Atlas Shrugged: The Novel, the Films, the Philosophy Kindle Edition

David Kelley founded the Institute of Objectivist Studies in 1990, which later became The Objectivist Center and The Atlas Society. He has written books such as  The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand: Truth and Toleration in Objectivism  [which is a revision and expansion of  Truth and Toleration ], as well as  The Art of Reasoning , A Life of One's Own: Individual Rights and the Welfare State , etc.He wrote in the Preface of this 2014 book, “Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is one of the great American novels of the twentieth century… it has finally been adapted as a film trilogy. ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is a novel of enormous complexity and depth… one reading cannot reveal all the riches on offer in ‘Atlas Shrugged.’ Many people go back to reread: to reenter the world Rand created… or to study the ideas. If you are one of them, this guide is for you…”In Robert Bidinotto’s essay, ‘Atlas Shrugged as Literature,’ he acknowledges, “the more stylized portraits of evil characters in ‘Atlas Shrugged’ don’t offer as much psychological variety as those in [Dostoyevsky’s] ‘The Possessed’---or even as much as those Rand provides in her earlier masterpiece, ‘The Fountainhead’… But.. what Rand loses in diversity and complexity, she gains in depth and clarity… We also gain a greater grasp of the relationship between philosophical ideas and psychological states…” (Pg. 64)For me, by far the most interesting part of the book (by itself, well worth the price of the book!) was its description of the tribulations and struggles to get the movie trilogy released. He recounts, “John Aglialoro … purchased the rights to make the book into a movie… The rights were purchased from Leonard Peikoff, Ayn Rand’s legal heir.” (Pg. 70) He continues, “Aglialoro’s first mission was to raise money to fund production of the movie… The money-raising effort was not successful and did not yield the number of interested investors that Aglialoro had anticipated.” (Pg. 73, 75) After Aglialoro participated in a Cato Institute-sponsored event, “Aglialoro now joined a lengthy list of individuals who were once an integral part of the Ayn Rand Institute organization and who… were no longer welcome.” (Pg. 78) Efforts to get a TV miniseries produced ended without success (Pg. 80).He laments, “The rights were set to expire on June 15, 2010, Peikoff would not sell another extension, and Aglialoro had found neither a studio nor anyone else who wanted to finance and product ‘Atlas Shrugged.’… But Aglialoro was not going to simply walk away… There was no other option---he would have to do it himself… he would still need to … start principal photography; and to get all this accomplished in less than ninety days.” (Pg. 83-84) He notes, “Since no studio had the courage to produce ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ Aglialoro did not could on a studio … [for] distributing the movie, either… This gave Atlas Distribution almost no time to market and promote the movie, to they turned to technology: the Internet.” (Pg. 88)Of the first part of the trilogy, “The film ultimately played in 700 theaters, generating nearly $4.7M of box office, which the industry considered outstanding for an independently released movie supported primarily by online marketing… Even though the box office resulted in a successful opening weekend, it never generated the word of mouth every movie hopes for, and … [it] ultimately lost momentum in the weeks that followed.” (Pg. 89-90)He explains, “Casting was a major challenge. In most trilogy movies … the entire sequence is shot as a single production and the parts are released to theaters separately. This enables the cast to remain constant. In the case of ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ the timeline to secure the rights did not allow negotiation with the actors for anything more than the initial movie. And, after the fact, the producers knew that trying to assemble the same cast was an impossible task..” (Pg. 93)When Part II was released, “The box office was disappointing. The tight production schedule had allowed little time to run trailers in the theaters… Thus, most of ‘Atlas Shrugged: The Strike’ marketing focuses on TV advertising, radio ads and appearances, and online media. Despite underperforming in theaters, it did receive recognition from the Moving Picture Institute… and the Accolade Competition…” (Pg. 95) [The Box Office and reviews for Part III were disappointing.]He summarizes, “Making ‘Atlas Shrugged into a movie has been a long and winding road. Aglialoro is often asked if it has been worth it. Was it worth getting turned down by every movie studio in the country?.. Was it worth risking all that money---and maybe losing a goo chunk of it when all is said and done? Was it worth the disappointment of knowing that what you care about so deeply is just not worth a $10.00 movie ticket to millions of Americans? His answer is yes. It was worth it.” (Pg. 106)For better or worse, the movie trilogy is now a “fact,” and one can purchase copies on DVD, or watch it “streamed.” Rand’s book continues to sell many thousands of copies each year. And this book will be “must reading” for those readers/viewers interested in “going DEEPER” into Ayn Rand, her books and philosophy, and the film trilogy.

This is an amazingly clear and comprehensive guide and a marvelous tool for understanding the concepts behind the book, the films, and the people behind them. Although the novel, itself, may appear daunting in our sound-bite age, new discoverers - often as a result of the films - are enthralled, and, yes, terrified by the parallels between this fiction of nearly 60 years ago and today's reality. Was the book prophetic? It is up to the reader to decide, but the examples of the growth of government power over its citizens, crony capitalism as opposed to the true capitalism, which is being forced out of business (oh, yes, didn't that happen in the book?), the fear of politicians that the citizenry will take away their power (watched the Senate, lately?), and so much more, cannot be ignored. Just because we're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't really out to get us!One of the most telling aspects of the relationship between the novel and reality was the extent and type of obstacles faced by those trying to bring this best selling novel of all times to the screen - far beyond the simple physical issues of transferring a 1,200 page novel with few wasted words into the film medium without losing its epic power and drama.If you've read the book and/or seen the films (especially if you've got the first two on DVD and plan to get the third), you will want this guide for the next time you watch it. It tells its own great story!

This a quick guide to Ayn Rand's philosophy in Atlas Shrugged, as well as the story behind the making of The Atlas Shrugged Movie Trilogy. The behind the scenes events, hurdles, roadblocks, and disagreements were many and spanned two decades, but John Aglialoro was determined to bring Atlas Shrugged to the big screen. And boy did he ever! This has given me a renewed appreciation for what one man can accomplish when he puts his mind to it and doesn't give up on doing the right thing, getting the message out there. Whether you are new to the philosophy of Atlas Shrugged, or have read it again and again you will learn something you didn't know before in this book. It also includes a wonderful breakdown of all the Atlas Shrugged characters and the constructions of the most prominent scenes in the book and how they were adapted in the movie. Interesting and fun read!

This was extremely interesting. It starts with an outline of the significant events in the book "Atlas Shrugged." When I first started reading it, I thought I might skip this part because I've read Atlas a few times and am familiar with the story. But I found the outline to be an absolutely brilliant piece of work . . . it captures Rand's philosophical ideas as well as major events of the book in an extraordinarily concise, on-point, and engaging manner. I was also enthralled reading about the making of the movie. There are lots of interesting anecdotes here, and this part, too, is well-written and engaging. These were my two favorite sections, but the rest of the book is highly interesting and readable, too. I very much recommend this book!

There is not much content that will be new to those that are already familiar with Atlas Shrugged.Making a film adaptation of the novel was never going to be easy. The authors provide reasons for the actors and directing changing across the films and refashioning some of the more important speeches.Yet to bring AS to the masses was a great opportunity. Success is when preparation meets opportunity and frankly the movies have flopped. This book, although informative, does not demonstrate enough learning from this failure.