HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

5 Great Libertarian Movies!

Views:919
@ReasonVids

Forget the Oscars! Here are five great movies made over the past quarter-century that any libertarian will (must?) enjoy.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.


The Incredibles (2004)

This Pixar film directed by Brad Bird is so full of speeches extolling individualism, it sometimes sounds like an Ayn Rand novel (in fact, Rand is clearly part of inspiration for the character of Edna Bird). Even the supervillain in The Incredibles is a creature of self-invention and self-improvement. While the Incredibles are born with their powers, Syndrome is a normie who worships Mr. Incredible and is desperate to be his sidekick.

Like an animated version of Richard Nixon, Syndrome's ambition ultimately gets the best of him.

The Barbarian Invasions (2003)

Québécois director Denys Arcand's brilliant sequel to The Decline of the American Empire is the single-best depiction of the depredations of socialized medicine. Canada's health-care system is so sclerotic that the movie's protagonist, a retired academic named Rémy, cannot even score the drugs he needs to commit suicide until his estranged son, a banker, buys them on the black market.

Even more disturbing is the moment when the terminally ill Rémy and his former colleagues admit that their intellectual faddishness led them to embrace every awful left-wing "ism" of the past 30 years despite their massive human toll.

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Set in the 1980s, Matthew McConaughey plays Ron Woodroof, a boozey roughneck who is given 30 days to live after being diagnosed with AIDS. Faced with a death sentence, he schools himself on a wide variety of treatments, first in Mexico and then all over the world. With the help of a cross-dressing party girl named Rayon, Woodroof skirts FDA prohibitions against importing, using, and selling unapproved drugs by creating a "buyers club," in which members pay a monthly fee and assume all risks.

The depiction of official indifference to patient suffering and the bureaucratic quashing of medical freedom even for people who are certain to die is inspirational, especially now that even Donald Trump has endorsed "right-to-try" legislation that would allow terminally ill patients access to non-approved medicines.

Joy (2015)

Jennifer Lawrence became a mega-star playing the anti-government rebel Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games movies. While there's no shortage of libertarian sentiment coursing through that trilogy, it's actually a quieter movie starring Lawrence that embodies libertarian virtues of hard work, commercial innovation, and entrepreneurship.

In Joy, Lawrence plays real-life "Miracle Mop" inventor Joy Magano, who helped make cleaning your floors easier while making herself rich. The film is nothing less than a paean to capitalism's genius at allowing self-expression and self-fulfillment.

In a dramatic scene with Bradley Cooper, who plays an executive at a home-shopping network, Joy summarizes in a few sentences what it took Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich Hayek, and Milton Friedman whole books to say:

As former Reason Editor Virginia Postrel wrote, the film "acknowledges the wealth-creating value of incremental improvements even in the most mundane items."

Ghostbusters (1984)

Released in 1984, Ghostbusters quickly became one of most successful comedies in film history.

The movie was perfectly in synch with the Reagan Revolution's valorization of business and demonization of government. Ghostbusters begins with a team of paranormal investigators getting kicked out of Columbia University and starting a ghost-hunting business. But even though New York is literally being invaded by evil spirits, the real villain of the movie is not the otherwordly demon Gozer but an Environmental Protection Agency bureaucrat named Walter Peck, who shuts down their operation and puts the city at risk.

Well, what do you think? How far off the mark are we? What great libertarian movies would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments.

Produced by Todd Krainin. Written and narrated by Nick Gillespie.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
academy awards
,
ampas
    Thumbnail for Philip Payton Jr.: The Crusading Capitalist Who Outwitted New York's Racist Landlords5:20
    Philip Payton Jr.: The Crusading Capitalist Who Outwitted New York's Racist Landlords
    ReasonVids
    1092 views
    Thumbnail for Birchwood Crackling Fireplace [4K Ultra HD]36:16
    Birchwood Crackling Fireplace [4K Ultra HD]
    Frosty
    2719 views
    Thumbnail for Remy: Romney, Obama, and Binders Full of Chicks (The Election 2012 Rap)1:26
    Remy: Romney, Obama, and Binders Full of Chicks (The Election 2012 Rap)
    ReasonVids
    1011 views
    Thumbnail for I broke every law in GTA 5 | GrayStillPlays14:08
    I broke every law in GTA 5 | GrayStillPlays
    invidious
    162 views
    Thumbnail for Rare Footage Of Pentagon On 9/110:45
    Rare Footage Of Pentagon On 9/11
    bestofpoal
    4935 views
    Thumbnail for Muppets Christmas Carol - It Feels Like Christmas2:39
    Muppets Christmas Carol - It Feels Like Christmas
    Frosty
    2755 views
    Thumbnail for Catboykami gives a speech to Trump Supporters1:14
    Catboykami gives a speech to Trump Supporters
    AOU
    2513 views
    Thumbnail for The Best Way to Destroy the (Female) Class Bully | Grunt Speak25:38
    The Best Way to Destroy the (Female) Class Bully | Grunt Speak
    Terrence Popp
    433 views
    Thumbnail for Uranium 238 in a cloud chamber0:14
    Uranium 238 in a cloud chamber
    AmericanMuskrat
    561 views
    Thumbnail for AirTags Luggage Assistance | UFD Tech0:38
    AirTags Luggage Assistance | UFD Tech
    invidious
    180 views
    Thumbnail for Building Haiti Right Here in the United States10:56
    Building Haiti Right Here in the United States
    AmericanRenaissance
    877 views
    Thumbnail for SAS Anti-Scandinavian Ad2:42
    SAS Anti-Scandinavian Ad
    Frosty
    2490 views
    Thumbnail for Gay priest flees Jesse Lee Peterson1:28
    Gay priest flees Jesse Lee Peterson
    Frosty
    2174 views
    Thumbnail for CNN's Fareed Zakaria Interviews Jared Taylor (Full Interview)56:39
    CNN's Fareed Zakaria Interviews Jared Taylor (Full Interview)
    AmericanRenaissance
    2230 views
    Thumbnail for How to Get Rid of a Double Chin | TopThink9:36
    How to Get Rid of a Double Chin | TopThink
    invidious
    326 views
    Thumbnail for Fraudci all scared poor poor victim1:03
    Fraudci all scared poor poor victim
    bestofupgoat
    153 views
    Thumbnail for Shark Attack Test- Human Blood vs. Fish Blood | Mark Rober16:37
    Shark Attack Test- Human Blood vs. Fish Blood | Mark Rober
    science.topic
    85 views
    Thumbnail for Why no one has EVER gotten this coin before | Kosmic9:59
    Why no one has EVER gotten this coin before | Kosmic
    invidious
    124 views
    Thumbnail for WATCH: Kamala Harris gives concession speech after Donald Trump wins presidency | WFAA10:20:20
    WATCH: Kamala Harris gives concession speech after Donald Trump wins presidency | WFAA
    invidious
    171 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
academy awards
,
ampas
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle