Who Is John Galt? Who Wants to Know?
Atlas Shrugged Part 1 is coming to theatres 15 April 2011. Consider reading Atlas Shrugged, the book, between now and then, if you are unfamiliar with it.
The book was published in 1957. The governmental and societal trends it describes were well set in motion by that time. A second Jimmy Carter presidential term would have "sealed the deal," by making the trends virtually irreversible. Instead, a generation raised with the warnings from Atlas Shrugged and Orwell's 1984 helped to temporarily turn the tide in the 1980s.
A documentary about the book, Atlas Shrugged, is supposed to be available soon.
H/T Instapundit.com
US President Obama has been compared to a second coming of Jimmy Carter. Mr. Obama's revolution of hyper-statism has been somewhat slowed by the election of a "Tea Party" congress. Like the Reagan election of 1980 and the Congressional election of 1994, the new 2010 congress can be seen as a delaying action, at best. But having more time to prepare is only helpful if persons use the time well.
Labels: John Galt
posted by al fin at 8:15 am
5 Comments:
It is such an amazing book that there are few explanation for why it wasn't made into a motion picture until now.
I guess it is kind of long, but the theme is quite simple and fits beautifully into a movie.
The book's dialogue and plot flow needed to be re-written into a screenplay by someone who is very skilled, at least respected the original book, and was not afraid of making tough choices.
Because of the book's length, the movie will apparently be made in multiple parts, released at different times.
In 1957, not all Americans had completely given themselves over to the Franklin Roosevelt vision of top-heavy central nanny-federal government.
But as of 1990 and beyond, most Americans had been dumbed down enough by the schools and popular culture, that the ideas espoused by Rand may as well be in a foreign language.
If the movie can present a compelling case for Rand's ideas, it will be a long-term success even if it is not a box office blockbuster.
I am hoping they are spectacular films that Rand enthusiast or not we will be entertained and enlightened. I fear that they will become cliched preach-fests. I won't watch preachy left-wing movies either. The book was a philosophy exercise wrapped in a relatively entertaining story. (Of the thousands of books I've read this one really stuck with me as much for the characters and story as the lesson).
First and foremost the movies need to be entertaining - only then will the necessary message be conveyed.
I read that the budget was a rather paltry $15 million. Curious if those who have seen a preview have any comments regarding to the production quality.
If the movie is a hit, with only $15 mil spent, the profit margin might be pretty spectacular.
The large movie distributors won't touch the movie, so the producers are "self-distributing" the film. It looks like they can't afford to make very many prints, so it will be shown at independent theaters in about 10 cities, and then go to DVD. It would have to do very well at its initial screenings to finance a wider and longer theatrical run.
Due to the internecine conflicts in the Objectivist movement, some hard-core Randroids have already panned the film, and will boycott it.
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“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” _George Orwell
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