Fahrenheit 451, from HBO

[Shaka Zulu]

Michael B. Jordan as Guy Montag

Director Ramin Bahrani with stars Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon

Guy Montag's superior Beatty (Michael Shannon)

Montag (Jordan) contemplates what he does by looking at a match

Sophia Boutella as (presumably) the character played by Julie Christie in the 1966 movie adaptation

HBO has often been responsible for some of our most anticipated films of any given year (think Steven Soderbergh’s “Behind the Candelabra”), and Ramin Bahrani’s upcoming adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” fits the bill in 2018.

The film marks the second collaboration between the director and Michael Shannon after the actor earned rave reviews for his supporting turn in “99 Homes.” Michael B. Jordan plays the lead Montag, a young fireman in a dystopian future where media is an opiate and books are banned and burned. Montag battles his mentor Beatty (Shannon) in a fight to regain his humanity. Sophia Boutella and Lilly Singh co-star.

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Fahrenheit 451, from HBO

Apologies if this has already been posted.

 

[JD]

Looks interesting, can't judge it as an adaptation since I've never read the book.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I love the book, so I'm intrigued to see how this film will turn out. I love the cast, so that's a big step in the right direction.

Looks interesting, can't judge it as an adaptation since I've never read the book.

Go read it now!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I see that Keir Dullea is in it. Coolness!

I wonder what that "If you see something, say something" holo-ad is doing there, though. What good is an ad like that if nobody can read it?

 

[Ethros]

Awesome, I didn't even know this was happening. I studied this at school alongside Orwell's 1984 way back in 2001 when I was 16/17 and loved it so much. I always wondered why there'd never been another adaption after the 1966 version. Wasn't a Tom Cruise version in development hell for ages?



Edit- Speaking of 2001 and being 16, that was when I joined the TrekBBS. And I think this is actually my 10,000th post apparently. Haha, god I'm 33 now; over half my life later. And still checking and posting on it now & again Times flies kids!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Wasn't a Tom Cruise version in development hell for ages?

Yep. Mel Gibson was supposed to direct it. (And, IIRC, star in it as well, until Cruise's name was attached.)

 

[urbandefault]

It's been over 40 years since I read the book. Interested to see a modern take on it.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Captain Beatty mentions "the Internet of old" in the preview...will be interesting to see how F451 deals with the 'net and all it represents. I mean, how effective could it really be to burn books, when the Internet can still spread every word contained in them?

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Captain Beatty mentions "the Internet of old" in the preview...will be interesting to see how F451 deals with the 'net and all it represents. I mean, how effective could it really be to burn books, when the Internet can still spread every word contained in them?

Said Internet is probably a voice thing, just like how the credits of the 1966 movie were not shown, but spoken.

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[Mr. Laser Beam]

Said Internet is probably a voice thing

Yeah, in a society of illiterates, it would pretty much have to be...

 

[JD]

Do people not read anything at all in the book? I had assumed it was just books that were outlawed, while other types of reading were still around.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I thought that in the F451 universe, books had been banned for so long that most of society was indeed illiterate. There's just some stragglers that still know how to read and thus hoard books so they can practice the lost art.

I mean, isn't this why the F451 government banned books in the first place? So that the general population would forget how to read, and thus be more easily controlled?

 

[Skipper]

I thought that in the F451 universe, books had been banned for so long that most of society was indeed illiterate. There's just some stragglers that still know how to read and thus hoard books so they can practice the lost art.

I mean, isn't this why the F451 government banned books in the first place? So that the general population would forget how to read, and thus be more easily controlled?

No, in the novel people can still read (for example when the protagonist's wife reads a "script" to interact with the characters of a tv show).

Do people not read anything at all in the book? I had assumed it was just books that were outlawed, while other types of reading were still around.

