"Fahrenheit 451 Degrees" was once adapted into a film by Truffaut in 1966, and was again adapted into a movie by HBO in 2018, but HBO's film as a whole was not very successful, but many shots in the early stage of the film are very representative and contemporary, this article is more to explore the worldview structure, philosophical speculation and realistic value in the book, however, the plot of the 2018 version of the film has changed the original work greatly, and the later plot narrative is poor, so, The accompanying pictures mostly use specific screenshots of the 2018 version of the movie to assist in expression.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line">Fahrenheit 451</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > 451 degrees Fahrenheit</h1>
451 Degrees Fahrenheit is a dystopian novel by American writer Ray Brabbury, published in 1953. The story tells a near-future world that suppresses freedom, prohibits people from reading and owning books, and firemen puns on the book, and the world described in the book is not a firefighter, but a book burner. The protagonist of the text, Guy Montag, is a firefighter in charge of burning books. 451 degrees Fahrenheit (233 degrees Celsius) is the flash point given by Ray Brabley on paper. In fact, different paper flash points are different, generally between 440 degrees Fahrenheit and 470 degrees Fahrenheit.
451 Degrees Fahrenheit was rewritten from the novella "The Firemen" published in 1951 and published in the February issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. The film of the same name, directed by François Truffaut, was released in 1966. Another film of the same name, which premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, is an updated version of the 1966 version, directed by Michael Scott. Starring B. Jordan and Michael Shannon. In addition, BBC Radio 4 also produced two radio dramas based on this novel that were faithful to the original.
The Fireman by Ray Bradbury
People have always understood the book differently, but it is mainly believed that the book focuses on the role of book burning in suppressing ideas in history. Still, original author Ray Brabury emphasizes that the novel is not intended to focus on censorship, but on the threat of television to human reading habits. The book also provides insightful accounts of the relationship between people and books, the changes that technology and entertainment have brought to human life, and how the government and the media have joined forces to enhance social control. In fact, the gap between the technological development of the era in which the author wrote is very large from the current level, but the world conceived in it has a strong mapping to today's society, so the book's mapping to today's society is of great prophetic significance, which is why HBO started film production again.
Poster of Fahrenheit 451
Discussions on 451 Degrees Fahrenheit often focus on state-based censorship. Apparently, when Brabley wrote the novel, it was McCarthy's time, and he was worried about censorship in the United States. In a radio interview in 1956, Blaberley said, "I was writing the book worried about this country, about what happened four years ago. Many people are afraid of their own shadow; books are threatened to be burned. At that time, many books were taken off the shelves. Of course, things have changed a lot in four years. Quite a few have returned to a very healthy direction. But at the time I wanted to write stories about what would happen to the country if we went down this path without restraint. All thoughts stagnate, the dragon devours its own tail, and we disappear into prison, destroyed by our own actions. ”
I wrote this book at a timewhen I was worried about the way things were going in this country four yearsago. Too many people were afraid of their shadows; there was a threat of bookburning. Many of the books were being taken off the shelves at that time. Andof course, things have changed a lot in four years. Things are going back in avery healthy direction. But at the time I wanted to do some sort of story whereI could comment on what would happen to a country if we let ourselves go toofar in this direction, where then all thinking stops, and the dragon swallowshis tail, and we sort of vanish into a limbo and we destroy ourselves by thissort of action.
