Why Ayn Rand Loved 'Charlie's Angels'

"It shows three young girls who are…better than so-called ‘real life.’”

I recently highlighted an old interview Phil Donahue did with Ayn Rand. As is often the case, I started to write about one thing, but the article went in a different direction all on its own. 

I ended up exploring Rand’s view that American men are “repressives” who don’t share their emotions enough. I didn’t like this take because it was too black and white. Rand offered no qualifiers or context, and I think she overlooked the simple fact that one of the first things adults teach children is how to control their emotions.

But what I had originally intended to explore was Rand’s favorite show: Charlie's Angels. I was surprised she enjoyed the show so much. 

Now, I grew up watching reruns of Charlie's Angels, and I always liked it. It wasn’t just because the show featured three beautiful female crime stoppers. Sure, there was that—Jaclyn Smith, the only angel to appear in all five seasons, still makes my heart stop—but the show was also fun. It was like Magnum P.I., but with a team of gorgeous women instead of a tall, good-looking dude with a great mustache and short-shorts, and two side-kicks.

What surprised me is that Ayn Rand loved the show, a revelation she shared in an April 1980 interview with Jerry Schwartz, a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Donahue read the interview, and asked Rand about it. Here’s what she said.

“It’s the only romantic television show today. It’s not realistic. It’s not about the gutter, it’s not about the half-wit retarded children, and all the other kinds of shows today. It’s about three attractive girls doing impossible things. And because they’re impossible, that is what makes it interesting. It shows three young girls who are…better than so-called ‘real life.’”

It’s a great answer—if you can overlook Rand’s use of the word “retard,” which is sure to anger many today—and is a reminder of why so many people loved the recent Marvel movies. We want people to be extraordinary. We want exceptionalism. We want heroes. 

Rand’s statement also raises some important questions about art.

“You want art to be romantic, don’ you?” asks Donahue.

“Oh, certainly,” Rand responds.

Her embrace of romanticism over realism is noteworthy, in part because many might argue that some of Rand’s own works channeled realism to great effect. Atlas Shrugged felt very real, and this was no accident: the story is set in a land consumed with New-Deal style economics, work programs, and politics.

I agree with Rand’s assessment that Charlie's Angels was a great show for the reasons offered, but I’ll contend that realism can be just as powerful. Indeed, I think some of the best works of art are those that balance realism and romanticism. 

An example of this is my favorite movie ever made, Lonesome Dove, the epic Western adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Larry McMurtry, which follows two former Texas Rangers, Gus McCrae (Robert Duvall) and Woodrow F. Call (Tommy Lee Jones), as they embark on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana.

It’s realism and romanticism all wrapped in one, a bit like Rand’s magnum opus, yet even more so. 

(Author’s Note: if you haven’t watched Lonesome Dove, you really should. As I mentioned, the book won the Pulitzer Prize, but the miniseries was that rarest of things: a movie that was actually even better than the book.)