Wednesday, July 15, 2009

How V resembles A...

Yesterday, I watched a science fiction thriller film called "V for Vendetta". Its concept somehow reminded me of Ayn Rand's books "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged". The film is set in a dystopian future U.K. A mysterious anarchist who calls himself "V" works to destroy the totalitarian government, profoundly affecting the people he encounters.
During the film, I somwhere felt that it closely mirrored Rand's concept of objectivism and utopia.
The film depicts a future Britain. In this future, a party called "Norsefire" has arisen as the ruling power. "V", an anarchist revolutionary dressed in mask, begins an elaborate, violent and theatrical campaign to bring down the government. The way "V" fights against everything that he holds in disregard, serves as a faint reminder of "John Galt's" character from "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. It also had probable roots from "Howard Roark's" character from "The Fountainhead" again by Ayn Rand. At the end of the film too, the question his question of who V was, is answered by stating that he was 'everyone', resembles Atlas's motive. I would however leave further speculation to everyone else who reads the blog and recommend viewing the film. It was a 'different' film. For further analysis on Rand's two epics, you may refer my earlier post under the blog title: Interpretation of "A is A" from Atlas Shrugged - For all Purists.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

The "F" Word...

In order to succeed, it's important to learn what will work and what will not. Every rejection makes us aware of what will not work. When I read about Thomas Edison and his success story after repetitive failures, I was inspired. I learnt that our greatest weakness lies in giving up; the most certain way to succeed isalways to try just one more time. One has to accept failure or defeat as an essential part of life. After all, life is not about winning alone; it is also about losing, learning from the mistakes that we've committed and then trying again to win. People lose in various ways - some thrillingly, some abjectly - but they do lose. It is what makes the moments of triumph all the more special. After all, if winning was all about there was, what would there be to celebrate?

It often happens that nearly every man who develops an idea works at it up to the point where it loks impossible, and then gets discouraged. It is extremely important to strike a fine balance in everything that one does and to emphasise the need to continuously look for better solutions to achieve excellence. Afterall, life isn't a straight line, it'll always have it's share of twists and turns. And there are no predefined mathematical formulas which'll solve every problem that one faces in life.