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Introduction to Fahrenheit 451

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Title: Introduction to Fahrenheit 451


1
Introduction to Fahrenheit 451
  • By Ray Bradbury

2
DYSTOPIA
  • The future through the eyes of fiction writers

3
What is a dystopia?
  • Dys difficult, bad
  • Topia place
  • In practical terms, a dystopia is a vision of the
    future that is bleak or dismal. It is also
    usually a cautionary tale, a story that warns us
    what could happen if certain trends continue.

4
Dystopian vs. Utopian Literature
  • Utopian literature describes an ideal imaginary
    world. The term comes from Thomas Mores Latin
    work Utopia, written in 1516.
  • Dystopian literature paints the opposite of the
    ideal world, a place that is highly unpleasant.

5
What should be private and what should be public?
  • One of the central questions of most dystopias is
    how much power a government should have on its
    citizens, and on what results when people in
    power abuse it or when the government becomes too
    powerful.

6
Some of the most famous dystopias
  • 1984 - George Orwells grim vision of Big Brother
    and ultimate government control.
  • Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradburys vision of a world
    where books and ideas are dangerous, and firemen
    burn books instead of putting out fires.
  • Brave New World - Aldous Huxleys vision of a
    world where genetics are manipulated and all
    people stay within their own class. The
    government is your parent!
  • A Clockwork Orange - Stanley Kubricks film about
    the ultimate acceptance of violence in a society.
  • The Island - a film where clones are farmed as
    spare parts for
  • real citizens.
  • V for Vendetta - a film where the government has
    surpressed all dissent and controls all aspects
    of peoples lives.

7
Common elements
  • Over-controlling government
  • A specific group that is outcast or oppressed
  • At least one individual who questions the system
  • An eventual attempt to revolt or overthrow the
    government

8
What happens when government has no checks and
balances? When one person has all the power?
When rights are taken away for the purpose of
serving the greater good ?
9
Historical Context
  • Written in the 1950s
  • World War II (1939-1945) had just ended the US
    had dropped the first atomic bombs on the
    Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  • Bradbury was influenced by the book burnings of
    the Nazi regime in Germany during the 1930s
  • Political repression and dictatorship in Soviet
    Union and fascist Spain even after World War II
    when books were banned and intellectuals
    persecuted.

10
  • By 1949, communism had spread to Eastern Europe
    and China
  • After World War II, Europe US versus Soviet
    Union in COLD WAR. The threat of nuclear war
    increased.
  • By mid-1950s, nearly 60 of Americans were
    members of the middle class
  • More to buy.
  • Consumerism Success

11
  • The electronics industry became the 5th largest
    industry. Television had a widespread impact in
    American homes
  • The US became an automobile culture in the
    1950s.
  • The increase in prosperity after the war led to
    an increased passivity and conformity. Jobs were
    plentiful and the common adage of the time period
    was follow orders, you will succeed. (ie.
    Montag at beginning).

12
  • Published during McCarthyism era
  • Sen. Joseph McCarthys hearings which
    investigated spread of communism through
    government infiltrators led to an atmosphere of
    fear and distrust in the US.
  • In the early years of filmmaking, censorship was
    allowed on the grounds that movies were
    entertainment and not an expression of free
    speech.
  • Sen. McCarthys hearings into the political
    background of artists led to the blackballing
    of several prominent Hollywood writers during the
    1950s

13
  • In an essay in 1953, Bradbury commented
  • Some nights, when the wind is right, the future
    smells of kerosene.

14
  • In 1979, Bradbury discovered that his editors
    had censored language in 75 separate sections of
    Fahrenheit 451 without his knowledge or consent.
  • Students, reading the novel which, after all,
    deals with censorship and book-burning in the
    future, wrote to tell me of this exquisite irony.

15
Now that youve seen Future Fright, write a
150-word paragraph response to the movie.
Discuss any thoughts or feelings it brings up,
and also consider how it may relate to any
current events that you are aware of.
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