The Fountain Head

The Fountain Head – Ayn Rand

A thoroughly cheesy and funny movie in parts, thanks to the director King Vidor, is based on a novel written by Ayn Rand in the 1940s. Albeit camp, the movie does address a number of important issues which we have come across before in previous readings. This movie focuses on the struggles of individualism against restrictive collectivism – the world of the mob.

Rand explores these two ideas through her main character, a young architect – Howard Roark, who chooses to abide by his values with uncompromising stoical fortitude in the face of relentless difficulties and his relationship with various other personalities of human character. Roark, an ardent individualist, believed that to achieve intuitive brilliance, a person must be free to express his individuality and not subjected to the opinions of others which only serve to compromise or water-down the brilliance of the original idea. Although, he faced relentless impediments in his quest, he goes on to build a number of significant buildings and refuses to tow the line of ‘normal’ convention.

Rand contrasts Roark with Peter Keating; a subservient university colleague of Roark’s who is everything that Roark is not. Keating’s insatiable pursuit of material success is often at the expense of moral values. His willingness to dance to the tune of others earns him temporary success and he often lets his morals get blunted in making decisions and then considers the implications much later. There is little that is sincere about Keating as he often relied on Roark to get work done.

Roark’s ultimate prize and the movie’s heroine is Dominique Francon - an idealistic and temperamental character. Although she was initially of defeatist disposition, engaged to Keating and later married Gail Wynand, it was only in Roark that she met a worthy equal for her love of adversity and independence. Eventually she learns to; ignore what anyone thinks or does, live for herself and no one else and no longer care for whether the world is worthy of her expression. She falls in love with Roark and joins him romantically as well as in his perspective and purpose.

Another prominent character in the movie who shares a few character qualities with Roark is the owner and editor-in-chief of The Banner newspaper, Gail Wynand – a tragic figure who could have been a heroic individualist except that his success depended on his ability to indulge public opinion. It is this same flaw which leads to his downfall as he failed in his attempts to wield power, lost his corporation, his wife and his friendship with Roark. Ultimately Wynand took his own life entrusting one last legacy to Roark.

The most colourful of the characters in the movie in my opinion though, has to be Roark’s antagonist, Ellsworth Toohey who writes an art criticism column in The Banner. A manipulative and outspoken socialist who falsely styles himself as representative of the will of the masses in his secret plans of rising to power by shaping public opinion through his privileged social status and position as columnist. Toohey is the embodiment of evil and represents the restrictive, immoral forces of collectivism. His biggest threat being the free individual spirit of Roark and having no true genius, he set out to destroy Roark through a series of carefully orchestrated plans.

We see the ultimate triumph of individualism over collectivism in the courtroom scene when Roark gave his impressive defense cum summation speech and talks about the value of ego and the need to remain true to oneself. But my favourite bit has to be;

Look at history. Everything we have, every great achievement has come from the independent work of some independent mind. Every horror and destruction came from attempts to force men into a herd of brainless, soulless robots. Without personal rights, without personal ambition, without will, hope or dignity. It is an ancient conflict. It has another name. The individual against the collective.