Talk:Fahrenheit 451/Archive 2

Archive 1

Archive 2

Allusions and references in other works

The title of Bradbury's book has become a well-known byword amongst those who oppose censorship, in much the way George Orwell's 1984 or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World have.

As such, it has been alluded to many times, including in the ACLU's 1997 white paper Fahrenheit 451.2: Is Cyberspace Burning?.

Also in Michael Moore's 2004 film Fahrenheit 9/11. Bradbury objected to the latter's allusion to his work, claiming that Moore "stole my title and changed the numbers without ever asking me for permission."

The dystopic theatrical play Fahrenheit 56K is about freedom of speech and Internet in a fictional dictatorship.

Artist Micah Wright used the theme "Hand all books to your local fireman for safe disposal" overlaid on a 1940s fireman propaganda poster.

Hungarian poet György Faludy includes the lines in the opening stanza of his 1983 poem "Learn by Heart This Poem of Mine": "Learn by heart this poem of mine, / Books only last a little time, / And this one will be borrowed, scarred, [...] / Or slowly brown and self-combust, / When climbing Fahrenheit has got / To 451, for that's how hot / it will be when your town burns down. / Learn by heart this poem of mine."

The theme and plot of the movie Equilibrium, starring Christian Bale and Sean Bean, draws heavily from Fahrenheit 451, as well as from 1984, It Can't Happen Here, and Brave New World.

Ray Bradbury also alludes to himself in his book Let's All Kill Constance as the main character, a writer, thinks about writing a book about a "hero who smells of kerosene" and muses about the possibility of books being used to start fires in the future.

In a Japanese light novel, manga and anime series Toshokan Sensō (lit. "Library War"), a book referred to as "The Book of Prophecy" simply titled K505 was targeted for termination. This title alludes to Fahrenheit 451, as K505 can be read as 505 units of the Kelvin measurement of temperature that approximates 451 degrees Fahrenheit. Characters in the series' fictional, near-future setting also reference the book as being written "60 years ago" and how "a French director adapted it into a film."

An episode of the anime series R.O.D. the TV is entitled Fahrenheit 451 in which the British Library burns books in Jinbo-cho.

In the season three episode of The Simpsons entitled "Dog of Death", Homer Simpson throws a series of books on a fireplace during the course of the episode. One of these is Fahrenheit 451, in which the throwing of the book on the fire is a reference to the plotline of the book itself.

Also in an episode of The Simpsons, "They Saved Lisa's Brain", Lisa Simpson vents her frustration about her town's general disinterest in reading. As if in response to her frustration, Reverend Lovejoy pulls up in a Book-Mobile and asks Lisa for any recommendations. After suggesting anything by Jane Austen, the reverend pulls away only to reveal that he is actually driving a Book-Burning-Mobile and that the title was partially obscured by a bush.

Fahrenheit 451 was one of several books used in Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster's art installation "TH.2058" in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London in 2008.

American power metal band Steel Prophet's 1999 album Dark Hallucinations has five songs which recount the story. The songs are "Montag" (Chapter One), "Strange Encounter" (Chapter Two), "The Secret" (Chapter Three), "Betrayal" (Chapter Four), and "New Life" (Chapter Five).

The computer game StarCraft by Blizzard Entertainment has a flamethrower-wielding hero character named Gui Montag, a reference to the main character. This character, although not part of the official campaign, can be found using the official editor of the game. The video games System Shock, System Shock 2 and Deus Ex, all describing dystopian societies, reference the book by setting the first key code of the game to a variant of 451 (451, 45100 or 0451).

In the 1998 film Velvet Goldmine, a song entitled "The Ballad Of Maxwell Demon" contains the lyrics: "The boys from Quadrant 44 with their vicious metal hounds never come 'round here no more," a reference to the book's mechanical hound.

In the later part of Kathryn Lasky's Guardians of Ga'Hoole series, in response to a series of book burnings, futuristic anthropomorphic owls read damaged text written by an ancient scribe, "Ray Brad" (obviously an incomplete scripture of Ray Bradbury's name). The text describes outsiders met by Montag, who commit various works of literature to memory, and the society of owls does likewise, with the Legends of Ga'Hoole.

Two other of Bradbury's works also refer to the McClellan's. In "The Pedestrian", a man is arrested because he is walking. This matches with Clarisse's story of her uncle getting arrested for simply walking. Also in "There Will Come Soft Rains", the previous owner of the house was called Mrs. McClellan.

The California Penal Code section for arson is Section 451.

New film adaptation

In July 1994, a new film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 began development with the studio Warner Bros. and actor Mel Gibson, who planned to star in the lead role. Scripts were written by Bradbury, Tony Puryear, and Terry Hayes. With the project estimated to be expensive and Gibson believing himself too old to portray the film's protagonist Guy Montag, the actor decided in 1997 to instead direct the film. By 1999, he had planned to begin filming with actor Tom Cruise in the lead role, but Gibson was forced to postpone due to Cruise's unavailability. Actor Brad Pitt was also approached for the lead role, but a deal was never made. According to Gibson, there was difficulty in finding a script that would be appropriate for the film, and that with the advent of computers, the concept of book-burning in a futuristic period may no longer work.

In February 2001, the project was revived as director Frank Darabont entered negotiations with Warner Bros. to rewrite Terry Hayes's script and direct the film. Gibson was confirmed to be involved only as a producer, and Darabont planned to complete the script by the end of 2002. In July 2004, Darabont said that he had completed the script and hoped to begin filming Fahrenheit 451 after completing a script for Mission: Impossible III. Darabont did not begin Fahrenheit 451 immediately, instead going on to direct The Mist. The director said in November 2006 that he would do long-term preparation work for Fahrenheit 451 while filming The Mist and hoped that he would begin filming after The Mist was completed.

In August 2007, Darabont expressed his intent to film Fahrenheit 451 in the summer of 2008, and that he would place the story's setting in an "intentionally nebulous" future, approximately 50 years from the contemporary period. Darabont planned to keep certain elements from the book, such as the mechanical hound, in the film. The director did not comment on rumors of Tom Hanks as Guy Montag. The director said that the protagonist had been cast and would be announced soon. The following November, the director confirmed Hanks's involvement with the film and described the actor to be "the perfect embodiment of the regular guy". In March 2008, Hanks withdrew from the film, citing prior commitments as the reason. Darabont is now looking for a new lead, explaining the difficulty, "It needs to be somebody like Hanks who has the ability to trigger a greenlight but is also the right guy for the part. It's a narrow target. It's a short list of people."

Godlight Theatre Company

In 2006, Godlight Theatre Company presented the New York Premiere adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" a play by Ray Bradbury based on the novel of the same name at 59E59 Theaters and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (2005).

I removed this because 1) it is unsourced, and 2) it doesn't make any sense if you read it closely. Viriditas (talk) 06:46, 10 September 2011 (UTC)

Reception section

The reception section is heavily biased against the book based on an unrepresentative sample of reviews. In fact, a review of the literature shows this is considered Bradbury's best novel and it has received mostly positive, if not glowing reviews. Because of NPOV, the reception section will be changed to reflect this status and to eliminate the undue weight given to minority negative reviews. Viriditas (talk) 08:27, 10 September 2011 (UTC)