When reading the book I noticed the fantastic pleiad of characters, all of which are trying to adjust to a Modern way of thinking and living in the New word of the machine age. The old social structure appears to be old-fashioned and restrictive. The world as Waugh depicts it - is the place, where only sardonic amusement gets you through the day.
Paul Pennyfeather is a nice guy, but he becomes a victim of corrupted, spoiled and degraded public school system. It is obvious that he fails everything before he even starts doing it. All his attempts for deeds are truly pathetic. Silenus is a good parody of the modern architect; detached, dissatisfied, aloof, alone, unlikeable and seeing himself at the centre of the spinning wheel and advising that ‘some people should really not to join in such a spinning wheel of absurdity…’ . Though one would expect better closing moments to come from Captain Grimes, who of course, thanks to his utterly spurious education and capacity to roll with life’s punches, always climbs out of ‘the soup’. Waugh’s Prof Silenus is definitely not comforting, either in his work, or his demeanour.
When ‘Decline and fall’ was written in 1928, the character of the Architect played by Professor Silenus gives an accurate account of the thinking of the profession the time. Ever since the beginning of industrialization the benefits of mechanizes automated engineering was celebrated and many of the forward thinking architects were incorporating standardized components into their designs.
The Famous quote in the book by Profesor Silenus ‘The problem of architecture as I see it is the problem of all art - the elimination of the human element from the consideration of form. The only perfect building must be the factory, because that is built to house machines, not men. All ill comes from man’. This refers us to Corbusiers famous dictum ‘A house is a machine for living in’ Silenus is referred to Le Corbusier, and his modernist viewpoint. His attitude towards most things in life can be summed up in his approach to assessing a beautiful woman, which is by rating the efficiency of her digestive system.
Architecture shall no longer be a product of human emotion or nostalgia. Le Corbusier architecture found perfection with its use of proportions, mechanized design and beautiful seamless detail. The machine at the time was new and a powerful tool giving rise to hope and a broadening of possibilities for architecture.
I think that there are great rewards taken from the design process of form following function. The only problem is that Le Corbusier’s modernist perception did not allow for human needs. For his designs to remain pure, there would be no room for individual character – everyone would have the same of everything excluding even slight possibility for variation. But what a person needs is to bring the excitement and life. When everything is reduced to its functional form, it can mean it loses its own unique character, and becomes soulless neglecting human nature. The design ideally should includes psychological needs and go beyond the purely functionality.
Howard Roark in Ayn Rand`s ‘Fountainhead’ isn’t really likeable, but he embodies a certain virtue. Try to find virtue or dignity in Waugh? That’s impossible. Roark’s virtue is certainly attractive. He celebrates New promising world of skyscrapers and machines. The character of the architect stands for the free-thinking man; he has to endure suffering and criticism as he holds his position and endeavours to change the perception of society towards what he believes Modern design in architecture should be.
His enemy is society’s acceptance of the mediocre, in a society of conformists, the same one we see in Evelyn Waugh`s ‘Decline and Fall’. The dignity is in how one behaves in this old world, incapable of developing. ‘Mediocrity" doesn't mean average intelligence, it means an average intelligence that resents and envies its betters’ Ayn Rand.
As Roark struggles to survive with few commissions for his work, he remains strong and stands for what he believes, unwilling to compromise in the slightest in order to please the narrow-minded clients’ demands, he refuses to explain his process and asks that his work be allowed to speak for itself in its performance, form and beauty. Roark`s triumph is a result of his obstinacy. His success is due to his integrity, unwavering principles and unwillingness to compromise.
The character of Henry Cameron, Roark’s mentor, holds the same ideals as Louis Sullivan (Wright’s mentor), that form follows function. On his death bed Cameron passes buildings that he designed, although he tells Roark to compromise his style. There is still the feeling that he died believing in this style, and more importantly - that he was always searching for the right style. This makes him different from Roark.
The role of the newspapers in the film is that of the manipulative media machine, it tells society what it should think; it produces popular opinion and does not stray from accepted conformity. The exception to this is ‘The Banner’, which supports Roark`s individuality, although it too is eventually forced to relent and conform to popular opinion in order to survive.
I believe if an architect sees his aim in designing iconic, individual, powerful architecture he would have empathised with Roark, but personally I see him as a tragic figure who does not understand that architecture must deal with real issues and not just serve to highlight one man`s self-proclaimed genius.
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