Could this be why Ayn Rand's heroes smile so scarcely?

[mpp]

I've always found it a bit odd that Rand described her heroes as happy people yet also described them as smiling very little/ rarely. One think particularly of Howard Roark.

I've stumbled upon this article, and I'm thinking now whether this cultural aspect was responsible for the unsmiling heories: http://russia-insider.com/en/why-dont-russians-smile/ri6935

Thoughts?

[Selene]

Yeah, I am sure their execution squads that operated in the Ukraine did no smiling.

6. It is not common among Russians to smile during the execution of their professional duties or during the performance of any serious action whatsoever. For example the customs officials in the airports are never smiling as they are busy with serious business.

A...

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Francisco D'Anconia mocks all the time.

I once did a search of the CDROM with the words mock, mocks, mocked, mocking, and so on. The bulk--in both fiction and nonfiction--was directly related to Francisco.

MIchael

[jts]

I've always found it a bit odd that Rand described her heroes as happy people yet also described them as smiling very little/ rarely. One think particularly of Howard Roark.

I've stumbled upon this article, and I'm thinking now whether this cultural aspect was responsible for the unsmiling heories: http://russia-insider.com/en/why-dont-russians-smile/ri6935

Thoughts?

“Have you noticed that the imbecile always smiles? Man's first frown is the first touch of God on his forehead. The touch of thought.”

― Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

[Selene]

I've always found it a bit odd that Rand described her heroes as happy people yet also described them as smiling very little/ rarely. One think particularly of Howard Roark.

I've stumbled upon this article, and I'm thinking now whether this cultural aspect was responsible for the unsmiling heories: http://russia-insider.com/en/why-dont-russians-smile/ri6935

Thoughts?

“Have you noticed that the imbecile always smiles? Man's first frown is the first touch of God on his forehead. The touch of thought.”

― Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

Damn, you needed a lot of help to do that cherry picking didn't you?

I was saving this for Frank, however, you have to stop the barbarians way before the gates.

A...

[dldelancey]

Francisco D'Anconia mocks all the time.

I once did a search of the CDROM with the words mock, mocks, mocked, mocking, and so on. The bulk--in both fiction and nonfiction--was directly related to Francisco.

MIchael

Mocking is often done with contempt which I suppose could be accompanied by a smile of a sort, but perhaps not the kind the OP had in mind.

[RobinReborn]

Fountainhead begins and ends with Roark laughing...

[Reidy]

During her HUAC testimony she remarked that "children never smile in Soviet Russia except by accident." This always struck me as hyperbole, but perhaps not.

[zantonavitch]

I think that article in post #1 makes many good points. Russians seem to be solidly different. Still, Ayn Rand lived in America a long time, and seems to have been hugely changed by it. Americans evidently smile, laugh, joke, and kid around a lot, relative to gloomy northern Europeans, especially the grim and overserious Russians. Rand noted this distinct light bright upbeat American attitude as soon as she got here.

AR's heroes also probably don't note smile, laugh, and seem overtly happy all that much for the simple reason that they and she were seriously flawed beings. It's tough to be joyous, gay, and radiantly happy much of the time. Rand was personally great and magnificent -- but not near perfect. Her novelistic heroes weren't either. Their day-to-day enjoyment of life very probably could have been quite a bit better. In her 1986 biography, Barbara Branden noted how Rand rarely seemed to live in, and enjoy, the moment.

[RobinReborn]

If we look at Rand's real life inspiration for her heroes, do you think we'll find many of them smiling? I don't think Cyril the British comic book character smiled, if Leo was representative of Russian culture he probably didn't smile much. I don't think her father had much to smile about. Did Frank smile much? What about Nathaniel?

[Selene]

If we look at Rand's real life inspiration for her heroes, do you think we'll find many of them smiling? I don't think Cyril the British comic book character smiled, if Leo was representative of Russian culture he probably didn't smile much. I don't think her father had much to smile about. Did Frank smile much? What about Nathaniel?

Barbara sure did not smile pre-split.

[RobinReborn]

Interestingly enough Rand's view on smiling seems to be shared by most women:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1390319/Scientists-happy-men-significantly-attractive-ladies.html

"Women find happy men significantly less sexually attractive than those who swagger or brood, researchers said today.

They are least attracted to smiling men, instead preferring those who looked proud and powerful, or moody and ashamed, according to a study."

[Selene]

Interestingly enough Rand's view on smiling seems to be shared by most women:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1390319/Scientists-happy-men-significantly-attractive-ladies.html

"Women find happy men significantly less sexually attractive than those who swagger or brood, researchers said today.

They are least attracted to smiling men, instead preferring those who looked proud and powerful, or moody and ashamed, according to a study."

Ah, I see we are supposed to be looking at their smiles.

Really?

...and where is this "smile" thing located?

It is near the places that we always look at?

A...

Nothing like a Canadian Social Scientist Academic telling me what is appropriate

[william.scherk]

I don't understand your reaction, Adam. The 2011 Daily Mail story doesn't say much at all about what you (or men in general) should look at when looking at women. I can't interpret your 'we are supposed to be looking at their smiles,' since the study used photographs of faces, some with torsos.

And, the smile thing, where is it located? What does this mean -- where can the smile be located but the face, which "we" always look at? A smile isn't found in boobs (maybe I am turning into Bob, and have to have all jokes explained).

