Comments on the cultural impact of the film
by Brian Wright

After more years than I can count, Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged reached the silver screen yesterday, Friday, April 15, 2011. A small group of my idea-interested friends and I attended the 7:15 showing at a cineplex in Lansing, Michigan. The show was not sold out. In fact, I estimate less than 1/4 of the 400 seats were filled… average age 40-something, with perhaps 40 30-somethings and below. Hardly any teens.

Regardless of the numbers—Atlas Shrugged the Movie (ASM) was not marketed like Harry Potter —the film is an important cultural milestone(s). My focus in today’s column is the cultural and ideological relevance of the film. On Wednesday next, I review the movie itself. — bw Continue reading →