Over time, Bleberley tended to downplay censorship. Instead, he said the real message of 451 Degrees Fahrenheit was that an anti-intellectual society was surrounded by the mass media and a handful of book interests. In the late fifties, Brabriel recalled: "In writing the short story 'Fahrenheit 451 Degrees', I thought I was describing what would happen in the next forty or fifty years. But just a few weeks ago, I met a couple walking their dogs in Beverly Hills. I stopped and looked at them, completely shocked. The lady was holding a radio the size of a small cigarette box, and the antenna was shaking. The end of this jumping copper wire was connected to an elaborate cone, tucked into her ears. This is her, and it is clear that for men and dogs, she is listening to distant voices, whispers and soap operas, and so she sleepwalks, led around by her husband, who is probably equally absent-minded. This is not writing fiction. ”
In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451, I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife passed me, walking their dog. I stood staring after them, absolutely stunned. The woman held in one hand a small cigarette-package-sized radio, its antenna quivering. From this sprang tiny copper wires which ended in a dainty cone plugged into her right ear. There she was, oblivious to man and dog, listening to far winds and whispers and soap-opera cries, sleep-walking, helped up and down curbs by a husband who might just as well not have been there. This was not fiction.
The story resembles Mundley's "shell ear thimble" (a type of headphone), which became a barrier between her and Montag. In a 2007 interview, Brabbley said that people misunderstood his work, and that "451 Degrees Fahrenheit" conveyed that mass media such as television sets had stifled literary reading. For a few, he wrote at the end of 1979: "There is more than one way to burn books. The world is full of people who light matches. Every minority human rights person, maybe a Baptist/ a commentator, an Irishman/ an Italian/ an eighty- or ninety-year-old man/ a Zen Buddhist/a Zionist/Seventh-day Adventist member/a female liberal/Republican/Matshin Society member/a quartet evangelist feels the need, the right, the obligation to pour kerosene and light the fuse... In my novel 451 Degrees Fahrenheit, Fire Captain Bidi describes how books are first burned by a small number of people, each tearing a page or paragraph from the book until the day comes when the book is emptied, thoughts stagnate, and the library is completely closed. Six weeks ago, I discovered that during these years, some editors in the small room of the Barantan Publishing House had censored the 75 paragraphs of the book little by little for fear of eroding the youth. Students who read fiction will eventually deal with censorship and book burning in the future, and they write to tell me about this ingenious irony. A new editor at Barantan, Judy Lynn Dray, republished the book this summer, putting all the "damn" and "living hell" back in place. ”
There is more than one way toburn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. Every minority, be it Baptist / Unitarian, Irish/Italian / Octogenarian / ZenBuddhist, Zionist/Seventh-day Adventist, Women's Lib / Republican, Mattachine / Four Square Gospel feels it hasthe will, the right, the duty to douse the kerosene, light the fuse. [...] Fire-Captain Beatty, in my novel Fahrenheit 451, described how the books were burned first by minorities,each ripping a page or a paragraph from this book, then that, until the daycame when the books were empty and the minds shut and the libraries closedforever. [...] Only six weeks ago, I discovered that, over the years, somecubby-hole editors at Ballantine Books, fearful of contaminating the young,had, bit by bit, censored some seventy-five separate sections from the novel. Students, reading the novel, which, after all, deals with censorship andbook-burning in the future, wrote to tell me of this exquisite irony. Judy-Lynndel Rey, one of the new Ballantine editors, is having the entirebook reset and republished this summer with all the damns and hells back inplace.
As for the censorship system of book burning, Brabley pointed out that it is the product of two major factors, and captain Beatty and Montag's dialogue about the history of firefighters is consistent. According to Brabeley, it was the people, not the government, who became the criminals in Fahrenheit 451. In any case, the role of censorship, whether state-based or otherwise, is the most frequently spoken theme in the novel. In addition to dealing with censorship, other themes are mentioned in the novel. The two main themes are opposition to conformity and the use of technology and mass media to control individuals. Blaberley explored how governments could use the mass media to influence society and suppress individuals by burning books. Both Bidty and Faber point out that the American people should be blamed. Since they are led to pursue "pure pleasure" emotions, books that may bring other "negative emotions" must be suppressed. Bidty pointed out that all living beings come from inequality, and the education brought about by books itself exacerbates this inequality, and eliminating reading can eliminate this inequality of the day after tomorrow, and Faber pointed out that the Laziness and Sinking of the American people simply stopped reading. He noticed that book burning itself became part of public entertainment, which in the book was conceived as a concept similar to modern webcasting. This innuendo is extremely acute in modern society. 451 Degrees Fahrenheit is set in an unknown city (possibly the Midwest) at an unknown time after 1960. The novel is divided into three parts: "The Stove and the Salamander", "The Filter and the Sand", and "The Fire".
