Atlas Shrugged - Renegade Cut

[@justiziabelle]

i have a guess why they needed to recast every role: everyone of the actors wanted more money, the producers didn't want to give them that, no one moved on that issue or compromised, so every role needed to be recast. perfectly, efficient libertarian utopia achieved.

[@kaoko111]

The last movie was crowdfunded. So, the making of the movie itself is making a case against the movie. You can't get more meta or anti meta i guess than than.

[@cylemons8099]

@@kaoko111 Nah, people funded the movie because they wanted to it to happen to they can enjoy it.

[@howarddewing6617]

@@cylemons8099 Enjoyment was the motive rather than profit? It makes me so happy you don't see the irony

[@adalette]

@@howarddewing6617 last time i checked, ayn rand never said that monetary profit was the only valid reason to do something… what did you think the irony was?

[@berkleypearl2363]

I feel so called out by that one quote as a former edgy teenager obsessed with the lord of the rings. I translated a Green Day song into sindarin elvish. I didn’t have many friends as a kid. But at least I didn’t grow up and turn into a fascist!

[@kingkai_3954]

Hey that's translating thing is a real talent. Hope you cultivate and grow it if that's something you want to do

[@wilhelmseleorningcniht9410]

That's pretty damn awesome honestly, both the Sindarin and not becoming a fascist!

[@toiletgremlin2929]

That’s sick as hell

[@applehat2345]

Omg I loved greenday when I was young , I would have my parents take me to target to buy all their cds ! I’m black btw

[@d.w.stratton4078]

You're probably a really swell human frankly

[@JackgarPrime]

Atlas Shrugged. ....as did audiences.

[@stapler942]

Imagine going into this production thinking you're going to make an epic trilogy that will prove the unfilmable can be filmed like Lord of the Rings.

[@kaoko111]

@@stapler942 The last movie was financed via crowfunding... That goes beyond satire.

[@Accordeonaire]

"Every act of altruism has a hidden selfish motive." So wouldn't that make altruism good?

[@TheLarousse89]

Lets reframe your question. Lets say you have a bully. They are the town bully. It's a small town. Small town bully goes around, beats up everyone smaller than him and takes their pocket change. His dad is the sheriff so he's insulated. However sometimes His dad's buddies are in town. Some are government officials and some are other cops. They are doing a drive through town. The bully decides he's not going to pick on a kid as they drive through town. Was the bully performing a good act? Or was he just being smart about the way he is acting so that he can continue to act the way he does?

[@connortobin3775]

@@TheLarousse89 except that's not at all an equal scenario because the bully isn't doing a good act, he's taking the nonaction and not completing his usual evil act, which of course is not a good thing. If you want to keep the attempted grey and the scenario, A better reframe would be a regular victim of this bully knows when the other cops are in town, and antagonizes the bully into attacking him, knowing that the bully is gonna get caught and hauled off so he and his fellow victims are never bullied again. Is there a selfish motivator in that act of sacrifice? Absolutely. But that doesn't make it less of a good thing, taking a bully and an assaulter off the streets.

[@spicewilliam9786]

Ayn Rand's philosophy can be summed up in one sentence: "Oh, won't anyone think of the poor billionaires????"

[@tobagostreetpolicestationc561]

Howard Roark wasn’t a rich man. Peter Keating was though.

[@lonelychameleon3595]

Summary of Objectivism: Phase 1 - Deregulate industry and weaken government oversight Phase 2 - Phase 3 - Utopia for the common man

[@WheatDos]

I thing Phase 3 is still "Phase 3 - Profit!"

[@sugarfrosted2005]

My Russian friend described Atlas Shrugged as follows: A Libertarian version of "The Communist Manifesto" written as a badly translated subpar classic Russian novel. (He also thinks that Karl Marx is a bad writer, so...) She couldn't even effectively keep it as a novel, the speeches are thrown in because she couldn't make the narrative express the ideas.

[@veronikavartanova4044]

Wasn't Ayn a Russian (jew?), who witnessed the revolution as a tween and later left Soviet Union when she was in her twenties? Even though she wrote AS decades later, I do think personal experience with agressive socialism and communism left a vivid impression; and her 'uber-capitalism good, everything social-oriented - bad', higlly indivudualistic (egocentric) worldview have roots in that. That's at least worrh mentioning.

