Fahrenheit 451: Authority, Technology and History - Adapting the Book and Marketing the Film
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FAHRENHEIT 451 (1966)
BURNING THE BOOK ONTO FILM
BURNING THE BOOK ONTO FILM
AUTHORITY, TECHNOLOGY AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT: ADAPTING THE BOOK AND MARKETING THE FILM
By Bryn V. Young-Roberts The mid twentieth century witnessed a wave of fictional social criticism first expressed in books, then transferred on to film. Here we examine one of those films, Fahrenheit 451 (1966), which has continued to be popular alongside other works of the genre such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, long into the dawn of the 21st century. |
By exploring the circumstances in which the film was produced and marketed, we will gain new insight into its relevance and consider what would be required to make it marketable to a contemporary audience. Also, by critically examining it’s modes of expression we will be able to judge if it achieved what it set out to accomplish and then consider if the ending was satisfying in terms of realism and morale.
BLURB
(The plot)
Set in a future dystopia of an unspecified date, Guy Montag (Oskar Werner) is a Fireman on the verge of promotion, whose job is to incinerate books, which are an outlawed medium of mass communication. However an encounter with a suspended teacher, Clarisse (Julie Christie), inspires him to break the law by reading, which in turn enlightens him to an emotionally healthier way of life. Eventually his wife, Linda (also played by Julie Christie), becomes irritated by his disenchantment with the status quo of life and informs the authorities. Montag then murders his superior and flees beyond the city to join the Book People, a network of small communities that have dedicated their lives to memorising literature in order to preserve them for future generations.
BLURB
(The plot)
Set in a future dystopia of an unspecified date, Guy Montag (Oskar Werner) is a Fireman on the verge of promotion, whose job is to incinerate books, which are an outlawed medium of mass communication. However an encounter with a suspended teacher, Clarisse (Julie Christie), inspires him to break the law by reading, which in turn enlightens him to an emotionally healthier way of life. Eventually his wife, Linda (also played by Julie Christie), becomes irritated by his disenchantment with the status quo of life and informs the authorities. Montag then murders his superior and flees beyond the city to join the Book People, a network of small communities that have dedicated their lives to memorising literature in order to preserve them for future generations.
ONCE UPON A TIME…
(The origins of the film) The story was based on a short novel by Ray Bradbury that was published in full for the first time in 1953, (the first 25,000 words had been published as a story entitled The Fireman in 1951), and made its serialised debut in issues 2, 3 and 4 of Playboy magazine[i]. The author claims that he began writing the story after an encounter with a police officer who demanded to know what he and a friend were doing whilst casually walking the streets of Los Angeles in 1949. When he quipped that he was ‘putting one leg in front of the other’ the officer warned him ‘Well, don’t do it again’, and this gave Bradbury the inspirational frustration with the authorities to write the anti-totalitarian story[ii]. |
In addition to this, Bradbury added the association of books to the more righteous and emotionally active of society in the story as he has been ‘a library person all my life…I spent three or four nights a week at the local library’[iii] and in the last forty years he has ‘probably written more poems, essays, stories, plays and novels about libraries, librarians and authors than any other writer today’[iv]. But further to this the novel strikes a chord with the intellectually oppressive political atmosphere of the era in which it was conceived.
In the early 1950s, having recently defeated the book-burning Nazis of Germany in WWII, America was now confronted with a cold war against the Soviet Union, a regime that also used the same destructive methods to curtail public knowledge. Twentieth century politics had developed into a struggle of ideologies, and unlike previous national oppositions, both sides now feared growing resistance from within. In America this fear emerged in the form of the House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), an independent government body that sought to remove people from positions of power that were suspected of not having the interests of the nation in mind. A paranoid organisation by nature, it persecuted those with left-wing leanings, particularly those in possession of censored books. Many people were fined, imprisoned, and forced to wrongfully implicate others[v].
By the time Fahrenheit 451 was published in 1953, the HUAC had full support from Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had led the witch hunt well beyond its initial target, the Department of State, and extended it throughout the country[vi]. Americans feared for their freedom throughout the early to mid-fifties, and Bradbury’s concerns about the abolition of books seemed like a possible future, as it was not only being practiced by the communist ‘enemies’, but appeared to be a growing development within the democratic capitalist system also. |
The novel’s themes of intellectual oppression and social criticism regarding the danger of censorship were again made particularly valid in the mid 1960s as America increased military aggression against Vietnam. In January 1965 a militant advocate of African-American rights, Malcolm X, opposed the government aggression toward the Vietnamese, and a month later he was assassinated. In August of that year a new law was enforced that criminalised the destruction of draft cards and carried a £1000 fine with a five year prison sentence.
