Published 15 July 2004

(word count: 750)

According to SciFiWire dated 20 January 04, the Robert A. Heinlein sci-fi classic The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is being scrutinized for a screenplay.

So why should yet another science fiction flick be of interest to libertarians?  Here are a handful of whys:

Years ago, Liberty magazine did its first survey to find out where libertarians came from.  I fell smack in the middle of the "typical" profile for my generation: white middleclass male teen grows up reading science fiction (in my day only outsiders called it sci-fi – to aficionados it was SF), later discovers Objectivism and spends several years as Ayn Rand clone, finally joins Libertarian Party.  Most influential books: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

Why number two:

Quick skeletal sketch of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress: a former penal colony on the Moon (correction, "in" the Moon – insiders will get this) revolts against Earth's New World Order collectivist government.  The rebels are lead by a computer mechanic with interchangeable gizmo-laden prosthetic arms, a beautiful radical organizer, an old self-styled "Rational Anarchist" Prof who claims affinity with libertarians and Randites, and a massive mainframe computer named Mike that is somehow "alive" and much more appealing than HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Why the Third:

The "Loonie" culture created by Heinlein is anarchistic, capitalistic, and individualistic, and "has been read as an allegory about libertarianism and its costs" (quoting SciFiWire again).

Hollywood being Hollywood, however, can we really trust Tinseltown tycoons to maintain loyalty to a plotline?

TV producer Tim Minear, a self-described hardcore Heinlein fan, has been hired to scribble the script.  Says he in a citation on scifi.com, "My take on the story is to try to stay as close to Heinlein's politics and Heinlein's vision of the future that I can."

But screenplay scribes tend to be the lowest totems on the Hollywood pole.  Producers, directors and studio strongmen rule.  There's just no guarantee that the movie will be about libertarians rebelling against their socialist superiors.  How easy (and even more appealing and/or profitable?) it would be to make this the environmentally correct Luna People’s Republic fighting against an evil Corporate Earth self-devastated by natural resource plundering and callous disregard for the consecrated Global Warming Epistles of the Holy Environmentalites.

More likely, however, the movie version will be ideologically neutered – just a good old-fashioned rousing shootem-up in space with the "good guys' seeking freedom for freedom’s sake with no definition of “freedom” and no philosophy to muddle the minds of movie-goers.

And that, of course, would be a shame.  Moon has all the sought-after celluloid essentials going for it:  rousing battle scenes – both the hand-to-hand and the spaceship blow-em-up kinds, high-teckery special effects potential, and a he-she panoply just pleading to be exploited.

So, aside from actors elocuting our ideology or scenes depicting samples of individualism, what will it take to make Moon a big screen libertarian legend?

Begin by deep-sixing the sexism.  Heinlein customarily created firm female figures, but they're still chauvinistic by nowaday's nuances.  The leading lady character, Wyoming Knott, needs to be a coequal with main man Manny Garcia, someone both sexually arousing and adept at flinging fists and feet about, ala the Tomb Raider and Kill Bill top-billers.  Either Angelina or Uma, in fact, would fill the bill for the Wyo role.

Be careful, however.  Good science fiction and good sex almost never seem to mix.  While one coworker enjoyed the Starship Troopers movie because he felt it followed Heinlein’s book fairly faithfully, another described the film as featuring scantily clad plastic-perfect male and female models oozing with estrogen and testosterone.  Yes, he offered that as an objection.

So, hold the sex scenes to a lower case R and audiences should go home happy.

But absolutely do not make this a "family film."  Heinlein's Lunar Family Circus is matriarchal with multiple mates.  The matriarchal part might mesmerize the fanatical feminist masses but multiple mates won't make it with mainstream popcorn chompers.  So forget the familial fare and focus on a semi-torrid twosome.

And then of course there's the name.  "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress?"  It was a terrible title then and still is today.  Pick something better.  Try anything:

Free-Market Moon

Craters of Capitalism

Libertarian Lunarscape

Laissez-mare

Moon Raiders of the Lost Quark

Crouching Crater, Hidden Hydrogen

If Hollywood can make millions on a libertarian flick we might just be able to trust them with Atlas Shrugged.