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line">‘ Stove and Salamanders ’</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > "stove and salamander"</h1>
Guy Montag was a "firefighter" tasked with burning banned books. One fall night, when he came home from work, he met a new neighbor: Clarissa McCrae, a young girl. McLeeland's free-thinking and imaginative personality make Montag question his life and his unchanging view of happiness. The song of the salamander or the song of the firefighter defined in the 2018 drama set a big tone and introduced the background in the early stage, and an important plot twist in the early stage was the self-immolation of the old woman who collected books, which had a great shock to Montag's heart, and in this era, blind people could not understand why a living person should be buried with such a "dirty" thing as a book. Coupled with the intimate conversation between Beatty and Montag in the library, Montag came up with the idea of stealing a book and put it into practice. He told his indifferent wife about the old woman and said he wanted to resign. After resigning, the income may not guarantee that the two will have a big fight, and the wife tells Montag that all this is caused by the old woman's private collection of forbidden books, and it is all her own fault.
Grapes of Wrath
Burning Myself with Books
Beatty himself had read a great deal of books, but in order to "correct" Montag's dangerous ideas about books, there was a discussion in the film in which humans wanted to know their place in the universe and resorted to these novels about fictional characters, or worse, to philosophers, some who thought that "we have free will" and others who thought that "no, all our actions are predetermined." Each expresses its own opinions, but people are becoming more and more confused. More cruel and lonely than before. If you don't want others to be unhappy, don't give them two-sided problems and annoy them. Only give one side to the sexual problem, not give better.
People want to measure their place in the universe, so they turn to these novels about non-existent people, or worse, philosopher. 'We have free will.' or 'No, all of our actions are predetermined.' Each one says the opposite and a man comes away lost. Feeling more bestial and lonely than before. Now, if you don't want a person unhappy, you don't give them two sides of a question to worry about. Just give them one, better yet, none.
Thus, after several generations of "purification of thought", complete social thought control can finally be achieved, because in fact, within the government and people with reading authority can read and master the knowledge in the book, so that the centralization of power will become a matter of course without noticing after a few generations.
Beatty was Montag's captain, and he came to see how Montag was going. Learning of Montag's concerns, Bidty restates that books have lost their value, which is why firefighters are asked to burn books: In the new era, people use more advanced media, sports, and adapt to a faster pace of life. Books are to be ruthlessly cut to accommodate the increasingly ephemeral attention of the people, and it is only a few who protest to protect what is outdated in books. The government took advantage of this, and firefighters were hired to burn books for the public good. Bidty casually mentioned that all firefighters would curiously keep one or two copies private; as long as the banned book was burned within 24 hours, the whole family would be fine. After Beatty left, Montag told his wife that he had hidden many banned books over the course of a year, behind an air conditioner. The panicked wife threw the books into the incinerator; Montag stopped her and told the two of them to sit down and read the books and see where their value lay. If the books are meaningless, promise to burn them immediately and get back on track.
Some of the settings of the firefighters in the new 2018 drama are interesting, the story is based on the big tone of Happyness is Truth, and some hidden foreshadowing and points make the early setting of the film more interesting. From the positioning of the duty of the salamander song to the firefighters, to the establishment of the worldview and the conspiracy of the government, as well as the secret surge of rebellious ideas, they are clearly explained through the insertion of a few lines and a natural and smooth saliva song.
In the hot red valley, an army of ghosts marched. Salamander! Salamander! Light a heavy book. Salamander! Salamander! - The Firefighter's Song
Down the red-hot valley,lo! The phantom armies marching go. Salamander, ho! Salamander, ho! Ignite the tomes. Salamander, ho! Salamander, ho!