[@fightsports66]

@@veronikavartanova4044 Actually her parents fled to the Crimea which was under control of the White Army. The father took them there to avoid the violence going on in St.Petersberg. This was in 1917 and she was born in 1905 so you have the age about right. After the Russian Revolution, Universities were opened to women for the first time. This allowed her to be in the first group of women to enroll at Petrograd State University. Not to defend the communists but this seems to be one more instance of her benefiting from something and then demonizing whatever it was that she benefited from.

[@weaponizedwinnebago]

Karl Marx doesnt need to be a good writer, he didnt do novels. Ayn Rand has no excuse.

[@snowmystique2308]

I think Objectivism appeals to so many people is not because that community, compassion and helping one another is seen as soft and weak, but proof that humans are weak and can't get far on their own. They don't want to accept that they're just another human who's really weak at the heart of their existence because acknowledging your own fragility is terrifying so this "philosophy" tells them that they're not and this makes them feel good. This is why Objectivism is seen like a religion.

[@stevenbrawley326]

Telecommunicate hugs. Humans are and have been creatures that formed interdependent systems of specialization to meet each others' needs. Inventors stand on the shoulders of giants. Scholars learn from their forebears. No artist is uninfluenced by other artist.

[@oof-rr5nf]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@ZekeAxel]

So... with the films being box office bombs, does that mean that the producers failed their only purpose of making money and the point is moot?

[@ZekeAxel]

Jeremiah B But it's a kind of "it doesn't matter how much money you make...as long as that money brings you happiness"? Finding joy in something small.

[@ZekeAxel]

***** Also... I have to ask. Is this particular Renegade cut Trump inspired? I kept getting a rather fervent personal dislike in this one.

[@ZekeAxel]

Jeremiah B So then the directors were supposed to aim for a box office success and cultural impact.

[@ZekeAxel]

Jeremiah B Again, that really sounds more like a Zen thing, than an objectivist thing.

[@ZekeAxel]

***** Cool then. Just that I've been seeing a lot of Trump from various producers.

[@grimwatcher]

Objectivism has as much to do with being objective as scientology has to do with science.

[@Nethrezar]

Why is it that so many self-proclaimed "objectivists" would not last two days in a real Randian objectivist society?

[@Hollyberrystreats]

Because they think they acheived everything on their own?

[@Eudaimonist]

Because they have professional careers, are often in IT, and would do just fine?

[@renlevy411]

@@Eudaimonist Most people don't have professional career and often work as minimum wage worker. Are you delusional or something.

[@page8301]

@@Eudaimonist No, they wouldn't.

[@lizd2943]

No one would last in an Objectivist society because it would fall apart under the weight of its own absurdity.

[@christianhansen2569]

Big reason Bioshock is one of my all time favorite video games is that it tackles the problems inherent in Objectivist philosophy. Anyway, just discovered you and am very impressed!

[@TheGamingVillas]

@Ryan Kruse i think the burial at sea dlc did a little to help that. Not much though.

[@LarsBlitzer]

@@blixer8384 That was blindingly obvious from the very first moment you as Booker has the baseball in your hand at the beginning of the game. Any threat to the prevailing (artificial) social order is ridiculed and stamped out ruthlessly. Violent resistance is given as the only viable option; all others would be snuffed out.

[@curtissheppard7469]

Bioshock took it to it’s extreme by leaning way into the egoism. Like any philosophy, it can be perverted by those who don’t understand the moderation factor of thought. Rand believes that we should be selfish FOR each other, that is trading less valuable things for valuable things selfishly so that the person you’re trading with is happy with the exchange

[@aspenfacer-valentine4397]

@@curtissheppard7469 Don't give me that wishy-washy "there's bad and good in every idea" BS. Rand and her followers are anti worker and pro "hard work", as long as said work is done by "the right people". It's nothing more than hypocrisy and selfishness justified behind a flimsy ideology, wrapped tightly in praise of the system as long as it profits them.

[@beangorl7005]

Curtis Sheppard That's not called trading, that's called exploitation. People aren't just arbitrarily happy to receive lesd valuable things. Trading works on the principle that a good is *relatively* less valuable to one person due to abundance or reproducability, whereby trading provides both parties with something difficult for them to get at the loss of something insignificant, which isn't an inherently selfish act.

