Analyzing Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451'
Ashley ****
Mrs. Ramp
English I
31 January 2013 A book can be a person’s best friend or worst enemy. It can take the reader on an adventure or bore the reader to tears. Many people will read and get lost in a great book before they see the movie Hollywood has made out of it. Some will think the film ruined the book, while others like the movie better. Most writers have a bright imagination, with a specific message in mind for the reader. Sometimes Hollywood gets the writer’s message across in the movie, and sometimes it leaves the audience clueless. In Ray Bradbury’s science-fiction novel Fahrenheit 451, the general message is that technology is taking over the world, and people are living like robots. Ray Bradbury wrote this book in
the late 1940s about things which are common place to us now, just not to his society back then. When the movie was made based on his book, they did an overall great job of keeping the same message Ray Bradbury intended. According to Ray Bradbury, “The movie was a mixed blessing. It didn’t follow the novel as completely as it should have. It’s a good movie; it has a wonderful ending…” When comparing a novel to the movie that was made based on it, almost every time you will notice the movie has been changed (sometimes more than others). The film Fahrenheit 451 has many clear differences from the book. For example, the characters of Faber and the Mechanical Hound are left out of the movie. Also, Clarisse dies in the novel, but lives in the movie. Despite these slight differences between the novel and the film, the message remains the same: as life goes on and new technology is invented, one should never let the joy of reading a good book or spending time with loved ones become replaced by watching TV and turning us into robots without minds of our own. When Ray Bradbury wrote this novel, it was almost like he was looking into the future. When Hollywood turned his book into a movie they also gave us a realistic look into the future. Both the book and the movie’s enduring recognition shows that we realize if we’re not careful, this work of fiction could very easily become fact. Both the movie and the novel forewarned the viewer/reader of this fact.
Mrs. Ramp
English I
31 January 2013 A book can be a person’s best friend or worst enemy. It can take the reader on an adventure or bore the reader to tears. Many people will read and get lost in a great book before they see the movie Hollywood has made out of it. Some will think the film ruined the book, while others like the movie better. Most writers have a bright imagination, with a specific message in mind for the reader. Sometimes Hollywood gets the writer’s message across in the movie, and sometimes it leaves the audience clueless. In Ray Bradbury’s science-fiction novel Fahrenheit 451, the general message is that technology is taking over the world, and people are living like robots. Ray Bradbury wrote this book in
the late 1940s about things which are common place to us now, just not to his society back then. When the movie was made based on his book, they did an overall great job of keeping the same message Ray Bradbury intended. According to Ray Bradbury, “The movie was a mixed blessing. It didn’t follow the novel as completely as it should have. It’s a good movie; it has a wonderful ending…” When comparing a novel to the movie that was made based on it, almost every time you will notice the movie has been changed (sometimes more than others). The film Fahrenheit 451 has many clear differences from the book. For example, the characters of Faber and the Mechanical Hound are left out of the movie. Also, Clarisse dies in the novel, but lives in the movie. Despite these slight differences between the novel and the film, the message remains the same: as life goes on and new technology is invented, one should never let the joy of reading a good book or spending time with loved ones become replaced by watching TV and turning us into robots without minds of our own. When Ray Bradbury wrote this novel, it was almost like he was looking into the future. When Hollywood turned his book into a movie they also gave us a realistic look into the future. Both the book and the movie’s enduring recognition shows that we realize if we’re not careful, this work of fiction could very easily become fact. Both the movie and the novel forewarned the viewer/reader of this fact.