Questions of Gender in Vidor's 'The Fountainhead' (1949)

Rand’s The Fountainhead (1949) delve into themes of ideology and gender. Rand introduced the philosophy of objectivism whereby every man must live for himself and the individual is supreme and selfishness is a virtue. This philosophy seems to cross over to her portrayal of gender in the film. Also, what I found most intriguing about the film was the representation of sexuality through the metaphorical use of architecture.

The film creates a strong sense of masculinity. We see this through the film’s protagonist, Howard Roark, a man who strives for individuality, never wanting to compromise his creative integrity and vision in life. Roark’s strong-willed and inherent virility renders him the epitome of masculinity. For Rand, Roark represents the ideal of her objectivist philosophy; he symbolises the attributes of selfishness and self-righteousness that all people should emulate and admire.

The inclusion of skyscrapers combined with Roark’s character were symbols of her most revered principles of superiority of reason and rationality over emotion. Rand’s fascination with skyscrapers alluded to American achievement; it symbolised the society and culture that constructed and sustained such a building type. Roark’s towering stature is a visual symbol of m asculinity and his ego as are the skyscrapers he designs and builds. This is depicted in the film where the camera zooms in of what appears to be a life-size skyscraper but is then revealed to be a miniature version model next to which Roark stands as the camera pans out.

Moreover, the only female character, Dominique Francon, in the film is herself masculine. She characterises a woman who is only capable of self-dominance and destructive acts – all traits that are masculine. Her wardrobe changes throughout the film are a testament to this as well. From the beginning we see her dressed in a glamorous negligee to wearing masculinised attire including riding pants as well as wielding a crop. Rand labelled her a masochist and it seemed this is what drove her affair with Roark. In Dominique’s eyes, Roark was the only man that could ever match her standards. He was a man of power and self-dominance. Dominique becomes irrevocably in love with Roark as a result of the masochistic nature of their relationship, where to sustain their relationship, they must draw away from eachother.

Perhaps what I found to be profound was the philosophical ideas the film manifested. The idea of living a life by the judgement of one’s own mind is a philosophy that I try to live by. Although this philosophy is and has been proven to be quite controversial in that it contravenes attitudes towards moral institutions like religion and governmental organisations, I stand from a bi-partisan viewpoint. Whilst the philosophy of objectivism promotes personal freedom and individual thinking, it goes against the views of humanist philosophy whereby morality calls for people to sacrifice themselves for others.