[@thebrutusmars]

The court scene in Atlas Shrugged is so painful. *and everyone stood up and clapped*

[@paulohagan3309]

The whole book is about how the majority secretly agrees with her once a few assertions are made.

[@curiousworld7912]

You're a braver person than I - I've tried reading Atlas Shrugged three times and have decided that I'd rather have both my legs broken. Objectivism is a hateful philosophy and today seems to merely serve as an excuse for those with wealth and power to do as they please. I thought watching the films would be less painful than reading the book. Not so much. As bad as The Fountainhead was - both book and film - both are at least unintentionally funny.

[@jayfredrickson8632]

I read the book a few years ago because it was supposed to be "great literature". I found it so unrealistic, contrived and infuriating that I had to force myself to finish it. I have never seen such a piece of hogwash.

[@stapler942]

Ayn Rand literally said my ancestors were savages that deserved to be colonized. Fun times!

[@Thommy2n]

I think it's really telling why for young people "The fountainhead" is most often their introduction to Rand. At it's core it could be seen as escapist fantasy of one hyper individualist vs the world who doesn't understand him. And in the story the only person who suffers for his stubbornness would seem to be himself (if he wants to implode his own career, he can go right ahead). But you can't exactly practically apply that outlook to an entire society. Which was Rands goal. Because if you give even a second thought it falls apart, especially at the point of the story where he has a hissy fit and blows up an entire housing development because of one minor change to his design. The need for those homes wouldn't have existed without a community that was looking for homes, the construction workers and contractors on the ground making them a reality, the owners of the land and a fellow architect reaching out to him to give it his personal touch. He screwed them all over because he thinks it's all about him. (Also Howard Roark a rapist)

[@stapler942]

The novel is practically a science fiction. Basically one man solves energy efficiency by inventing a motor that uses "static electricy from the air" or some shit like that, and then hoards it for his utopia micronation. And we're supposed to take this as applicable to real life.

[@coaldoubt2879]

Oh no!! the CEO's aren't coming to work, how will society function? Did anyone notice the absence of workers in this shit (book and movies)? Not sure how Dagny Taggert (yes, that's the name Ayn chose) and Hank Reardon managed to build that entire railroad themselves.

[@daalimbe]

they used their superior capitalist ceo powers™ and made them with their minds (i have not read the book and i refuse to do that to myself, so this is canon now, thank you)

[@arachnofiend2859]

As a former dumb-kid-who-really-liked-the-book, I can tell you that the way it worked was that the good guy corporations just magically always had good relations with the workers. The protagonists had unions, but there was no contention with them because of *course* an objectivist would know the exact proper wage to pay their employees; this was in contrast to the rotten government subsidized corporations with scummy socialist unions that are always striking for more pay than they deserve.

[@ThexDynastxQueen]

@Arachnofiend: Your last line is how I finally realized Rand wasn't advocating for equal self interest, only for the already rich/powerful sans the Gov't. Even an anti-collectivist reading is contradicted as the rich need not only workers but connections, partnerships as well as trust in business to do anything.

[@stapler942]

The closest I can think of is Dagny's lackey Eddie (who meets an unfortunate fate) and that worker that Rearden saves from a factory accident.

[@UncomfortableShoes]

I found the book such a strange comedy. These men of industry, with wealth and power apparently had no ability to influence the country in any way. It’s literally science fiction. Just awful.

[@staceymeans134]

On my second viewing of Black Panther I realized that its subtext is Atlas Shrugged in reverse. It even has a magical metal!

[@TheAppocalyptor]

Thats actually interesting. Can you elaborate further please so I can get your interpretation?

[@tewekdenahom485]

Tchalla was mlk Jr Kill monger was malcolm x

[@jamesstanton2012]

Hahahahahahahah!

[@LovecraftianToenail]

(presses play and immediately Leon comes out swinging against Objectivism itself) this is EXACTLY what I wanted from this episode and it just started. This is gonna be FUN...

