How about a tale of modern Shrugging

Posted by DaveM49 11 years, 5 months ago to Movies
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It would be interesting to see a movie about a modern-day man who "shrugs". Show someone capable, not necessarily exceptional to the point of being an archetype, who runs into every obstacle in today's headlines and finally realizes he has had enough. Perhaps he reads "Atlas Shrugged". Perhaps he comes up with the idea on his own.

What does he do? Does he "hide in plain sight" as John Galt does through much of the book, or does he hide somewhere?

I know an obstetrician who stopped practicing medicine and currently drives a garbage truck. He says he's never been happier in his life. His reasons for "quitting" sound like something straight out of "Atlas Shrugged".


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  • Posted by 11 years, 5 months ago
    Another possibility: what if a man who is tired of having his ability exploited deliberately commits a crime (or persists in living his own life in a world where that is a crime). He ends up in prison, invisible to the world and definitely not thought of as a surce of ability.

    But there....he meets others just like him. They communicate, make connections, and create their own society within prison walls. Having them plan an escape would be cliche, but they develop some sort of "master plan"....perhaps something that will bring down the society that put them behind bars.

    Things of this sort certainly happened in the Soviet Gulag. As the U.S. becomes a police state....it's well within the realm of possibility.
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  • Posted by 11 years, 5 months ago
    I hadn't thought about it but there have been expatriates for a long time (by American standards). Who can say what their motives might be?

    The sort of story I am thinking of would only have meaning to those of an Objectivist leaning. The Naturalists/Existentialists and that bunch would merely see it as a morality play on the futility of ambition. Only those who "get it" would fully understand why, say, an obstetrician might prefer to drive a garbage truck.
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