At your father's age, he must remember that once the job of a firefighter was to extinguish the fire.
- Benjamin Franklin, founder of the Fire Department, gave us the right to fire. Benjermin Franklin, the founder of our first fire department，gave the right to burn.
- When your generation is gone, your words and ideas will also die out.
If we are never allowed to turn our heads, how can we see anything other than the shadow of the fire in the cave? —Plato's Republic, Part VII: The Parable of the Cave
How can we see anything, but the fire shadows in the cave, if we're never allowed to move our heads?
The 2018 new drama also has a very good urban setting under the dystopian framework, people are immersed in the pictorial world, so that the slogan of Stay Vivid has also been designed in an pictorial form, but this still recognizable text, and the only text in the world that has been presented for a long time, is to make people wary of the text itself, which is a very good metaphor and irony.
Outside Room and Inside Room in Fahrenheit 451
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line">‘ Filter and Sand ’</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > "filter and sand"</h1>
While Montag and his wife were reading the forbidden book, the sound of smell came from the front door. Montag immediately realized that it was a robotic hound, and Mundley treated it like a normal pet dog. When the sound stopped, they continued the discussion. Montag lamented Mundley's suicide attempts, the martyrdom of the old woman, and the sound of bombers hovering overhead, who knew little about the coming war. He said perhaps the information in the book could help society escape catastrophe. However, the arrival of her friend Ann Bowles interrupted the conversation, and they decided to watch the living room wall at home that night (a large TV lined the living room wall). At the same time, Montag felt they needed to understand books. He remembered Faber, an English professor he met in the park a year earlier, when books were not contraband. He called Faber, but the frightened Faber immediately hung up. Montag did not give up, but took the Bible stolen from the old woman's house and took the subway to see Faber. Montag forced the terrified Faber to give him an analysis. Faber had to give Montag a homemade headset to remind him anytime, anywhere.
After Montag returned home, his wife was watching TV with Clara Phelps. Tired of the boring show, Montag turns off the phone and tries to have in-depth communication with his girlfriends, only to find that they have no interest in the impending war, the death of a friend, family, and politics. Bored, Montag took the poem, which surprised the girlfriends and alerted Faber. He read the poem "Dover Beach," which moved Mrs. Phelps to tears. At Faber's request, Montag burned the books. The girlfriend leaves, and the wife shuts herself in the toilet and swallows more sleeping pills. The library conversation, combined with the subsequent Bible-provoking conversation, made Montag realize that Beatty had a lot of book knowledge in mind, which was explained and hinted at in the multi-word close-up of Beatty in the 2018 film. The setting here makes the reader deeply aware of the deep contemplation of this dystopian world, a group of people who have not been exposed to books, when they are moved to tears when they first come into contact with great works, but they habitually believe that this emotion is contrary to happiness, and therefore absolutely not allowed and needed. This setting seems extreme but reasonable, but in fact, it is just the opposite, happiness is a contrasting emotion, and how can it not be a positive emotional preparation for emotions to sublimate to a higher level of happiness?
Symbol of Firemen
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line">' Fire '</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > "fire"</h1>
Beatty orders Montag to destroy his home, telling Montag that it was his own wife and friends who made a small report. Montag tried to talk to Mundley, but his wife hurried into the taxi and disappeared into the street. Montag obeyed the order and pointed a flamethrower at his home. Unfortunately, Beatty finds Montag's headphones and prepares to arrest Faber. Montag stopped Beatty with a flamethrower, burned him to death at the latter's taunts, and stunned his colleagues. While Montag was escaping, the robotic hounds of the fire station attacked him, injecting him with tranquilizer in his legs. Montag used a flamethrower to repel the robotic hound and managed to escape. Montag crossed the market and came to Faber's house. Faber urged him to flee to the countryside and to the exiled Hongru. Faber told Montag he would take an early train to St. Louis and would see you later. On television, they learned that the robotic hound had been dispatched and that helicopters were circling in pursuit of Montag. Montag left Faber's house and struggled to bring him to the creek. Montag went down the river to the countryside and met the exiles, led by a man named Granger. They each memorized a classic to be useful in the new society.