[@annabunovsky5628]

As someone who was a bookish teen, I'm thankful I was never exposed to Ayn Rand's works. At the school I went to, we were assigned some really fantastic books- we got to read Beloved, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, A Streetcar Named Desire, Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Crucible, Night, and of course- So. Much. Shakespeare. Ayn Rand's name was never mentioned in any English class I ever took, and for that I am truly grateful.

[@marcushead9985]

I just realized I want to see Paul Verhoeven make an Atlas Shrugged movie. Just thinking how he worked with Starship Troopers and Robocop makes me think he could actually make the movie good...by making it an argument against the book.

[@fulkthered]

I bet most of the politicians that claim Ayn Rand influenced them have never even read one of her books.I have a complete lack of understanding how anyone can read "Atlas Shrugged" all the way through without being forced at gun point.

[@fanuluiciorannr1xd212]

I tried to read it and i just couldn't finish it . I was thinking of trying it again but it's just so bad . I mean what was she thinking when conciving such a book ? Why did she need to write it ? Her message would have been sent easier . It's far worse than even the cringy fanfictions .

[@catsmom129]

I got through it. Mostly trying to understand the opposition, so to speak. I found it a mixed bag of reasonable points, bizarre caricatures, and absurd nonsense.

[@dushmanmardom]

Well I read it. Hell, I even liked it. Realisation comes with time.

[@paulohagan3309]

I did. I have to say, I got fascinated with how many times she could repeat the same message within one paragraph again and again, the number of times a miraculous McGuffin came up: a) the amazing Reardon metal, B) the accidental discovery of an equally miraculous machine that could produce infinite amounts of energy in defiance of the laws of thermodynamics, c) a pirate who could constantly evade the world's navies without any difficulty but no details of his adventures ever given. d) and the miraculous Galt's Gulch where an entire industrial civilisation could be set up without any prior infrastructure and apparently without any workers to do the manual labor) I laughed at the 'Buddhist' politician who forced people to do things. It was also remarkable how as the book proceeded people seemed to be at one point in favor of and then against the Randian superman who promptly left to go to Galt's Gulch and enjoy all the amazing discoveries immediately being made there. It was also amazing how the telephone system kept working flawlessly when everything else was going to hell so that communications were conducted the same as usual without any problem. If you go to a site called 'Patheos' and look around there is (or was, haven't looked at it for a long time) an enormous section where someone goes through the book and then the films in minute detail absolutely eviscerating them.

[@Pretermit_Sound]

@@paulohagan3309 that’s Ayn Rand in a nutshell. She uses 30 words to say what a normal person could say with only 5 words. She takes forever to say nothing.

[@Schoedsack]

Bioshock showed an Objectivism society, and it crumbled because it encountered a force that can not be stopped with Objectivism ideas. So, Ryan, the society's founders, rejected Objectivism to combat the threat.

[@therideneverends1697]

Just as capitalism cannot handle a pandemic without adopting social mesures, objectivism cannot handle, well, anything really

[@kapnkerf2532]

Funny you should mention, but I noticed Armin Shimerman shows up in these movies. Voice of Andrew Ryan. He's also Quark, a quintessential Feregi which is a comical adaptation of Rand's philosophy. I wonder if he's making a character study of this whole philosophy? Or more likely.. he's acting in self-interest, because work is work.

[@phillipgiroux2145]

Objectivism is the most simple minded, childish and unrealistic philosophy in the real world and those who truly believe in it seem to have a clear cognitive dissonance in relation to their own and everyone's place in society and how society itself functions.

[@authomat6236]

I've heard them say that there is no such thing as a society...

[@wheatboi8255]

You don't have to be an emotionally stunted high functioning sociopath to be an objectivist. But it sure as hell helps!

[@hannabelphaege3774]

I've heard a lot of entertainers touch on objectivism in passing (to talk about bioshock for example) and they've always brushed past it to avoid offence. It gave the impression, despite the bad press, that objectivism might be a valid belief system. Thanks for setting things straight.

[@Gamerdudegames]

So, wait, a movie about how your only goal in life should be to take care of yourself without considering the needs of others was only made because of crowd sourced funding? Hmmm...

[@grmpEqweer]

Yeahhhhhh.

[@moonagemayqueen7156]

I'm so glad my introduction to Atlas Shrugged was a video about Bioshock

[@mariic2]

Which video was that?

