Fahrenheit 451 & Theme Parks

Ray Bradbury's critique of modern society in Fahrenheit 451 is the work of a visionary. First published in 1950, Fahrenheit 451 is more relevant today than it was 50 years ago. Today's society is characterized by censorship, albeit a subtle form, in contrast to the government-sanctioned censorship in Bradbury's book. In the 1990s, a significant segment of the population relies on technology and/or the media to do its thinking. Ideas are censored in modern society because an environment has been created that is not conducive to depth of thought.

The censorship of creative thinking is pervasive in popular culture; an example is film. The current trend in the film industry is the blockbuster, e.g., Independence Day, Volcano, or Anaconda. These films seek to manipulate the audience by creating an artificial need for excitation. Audiences attend these films to experience heart-stopping, adrenaline-pumping excitement. In previous eras, this surge of adrenaline originated from the flight-or-fight response to real-life danger, such as war, natural disasters, or predators.

Today, the simulated, thrill-seeking experience is the norm: "[Fahrenheit 451] is a critique of mass culture, which it sees as oppressive with its constant stimulation of pseudo-needs" (Touponce, "Ray" 40). Although certain books likewise stimulate artificial thrill-seeking, the world of literature is replete with counter-balances absent in the world of film. This explains why books were banned in Br

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ain relates how it was society's fault, not the government's that books came to be banned. The motivation was simplification. Beatty describes 19th century humans as moving in slow motion as compared to their 20th century counterparts. As time progressed, everything had to be streamlined. The classics were condensed into one-page digests, then paragraphs, then sentences, until they finally disappeared altogether because no one had the time or patience to read them. According to Beatty, "Out of the nursery into the college and back to the nursery; there's your intellectual pattern for the past five centuries" (Bradbury 55). School curriculums were likewise shortened and school discipline grew lax. Since people no longer needed critical thinking skills on the job, these skills ceased being taught in schools. Condensation is a dominant feature of society in the 1990s. Books are put on audio tapes so that people are no longer required to read the written word. More magazines focus on celebrity gossip and trivia related to the reader's sexuality than on issues of substance. Political speeches are condensed into sound bites. A major publishing company not long ago announced its plan to condense the Bible, making it more

Category: Literature - F