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Zack Snyder's next project: Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead

Shanejayell

Shanejayell

Yuri Fan without a Pause
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Zack Snyder says next project is an adaptation of Ayn Rand's Fountainhead

"The Fountainhead, released in 1943, is about a young architect who refuses to constrain his visions just to appease other architects. His ideas are modernist and, despite the backlash he receives, the architect refuses to change his own beliefs just to fit in. The Fountainhead is, at its core, a book about the supposed struggles individuals have to go through and the godawful creative stifling that comes with conformity."

Uh huh....

"My Justice League films ARE great! It's just the uneducated masses that can't appreciate them!"
 
Well I suppose it could be worse. Fountainhead just made me root for the supposed villain rather than wanting to throw the book out the window like Atlas Shrugged did. Still, I don't have high hopes given the source material if nothing else
 
I admit that I assumed that this was a joke before I clicked the link.

The thing is the Fountainhead isn't a good book, but it's not got the ridiculousness that defines Atlas Shrugged, which is part of what makes it at least enjoyment in a mockery sense. At its core it's just... boring and drab and just not fun to read. And I really doubt Zack Synder has the capability of salvage dull, bad material into something that is genuinely entertaining; he's just not that kind of director.[1]

1. By which I mean very good.
 
My other thought: Is this even a serious project, or is it just make work to keep Zack busy and out of the public eye until the heat from Justice League bombing dies down?
 
Why are people constantly trying to resurrect Rand's works? They're no longer relevant in any sane political or social discussion, and they're pretty lame works of fiction.
 
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Shanejayell said:
But wouldn't that be what you'd say if you were saving face after having hatched a bomb and are going into corporate exile? :p:cool:
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No, dude's been saying he'd like to adapt the Fountainhead for a while now.

Now, it is true that why a man that thinks The Fountainhead is a source of good social insight was chosen to direct superhero movies is a mystery, but we've been making that joke for a while now because it has been known.
 
The only thing anyone knows about Zak Snyder's beliefs about the Fountainhead specifically is that he considers it a thesis on the creative process, and at that level I don't actually disagree. In general he seems at least a little sympathetic to objectivism, or in some way informed by it - see his version of Pa Kent and the general neoliberal approach to superheroics he presents. However when expressing his own ideas about the characters and the creative process he displays markedly different feelings than Rand herself.
 
Ford Prefect said:
The only thing anyone knows about Zak Snyder's beliefs about the Fountainhead specifically is that he considers it a thesis on the creative process, and at that level I don't actually disagree. In general he seems at least a little sympathetic to objectivism, or in some way informed by it - see his version of Pa Kent and the general neoliberal approach to superheroics he presents. However when expressing his own ideas about the characters and the creative process he displays markedly different feelings than Rand herself.
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I can definitely see how Objectivism can be attractive to a creative person. I actually use to be a big Rand fan back in my edgy high school years.
 
Spacehillbilly said:
I can definitely see how Objectivism can be attractive to a creative person. I actually use to be a big Rand fan back in my edgy high school years.
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Lots of people were. There is something quite seductive about Rand's philosophy and knew how to sell it. Even not being a fan I can see how it happens.

When I read the Fountainhead as a kid I was mainly struck by how much of an asshole Rourke was, and how thickly layered the praise was heaped on him. My actual thought that the hymns we sung in church were less fawning. Rand wrote about Rourke like priests spoke about God, and I already thought the practice of religion was pretty weird.

Having grown up, I can see with more clarity what is wrong with Rand, but I also see how artists might find resonance with a lonely visionary maligned by the establishment.
 
Broken Base said:
I admit that I assumed that this was a joke before I clicked the link.

The thing is the Fountainhead isn't a good book, but it's not got the ridiculousness that defines Atlas Shrugged, which is part of what makes it at least enjoyment in a mockery sense. At its core it's just... boring and drab and just not fun to read. And I really doubt Zack Synder has the capability of salvage dull, bad material into something that is genuinely entertaining; he's just not that kind of director.[1]

1. By which I mean very good.
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Oy.

He made Owls of Ga'hoole, he's a good director when he remembers that color is a thing that exists:

 
So... I'll just state outright that I haven't read Rand and only have a vague idea of what's wrong with her work, particularly Atlas Shrugged. Granted, how exactly are Rand's books seductive to people engaging in the creative purpose? Is it the call to independent creation, unbound by social mores and restraints, coupled with the idea of complete, individualistic ownership as the primary rule of society, whereupon selfishness is considered good and helping others is considered a bad thing that restrains individual ambition? Whereupon meritocracy rules and the weak are justly pathetic for their inability to accumulate capital, and so are creatively deficient (for not realizing a path in the true meritocracy, where everything is deserved)?

Is that about right? To be frank, all my knowledge of Rand and Objectivism comes from references in discussions where she's brought up (usually in a poor light), given the social circles I'm a part of.

If so, I can see how many folk are attracted to her work, even as it leaves out the implications of how society would be like with her philosophy realized.


That said, how's Fountain Head like? Granted, what exactly is so attractive about the book?
 
Baron Ouroboros said:
Granted, how exactly are Rand's books seductive to people engaging in the creative purpose?
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That's not what I said. I said her philosophy was seductive generally, not that it was seductive to creatives in particular. I also said that it is understandable why some artists might feel a resonance with Rourke. They're two different statements.
 
What did they put inside WB's water cooler to even remotely think this will be a good idea?

even its good its bad
 
You know, if there's a way to make Ayn Rand look ludicrous to the point of self parody, it being told through Zack Snyder'O Vision is gonna be it. So I approve.
 
I wanted to leave a comment of my own, but I suppose a continuous string of "ha" would be considered inappropriate. Thus, I shall refrain from speaking out.
 
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