[@badhabitrabbit1783]

I remember my dad being so obsessed with Atlas Shrugged when I was like 4 so I decided to try to read it, only to find out it was in English...I only knew how to read in Spanish at the time. I later kind out what it was about by my dad giving me a brief synopsis when I was maybe 13 and I hated it. I'm glad that book burned in my house

[@MrDanielEarle]

so this makes me want to read the book to see how bad it really is. also, I was half expecting to see a character say "Enron did nothing wrong."

[@stranget92]

Well... as another (better) book and film once put it, they were "The Smartest Guys in the Room"

[@MrDanielEarle]

+stranget92 that's actually the movie that made me become against deregulation, due to their misuse of electrical prices jacking

[@tehn00bdude]

Real talk, I was one of those horrible kids who LOVED Atlas Shrugged. Then when I went to college and talked to people outside of my small town, I realized how ACTUALLY horrible I'd been.

[@57wookie]

I was influenced by both lord of the rings and atlas shrugged, thank God I grew out of the latter. At least I got scholarship money for an atlas shrugged essay. Side note I think the only way to make a remotely enjoyable atlas shrugged movie would be via satirical, starship troopers treatment

[@EmeraldLavigne]

Welfare and social safety net programs are not a threat to Capitalism - they are shields against the worst results of it & necessities of its existing. Someone once said that far better than I can, but it is completely accurate.

[@growlinghands4696]

Read a bunch of her books when I was 20. Even got a tattoo of the cover of her "Anthem" (spoke to me of fierce joy and independence and love of science). That's nearly 30 years ago and it didn't take me that long to jettison both her works and that tattoo... It might appeal to one's youthful self-absorption but then really, many people grow out of it. [fwiw I'm a woman.] As usual, these reviews are spot-on.

[@kaksikymmenta3]

You know the plot is extremely silly too. Creatives and the 1% strike society falls. Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B

[@sternchild]

This episode, and you're previous episode on The Witch, are probably two of my favourite episodes of Renegade Cut ever and I've been watching for quite a few years now. Keep up the good work Leon!

[@enabiah]

Man, I'm so glad I found this channel. I feel like it has everything.

[@sheepbeeps3369]

you know... an adaptation that depicts the heroes of atlas shrugged as selfish villians, and a government that is both responsive to it's people, and able to solve it's crisises without them. Would make for a helluva flip.

[@Nagoragama]

Zack Synder... and The Fountainhead? Wow, what a train wreck.

[@TooFatTooFurious]

I hope it's a pun you just made

[@leonardorossi1261]

More like... a structural failure!

[@TooFatTooFurious]

+Jess Newman so...the movie will be a BOMB?

[@AspieMediaBobby]

Well,look on the bright side.Snyder`s finally found himself a film that actually deserves his hack direction!"Alright,people,in this scene uh,all the rich,talented people I wish I was gather in the ballroom,talking about politics and uh,boring shit like that,yeah,and,like,building projects and Aristotle and how capitalism and America are so awesome because they make people like me money!"

[@paulohagan3309]

Maybe it'll be an epic battle between an army of zombies and a group of Randian supermen. 'All right, fall back to Galt's Gulch! Have we enough Reardon metal to produce the super weapon we can immediately develop to destroy these undead collectivists? Maybe Galt could give them a speech to send them into permanent hibernation?' Damn, I just gave the script away to Zack for free ...

[@terrafirmament]

Rand's beliefs are backwards: America did not become great by selfish self-interest, but cooperative self-interest!! She was speaking out her psychotic PTSD of her family's loss of money from the Russian revolution. I read her and was appalled at how uneducated she was about history and economics. In economics, it is absolutely true that Capitalism can not exist in her idealized Anarchy, because Capitalism demands stability. In history, America became great because like nowhere on Earth, we had prosperous independent farmers, the economic bedrock of America. Sears recognized that fact and created the consumer revolution which created the strongest industrial nation in history which the unions helped build, despite selfishly selfish objections. The unions helped maintain the strength of America by keeping the economic bedrock strong, creating a feedback loop of prosperity. Make America Great Again was Reagan's mantra, and since 1980 the economic bedrock of society has eroded to dangerously low level, (check out, "World Inequality Database), and remember that economic suppression of the "bedrock of economics" leads to fascism, or worse.

