My Goodreads Review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Orwell and Huxley may have better PR machines, but Fahrenheit 451 is easily the most prophetic novel I’ve read on the “dystopian stories for young dissidents” list.
Bradbury’s novel describes a world in which reading books, fireside chats over philosophy, and independent thinking have been replaced by full-sensory-immersion television, shallow regurgitation of pop culture tidbits, and a constant stream of government propaganda flowing from in-ear radio implants, respectively. Walking past the walls of televisions and advertisements at the airport today, I can’t help but wonder whether the original audience of this book took it as a recipe rather than a warning.
In the story, a massive international war is entirely ignored by citizens in favor of their precious soap operas and sporting events. Bradbury’s book poses the challenging question – is it better that the citizens be happy and distracted, or angry and engaged? The somewhat extreme stereotypes in the book don’t do this complex question justice, but in Bradbury’s defense, there’s a heck of a lot more writers and filmmakers contributing who seem to be (implicitly) pushing for the first answer than the second.
Given the release of Pixar’s (incredible) Wall-E and the oft-forgotten American troops in the Middle East, this book is not as popular right now as it should be.
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