroads, and factories". I would have enjoyed seeing scenes from Dagny's early work on the railroad, or of Hank Rearden's work in the ore mines and steel mills.

The movie was anything but "mediocre". The Sunday afternoon showing was interrupted multiple times by applause; I suspect that most members of the audience were already fans of the novel. I cannot recall any other movie having as great an emotional impact.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

I know HBO would never do this, but this story IMO would be best told as an HBO miniseries.

[Publius]

Perceptive article.

[RedStateRocker]

As with Tom Clancy and Robert Heinlein, it's the villains that are often the most interesting characters and the heroes that seem flat and unsympathetic.