[@cosmosblue772]

Ugh why am I not surprised Snyder wants to make a movie adaptation of Fountainhead :P

[@hundredacretwins3011]

I think my favorite part about the whole thing is that they crowdfunded to get the third movie out, and they're now crowdfunding again for another Randian film. Not a single scrap of hypocrisy there.

[@tylertortoisebucket6711]

Would you believe I got an ad for the Ayn Rand institute on this video

[@magictoenail6800]

both Zach Snyder and Frank Miller are Objectivists, andthe glorification of the Spartans,the ultimate collectivist society ,always struck me as a bit ironic

[@pop12234]

I like this style, still very serious but you are much more spritely, keep it up.

[@doughboydevito4529]

+LobsterTaco Yep. I liked this style too. Keep it up, Leon! 👍🏽

[@MrPinbert]

No I felt the jokes were out of place.

[@SaturnineCheetah]

I totally agree. I love his content, but I've always found Leon just a liiittle too dry most of the time and this was a nice change.

[@wombatjo3022]

I agree but feel like the humour was a defence mechanism for having to deal with the whole massive dark project. In other words I hope Leon doesn't have to stare into the abyss too often or he will be forever changed.

[@MrPinbert]

LobsterTaco Yeah we can both have an opinion.

[@mrmcduck4902]

Lmao, the irony of advocating selfishness as a moral imperative and saying altruism is bad but feeling the need to smear altruism by presenting it as secretly selfish.

[@bigneon_glitter]

"And Ayn Rand. Ayn Rand so far away-ay-ay"

[@morganalabeille5004]

Thinking about this inside joke with my friends about a fursona named Dogny Taggart

[@chrisb-sq1ih]

Having to read Anthem in school and then write an essay praising capitalism for a contest from the Ayn Rand Institute was probably one of the most miserable experiences of my life

[@espeon871]

wtf that sounds dystopian

[@paynepersons6147]

I'd be hyped for the new trilogy if Paul Verhoeven was involved. He took a right wing book (starship troopers) and turned into a demonstration of the hilarious incompetence of the source material's ideology. Any Rand's work needs an adaptation like that.

[@WikiSorcerer]

I once heard that psychologists have analyzed Objectivism and concluded that Ayn Rand's "Enlightened Self-Interest" is born as a means of justifying her unwillingness to help friends and family when they needed her, citing a case of "what's in it for me(?)" and "what have you done for me lately?"

[@AngelunaFortuna]

Aza Smith I have wondered how much survivors guilt and self justification is woven into her philosophy. I understand that she ran from soviet Russia so how any people did she have to hurt to ensure her own wellbeing? I’m probably reading too much but that would at least give a reason for such impassioned distaste for community and cooperation.

[@herodotasgamer2942]

Rand Paul went on the record saying he is not named after the author, though he is a fan of her work.

[@ovaltinehangover]

@5:00 The guy seated next to Biff Tannen is Michael Gross, a.k.a the dad from Family Ties. Talk about a strange assortment of actors...

[@greyboi9550]

"Teenagers love Atlas shrugged, but then they grow out of it" *Me who read that book and thought it was amazing, and now is an anarchist thanks to your videos*

[@robertquinn8210]

It's better than the book. The most hilariously honest thing I've heard today, probably in a long time. Thank you.

[@ViolentOrchid]

Gee, the future seems super white in Atlas Shrugged.

[@CrashThompson]

Splendid work, man! Could not have said it better myself. Though, just in all fairness, Rand Paul wasn't actually named for Ayn Rand. It's just short for Randall. Though... I wouldn't argue that he might have taken on the moniker out of admiration. Tough to say for certain.

[@nightwolf65]

Huh, you laughed in Renegade Cut that was strange .

[@ken131]

It's the kind of laugh you make when you're trying not to cry

[@irishman6414]

I think these movies broke him.

[@readwrecks]

I like the recasting. I like how they went from TV stars to lesser known TV stars to absolute nobodies. The declining quality really pairs well with the growing realization that the philosophy is absolute horse-shit.

[@timmyjacobs0]

The final nail in the coffin should really be that the third film was crowd funded

[@probablysatire886]

This needs a "starship troopers"-style adaption.

