Ayn Rand at the Movies (ebook)
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Ayn Rand at the Movies
by Denise Noe
Loved and hated, adored and derided, Ayn Rand has been one of the most controversial philosophers and authors of our time. She is considered a Goddess of Capitalism by some and a quintessentially “Mean Girl” by others. Denise Noe tries to bring complexity to the life of this most complex figure and, especially, to explore in depth her strong relationship with the motion picture industry. Ayn Rand fell in love with movies during the silent era when she was a young girl growing up in Russia and that love affair with cinema lasted all her life — and had profound effects on her life. One of her first published works was on a favorite actress, Pola Negri. She met her husband, Frank O’Connor, when she worked as an extra on Cecil B. DeMille’s King of Kings. Ayn Rand penned the screenplays for the 1945 films Love Letters and You Came Along as well as for the 1949 The Fountainhead, a motion picture made of her groundbreaking novel of the same name. Ayn Rand has been the subject of films like the documentary Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life and the fabulously stylish Hellen Mirren vehicle The Passion of Ayn Rand. This book discusses the three-part Atlas Shrugged movie series. It delves into the making of a Saints vs. Scoundrels episode pitting Rand against Roman Catholic author Flannery O’Connor. It tells how her dystopian novella Anthem was made into an inspired cartoon as was her screenplay Red Pawn. It talks at length about how The Simpsons put on delightful send-ups of Rand works—send-ups that were also tributes to those works. This book discusses lavish Hollywood productions and high school projects that can be viewed on YouTube, feature films and shorts, to show how gloriously both the life and work of Ayn Rand are intertwined with the motion picture industry.
Type in the name Ayn Rand on a search engine, and you will find many different titles about one of the most interesting female authors, to ever write. Denise Noe in her new book, takes readers on a journey through the works of Rand that have been made into films. Rand is unique in several ways that include being able to write screenplays for her own works, as well as input into who stars as well as what the industry was like the period she worked in it. "Ayn Rand At The Movies" delves into one side of the author who was a rebel of change for women in many professions.
Q) What led you to want to write Ayn Rand at the Movies?
A) Ayn Rand is significantly linked to the motion picture industry. She contributed to it in many ways. She wrote about movies. She wrote the screen plays for three different films: You Came Along, Love Letters, and The Fountainhead. Her works have inspired several movies. There have been movies made about her life. In fact, a film was pivotal to the most important relationship she ever had. She was very young, had just gotten to this country, and was working as an extra on the 1927 Cecil DeMille silent film The King of Kings when she met her husband, Frank O’Connor, who had a bit part in the movie.
Q) Are you a believer in the philosophy called Objectivism that she founded?
A) No, I am not. What’s more, I never have been. Many intelligent people go through an Ayn Rand phase in their youth and later decide her philosophy is overly simplistic. I never did. However, in a high school English class we were assigned to read her novella Anthem. I liked the novella very much. I read The Fountainhead in college and was very impressed by it.
Q) Do her philosophical beliefs show up in all the films on which she worked?
A) I personally don’t believe Objectivism is evident in either You Came Along or Love Letters, both movies released in 1945. You Came Along is a tragic-comedy about a woman falling in love with a man who is terminally ill. Love Letters is a powerful romance starring Joseph Cotten and Jennifer Jones. The 1941 film The Night of January 16th is based on Rand’s play of the same name but she had nothing to do with the making of the film and it’s a snappy comedy/mystery/love story rather than a film with philosophical or political concerns.
Q) How did you research this book?
A) The first thing I did was read a lot of Ayn Rand! I got hold of a book entitled The Early Ayn Rand which had short stories she wrote when she was first learning English and adjusting to this country. I read We the Living, re-read The Fountainhead, and read Atlas Shrugged. Then I watched everything I could with a Rand link. Finally, I contacted people who worked on those films.
Q) Did you learn anything that surprised you?
A) I learned a lot that surprised me. One that stands out is that Rand had a light-hearted side to her, a frivolous side that contrasted strongly with the general perception of her as a hard-nosed ideologue. She adored the light-hearted music popular in the early twentieth century that she called “tiddlywink music.” Her light-hearted side also comes out in some of her early short stories as well as the 1945 movie You Came Along, a movie for which she wrote the screenplay.
Q) Rand wrote short stories, novels, essays, and screenplays. What is your favorite of her works and why is it your favorite?
A) This is not a hard question to answer. My favorite Rand work is The Fountainhead. It is a novel filled with dramatic scenes and vibrant characters. It is a very colorful book that makes an enjoyable read and that lingers in the mind long after you have read it. I’ve read The Fountainhead three times and enjoyed it very much each time.
Q) What is usually called “the rape scene” in The Fountainhead had been criticized. Does your book discuss this?
A) I discuss that scene at length. I discuss the criticisms, Rand’s replies to them, and what the scene means about Rand and her views on relations between the sexes. There is a lot of ambivalence in there and I explore it thoroughly
Q) Your book discusses major Hollywood productions and short films that were made as school projects. Why did you include films made by amateurs?
A) Because I wanted to be complete in discussing the influence Ayn Rand has had on films. I wanted to examine the way her material is viewed, and translated into cinema, by varied people.
Q) Two graphic novel films were made of Rand’s works. Does her work translate well into cartoon form?
A) I think you can make a case that much of her material is tailor made for cartoons. After all, her characters are often larger than life and, therefore, kind of cartoonish.
Q) Why should people read Ayn Rand at the Movies?
A) It is an interesting book about the relationship an important, controversial, and complex public figure had with the motion picture industry.
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