Architecture Film, The Fountainhead

King Vidor’s film adaption of the book The Fountainhead (by Ayn Rand, 1943) celebrates the achievements of the individual. Architect Howard Roark, the protagonist of the movie, is the (male) genius who strive towards self-fulfillment: he is more willing to destroy his creations rather than to subordinate – the individual struggling against forces of mediocrity. “It is an ancient conflict”, Howard Roark declaims on trial, “It has another name: ‘The individual against the collective.’”.

In the movie, Howard Roark was charged for destroying the Courtland homes he had designed:

“[..] Now you know why a dynamited Courtland. I designed Courtland. I made it possible. I destroyed it. I agreed to design it for the purpose of it seeing built as I wished. That was the price I set for my work. I was not paid. My building was disfigured at the whim of others who took all the benefits of my work and gave me nothing in return. [..]”

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Architecture Film, The Fountainhead