She Wasn't Talking About the New Deal, She Was Talking About Bush

UPDATE

I've researched the possible Atlas Shrugged movie a bit more, well, I typed "Baldwin Entertainment Group" into Google. The Baldwin Entertainment Group according to wikipedia, purchased the rights to the film in 2003. Heres a blurb about the screenplay on their website:

ATLAS SHRUGGED
Written by: Jim V. Hart
Based on the novel ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand

ATTACHMENTS Lions Gate Films

LOG LINE: Dagny Taggart, one of the great heroines of modern literature, struggles to fulfill her great-grandfather’s legacy as she steers her family’s railroad conglomerate through the triple threat of government corruption, international terrorism and a mysterious force that is silencing the great thinkers of the day.

SYNOPSIS: Ayn Rand’s groundbreaking novel foresees an American future eerily similar to the future that America faces today. The politics of fear embodied by stringent government regulation and irresponsible foreign policy have driven American society to the brink of collapse. Against this backdrop, Dagny Taggart wrestles her corrupt and dissolute brother for control of their great-grandfather’s railroad conglomerate. Determined to live up to her ancestor’s name, Dagny steers the railroad through a minefield of government sabotage, domestic disintegration, and international terrorism. All the while the destruction of the American way is hastened by a mysterious force that is silencing the great thinkers of the day. Their disappearance inspires a universal sense of fatalistic dread that is summed up by the new popular catchphrase: “Who is John Galt?”

Are there any Rand fans that can tell me what's wrong here? Let's start at the beginning. "International terrorism"? Where was that in the book? Ragnar Danneskjold may have been refered to as a terrorist, but that's it. The book's over 1000 pages long, I don't think we need to add any extra plot points. What's next? How about "the politics of fear". How did a catch phrase of the left make it in here? The "politics of fear" had better refer to Dr. Stadler's "Project X" and not warantless wiretaps of overseas phone calls. The kicker though, the phrase in here that makes me dread this movie's release, is "irresponsible foreign policy". What?! The only "irresponsible foreign policy" that existed in the book was the American governments penchant for sending aid to struggling "people's states" around the world that had enslaved their citizens. If they use this movie to make a f*&%ing commentary on Iraq or the war on terror, they will have succeeded in both completely destroying the point of the book and giving me a noticeable facial tick.

Way to go Hollywood. Just destroy as much as you can. Maybe you can remake "The Fountainhead" and spin it to be a commentary on the heartlessness of the Bush tax cuts. Its only 8:51 am? I already need a drink.

UPDATE:

I'm not sure how I missed this, but right at the beginning in the "Log Line" it says "a mysterious force that is silencing the great thinkers of the day". John Galt was out to stop the "engine of the world". The "great thinkers" of the day in Atlas Shrugged are portrayed as pied piper buffoons, leading the populace into total destruction. It wasn't the thinkers Galt was after, (Unless you count Hugh Akston) it was the men who made the world work, the industrialists, the bankers, the oil magnates, the men the "great thinkers" ridiculed and scorned. There's a reason the book was almost called "The Strike". It's a cautionary tale about what this country and indeed the world would be like if all "big businessmen" went on strike, not the nihilistic intellectuals of the book who suck at the government's teat.

I Don't Think Ayn Would Be Happy

I remember seeing this maybe half a year ago when I was perusing the wikipedia article on Atlas Shrugged in search of Whittaker Chamber's famous review of Ayn Rand's iconic novel. (I tend to disagree with Mr. Chambers on the fascist overtones in Atlas Shrugged considering it advocates laissez-faire capitalism and attacks large government. In case you don't know, fascists hate laissez-faire capitalism and love large government, but that discussion is for another day) A recent entry in the "Media Blog" at National Review Online (which I would have missed had Rachel Lucas not noticed it) has reminded me of it. Apparently, talks have been underway for years about a film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged starring Angelina Jolie as Dagny Taggart and - according to some reports - Brad Pitt as John Galt. Anyone who has read Atlas Shrugged knows that it strongly advocates a free market which is unfettered by any government interference and refers to those who advocate a welfare state as "looters". This is why I'm puzzled as to why Jolie and Pitt would sign onto the film.

Now I've always known Brad Pitt was a liberal, environmental wackjob, so I can't imagine how he has come to admire Ayn Rand. He famously supported John Kerry in 2004. If he can't stomach George W. Bush, There is no way in hell he can agree with anything John Galt believes aside from his atheism. As for Jolie, maybe she's attracted to Dagny Taggart's character because there are some feministic qualities about her, but Rand portrays other female characters in a bad light, Lily Rearden for example. And given all Jolie's advocacy for the plight of the third world, I find it hard to believe she admires a book in which one of the "good guys" so to speak is a pirate who destroys aid shipments to impoverished countries around the world.

My biggest fear in all of this is that Jolie and Pitt have no idea who Rand was or what Atlas Shrugged advocates. They probably see it as just a chance to have a wild sex scene on film together. I've never minded Jolie much, in fact I go out of my way to avoid the tabloid obsession, and her father, John Voigt is somewhat of a conservative. However, if they tone down the free market, anti government tone of the book so as to not offend Jolie and Pitt's sensibilities, I will never forgive them. Despite being godless and at times reading like a romance novel, Atlas Shrugged is one of my favorite books. If they at all alter Francisco d'Anconia's brilliant monologue on money, I may just become a hermit and live out in the Ozarks, maybe gaining a wacky name from the locals, like "fraggle-toothed Jakey". Bottom line, I'll lose it.

If you're going to do it, do it right.