As public protest against the war continued and grew, expanding to anti-war rallies in forty cities and 35,000 protestors outside the White House, the government saw fit to exercise more authority. The demonstrations were largely organised by students, and as a result the automatic student deferments from the draft were abolished by the President, and by December 31st 1965 there were 184,300 US troops stationed at Vietnam[vii]. The voice of society was being silenced by the authorities.
Film studios saw a potential audience in this ‘Flower Power’[viii] generation and wanted to make films that appealed to them in order to capitalise on the situation. Science fiction offered appropriate metaphors to discuss this climate without inflicting the wrath of the authorities and before long there was a plethora of films, TV shows, books, music, magazines and badges that catered for the market.
Film studios saw a potential audience in this ‘Flower Power’[viii] generation and wanted to make films that appealed to them in order to capitalise on the situation. Science fiction offered appropriate metaphors to discuss this climate without inflicting the wrath of the authorities and before long there was a plethora of films, TV shows, books, music, magazines and badges that catered for the market.
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BURNING THE BOOK ON TO FILM
(Transferring the story)
The film was released in the UK by American studio Universal Pictures on the 16th of September 1966 (their first European production) and was directed by acclaimed French film-maker Francois Truffaut. However despite the recent wave of desire for anti-authoritarian texts, producer Lewis M. Allen and director Truffaut still experienced difficulty convincing studios to finance the film, and a fixed budget was not set until Oskar Werner had been cast, only weeks before filming began[ix].
For Truffaut, making the film would prove to be one of his biggest challenges yet. It would be his first colour film, (as demanded by Universal, which he resented), and it would also be his first English-language feature, produced at Pinewood studios in England, which posed a particular challenge as he couldn’t speak a word of it! On top of these problems, lead actor Oskar Werner proved difficult to work with and in an attempt to deliberately create continuity problems for the director, got a haircut before production had completed shooting[x].
However, as a pioneer of nouvelle vague cinema, potentially he still had much to offer the film. After all, it had been his film Les Quatre Cent Coups (1959) that established the nouvelle vague ‘genre’ when it was awarded the critic’s prize at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, and it had been his devastating critique ‘Une certaine tendance du cinema francais’ in Cahiers du cinema in 1954 that founded the movement. In his article he called for films to be more an expression of the director, (they should become auteurs), and cited Hitchcock as an example. He urged directors to disregard the technical hierarchies required by the ‘tradition of quality’, (the institutionalised way films are made), and search for a new kind of realism based on differently conceived authenticity.
But Fahrenheit 451 proved not to be a trademark Truffaut nouvelle vague film. Truffaut’s previous films had been shot in authentic and recognisable locations with natural light and hand-held cameras in order to blur the distinction between fiction and documentary[xi]. However there is little of this to be found in Fahrenheit 451, which utilises studio sets, studio lighting and even outdoor locations that are mostly sited on the studio lot (for example the exterior of the fire station is a building next door to the editing suite).[xii]
(Transferring the story)
The film was released in the UK by American studio Universal Pictures on the 16th of September 1966 (their first European production) and was directed by acclaimed French film-maker Francois Truffaut. However despite the recent wave of desire for anti-authoritarian texts, producer Lewis M. Allen and director Truffaut still experienced difficulty convincing studios to finance the film, and a fixed budget was not set until Oskar Werner had been cast, only weeks before filming began[ix].
For Truffaut, making the film would prove to be one of his biggest challenges yet. It would be his first colour film, (as demanded by Universal, which he resented), and it would also be his first English-language feature, produced at Pinewood studios in England, which posed a particular challenge as he couldn’t speak a word of it! On top of these problems, lead actor Oskar Werner proved difficult to work with and in an attempt to deliberately create continuity problems for the director, got a haircut before production had completed shooting[x].
However, as a pioneer of nouvelle vague cinema, potentially he still had much to offer the film. After all, it had been his film Les Quatre Cent Coups (1959) that established the nouvelle vague ‘genre’ when it was awarded the critic’s prize at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, and it had been his devastating critique ‘Une certaine tendance du cinema francais’ in Cahiers du cinema in 1954 that founded the movement. In his article he called for films to be more an expression of the director, (they should become auteurs), and cited Hitchcock as an example. He urged directors to disregard the technical hierarchies required by the ‘tradition of quality’, (the institutionalised way films are made), and search for a new kind of realism based on differently conceived authenticity.
