Text/Wang Xu
(Film information: Fahrenheit 451, directed by Ramin Bahani, written by Amir Nadri, starring: Michael Bhavan. B. Jordan, Michael Shannon, Sophia Bautra, USA, 2018)
Although the film "Fahrenheit 451" adds some of the producers' perceptions and reflections on the real world compared with the novel of the same name, its uncompromising and unquenchable belief is still in line with the spirit of the original work, so that the film always flutters with the light of hope and the belief and pursuit of the earth.
In the future world, the symbols of national power are no longer the army and the police, and firefighters have replaced them. Firefighters are on the streets, and firefighters are arresting suspects at the border. Firefighters, as a symbol of the emerging power of the nation, also take on the task of educating and demonstrating the new generation in school classrooms. This is the collective will of the world of the future, characterized by the prohibition of knowledge, through the indoctrination of children to achieve the official emphasis on social harmony.
The prohibition of knowledge lies in the redefinition of books. In a futuristic world, as the film shows, having a pen and paper is a felony, Kafka is portrayed as a pornographic writer, cursed and spurned. But both paper and pen as writing instruments and Kafkas as writers are the profiles that build the tangible thing of the book. Or, conversely, it can be understood as a medium of books carrying the thoughts and wisdom of the morning star since the dawn of human society.
These thick spiritual treasures disappeared from the future world under the firefighters' flamethrowers. This is the "anti-intellectual" theme expressed in the film, and it is also a living horror picture of the future. In this horrific landscape, the presentation and indoctrination of children fill in the missing link of the original novel. Bradbury's novel overlooks the reality that the future world is officially concerned, and that maintaining a reign of terror also requires intergenerational succession to be taken into account in his own measures of governance. Filmmakers are fully aware of this, so in the classroom with firefighters as lecturers, the two-pronged teaching method of demonstration and indoctrination in the film is exactly what the official advocates start from the doll, so as to obtain a true portrayal of the social governance concept of "long-term peace and stability".
The lecture of "demonstration as a supplement, indoctrination as the mainstay" was taught by Captain Beatty, and achieved the expected effect of enthusiasm. The children remembered that books were enemy preaching, which made Montag's live book-burning demonstration a thunderous roar. In this wave of childish children's voices, the official will is once again emphasized. It is not that reading is not allowed, but that the officially approved bibliography is to be read. The Bible, which brings about spiritual refuge and peace; To the Lighthouse, to find inner harmony; The Moby Dick, to be a conqueror and fight bravely against the enemies of this world, the "eels."
"Eel", the title of the "bookworm" in the novel in the movie. The term is an official derogatory reference to minorities. If the "bookworm" also embodies self-respect, "eel" is the official demeaning of the personality of the minority group that has deleted its identity into another book. These so-called "eels" became the most feared people in the world at that time because they stuck to their own unquenchable beliefs and read the "happiness first" living principles prevalent in the era of anti-algorithms. Because the "eels" have the key to revealing the truth. The older of them remember that in the past, when a reporter wrote a report, after some investigation, there was an objective and fair text. Today, algorithmic headlines replace human thinking, making it easy. Under the clamor of "happiness is truth", life has lost its sense of ritual in the past. The indispensable dependence on artificial intelligence makes life flat and single, which makes the pursuit of happiness a model of life guidelines through intensive propaganda means to achieve a deeply rooted acceptance effect.
Humans immersed in happiness do not know that there is an invisible hand behind the reliability of artificial intelligence. Yu Kexi, the "video wall" in the film, is the product of highly intelligent technology. It can monitor everyone's vital signs at all times and predict human behavior consciousness. In addition to these known public operating modes, there are also hidden patterns that are not known. When humans issue "dormant" instructions to them, Yuksi, who is in a disconnected state, can still take human every move into his eyes. Montag triggers the alarm of the intelligent system by reading the books he stole home from the fire while Yuksi is asleep, a plot that suggests that humanity is dependent on artificial intelligence and in turn becomes a prisoner under its control for life.
As a prisoner, or to run for freedom, firefighter Montag chose the latter. In the hiding place of the "eels", Montag is shocked by the individuals supported by faith, which triggers the character's deep thinking. Reflection is reflected in the revelation of the truth about the future world led by the plot of the film's setting. In that futuristic world, companies created technology, and then they created powerful governments. In other words, the government and the corporation merge into one, forming an omnipresent and invisible official. This official uses firefighters as courts, judges, and law enforcers who combine trials and punishments, with the assistance of Yuksi, to carry out a devastating cleansing of human knowledge and culture. Clearing away the human capacity to think and deny, he lives like a prisoner under the slogan of "happiness is supreme."
This invisible shackle made Montag turn into a tangible object in the firefighter's mind after witnessing an old woman burning with books, shaking his understanding of the "supremacy of happiness". This is where doubt arises. There is doubt, there is questioning, and there is closeness to a grand world constructed by books. In the process of getting close to the books, Montag knew that the "eels" were hiding the beautiful past that the authorities feared. This past is hidden in the minds of the "eels", who each write down a book and use their memories to load the guardianship of knowledge. The Song of Solomon, the Manuscript of the Vatican, and Anna Karenina have been preserved by the memories of the "eels" and the civilization has continued. However, the effort to perpetuate civilization also has irreparable regrets. The old woman who burned the book is "The Grapes of Wrath", and her death, mankind has lost the book forever, and has lost the spirit of mutual help and the courage to fight that can be learned from the book.
Courage, for Montag, is not the personal power of the former firefighters at the end of the film to help the "eels" break through the fire net and run to the light, it is an awakening, a choice for freedom. Whether it is the real world, or the science fiction world, whether it is the present or the future, freedom is always a belief, always an unhoodwinked truth worth pursuing.
(End of full text.) Made on September 21, 2021)
——The views in the article belong to the author himself, I am responsible for the text, and have nothing to do with the publishing platform (including various websites, forums, self-media, public accounts), reprinted print media, and others.
About the author: Wang Xu. His pen names include Wang Muyu, Xu Muyu, Xu Muyu's Bookcase, and Wang Xu 326, who settled in Chongqing.