Atlas Goofed
November 12, 2011 10:22 AM   Subscribe

"The error was an unfortunate one and fans of Ayn Rand and Atlas have every right to be upset." The "mortified" producers of Atlas Shrugged Part 1 [previously] "plan to replace more than 100,000 title sheets" after DVDs were distributed with a blurb describing "AYN RAND'S novel of courage and self-sacrifice…" [emphasis added].

Harmon Kaslow, CEO of Atlas Productions and Producer of the film stated “As we all well know, the ideas brought to life in Atlas Shrugged are entirely antithetical to the idea of ‘self-sacrifice’ as a virtue. Atlas is quite literally a story about the dangers of self-sacrifice." [...] John Aglialoro, Chairman and owner of Atlas Productions stated, “We needed to quickly correct this mistake and I’m pleased we did.”
posted by Superfrankenstein (31 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: It's a funny publishing gaffe as far as that goes but I'm not sure that's really a reason to have a metafilter thread about it. -- cortex



 
Didn't we do this thread?
posted by xmutex at 10:24 AM on November 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


"Self sacrifice"
Priceless!
posted by jake1 at 10:24 AM on November 12, 2011


A is A. Or anything goes.
posted by SPrintF at 10:24 AM on November 12, 2011


HAHHA awesome
posted by ReeMonster at 10:25 AM on November 12, 2011


MeFi Shrugs.
posted by jonmc at 10:25 AM on November 12, 2011 [17 favorites]


Interesting that they're sacrificing their own financial self-interest for the benefit of something that they apparently view as of greater worth.
posted by Flunkie at 10:29 AM on November 12, 2011 [38 favorites]


Someone in the production chain saw "Ayn Rand’s timeless novel of rational self-interest" on the box, and thought "Wow, that's not very appealing. I'll just improve this language a bit so it appeals to people's humanity a bit more. There we go, self-sacrifice. Everyone admires that!"
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:32 AM on November 12, 2011 [14 favorites]


I swear I read this in the Onion.
posted by bukvich at 10:35 AM on November 12, 2011 [6 favorites]


Delicious.
posted by pianoboy at 10:35 AM on November 12, 2011


She self-sacrificed her own principles to pay the bills:

However, it was revealed in the recent "Oral History of Ayn Rand" by Scott McConnell (founder of the media department at the Ayn Rand Institute) that in the end Ayn was a vip-dipper as well. An interview with Evva Pryror, a social worker and consultant to Miss Rand's law firm of Ernst, Cane, Gitlin and Winick verified that on Miss Rand's behalf she secured Rand's Social Security and Medicare payments which Ayn received under the name of Ann O'Connor (husband Frank O'Connor).

As Pryor said, "Doctors cost a lot more money than books earn and she could be totally wiped out" without the aid of these two government programs. Ayn took the bail out even though Ayn "despised government interference and felt that people should and could live independently... She didn't feel that an individual should take help."

But alas she did and said it was wrong for everyone else to do so. Apart from the strong implication that those who take the help are morally weak, it is also a philosophic point that such help dulls the will to work, to save and government assistance is said to dull the entrepreneurial spirit.

In the end, Miss Rand was a hypocrite but she could never be faulted for failing to act in her own self-interest.

posted by Brian B. at 10:36 AM on November 12, 2011 [40 favorites]


Man bites off own nose to save face. Film available on DVD from vanity publisher.
posted by loquacious at 10:39 AM on November 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


Oh, boy; another Ayn Rand hate thread!

Haven't seen one of these in about two-and-a-half weeks!
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:45 AM on November 12, 2011


I kind of assume that they planned this so that there would be at least some interest in the DVD release...
posted by logicpunk at 10:46 AM on November 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


"But John, shouldn't we proofread the sleeve before going to print..."

John Aglialoro slammed his fist on the desk. Six foot nine, he was a dominating presence. "Damn it, Sheila! Did Hannibal proofread crossing the alps? Are you going to let every inch of red tape slow you from building the world that only we can build? If you choose not to do your job, then walk out that door, but let me tell you one thing: BASIC QUALITY CONTROL IS SOCIALISM."

A quivering mass on the floor, Sheila could only stare agape at the paragon of self-determined industry above her. "I'll print it," she said. "But kiss me."