But Fahrenheit 451 proved not to be a trademark Truffaut nouvelle vague film. Truffaut’s previous films had been shot in authentic and recognisable locations with natural light and hand-held cameras in order to blur the distinction between fiction and documentary[xi]. However there is little of this to be found in Fahrenheit 451, which utilises studio sets, studio lighting and even outdoor locations that are mostly sited on the studio lot (for example the exterior of the fire station is a building next door to the editing suite).[xii]
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It also fails to deliver the frequent theme of the genre of exploring the relationship between young men and women, Truffaut opting to make Clarisse three years older than in the novel, and choosing to keep her relationship with Montag platonic (although this point could be contested by stating that Montag gets something more fulfilling than sex from Clarisse, as we witness him being intimate with his wife while the musical score suggests that something is wrong, contrapuntal to the image).
Another hallmark of the new wave of film-makers was the abandoning of any pretence that the world depicted was not that of a film, hints of which can be found throughout this, such as the intervention of editing by a blackening screen wipe during a scene in the park, the use of a dissolve during the scene when the protagonist sits down in the living room while his wife is getting medical care, an iris shot during a scene in The Captain’s office, and the use of some shots in reverse (such as when Montag puts on his protective white suit). But for the most part, possibly due to studio pressure, Truffaut had not abandoned the grammar of Hollywood films entirely in his telling of this story, and it was to be a foreshadowing of his later more mainstream career.[xiii]
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
(A critical analysis)
An analysis of the film reveals more texture to it than may be initially apparent to a casual viewer. Firstly the mis-en-scene is a mixture of 1930s décor and minimalism, but with straight lines and pale colours dominating each set, which makes for a rather dull and unimaginative environment, suggesting that a world of illiteracy is a world of blandness. This is supported by the portrayal of television programming in this world, which is wooden and basic. In fact most of the visuals of the film are dull and uninteresting and the film is largely dependant on Bernard Herrmann’s score to keep viewers interested (a prime example is how the musical score is used to create anxiety when Montag is reading a book – which would likely be impossible to convey through visuals alone).
Another hallmark of the new wave of film-makers was the abandoning of any pretence that the world depicted was not that of a film, hints of which can be found throughout this, such as the intervention of editing by a blackening screen wipe during a scene in the park, the use of a dissolve during the scene when the protagonist sits down in the living room while his wife is getting medical care, an iris shot during a scene in The Captain’s office, and the use of some shots in reverse (such as when Montag puts on his protective white suit). But for the most part, possibly due to studio pressure, Truffaut had not abandoned the grammar of Hollywood films entirely in his telling of this story, and it was to be a foreshadowing of his later more mainstream career.[xiii]
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
(A critical analysis)
An analysis of the film reveals more texture to it than may be initially apparent to a casual viewer. Firstly the mis-en-scene is a mixture of 1930s décor and minimalism, but with straight lines and pale colours dominating each set, which makes for a rather dull and unimaginative environment, suggesting that a world of illiteracy is a world of blandness. This is supported by the portrayal of television programming in this world, which is wooden and basic. In fact most of the visuals of the film are dull and uninteresting and the film is largely dependant on Bernard Herrmann’s score to keep viewers interested (a prime example is how the musical score is used to create anxiety when Montag is reading a book – which would likely be impossible to convey through visuals alone).
One of the more frequent themes of the film is the control over communication. From the very beginning Truffaut highlights the absence of text in the film by having no on-screen titles, (Until ‘The End’ at the conclusion, as an homage to fiction books), so by the time viewers see any text in the film they are desperate to read it. In fact the very first visual in the movie is of television antennas, which are accompanied by a voice-over (performing the function of opening titles), highlighting the fact that we are receiving the information through a modern technological medium and giving the impression that there is a control between the viewer and the information dispensed (the sequence is reminiscent of 1950s public information documentaries). In the fire station training class friends are forbidden from sitting next to each other, emphasising that only the State may communicate. All the technology seems to be progressing in reverse (such as old-fashioned telephones that require operators and Montag replaces his electric shaver for ‘the latest thing’ - a cut-throat razor), and the lack of many layers of sound effects in the film gives the impression of a silent society.