[@mejia81004]

That John Rogers quote is one of my favorites. When you're right, you're right!

[@89Awww]

Politics and philosophy aside, I love how you used Strobe as a background song. I'm also a Deadmau5 fan!

[@nngnnadas]

I wonder how many non-american teenagers loves atlas shruggs, or even heard of it.

[@KrisHandsome]

The president in Atlas Shrugged 2 is the same guy who played the president in Red Alert 2. Wild

[@dominiccasts]

I don't know how to feel about this, but if you added in a "everyone vanishes" catastrophe and amped up the global co-operation spectre to a full-on Big Bad villain, you'd have the Left Behind movies/books. Same quality of writing, same self-awareness for its characters, same Cold War paranoia vis-a-vis zealously held personal escape fantasy, though surprisingly the actors remained more consistent there than in this film series. Oh yeah, and I guess you'd have to shoehorn in a bunch of JEESUS! references too, but that appears to be it.

[@AngelunaFortuna]

I tried to watch these movies but I had so much cognitive dissonance I couldn’t finish the first one. I thought it was me but, as I learned more about objectivism, I was even more confused why anyone even follows this philosophy.

[@merrittanimation7721]

Some people just want to justify their own selfish desires.

[@wdcain1]

I wish _Star Trek_ or _The Orville_ would do an episode lampooning Ayn Rand's Objectivism and all the holes in it. The Ferangi do represents unfettered capitalism yet they are never shown the big flaws even in the deconstructionist DS9. I can see the Federation or Union finding a world that was once a huge powerhouse in the quadrant but due to de-regulation and such has rendered it a joke. I'd watch it.

[@dudeatos]

I don't think Ayn Rand was human, this all comes off as something written by an alien.

[@paulohagan3309]

If you read about her life, there's something very off about the woman.

[@radlad6435]

we live in a society

[@lilyme3]

Oh man. That quote about two books changing a 14YO's life. I was sooooo ready to get angry and flip tables. Then the last line... xDDDD

[@KodiaxeMusic]

Fun Fact: Ayn Rand's grave makes an excellent toilet

[@Redem10]

and now I'M kicking myself case I wanted to see you live tweeting the movies

[@John73John]

Really says something about a movie series when the vast majority of actors, writers, directors, etc. didn't come back for the sequels.

[@JamiHeart]

You are a saint for being able to sit through, not only one, but three of these disgusting movies. I couldn't even try. I consider this a horror film....too scary for me.

[@animalxINSTINCT89]

The fact that they got Armin Shimmerman in ATLAS SHRUGGED. QUARK AND ANDREW RYAN. Holy shit someone in casting had a sick sense of humor

[@nitzky8920]

1:20 Alan Greenspan (Fed chairman at the time) was an acolyte of Ayn Rand. I'm not kidding.

[@McCbobbish]

And now Donald Trump is the godamn president. God help us.

[@oof-rr5nf]

sweet profile photo ♥

[@JandJandJandJandJ]

My homeschooled neighbors had to read the entire book as an assignment at 12 lmao

[@a.t.3192]

There is one thing in my personal life than never ceases to confuse me. My father, a guy who grew up in poverty and now spends a significant portion of his wealth on charities and humanitarian work, someone who in every one of our conversations has always been supportive of state welfare and socialised medicine, is a massive Ayn Rand fan.

[@rogerstroklund6809]

I agree; the movies are better than the book. I’ve only seen the first one, but I’ve read the book, and at least the movies will only take an afternoon from your life. The main thing I took from the book was an appreciation for Hemingway, because, at the very least, he had the common decency to get on with the damned story.

[@oliviamacarthur18]

I'm not American so I have a bit of an outsiders take on this since my country doesn't try to implement trickle down economics and our party system doesn't go out of its way to destroy the other side completely and dramatically. I honestly looked at this film as satire of the rich as it is actually more believable and enjoyable that way. Their philosophies don't make sense in the real world and to me they just seemed like petty, self centered whiners and its hilarious sometimes. We made a drinking game of whenever they complain about the economy, taxes, or how the government is screwing the rich over. And fake Donald trump is great too (thanks for pointing that out)

[@kirk001]

Most descriptive, to the point critique I've heard against Ayn Rand is she's the Dunning Kruger of philosophy. According to Dunning Kruger syndrome, if you're not an expert in a field, you have no way of determining how incompetent you are in that field. Many who gravitate toward Ayn Rand's philosophy have no expertise or education in philosophy to thoroughly assess Rand's ideas. Rand herself is as dismissive of philosophers like Kant, while misinterpreting Kantian philosophy.

