Atlas Shrugged

Keeping with trying to unpick the theoretical side of my project, I have begun to investigate narrative texts that deal with similar issues to the one I'm dealing with.
I came across Ayn Rand and her theory of Objectivism when researching the nature of the story of Bioshock, which revolves around human dependence on religion and idols to cope with life. Rand suggests that what we see is very much what we get, and there is nothing extra to be gained through faith or belief in certain myths and religions. The only way she believes humans can improve themselves is through the advancement of science, discovery and industry. I'm finding it really interesting reading up on this topic because it is a perspective that is parallel to what I've been looking at so far in terms of how people have faith in gods and idols.

Her theory is quite devoid of hopefulness or faith, she is a clear atheist, and focuses on what is real in terms of what can be seen, touched and heard. The base of her theory is that existence IS identity - the fact that we are means that we are something, we are comprised of our brains and our bodies, not our 'souls' or 'minds'. This school of thinking is an interesting one in relation to gods, as it clearly has no time for such things as they are considered a waste of our one valuable life on earth. It is also an intrinsically capitalist theory, as it is focused on the self interest of the individual above all else. This is an interesting stance as most societies throughout human history have been based on working in the promise of an afterlife, the love of a god, rewards from above, or salvation from punishment. In this way, Objectivism sees itself as progressive, ahead of the 'savages' that worship the gods in the sky.

The title of Ayn Rand's final novel, Atlas Shrugged, is a reference to the Greek Titan Atlas, who was tasked with forever holding the world up.

Beefcake.
The title communicates that Atlas has finally shrugged, giving up his responsibility to keeping the world stable. This acts as a parallel for the narrative of the novel, in which there are clearly no saviours, no gods to protect us, and no one up there to care about us. Objectivism is a theory I'm going to keep running parallel alongside the rest of my research because its a very interesting argument that I feel is inspiring a good counter to the concepts of the survival of gods through religion into popular fiction.