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The stance the film appears to take on mass communication technology is that the media beyond books are more passive, and that the ideas presented in books have more of an impact on people (hence why when Montag is burning books he wears a protective suit that resembles something one would wear for fear of contamination). This is supported by Linda’s interaction with television, which proves less fruitful than Montag’s interaction with books. Effectively this says that one can watch television regardless of mental input – it is something that is fed to the mind, but reading a book demands participation. (When Linda tries to interact with the television she flusters her lines, a sign of a lack of engagement with her mind).
An ideal snapshot of this premise is when Montag finds Linda unconscious while the TV makes a loud, unpleasant noise, which highlights TV as an intrusive technology that makes zombies of people (also witnessed in minor characters in the film as they display narcissistic cosmetic happiness but seem devoid of meaning). People in this world appear only to be interested in entertainment and immediate gratification (demonstrated not only by Linda, but by the characters on the train who are obsessed with their material goods and image – a society devoid of any self-reflection). This is supported by the flat dialogue that plagues the film, an indication that those who do not read become inarticulate. Indeed in this sense, Truffaut himself once stated that Montag was a ‘James Bond for the middle ages’.[xiv]
Ultimately this is a society obsessed with conformity, as witnessed in the scene that takes place on television when a young man is caught by the police and forced to endure a haircut because his hair was too long. This is clearly a sign of the times when the film was made, (when it became a trend for young men to grow their hair long, which was frowned upon by many of the older generation), and there is no mention of this in the book from a decade previous. However the book does portray youths as troublesome car drivers – an indication of the era of the book, when young people began an entire new car culture as witnessed in any film ever made about youths set in the 1950s (American Graffiti (1973) serving as one example).
THE END
(Realism and morale examined)
The protagonist developing disenchantment with his society and becoming an outlaw before being reborn into a new community is a familiar theme in dystopian fiction. It is accompanied by particular symbolic value in Fahrenheit 451, as Montag uses the water of the river to escape from his previous life of fire, and only finds the Book People when he reaches the very end of the train track (the end of a journey). His being reborn is emphasised by the fact that he has a ‘death scene’ on the television (both technological and passive - a symbol of his previous society) when the police broadcast a misinformation propaganda film about him. It is not until this has occurred that he begins to learn anything about his new community, effectively imposing upon the audience that he has finally left his old world behind him and is now beginning anew.
An ideal snapshot of this premise is when Montag finds Linda unconscious while the TV makes a loud, unpleasant noise, which highlights TV as an intrusive technology that makes zombies of people (also witnessed in minor characters in the film as they display narcissistic cosmetic happiness but seem devoid of meaning). People in this world appear only to be interested in entertainment and immediate gratification (demonstrated not only by Linda, but by the characters on the train who are obsessed with their material goods and image – a society devoid of any self-reflection). This is supported by the flat dialogue that plagues the film, an indication that those who do not read become inarticulate. Indeed in this sense, Truffaut himself once stated that Montag was a ‘James Bond for the middle ages’.[xiv]
Ultimately this is a society obsessed with conformity, as witnessed in the scene that takes place on television when a young man is caught by the police and forced to endure a haircut because his hair was too long. This is clearly a sign of the times when the film was made, (when it became a trend for young men to grow their hair long, which was frowned upon by many of the older generation), and there is no mention of this in the book from a decade previous. However the book does portray youths as troublesome car drivers – an indication of the era of the book, when young people began an entire new car culture as witnessed in any film ever made about youths set in the 1950s (American Graffiti (1973) serving as one example).
THE END
(Realism and morale examined)
The protagonist developing disenchantment with his society and becoming an outlaw before being reborn into a new community is a familiar theme in dystopian fiction. It is accompanied by particular symbolic value in Fahrenheit 451, as Montag uses the water of the river to escape from his previous life of fire, and only finds the Book People when he reaches the very end of the train track (the end of a journey). His being reborn is emphasised by the fact that he has a ‘death scene’ on the television (both technological and passive - a symbol of his previous society) when the police broadcast a misinformation propaganda film about him. It is not until this has occurred that he begins to learn anything about his new community, effectively imposing upon the audience that he has finally left his old world behind him and is now beginning anew.
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However the ending of this film is contradictory. Perhaps this is due to Truffaut’s involvement, who as an auto-didactic of film, obsessed with a technology that is denounced in this story, he was never fully convinced of Bradbury’s message, and it has likewise transferred to the final cut. The Book People are portrayed as an agrarian society who have renounced technology, claiming that it is an emotionally healthier way of life, and yet the characters seem almost robotic in their introduction to Montag and their recital of lines. They appear dedicated to learning lines from books, but there is no evidence shown in the film that they are absorbing the essence of the words.
