HBO:Fahrenheit 451
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PussyGalore
Meow
Has anyone seen this yet? It will be interesting to see how they handle digital information. I mean, books are becoming a thing of the past so obviously there has to be some acknowledgement of digital sources of knowledge which are a hell of a lot easier to disseminate than printed paper products.
Um, just how are they going to be able to do this?
Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite scifi writers, and I have read every book he has written. You have obviously read it yourself, so how the hell are they even going to do this story in the 21st century? These days, when you say "book" to anyone born 1980 or later, it will be assumed that they are talking about ebooks. This story literally revolved around actual paper BOOKS. You can't burn digital books, and the Firemen...what will they call them? The context would be completely changed.This is an example of a story which should not have been chosen to remake/reboot/re-imagine. The CONTEXTS are very very important in this story. I watched the trailer, and it seems to center around the destruction of physical books like the original story, but in the 21st century, SO WHAT if "there wont be any books around" for kids to read later? It would be nice, for artistic and visceral experiences, but the context of the original story presupposed that the destruction of books was a result of draconian censorship. Today, it would just be seen as progress to dump physical books. Every book ever written has been committed to digital form. I dunno if I want to bother seeing this....
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PussyGalore
Meow
Um, just how are they going to be able to do this?
This is an example of a story which should not have been chosen to remake/reboot/re-imagine. The CONTEXTS are very very important in this story. I watched the trailer, and it seems to center around the destruction of physical books like the original story, but in the 21st century, SO WHAT if "there wont be any books around" for kids to read later? It would be nice, for artistic and visceral experiences, but the context of the original story presupposed that the destruction of books was a result of draconian censorship. Today, it would just be seen as progress to dump physical books. Every book ever written has been committed to digital form. I dunno if I want to bother seeing this....
Exactly this.^
The premise of this story is no longer valid in our contemporary context. Don't get me wrong, it was a great story for its time, but the premise simply doesn't jibe with how information is disseminated to the masses nowadays. So unless they're setting this show back in an earlier era before the Internet and home computers it will be pointless.
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Precisely. They can definitely take the core premise of the story (state-sponsored censorship by force) and apply it to 21st century contexts for a new story, but then it would not be Fahrenheit 451. The very title of Fahrenheit 451 implies the burning of something. I think they just want to sponge off the Bradbury name and the title of his book.
PussyGalore
Meow
Exactly, 451F is the temperature that paper burns at. It's a direct reference to the burning of books. But it means nothing in regards to digital media. The two are completely different animals. Book burning in today's world is a pointless anachronism that younger people simply don't understand and/or care about.
Gate_Boarder
Well Known GateFan
If I remember the book/ movie correctly wasn't every house sealed in with asbestos. Instead of burning books the fire department is sent out to ascertain whether you should have the asbestos removed - at a very cheap price indeed, by the local fire department.
The best scene of the movie was when, old one of course, was when Montague is seen walking around reciting the whole book, or someone else possibly, that he had memorized. I can barely remember how the Humpty Dumpty poem goes.
The best scene of the movie was when, old one of course, was when Montague is seen walking around reciting the whole book, or someone else possibly, that he had memorized. I can barely remember how the Humpty Dumpty poem goes.
The movie is actually very close to the book, and the poem is in both. Its called "Dover Beach" and its written by Matthew Arnold (1851). The book was much darker than the movie. I have not read that book in years.
Time to get an ebook version. No burning!BTW (Trivia): The first run of books in 1953 included 200 special asbestos bound versions. Yes, the binding was actual asbestos (get it? fireproof).
Gate_Boarder
Well Known GateFan
The movie is actually very close to the book, and the poem is in both. Its called "Dover Beach" and its written by Matthew Arnold (1851). The book was much darker than the movie. I have not read that book in years.
BTW (Trivia): The first run of books in 1953 included 200 special asbestos bound versions. Yes, the binding was actual asbestos (get it? fireproof).
What happens if a dog eats the cover of one of those books?
Wow, can't say I would be able to remember this poem either:
"Dover Beach"
By Matthew Arnold
The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.
