Georgia State University/ Perimeter College

MOVIE REPORT

DO NOT COPY

Fahrenheit 451

Former Student
SCOM 2050
Professor Canada
20 June 2019
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Fahrenheit 451

Introduction

In the 1953 Science/Dystopian/Political book turned 2018 Movie, Fahrenheit 451, the

director Ramin Bahrani perfectly sets the 2050 year, post-apocalyptic, Unites States setting. With

a main cast of roughly fifteen characters, the most well-known include: Michael B. Jordan,

Michael Shannon, and Sofia Boutilla. The media portrayed throughout this controversial film

ranges from the burning of books to the rise of the internet.

Plot Summary

Although there are many differences between the original book and the newly released

2018 Film, this paper will focus majority on the Film, which was updated by the director to more

so relate to todays audience. This film shows a powerful United States government that has

banned the ownership of original artworks, mostly books, in order to control the people.

Firefighters in this case seek out these works and burn them instantly, while the owning parties

are found guilty of treason and are forced to watch their homes burned to the ground. Although

there are those that still believe in the power of conserving such artwork, most of the masses

have become desensitized and rely heavily on mass media, specifically the internet, exactly as

the government intended. Throughout this Film, the main character, a Firefighter named Guy

Montag (Michael B. Jordan), comes to struggle with his carrier choice and the preservation of

the very works he once obliterated.

Public Relations

Promotion for the Fahrenheit 451 Film was done in a number of ways: movie reviews

(via internet, magazine articles, and newspaper), previews (via internet sites such as YouTube,

HuffPost, and HBO), movie posters (although they were only sold in stores and online because
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the movie did not come out in theatres), billboards, and online ads (on sites such as Amazon).

Regrettably, the effort and expense that was put into the promotion of this movie was thought to

be a majority waste by movie critics, with the film only totaling an average two and a half stars.

One critic, from The Atlantic, stated “And that’s the problem with Fahrenheit 451: It works so

ferociously to be relevant that it forgets to make since.”

Coincidently enough, one of Bahrani’s main goals with co directing this movie, was to

modernize it to include social media and internet, unlike the original book. He knew that a way

to show the desensitization of younger generations was to show a world that was so dependent

on mass media that very few would even question the burning of original artworks; ultimately

giving the government the power to control what the masses were exposed to and what they

questioned.

Connecting the Film to the Textbook

Books: This film was originally a book published in 1953 by Ray Bradbury, and is on the

list of most influential books from the year 1950 to the year 2000 for its stab at how media

reduces knowledge and the desire to read actual books. This book is considered a Mass Media

Paperback, meaning “books that are sold on racks in drugstores, supermarkets, and airports as

well as in bookstores” (Campbell, Pg.44). It has also been turned into an audio book and an

eBook. “More recently, audio books have been an area of strong growth in the publishing

industry, nearly doubling from around $300 million in 2012 to over $550 million in 2015”

(Campbell, Pg. 46).

Audio books are an easy way for readers to continue their books as they drive long

distances or simply work around the house. Regarding eBooks, many people today are using

things such as tablets, phones, or even laptops as more convenient, cost efficient, and space
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efficient ways of keeping up with their books. “The development of the eBook has been greatly

affected by two defining elements of the digital turn: convergence and speed, made possible by

advances in technology” (Campbell, Pg. 46).

Film: Fahrenheit 451, as a Film, was released in 2018 by the HBO network, and was not

played in theatres. This trend of network released movies, from places such as Netflix, HBO,

Starz, etcetera, is becoming more popular in todays day and age because, “As people invest in

wide screen TVs and sophisticated sound systems, home entertainment is getting bigger and

keeping pace with the movie theatre experience” (Campbell, Pg. 216). These types of movie

releases are instantly made available to the viewer and can be accessed from their TVs, laptops,

tablets, cell phones, and gaming systems.

Internet: Although not in the original book, the 2018 Film was updated to include the use

of the internet to make the movie more relatable to today’s audience. Throughout the Film, the

audience sees the amount of control the government is able to gain over the people because the

people are willingly and blindly following the information they are provided through their

electronic devices, via the internet. In present time, not in the Film, it is explained that “As the

internet has developed, it has focused more intently on media convergence: different types of

content (video, text, audio) created by all sorts of sources, corporations, nonprofit organizations)

coming together and accessed on a variety of devices (personal computers, smartphones,

tablets)”(Campbell, Pg.271-272). With the setting of the Film being around the year 2050, this

statement seems to hold true to the fictional story plot of Fahrenheit 451.

Rating

On a scale of 0-5 stars, I would have to rate this HBO Film a 3. As an original fan of the

book, the Film lacked the depth and content to truly explain why and how artworks have truly
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shaped our society. The acting, or lack thereof, by the main cast made it difficult to connect with

the message the Film was trying to convey. And, because the book was so in depth, the amount

of time allotted for the movie was not enough to fully explain the original works plot. As in

many “books turned film” situations, the book Fahrenheit 451 is a much better read than Film.

Conclusion

Thanks to the original Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, book, the awareness of internet

takeover and the desensitization of society due to technological advances has been made aware

to its audience. Although the internet can be a tool for knowledge, this work sets a clear example

of the many demises we as a society could face if we do not remain aware of the amount of trust

and power we place in the people who create the technology we use and the information they

allow us to see. We must remain vigilant and be willing to question advances as time continues.

Our power rests in the amount of power we are willingly to give those in positions of power.
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Works Cited

Campbell, Richard. “Media Essentials.” Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2018. Print.

“Fahrenheit 451.” Directed by Ramin Bahrani, performances by Michael B. Jordan, Michael

Shannon, and Sofia Boutilla, HBO, 2018.

Gilbert, Sophie. “Fahrenheit 451.” Rotten Tomatoes,

www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fahrenheit_451. Accessed 21 May 2018.