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It is also sad, because we discover that they too are book-burners, and although it could be interpreted as their lack of materialism, preferring the substance of the books over the tangible ownership of them, there is a slight feeling of pointlessness to the whole adventure due to this not being demonstrated in the film.
This is not helped by the film’s failure to address the fact that books themselves are also a fairly recent technological innovation and that societies have existed far longer without them than with them. The very idea that a rag-tag community would escape an oppressive regime and then dedicate their existence to memorising books is not wholly unconvincing, but seems like an idealist and rather quaint fantasy of a fanatical bibliophile (such as Bradbury). This is not to suggest that all futuristic communities with minimal technologies must be as hostile as that
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of Mad Max (1979), but it appears ignorant of human nature to suggest that this is how people would choose to spend their freedom from an oppressively controlled media. But then again, within the world of the film, where people had become dull, unimaginative and inarticulate in thought, it makes more sense that the liberated characters would be hungry for input of substance and would assimilate it the only way they know how.
ABRIDGED AND ILLUSTRATED
(Marketing the film)
It must have been a disappointment to many when they watched the film in the cinema and realised that this was a science fiction film and not a romance or an action/adventure film. And likewise many fans of science fiction must have missed out on Fahrenheit 451 believing it was a romance film. This was the fault of the marketing department, who seemed to be in denial about the genre of the film (as was Truffaut, incidentally). Poster one[xv] is a large bed with an insert from the film of Guy and Linda embracing on a bed together, while the text reveals the actors previous achievements. There is nothing in the poster that would indicate the film as being anything other than a romance.
(Marketing the film)
It must have been a disappointment to many when they watched the film in the cinema and realised that this was a science fiction film and not a romance or an action/adventure film. And likewise many fans of science fiction must have missed out on Fahrenheit 451 believing it was a romance film. This was the fault of the marketing department, who seemed to be in denial about the genre of the film (as was Truffaut, incidentally). Poster one[xv] is a large bed with an insert from the film of Guy and Linda embracing on a bed together, while the text reveals the actors previous achievements. There is nothing in the poster that would indicate the film as being anything other than a romance.
Poster two[xvi] is slightly more informative as it has an image of Guy holding a flame- thrower, which makes him seem very macho, while an image of Linda gazes at him from across flames. This suggests more of an action film, but the tag-line 'Aflame with the passions, excitement and emotions of tomorrow' emphasises the romantic aspect above it (despite the lack of any romantic storyline in the film!). It is particularly interesting to note that it is the long-haired Linda that dominates the posters and not Clarisse, who is arguably the second hero of the film (or at the very least a more engaging character than Linda). One possible reason for this is that the marketing team may have considered Julie Christie with long hair more scopophilic than her image with short hair. Even the newly designed 2003 dvd cover chose to use the image of Linda over Clarisse, an indication that some things have not changed since the 1960s.
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The trailers follow suit of the posters, with trailer one[xvii] mostly showing clips of Guy with Clarisse, suggesting a romance, and briefly highlighting the emotional detachment between Guy and Linda, suggestive that Guy is having an extra-marital affair (which is suggested further by a clip of a burning bed). Then the trailer becomes a brief behind-the-scenes documentary, as though the marketing department are trying to avoid having to use any clips from the actual film.