But he was gone, a bold vector of Virginia tobacco smoke hanging in his wake.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 10:49 AM on November 12, 2011 [87 favorites]


Now I'll never know who John Galt is!
posted by PostIronyIsNotaMyth at 10:49 AM on November 12, 2011 [5 favorites]


An interview with Evva Pryror, a social worker and consultant to Miss Rand's law firm of Ernst, Cane, Gitlin and Winick verified that on Miss Rand's behalf she secured Rand's Social Security and Medicare payments which Ayn received under the name of Ann O'Connor (husband Frank O'Connor).

Charles Koch to Friedrich Hayek: Use Social Security!
posted by homunculus at 10:54 AM on November 12, 2011 [4 favorites]


10 POINT(RANDHEADS)
20 SETVOICE(NELSON)
30 SAY("HA HA")
40 WAIT(1)
50 GOTO 30

posted by unSane at 10:56 AM on November 12, 2011 [4 favorites]


Oh, boy; another Ayn Rand hate thread!

Well, you could counterbalance it by offering some Ayn Rand love in this thread. I would be curious to see what that would look like. Alternately, you could flag it and move on.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 11:08 AM on November 12, 2011 [5 favorites]


I saw this story a couple places yesterday but I'm not seeing that much humor here. Each time, I've been looking for the punch line. It looks like the dvd shipped with a generic blurb that may have been written by someone who is completely unfamiliar with the story. Face value says it was just a mistake that the producers are correcting now.

Maybe it was an intentional publicity stunt. Though I can't see this scenario getting any sympathy from the folks most likely to be customers. If it was an intentional gimmick, I'll give the producers some credit here.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:12 AM on November 12, 2011


The DVD blurb for Polanski's Macbeth says something like "this version of Macbeth is full of sound and fury...and excitement!" Or something like that. Either way, is the implication that Macbeth is a tale told by an idiot?
posted by Sticherbeast at 11:16 AM on November 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


I know it pretty much is already, but someone should go ahead and codify it as a religion already. Pull a full L Ron Hubbard and make some serious money off it. Not sure what a religion starting from the base of selfish-ism would look like.
posted by edgeways at 11:17 AM on November 12, 2011


Maybe they should let the free market decide which version of Atlas Shrugged is superior. The invisible hand will choose.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 11:21 AM on November 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


I am looking forward to one of those re-cut trailers, like Harry Potter as a teen comedy, for this movie. I'd like to see Atlas Shrugged as a Sex and The City style rom-com or maybe even a triumphal sports epic where the overlooked underdog perseveres and triumphs in the end. Is there a horse in the movie? Or a down on his luck football player who has been knocked around but is full of wisdom and is primed for a comeback?
posted by Ad hominem at 11:23 AM on November 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


I'd like to see Atlas Shrugged as a Sex and The City style rom-com

That's how I've always seen it, to be honest.
posted by unSane at 11:27 AM on November 12, 2011


It would have been worse if those words had been chosen to describe, say, The Bell Jar by Silvia Plath
posted by iotic at 11:29 AM on November 12, 2011 [1 favorite]



I saw this story a couple places yesterday but I'm not seeing that much humor here.


It's not humor, it's irony.*



* This comment sponsored by the "Reclaim Ironic" foundation, a subsidiary of screwalanis.com
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 11:44 AM on November 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


Oh, boy; another Ayn Rand hate thread!

It's a bit altruistic for the living to defend the dead. Let the zombies take care of themselves.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:45 AM on November 12, 2011 [4 favorites]


The invisible hand will choose.

But, how will we know what it chose?
posted by JHarris at 11:47 AM on November 12, 2011


KEEP GOVT OUT OF AYN RANDS' MEDICARE!!!!
posted by R. Mutt at 11:51 AM on November 12, 2011 [2 favorites]


Well from a Randian POV, wouldn't "courage and self-sacrifice" equate to "good and evil?" There's nothing wrong with the copy if you know the book preaches courage versus self-sacrifice.

I watched this movie, by the way. Call it masochism. Meh. It played like a second-rate made-for-TV movie, where the director had neither the balls to re-interpret it, nor the time and space to include all the details. So the result is sort of a lifeless recitation of plot points that don't seem to flow together into a whole. Badly-acted, too, for the most part but not a... train wreck.

As an aside, I've seen this social security thing dragged out many times to point up Rand's hypocrisy. I don't see it. If she believed that the government had no right to take any money in taxes from her in the first place, why is that any sort of bar to taking back as much as she can get back?
posted by tyllwin at 11:52 AM on November 12, 2011


Check your invisible receipt.
posted by TheRedArmy at 11:52 AM on November 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


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