April 28, 2006
Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt to do Ayn Rand
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in Atlas Shrugged? That's what the Hollywood insiders are saying. I guess anything with Angelina Jolie is bound to attract some attention from me--on top of the fact that she is going to star in the screen adaptation of one of the Right's most beloved works of fiction.
Personally, I'm not a big fan. Hang around with enough libertarians (like I do) and you realize that there is a kind of cult of Ayn Rand among certain circles. So what I'm about to say is bound to offend.
In addition to being bad gay, I don't think Ayn Rand was that great of a theorist. I don't really get Objectivism--Ayn Rand's philosophy. I find it tired and boring in the same way that I do Marxism. I just don't have a lot of patience for any theory of absolutes--which is why I describe myself as a 'Burkean libertarian' when asked.
In my dealings with Obectivists, I always got the feeling that they were the Right's version of Scientologists. You know, like they couldn't let an hour go by without dropping Ayn Rand's name into a conversation, and that every time they walked into a book store they had to buy a copy of Atlas Shrugged. No wonder Allen Greenspan dropped out of their ranks years ago!
And it's not like I hated the books, I just didn't love them either. No epiphemy for me--but maybe that's because I've always had libertarian leanings? Just a good read. No big deal.
So, will I go see Atlas Shrugged? Sure will. The last time an Ayn Rand novel was put on to the silver screen it turned into an instant classic. But then again, we had Gary Cooper to convince us that one man could stand alone against the world. I just don't see Brad Pitt pulling the same thing off as tycoon John Galt.
But Angelina Jolie as Dagny Taggart? I'm so there.
And for my Objectivist friends, on a note of redemption, they will be glad that I passed on this news: Angelina Jolie is said to be a big Ayn Rand fan---and anything Angelina is into can't be all that bad, can it?.
Except Brad Pitt. And it turns out, Brad Pitt is into Ayn Rand, too. Go figure.
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