Ayn Rand is like a grain of sand in my eye – a minor irritant that causes me to pause a moment to rub it out. For some reason, every once in a while, I have to remind myself how great it is to see without sand in my eyes. So I purposely grab a speck of Rand. I was browsing through the old TiVo listings, when I saw that The Fountainhead (a movie?) was going to be on Turner Classic Movies. I set it to record out of morbid curiosity. Well, it turns out the movie is so bad that it turned into an ok experience. I was mostly doubled over in hysterics at the stilted dialogue. I was my own MST3K episode. I looked high and low for the screenplay online so I could give some examples, but couldn't find it. Here's an approximation of what the screenplay looks like:
INT. HOWARD'S OFFICETry to catch it if you can. Oh yeah, and Rand herself wrote the screenplay. (Good thing she didn't compromise and let a pro screenwriter do it.)Howard looks emotionlessly at a model of a building he has designed. It is a beautiful building that no one could possibly understand.
HOWARD
(coldly)
I am pushing the boundry of architecture to its limit.
SOMEONE ELSE
(with passion)
You can't do it! Give in to the masses! Stop trying to create something new and vital!
HOWARD
(flatly)
But this is modern. Form must follow function.
SOMEONE ELSE
You're insane! They'll kill you because of your ideas! Compromise! Compromise!
HOWARD
People should not work for the common good but for themselves. I am the greatest architect who ever lived.