The trailer particularly focuses on Julie Christie, as it follows her on a press photo shoot and then lists the emotional range of her acting abilities and supports each claim with a still from the film (which becomes quite ridiculous as it goes on and on). It then shows scenes involving the helicopter chasing Guy and fast-paced music from a different film to make it seem like an action film. The second trailer[xviii] focuses more on action but the voice-over describes it as ‘an exciting love story’ and then mentions the prestige of the actors and the director. One can only conclude that the marketing campaign for Fahrenheit 451 is more likely for a film that the studio would have been selling if Truffaut did not have the final cut (which was in his contract). Perhaps it is the mixed messages of the promotional campaign that eventually made the film a financial and critical flop. The debut of Star Trek and The Monkeys on NBC within the week of its release was proof that there was a demand for both science fiction and ‘Flower Power’ entertainment in the market. The fact that the Chinese Cultural Revolution resulted in book burning from May of 1966[xix] onwards meant that there was media interest in such things, but not a single book, or mention of book burning made it to the trailers and posters for the film. The marketing campaign for Fahrenheit 451 was an example of an office out of touch with the outside world, and how films were still being targeted at an older, married audience rather than the growing youth culture of the 60s (which actually began to change around the time of this film’s release).[xx] Another film version of Fahrenheit 451 is currently in pre-production hell with film company Icon. Since the 1960s there have been a vast number of dystopian films, (including Blade Runner (1982) and Robocop (1987) to name but two), and the lesson learnt by them is that they need to showcase the futuristic settings, highlighting technology, and have plenty of action (although this is not a new concept as Fritz Lang was already demonstrating the formula in his film Metropolis in 1926). But this does not always guarantee financial or critical success, as demonstrated by Waterworld (1995) and Equilibrium (2002), which was essentially based on a merging of Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 (1984) (but instead of just burning books, it was the protagonists’ job to destroy all forms of art that aroused emotion). |
FOOTNOTES
[i] Audio Commentary, Fahrenheit 451 DVD, Universal Studios, 2003 [ii] Page 177 Fahrenheit 451 50th Anniversary edition, Harper-Collins, 2004 [iii] Page 4 Fahrenheit 451 50th Anniversary edition, Harper-Collins, 2004 [iv] Page 181 Fahrenheit 451 50th Anniversary edition, Harper-Collins, 2004 [v] BBC McCarthy http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A637841 [vi] BBC McCarthy http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A637841 [vii] BBC Vietnam http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A715024 [viii] A term introduced by poet Allen Ginsburg in October 1965, BBC Vietnam http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A715024 [ix] Making of Fahrenheit 451, Fahrenheit 451 DVD, Universal Studios, 2003 [x] Making of Fahrenheit 451, Fahrenheit 451 DVD, Universal Studios, 2003 [xi] Page 462, Oxford Guide to Film, Hill and Church Gibson, Oxford University Press, 1998 [xii] Making of Fahrenheit 451, Fahrenheit 451 DVD, Universal Studios, 2003 [xiii] Page 462, Oxford Guide to Film, Hill and Church Gibson, Oxford University Press, 1998 [xiv] Audio Commentary, Fahrenheit 451 DVD, Universal Studios, 2003 [xv] Poster 1 http://eu.movieposter.com/poster/b70-2247//Fahrenheit_451.html [xvi] Poster 2 http://eu.movieposter.com/poster/MPW-8747/Fahrenheit_451.html [xvii] Trailer 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctb4evq7l7Q (Link now expired) [xviii] Trailer 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cQ-yGCyjyM [xix] China http://www.web-and-flow.com/members/hhall/china/webquest.html (Link now expired) [xx] Page 845, A History of Narrative Film, David Cook, Norton Company, 2004 |
AFTERWORD
(Conclusion)
Julie Christie was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the BAFTA for her role in Fahrenheit 451, but beyond that the film received little recognition. Perhaps this was deserved, as technically it was unimpressive, and the story was not executed very well. Ironically the film fails to articulate its views very clearly, denouncing technology as a negative influence on society, and yet not showing a community without it to be much better, as the Book People seem as obsessed with reciting lines as the consumers of Montag’s previous world were with television.
(Conclusion)
Julie Christie was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the BAFTA for her role in Fahrenheit 451, but beyond that the film received little recognition. Perhaps this was deserved, as technically it was unimpressive, and the story was not executed very well. Ironically the film fails to articulate its views very clearly, denouncing technology as a negative influence on society, and yet not showing a community without it to be much better, as the Book People seem as obsessed with reciting lines as the consumers of Montag’s previous world were with television.
Before You Go...
Fahrenheit 451 may have been a mistep by a well respected cinematic legend, but can the French New Wave pioneer's adaptation of the Ray Bradbury dystopian novel ever be considered a hot take in the milieu of sci-fi classics? Our next article takes a heated look:
Looking Back At Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451
Also Worth Checking Out
Fahrenheit 451 may have been a mistep by a well respected cinematic legend, but can the French New Wave pioneer's adaptation of the Ray Bradbury dystopian novel ever be considered a hot take in the milieu of sci-fi classics? Our next article takes a heated look:
Looking Back At Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451
Also Worth Checking Out
- If you're in the mood for diving down a deep sci-fi rabbit hole (or should that be worm hole?) then take a look at our Extensive Exploration Of All 13 Star Trek Movies
- While on the subject of 1960s sci-fi, an exploration of the era's racial prejudice and sexism is examined in our article on The Planet Of The Apes And Mid 20th Century America
- The cold war was one of the primary focuses of science fiction and cinema in general during the 1960s and the rest of the 20th century, but how exactly did The Movies Deal With Fears Of Nuclear War?