To the suspect "Canadian" Social Scientist Academic telling you what is inappropriate, what an odd reading you give. The professor and lead author, though she works at UBC, is American born and raised and educated.

Here is a link to the study cited in the Daily Mail: Happy Guys Finish Last: the Impact of Emotion Expressions on Sexual Attraction.

From the study materials:

Edited May 17, 2015 by william.scherk

[Selene]

And, the smile thing, where is it located? What does this mean -- where can the smile be located but the face, which "we" always look at? A smile isn't found in boobs.

Not a breast man William...an ass man.

A...

[william.scherk]

Some more material on the "Russian smile," of which material there is plenty online. I thought this one was quite descriptive, From George Washington University's Russia List, quoting the same Russian authority as in the Russian Insider story, Iosif Sternin. Ten varieties of Russian smiles,

For many centuries, everyday existence in Russia was a strenuous battle for survival; the life of the common Russian was grueling, and worry became entrenched as a standard common facial expression.

Given this situation, a smile reflects an exception to the rule ­ well-being, prosperity, a good mood ­ and while all of this may occur to some people and in exceptional circumstances, it is noticed by everyone.

Sincerity and openness are hallmarks of Russian culture, which is why Russian smiles are rare and expressed only in contexts where they are appropriate and express an honest emotion of happiness. Here are some descriptions of typical Russian smiles ­ and non-smiles.

1. The closed-mouth smile

Most often, Russians smile only with their lips, only occasionally showing the upper row of teeth slightly. Revealing the top and bottom teeth is considered vulgar, as it resembles either an animal with bared teeth or a horse.

2. The servants smile

In Russian communication, a smile is not a signal of politeness. Russians consider a perpetual polite smile an servants smile. It is considered a demonstration of insincerity, secretiveness and unwillingness to show ones true feelings.

[...]

10. A laugh as a smile

Among Russians there is a blurred line between a smile and laughter; in practice, these phenomena are often the same and are likened to each other.

Russians often say to people who are smiling, Whats so funny?

This article is abridged from the original, which can be read in Russian here:

http://sternin.adeptis.ru/articles2_rus.html#f

English version of article also appeared at http://rbth.ru/society/2013/11/29/10_varieties_of_russian_smiles_32123.html

I'm sure Rand had many private smiles in her life, but from the biographies I don't get an impression of a happy-clappy child and adolescent. Her curious views on humour aside, who knows what would make her face light up with joy and laughter, Russian style. Who has scoured extant videos for a smile count?

Some young scholar could have a lot of fun with "Smiles in Rand," using a Russian cultural factor as a lens.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I can't resist this.

On another thread, Deanna came out with this:

I think FF is familiar with Resting Bitch Face and MSK is not.

Right here we have a thread on smiling and Rand.

I looked and there are many photos of Ayn Rand herself smiling, but there are a few others that seem to... er... I'll leave that up to the reader :

And I think I'll stop right there.

Michael

[Selene]

Well I do not think Ayn would have found this funny...

 

Apparently the Russian Don Drapers did...

 

 

 

I thought it was hilarious.

 

A...

[Brant Gaede]

Sharks are unbelievably sensitve to blood in the water.

[Guyau]

At Amazon, if you do the “Look Inside” for We the Living or The Fountainhead, you can search on the word SMILE, and get a lot of them. Here are some samples from We the Living.

Kira looked at the tall windows [at the train station, upon the family’s return to Petrograd from refuge in the Crimea]. She heard, from the outside, the old familiar sound of the piercing tramway bell. She smiled.

At a door marked in red letters “Commandant,” a young soldier stood on guard. Kira looked at him. His eyes were austere and forbidding like caverns where a single flame burned under cold, gray vaults; there was an air of innate temerity in the lines of his tanned face, of the hand that grasped the bayonet, of the neck in the open shirt collar. Kira liked him. She looked straight into his eyes and smiled. She thought that he understood her, that he guessed the great adventure beginning for her. (21–22)

“Kira had an English governess, a thoughtful young lady with a lovely smile. She liked her governess, . . .” (36).

“. . . a Viking who lived but for the joy and the wonder and the glory of the god that was himself. . . . Through the years that followed, she remembered the end of the legend: when the Viking stood on a tower over a city he had conquered. The Viking smiled as men smile when they look up at heaven; but he was looking down” (40).

She smiled confidently up at Andrei Taganov; and pressed tightly against the wall of an empty auditorium at the Institute, her eyes radiant, her smile timid and trusting, like a child appealing to a guiding hand, she said: “I’m happy, Andrei.”

He had not seen her for many weeks. He smiled warmly, quietly, looking down into her eager eyes. “I’ve missed you Kira.” (133)

“Kira’s steps were steady. There were too many questions ahead; but here, beside her, were the things that gave her certainty: his straight, tense body, his long, thin hands, his haughty mouth with the arrogant smile that answered all questions” (205).

“She smiled, her last smile, to so much that had been possible” (446).

[caroljane]

I have always said that WTL was Rand's best novel, qua, as she would have said, novel. Kira is the only real human character she ever created, although Cheryl comes a close second. Of course she killed them both off. Once again I wish she had continued writing novels in her native language, even though I could not have read them properly.

[Brant Gaede]

She no writta WTL in Russkie!