[@MadDemon64]

In short, if you want to read Atlas Shrugged, play Bioshock instead.

[@tomc8888]

I've always thought of Ayn Rand as the Rosa Klebb of American literature and public life. Thanks for the spot on review.

[@Taospark]

As a historical footnote, I've seen some people mistakenly blame community banking laws or Fannie Mae for being solely responsible when that's also an anti-government copout. What really happened is that large (and small) private banks decided to jump on the bandwagon discarding even their own best practices in loans and risk management so what may have been a multi-billion dollar meltdown at Fannie Mae turned into about a trillion dollars in worldwide GDP being vaporized due to systemic flaws across multiple business sectors.

[@ScottLahteine]

I’m not surprised Zach Snyder wants to adapt “The Fountainhead.” It ends with a man standing atop his greatest erection.

[@jonathankent1517]

Objectivism is basically the phrase "Fuck you, got mine" flimsily re-contextualized as philosophy.

[@FrigidMesa]

Zack Snyder plus Ayn Rand you only need one more and you got yourself an unholy trinity.

[@chrisb-sq1ih]

I have a copy of the Altas Shrugged book actually that I got from when my local library was giving away a bunch of books because I figured why not and the summary on the back is probably the most hilarious thing I've ever read: "THE ASTOUNDING STORY OF A MAN WHO SAID THAT HE WOULD STOP THE MOTOR OF THE WORLD-AND DID Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, Atlas Shrugged is unlike any other book you have ever read. It is a mystery story, not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder-and rebirth-of man's spirit With this acclaimed work and its immortal query "Who is John Galt?" Ayn rand found the perfect artistic form to express her vision of existence. This is the book that made her not only one of the most popular novelists of modern times, but also one of its most influential and controversial thinkers. This edition of Atlas Shrugged, celebrating the enduring legacy of its author, features an introduction by Rand's literary executor, Leonard Peikoff, and a Reader's Guide to her writings and philosophy. This volume will be eagerly welcomed by all admirers of what Dr. Peikoff calls "Ayn Rand's masterwork"

[@paulohagan3309]

OMG, I remember that ridiculous blurb

[@ghastlyghandi4301]

Now I wanna see my communist manifesto movie!

[@xvrqt]

Obsessed with Rand as a teen and now, thankfully, found my way to anarchism

[@BelRigh]

Trickle down economics was better described by Wil Rogers as "Horse and Sparrow economics" If you feed enough grain to the HORSE it will poop out a bunch of undigested grain for the sparrow to feast upon....

[@robinmiller1989]

This move took place right before Yuri enacted his revenge

[@matiasmendoza9274]

After rewatching this and the bit at the end with Zack Snyder, I would like to know if Leon might do a video about his films in general and how he approaches filmaking

[@polaris.indigo.8915]

Great video.You have to do Bioshock next.

[@nothingtoseehere705]

Even if you don't make an episode about it, consider playing the game should you ever find the time. It shows the inevitable and catastrophic consequences of trying to institute an objectivist utopia, and is one of the games people point to as evidence of a game's potential as a storytelling medium. It's also quite a bit of fun. :)

[@jz4373]

+Nothing to See Here agreed. Great game that took a lot of inspirations from atlas shrugged. So much so that it even named one of the characters Atlas

[@sweetasbloodredjam]

Yeah, I immideately thought of Bioshock when Leon started talking about Ayn Rands artistic legacy. Because even though it's a piece that contradicts her philosophic Ideas every step of the way, it is still part of her legacy and probably wouldn't exist without Atlas Shrugged. It is also absolutey fantastic.

[@troyschulz2318]

I, as a teenager, hate Atlas Shrugged. Just kinda throwing that out there.

[@bruins4rent213]

A third novel for bookish 14-year-olds is "Catcher in the Rye" and then they grow out of it. Or they don't.

[@VioletSadi]

The fact that those who agree with Rand make the worst art of her work always amuses me