Kennedy Butler
EEE-2083
2 November 2022
Discussion Paper 8: The Fountainhead
What does it mean to be successful? By what standards? Is it by what society deems successful or following what your gut is telling you will be worth it in the end? How do you navigate and balance fear of innovation but not conforming? The film, The Fountainhead, tells the story of Howard Roark, an aspiring architect and his journey through the industry, school economics and various trials along the way. He is first expelled from college because his designs and ideas are too innovative and different from the standards that were preset by the university. Roark is then in pursuit of a career with Henry Cameron, who was once successful but ends up being a drunk. The film then follows pushback from others, trials and lots of navigating, but Roark refuses to compromise his visions and ideals and ends up being successful in the end. This story is entrepreneurial because from the beginning, Roark knew what he wanted and knew the type of creator and entrepreneur that he wanted to be through architecture. He didn’t convert to the status quo or what society told him he needed to do, but followed his gut to ultimately finding success. This is interesting to me because what one person sees as successful and needed in the market is completely different then what Roark thought.
This aspect of entrepreneurship affects society in many ways. First, it could potentially create tension between the two parties. This is definitely something we see throughout the film, even from the beginning with Roark getting expelled from school for being lets face it, too different. Furthermore, it also could be argued that in the end it create opportunities for future business endeavors that society seems to take part in and enjoy. Think of “frontiers” in entrepreneurship such as streaming services or maybe the smartphone. You think Steve Jobs never got pushback for his ideals or for shooting for the stars when everyone else wanted to stay on the ground? Absolutely not. But on the flip side, is society forever changed by his efforts and a majority of the population holding his product in their hands? Yes. This is the same thing, just different stakes and a whole lot bigger of a product (get it, buildings;)). How society on the flip side affects this aspect of entrepreneurship is also a bit complex. Society seems to set various standards of what is expected in the market. We talk about this all the time in class, the consumer has the power, and without them a business and entrepreneur will crumble like an old cookie. In the case of TheFountainhead, society had set boundaries of what designs in architecture were “supposed to look like”, but Roark still used boundaries to give society something they didn’t even realize they wanted or needed. This could be argued in my mind of what makes a successful entrepreneur. My final thought: the interactions between the entrepreneur and society depends on where they are in the process but they seem to work together when something is deemed successful or make each other crumble.
-https://giphy.com/gifs/hateplow-architecture-city-hateplow-2O7T9fptyIFTG
-[Image Source]
( https://giphy.com/gifs/hateplow-architecture-city-hateplow-2O7T9fptyIFTG)