Have you seen the Atlas Society’s animated video highlighting Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged?
The video, which has received more than 600,000 viewings on You Tube, is billed as the “first-of-its-kind book trailer for Rand’s masterpiece novel.”
Those not satisfied by the low-budget film trilogy adapting Rand’s last novel may find this anime-style video more rewarding, or at least an interesting alternative that suggests how a different approach to adapting the classic to the screen might have worked.
Although many of the commenters on You Tube expressed the hope that the video is a step towards a full-length animated version of the novel, it’s apparently simply a promo trailer for the book itself, which is available from the Atlas Society.
That’s understandable – since Rand’s magnum opus is a 1,000-page-plus epic that presents formidable challenges for any film or TV version.
Just consider the themes, complexities, many major characters and multiple settings of the first work inducted in 1983 into the Prometheus Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction.
So many, in fact, that Atlas Shrugged inspired not one but two different review-essay appreciations on the Prometheus Blog – one by William H. Stoddard and another by Michael Grossberg – examining this influential novel from multiple perspectives.
The whole video lasts just over four minutes, but its strong visuals and concise dialogue do spark the imagination about the possibilities of a full-length new film version or TV series of the novel in animated format.
For more information about the Atlas Society, visit www.atlassociety.org
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE LFS:
* Prometheus winners: For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – for the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series of more than 100 past winners since 1979.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,”an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer and Sarah Hoyt),Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, jointhe Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists believe that culture matters! We understand that the arts and literature can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future – and in some ways can be even more powerful than politics in the long run, by better visions of the future, innovation, peace, prosperity, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, individuality and human dignity.
