Ayn Rand's Review Of Children's Movies From Snow White To Frozen...


Selene

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Yes, I was tempted to put this under humor.

The sleazy slicing starts quickly:

Warm and fuzzy, she wasn’t. But that’s partly why it’s fun to imagine the acerbic Ayn Rand taking a crack at reviewing children’s movies. And that’s why it’s fun to read Mallory Ortberg’s parody in The New Yorker, which features 17 Randian reviews of classic kids films, beginning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs:

An industrious young woman neglects to charge for her housekeeping services and is rightly exploited for her naïveté. She dies without ever having sought her own happiness as the highest moral aim. I did not finish watching this movie, finding it impossible to sympathize with the main character. —No stars.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/ayn-rand-reviews-childrens-movies

A...

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Aargghh.

No wonder observers aren't sure how long the New Yorker still has, till the cash infusions come to an end.

Satire has to be intelligent, or it's no good at all.

This writer knows so little of Rand or her style of writing as to make adequate satire impossible.

The words "unfit" and "fittest" are dead giveaways.

Robert Campbell

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The review is so bad it's worthless even to refute. Good photo of Ayn, however. Must have been taken at NBI in the mid-1960s. Maybe 1964 or 1965. Those pamphlets look very NBI but exagerated by the lens as is the ceiling height. The map with the pins must be where they were giving tape transcription courses. I believe they peaked at 80, so no peak is depicted so I infer 1964 more than 1966 or 67. A full map might only show 15 and no more than 20 additional pins. This would be the apartment NBI used then at 120 E. 34th st. as its place of business. That framed photo on the wall seems to be the photo of Rand used on the dust cover of Atlas Shrugged. My best guess based on other photos I've seen of her is 1965. After the novel was published she started looking not so good and still didn't when she went to Oregon in 1963. This had naught to do with age but how she was taking care of herself and her depression. I also think she looks better here than in the photos that accompanied her Playboy interview (1964). She also doesn't look subject yet to the grind down of the last year or so of her relationship with Nathaniel Branden.

--Brant

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See my point...this is precisely why you should write the non-fiction book:

I Took A Little Walk In The Warm Objectivist Sun

A...

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Well, maybe why I should post on OL at least.

I'm starting to cook something else and it's a combo of what you are on about, sci-fi, psychology, economics and politics--but fiction. I've got the working if not actual title. Another working title I will not use except for a point of literal reference is ___ ____ ______ ___. I'm not telling you what that is for it reveals too much for any one who then reads the novel.

--Brant

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Well, maybe why I should post on OL at least.

I'm starting to cook something else and it's a combo of what you are on about, sci-fi, psychology, economics and politics--but fiction. I've got the working if not actual title. Another working title I will not use except for a point of literal reference is ___ ____ ______ ___. I'm not telling you what that is for it revels too much for any one who then reads it.

--Brant

Absolutely.

You are, like me, naturally observant and specifically to detail.

Additionally, your memory is excellent, as is mine.

The "verbal snapshot" of the map was excellent.

A...

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The photo (or another from the same session) ran in Look in the fall of 64. Nathaniel Branden mentioned the map in one of his annual progress report articles, saying that it was Barbara's project and that she was especially proud of one pinned into the ocean, denoting a course aboard a nuclear sub. I still have some of those pamphlets.

The author doesn't know much about Rand, yet, oddly, she seems conversant with the format of her early movie diaries, which ARI published a few years ago.

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Brant wrote:

The map with the pins must be where they were giving tape transcription courses. I believe they peaked at 80 so no peak is depicted so I infer 1964 more than 1966 or 67.

end quote

And Peter responded:

The photo (or another from the same session) ran in Look in the fall of 64. Nathaniel Branden mentioned the map in one of his annual progress report articles, saying that it was Barbara's project and that she was especially proud of one pinned into the ocean, denoting a course aboard a nuclear sub. I still have some of those pamphlets.

end quote

Those are actually quite impressive observations and deserve a comradely joke. Wow, blokes. Insights worthy of Australian Patrick Janeway (The Mentalist), Australian Poppy Montgomery (Unforgettable) and British Inspector Jacques Clouseau (The Pink Panther.) Well its either Peter Sellers or the Naturalist who owned The Calypso.

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Here's what I wrote yesterday on Facebook when someone tagged me about this article:

Heh. I was going to put this on the forum, but it is too silly. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't think so. From what I see, this one doesn't have any legs except for the fringes... What I mean is good satire has to exaggerate actual underlying characteristics, not fabricated and bigoted story patterns...


Well, here it is.

Probably better that way.

The dorks say, "Did you see that mighty airborne weapon we just deployed against Rand?"

People here on OL, "That fly?" (splat) "Yeah, we saw it."

:)

Michael

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