After learning the story of the exiles, people watched helplessly as bombers dropped nuclear bombs on the city, flattening it. Faber should have left in the morning by car, so Mudley and the others were probably already whimpering. The exiles were wounded, but they escaped the shock waves. The next morning, Granger told Montag and the crowd about the reincarnation of the phoenix. He added that phoenixes and humans necessarily have similarities and repeat mistakes. Granger emphasizes that human beings have some advantages, that is, they can remember their mistakes so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Granger quipped that many mirror factories could be built for self-examination. After the meal, people walked to the city and began to rebuild.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line">Typical Dystopia's Reality Mapping</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" > - the actual reflection of the typical dystopian -</h1>
While Ray Blaberley's Fahrenheit 451 may seem like an outdated science fiction novel, the novel still has relevance today. The novel focuses on the dangers that can arise from the interweaving of extreme censorship, technological progress, and empty social interactions. The central question in the novel is also the problem that today's society will face. Like the world depicted by Ray Brabley, a society defined by the characteristics of burning books is a society that frightens humanity today, for fear of losing our history, our curiosity and our humanity are beyond reality, but the world is also more likely to come. Fahrenheit 451 is thus a prophecy of the degradation of social morality, personal curiosity, and the productivity of civilization.
Ray Brabbley predicted that if the world completely eliminated books for some reason, humanity would gradually degenerate morality and cause chaos in the world. Firefighter Montag commented when asked about books: "Books might prevent us from making the same crazy mistakes over and over again!" ”。 In bombarding the city, the reclusive endorser leader Granger compares society to a phoenix, but unlike a phoenix, we learn from our mistakes, namely the quote from George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the mistakes of the past have been constantly condemned in the past for repeating mistakes." Similarly, Granger said of society, "We have a damn thing, Phoenix never has." We know the damn stupid thing we just did. “
Dystopia Concept by Petri Damstén
Ray Brabblee argues that when disaster strikes, humanity can endure, but without history, without real books, civilization cannot make progress. In fact, in Fahrenheit 451 Montag, the mind of this man transcended the lost crowd of thought and freedom and created a new morality. Living in an environment that condemns free speech, reinforces consistency, and repressive ideology, Montag is an ideal superman who is freed from the larger environment of group disorientation, aware of moral corruption, and wants to reform morality. Montag identifies with society, believing that it relies on machines and automated equipment to provide people with everything they need and a simple way of life. As Superman, Montag needs to eliminate contemporary values, which he plans to achieve by reshaping the image of firefighters in the public mind and weakening the influence of government, which will prompt society to think again. By doing so, Montag will create new morals that encourage society to read again. However, others may counter that books are not the only source of learning because experience is more valuable. Bidty also believes that "our civilization is so vast that our minorities will feel uneasy and agitated, and we cannot let it happen." Through his quotes, Bidty argues that books cause conflict and divide people. In the book defense, however, Harold Bloom agrees that book characters "memorize" books is key. Bloom, like other intellectuals of his time, believed that reading and memorizing books was the future of society. Writers like Shakespeare who write down indelible truths about life are worth remembering because knowing their works and knowing how to use them correctly keeps us humble and reminds us of our place in the world. Books cause conflict, however, constructive conflict makes people think and talk. Books are not only conducive to the exchange of ideas, they teach us how to live. Writers like Plato, Marcus Aurelius, and Homer tell us about life, and as Faber puts it, "Books show the details of life, and without books we don't think about how one should think about the life plato depicted, how one should deal with life like Marcus Aurelius, or how one should deal with a life like Schopenhauer's." "The information presented by the writer leads to external and internal conflicts, provokes heated discussions, and inspires causes for self-improvement. Not only do we reflect on major events such as history or politics, but at the same time we turn inward and reflect on ourselves, learning how to live from books. In 451 Degrees Fahrenheit people have finally built their own small societies that thrive on books, which is a clear indication that society can be built on the morality of books. To navigate the twists and turns of life, books provide historical knowledge so that we can be guided (or not guided) in the paths of others.
