Ayn Rand Ramble.

If you haven't read Atlas Shrugged this might not make sense. It might not anyways.


Watching Mad Men today and had an epiphany. I had noticed that they mentioned Ayn Rand a few times in the show but the last episode I watched I realized that the show (so far) plays like a Rand story. Draper is very clearly Rearden but with a family that loves him rather than a family who despises and drains him. Pete Campbell falls nicely into the roll of Peter Keating (however, his dynamic with Don has a very strong element of the James Taggart/Francisco D'Anconia relationship). Mad Men takes these characters and gives them a base in reality. In fact, I just googled this connection and came up with this blog entry-which basically says the same thing I just did and adds in that Rachel, who runs her father's department store (and whom Don seems to feel most comfortable with-of his many mistresses that is) is Dagny. That was an obvious one that I missed*. The wonderful and difficult part of reading Rand is that everything is always black and white to her- something I just can't subscribe to completely. To see a Rearden-like character but in a situation that isn't so clear- is just incredibly interesting to watch.
Funny coincidence is that I always imagined John Slattery, who plays Roger Sterling, as Hank Rearden (that's him at the top there). He's been my pick since I first read the book and he was playing the principal on Ed.
I'm only on the beginning of season two but I just love watching it even more now that I've noticed the elements of Rand. All of their smoking reminds me of a line from Atlas Shrugged about a man thinking and holding fire in his fingertips. It's so stinkin interesting to watch it through the lens of Ayn Rand- more than it already was. I'm just twitterpated with it. I really am. And it's even better because although Rand never specified a time period for Atlas Shrugged (she did date it in many ways by making the focus trains and steel) this is exactly what I imagined. Late fifties. It's beautiful.
They've been trying to make a movie forever. There are lots of legal issues but filming has started.For a long time Angelina Jolie was attached to the film as the heroine, Dagny Taggart. Then it was Gwenyth Paltrow. Brad Pitt was going to play John Galt, the hero. However, the project has fallen apart several times and these folks are no longer involved. Now, it's all no-names. I don't like their picks AT ALL. However, I don't have very high expectations as I can't imagine someone being able to put a story like that on screen and do it properly. If that seems contradictory to what I just said about Mad Men- I mean that it would be nearly impossible to really keep the entire essence of Atlas and still make it watchable in a feature film format. I suppose they're doing it in parts-sort of an indie film miniseries- but I'm still skeptical. What Mad Men does- use elements of the philosophy and character profiles to tell a different story- is much more doable (plus they do it well-oh so well).


So the moral of the story is- yay for making connections that should have been really obvious (made clear to me by the number of hits when I googled 'ayn rand and mad men' )

*oh, oh! And also Peggy has a definite Cheryl complex over Pete (which puts Pete in a James Taggart role, he could do either slime ball I think) but so far it looks like she is going to move past it and hopefully have a happier ending than Cheryl.