Yep

She didn't look up from her script again. "Well, this is a play comes on the wall-towall circuit in ten minutes. They mailed me my part this morning. I sent in some boxtops.
They write the script with one part missing. It's a new idea. The home-maker,
that's me, is the missing part. When it comes time for the missing lines, they all look
at me out of the three walls and I say the lines: Here, for instance, the man says,
`What do you think of this whole idea, Helen?' And he looks at me sitting here centre stage, see? And I say, I say --" She paused and ran her finger under a line in the script. " `I think that's fine!' And then they go on with the play until he says, `Do you agree to that, Helen!' and I say, `I sure do!' Isn't that fun, Guy?"

Really, you can't have a functioning society when the majority of your population is illetterate. Even the most tyrannical governments always tried to have a high literacy rate.

 

[Gaith]

I also enjoyed the book back in high school, but this TV movie strikes me as pointless. The best thing about Bradbury's writing is his beautiful prose, which is inevitably lost on film, and there's a peculiar at best irony in making a movie out of a book championing the neccessitity of reading books. I doubt I'll be checking this out.

 

[theenglish]

I thought that in the F451 universe, books had been banned for so long that most of society was indeed illiterate. There's just some stragglers that still know how to read and thus hoard books so they can practice the lost art.

I mean, isn't this why the F451 government banned books in the first place? So that the general population would forget how to read, and thus be more easily controlled?

That's not quite the point of the book though. In the book, people democratically voted to outlaw books because they contained arguments and positions that were politically incorrect and offended people. When people found elements of books offensive those books were banned until pretty much all books were banned so nobody would be offended by something that was politically incorrect. Bradbury actually uses the term politically incorrect or something very similar to that term in his afterward to the book. I think that it is a very timely story to revisit.

 

[Skipper]

In the book, people democratically voted to outlaw books because they contained arguments and positions that were politically incorrect and offended people.

I believe that we can infer from the novel that technical books and similar still exist (Firemen themselves always carry a copy of their regulation with them). All the others are banned.

 

[Owain Taggart]

That's not quite the point of the book though. In the book, people democratically voted to outlaw books because they contained arguments and positions that were politically incorrect and offended people.

Yes, pretty much this. And I think there's a cause-and-effect to it. I'm sure there's a chunk of people who are illiterate, but most of the problems are through ignorance of not knowing any better. Government has an agenda and instead of taking chances, decide to burn all books as there might be novels containing thoughts and ideas conflicting with their agenda. Because why take chances on people reading 1984, right? Literature becomes sacred to the underground and those that don't have access to it are ignorant to outside knowledge, maybe become illiterate and tow the line. Knowledge is the new forbidden fruit.

 

[Gary7]

Clearly from the trailer, there's technology... so, there must be the Internet as well, right? Or do they excise that out of the story? If they do, then it's going to be difficult for a lot of people to relate to it. Maybe it's an Internet that is under lock down, fully government controlled so that content is thoroughly scrutinized and scrubbed. And thus, books become the only means of "alternative" content, what the government doesn't want people to see.

It could be good, especially if it highlights the pitfalls of an illiterate and gullible public... something we can all relate to in present times.

 

[Skipper]

A review:
Review: ‘Fahrenheit 451’ Has Fire and Fury but Sheds Little Light

The critique is passionate. But it feels incoherent, maybe in part because “Fahrenheit” has been adapted to a more fragmented era of media.

Mr. Bradbury’s midcentury warning was that TV was supplanting the culture of the word and the sort of complex thought it promoted. Then video culture further evolved into the cacophonous one of the internet.

I was wondering how they would adapt the book considering how much our society has changed since Bradbury. Not so well, it seems.

 

[scotpens]

I also enjoyed the book back in high school, but this TV movie strikes me as pointless. The best thing about Bradbury's writing is his beautiful prose, which is inevitably lost on film, and there's a peculiar at best irony in making a movie out of a book championing the necessity of reading books.

I agree that Bradbury's writing doesn't usually transition well to the screen. I still think the 1966 Fahrenheit 451 is the best film adaptation of anything he wrote -- very different from the novel, but true to the spirit if not the letter.

So, has anyone seen the new HBO version? Thumbs up or down? Most of the online reviews are a tad less than enthusiastic.