Some of the greatest qualities of human beings are their ability to ask questions, seek knowledge, and gain learning. However, if our greatest inventions, books, are removed from the set society, our curiosity is plundered, and our freedom is subtly limited, a future dystopian social form is naturally constructed. Nowadays, there is a growing number of intellectuals about cynicism, and like heroines, thinkers are considered eccentric, so many typical societies discourage independent thinking on a normal level. In addition, Professor Faber distinguishes leisure from contemplation and productivity laziness. According to these distinguishing characteristics, the time to reflect on oneself is important and should be higher than all other activities, since it is a fulfilling intellectual activity. A cynic like Beatty might protest, saying, "You ask why you're doing a lot of things, and if you stick with it, you end up feeling very unhappy," and for someone like him, "he's an intellectual... This is something that should be cursed."
Bidty spoke of the school's failures, noting that the school "crammed students with non-combustible data, filling them with what they thought were "facts" and absolutely "wonderful" messages." Commenting on education today, Beatty's introduction reflects a loss of confidence in learning, and in Orwellian or totalitarian societies, children are led to think in unison at a young age, molding them according to the will of the state, eliminating all free will, all curiosity. We have to question what we're learning and why we're doing what we're doing. A woman kills herself in the name of a book, which prompts Montag to question what his life is, leading him into his existential crisis. As Jean Paul Sartre put it, Montag's life is malicious, suggesting that Montag is not his true self because he is stifling his potential, setting boundaries for himself and preventing his curiosity from growing. All adults at Fahrenheit 451 are still in a sense dependent children, annihilating their curious nature because they don't have their own ideas, their only thoughts are those that are hard connected to their minds by school. Symbolically, Montag represents the enlightened prisoner of Plato's "Cave Fables", as soon as he opposes the shadow of the government, breaks free from the shackles of government integration control, realizes the horror of the loss of his freedom of daily life, and goes back to warn his fellow citizens that Montag is immediately targeted and even threatened with arrest in society. Socrates said that a life sentenced to death for wanting to ask questions is not worth living, that much of life is unknown, and that life will not move forward without our natural tendency to explore the nature of things.
Fahrenheit 451 depicts a world closer than it seems. In fact, it is so close that it is now becoming a reality in the 21st century. Maybe our concept of "social" has changed, as the heroine says: "It all depends on what your social means, doesn't it?" Socializing means talking to you about things like this... But I don't think bringing a bunch of people together and then not letting them talk isn't social, is it? "As Aristotle famously asserted, we are ζωονπολιτικον, i.e. animal societies, societies that aspire to connect with each other, and the Greeks call non-Greek people βαρβαρος, i.e., barbarians, because they cannot understand how they communicate and communicate how superficial things are. Today, it feels as if our society has returned to this barbaric, incomprehensible, superficial conversation.
In Blebery's work, human beings have been able to communicate as much as they want because of technological progress, but just as we are expanding the scope of our social connections, we are at the same time narrowing our real face-to-face interactions, in this seemingly utopian outlook, in fact, only one step away from the dystopian wasteland era, that is, extreme transformation, which is also the part of architecture and design that I want to explore and learn, arguably about the concept of existence and non-existence. It can also be said to be a translation of the architectural concept of yin and yang. With all the recent innovations of this century, Brabriel warns us not to forget the connection between human essences and not to forget our humanity. Ray Brabley's classic science fiction novel isn't just for entertainment, but, as Neil Gaiman puts it, a wake-up call to society. The shock of the novel does not come from the story itself, but from the potential for it to herald some of the dangers that are close at hand in modern technological society.