Stanza 1 courtesy the "Poetry Foundation"
Let's see, "Humpty Dumpty" goes something like:
Humpty-Dumpty sat on his great wall,
throwing shit balls at us all,
Sorry that's all I got.
They won't even understand the story. And then those few who decide to read the book after seeing this HBO production will think "WTF?". I have rewatched this trailer a few times to get a taste of why they might have come up with and it makes no sense. In the trailer, we see computer holograms. We see video media literally taking up entire sides of buildings. Why would such a tech culture give two shits about physical books? Already in 2018, Millennials couldn't care less about them, much less understand the truly great ones. Why does this trailer make them out to be so precious? Why would an entire force of Firemen be maintained to go after and burn them? A tiny 64GB thumb drive could hold thousands of novels and several different versions of encyclopedias. A single 4TB hard drive could hold the entire Library of Congress. You could easily encode things with digital versions of books in innocuous things like piano strings, or on ROM chips already living in devices like microwave ovens and TV remotes, anything which has memory modules.
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Gate_Boarder
Well Known GateFan
In the movie at least everyone seemed to live vicariously through their TV. Visual arts would be the key of our day to catch our attention.
From the clip I have noticed that everyone appears equal, the same clothing as such, and nobody appears to like those morally elite snobs who read books instead of watching all that "surrealism". Does books equate with wealth and social snobbery, while a uniformed community of people equate with conformity.
In other words the common man watches Kim Kaddasian, while a certain segment of the community of man would rather watch the "War and Peace" movie.
Remember in the book "1984" there was a camera stationed on the TV capturing everyone's emotions, while in the "451" movie everyone watched the TV keeping the trouble makers away from the masses.
Don't forget in the movie the woman who had all the books did not have an antenna on her roof giving herself away.
YJ02
Well Known GateFan
a dearth of creativity leads to this. i'd be surprised if all the tptb's ever read the original or even watched the original film
YJ02
Well Known GateFan
but
a lot of us DO keep printed books. there are still many many libraries that keep books
i have no idea of this plot but it could be:
the digital media has all been 'edited' to match what the govt wants ppl to read or know, any 'harmful' stuff copied to digital from the original sources must be excsied
that could have been done on digital readers and downloads through some program update or whatever
like the 'memory hole' in 1984; burn all evidence down the memory hole and no one can ever dispute the new narrative
so, in this all remaining books must be destroyed so the source material cannot be found to be in conflict with the edited digital versions
(and anyone who believes that our govt's/ corporation have never considered doing something like this, is utterly naive)
i still wont watch it though, don't even have the HoBO anymore
a lot of us DO keep printed books. there are still many many libraries that keep books
i have no idea of this plot but it could be:
the digital media has all been 'edited' to match what the govt wants ppl to read or know, any 'harmful' stuff copied to digital from the original sources must be excsied
that could have been done on digital readers and downloads through some program update or whatever
like the 'memory hole' in 1984; burn all evidence down the memory hole and no one can ever dispute the new narrative
so, in this all remaining books must be destroyed so the source material cannot be found to be in conflict with the edited digital versions
(and anyone who believes that our govt's/ corporation have never considered doing something like this, is utterly naive)
i still wont watch it though, don't even have the HoBO anymore
PussyGalore
Meow
I read the book back in my early high school days so I might remember this wrong but I seem to recall Montag's wife constantly watching TV in a drugged-out state of mind. (Even back in 1953 it was apparent that television was becoming the opiate of the masses.)
Gate_Boarder
Well Known GateFan
That is exactly what I was trying to convey. Loved the scene in the movie with that huge LCD/ LED TV, where Julie Christie thought they were calling out her name and she becomes totally gob-smacked if that is what the expression conveys.
Lord Ba'al
Well Known GateFan
Liar! The book wasn't published until 1953, so how could you possibly have read it in your early high school days?!?! You're at least half a century off.
PussyGalore
Meow
I was describing my current persona. When you're one of the undead you have to reinvent yourself a couple times a century.
