Chapter 7: Bootleg Romanticism Rand has a certain taste for 'thrillers', which she labels as "bootleg Romanticism".
"Thrillers are a simplified, elementary version of Romantic literature. They are not concerned with a delineation of values, but taking certain fundamental values for granted, they are concerned with only one aspect of a moral being's existence: the battle of good against evil in terms of purposeful action - a dramatised abstraction of the basic pattern of :choice, goal, conflict, danger, struggle victory" (page 125) "Thrillers are the kindergarten arithmetic, of which the high mathematics is the greatest novels of world literature" Thrillers are all that's left of Romanticism, Rand says, so we may as well enjoy them -- and then she goes off on a long rant against 'tongue-in-cheek' thrillers (like "James Bond") that mock whatever shreds of moral value thrillers may possess. (and she far prefers "Dr. No" as a "brilliant example of Romantic screen art, to the next one , "From Russia with Love" and all the Bond films that followed. Heaven knows what she would say about "Austin Powers") Frankly, I find the entire genre to be boring, except for its cinematic values of movement, color, space, lighting etc, and enjoy them, on the big screen, as a kind of roller coaster ride. (although they are way too long) But as Rand tells us: "Only an arrested modern mentality would go on protesting that the events portrayed in a thriller are incredible or improbable, that there are no heros, that "life is not like that" -- all of which is thoroughly irrelevant. Nobody takes thrillers literally, nor cares about their specific events, nor harbors any secret desire to become a secret agent or priate eye. Thrillers are taken symbolically; they dramatise one of man's widest and most crucial abstractions: the abstraction of moral conflict. What people seek in thrillers is the spectacle of man's efficacy: of his ability to fight for his values and to achieve them" (page 133) Except that --- Rand's notion of 'moral values' is so unique to her and her followers. I.e., unlike the morality of every other civilization I've seen, Rand's moral obligations are only to self -- not to family, caste, occupation, emperor etc. Rand goes on to assert that "what men find in the spectacle of the ultimate triumph of the good is the inspiration to fight for one's own values in the moral conflicts of one's own life" ---- "Inspired by a James Bond, a man may find the courage to rebel against the impositions of his in-laws - or to ask for a deserved raise - or to change his job -- or to defy the whole world for the sake of his new invention" While I've always assumed that the biggest fans of such stuff loved it precisely because they were never going to stick their necks out for anything -- and these movies were providing them with the vicarious excitement that their Walter Mitty lives never would. But what do I know? ____________________________________________________________ Click to get freedom from your annoying glasses. Save on LASIK surgery. http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2231/fc/BLSrjnxVEgcCszPKXO1DvEGyR1jh9y UJvmQCiP5u1eSwD711cbtvCYsia1S/
