HBO Films has released the first teaser for Fahrenheit 451, its adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s seminal dystopia in which firemen protect people from the “dangerous” knowledge of books by burning every last tempting page. Black Panther’s Michael B. Jordan stars as fireman Guy Montag, at first a willing participant in a future where (according to the official synopsis from HBO) “media is an opiate, history is rewritten, and ‘firemen’ burn books,” yet who comes to question the system and his mentor Beatty (Michael Shannon). While the trailer is quite dramatic in the way we’ve become accustomed to in dystopian adaptations, it posits a fascinating future considering that this remake comes more than 60 years since the book’s publication.
While the future that Bradbury envisioned in 1953 is thematically very familiar to the underpinnings of the dystopian genre, he couldn’t have predicted all of the little touches in HBO’s trailer: the prevalence of surveillance cameras and constant feeling of being watched; people flailing through real-life wearing virtual reality goggles*; even the “SEE SOMETHING/SAY SOMETHING” hologram featuring a very patriotic bald eagle. It will be interesting to see how those adapting the classic book will draw from our current present to tell Bradbury’s enduring tale of censorship and the power, good and bad, of knowledge.
*That said, he was spot-on with Mildred’s “parlor wall family” of wall-sized television screens filled with rambling entertainers who feel almost like confidantes. We can’t wait to see how that concept takes on new weight in the context of social media, online interactions, and reality television.
Watch the teaser below:
Fahrenheit 451 will premiere sometime this May on HBO.
I really hope this ends up being a Pleasure to Watch.
“Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”
Truffaut was a leftist.
@3: Just a reminder to avoid name-calling and keep your comments civil and constructive. Feel free to repost with our community guidelines in mind: https://www.tor.com/moderation-policy/
To be clear, I would specifically point to Points #5 and 7 in the guidelines. Randomly insulting other people, whether they be other readers, commenters, or moderators, is a non-starter if you want to be involved in the discussions on this site.
At the very least, this introduction to the HBO film should have mentioned Truffault’s still classic adaptation of Bradbury’s book. I know it may be too early as we only have a trailer to go on but it would also be nice to have a comparison between Truffault’s version and this latter version. Obviously, the HBO version has the advantage of better effects, but Truffault’s 1966 version is closer chronologically to the time and political context in which Bradbury wrote the book.
Bradbury was a bit of a prophet the way he saw that mass media was and would replace the printed word. Truffault captured that beautifully and his film ending is beautifully poetic.
Put me in that room in the leading image for at least five hours. Please. So frustrating I can’t read any titles on the books spines. Trailer, what trailer?
While I quite liked both the book and the later movie, I could never just accept the premise.
On the one hand, we’re asked to believe that the Firemen have been burning books for so long and so effectively that the mere notion that Firemen once put out fires is seen as preposterous.
And then on the other hand, we’re asked to believe that the Firemen – after decades of burning books – are still being called out not just daily but in enough numbers to justify entire departments full of Firemen.
The premise just doesn’t work for me.
On the one hand, we’re asked to believe that the Firemen have been burning books for so long and so effectively that the mere notion that Firemen once put out fires is seen as preposterous.
And then on the other hand, we’re asked to believe that the Firemen – after decades of burning books – are still being called out not just daily but in enough numbers to justify entire departments full of Firemen.
This is a very good point and one that I never thought of. But some points that might save it:
– Are Firemen really being called out daily to burn books? Or is it more like weekly?
– How many Firemen are there, actually, per city? Do we know that Montag’s firehouse is one of (say) 200 covering whatever city it’s set in? Or is his the only one? In which case there might only be a few hundred Firemen in the country.
If you have only a hundred firehouses in the country, each with a couple of callouts a week, that doesn’t sound too improbable. There are a hundred million (more or less) residences and other buildings in the US where books could be hidden.
There’s just something unsettlingly ironic (and dare I say sad?) about this coming to the screen, on HBO no less.
I’m skeptical of the medium’s ability to be genuinely self-critical in the way the book demands, without simultaneously and unavoidably undermining itself.
To mix dystopian metaphors: Big Brother could put George Orwell’s picture on all its posters, but it would still be Big Brother.
But hey, $$$$!
“There’s just something unsettlingly ironic (and dare I say sad?) about this coming to the screen”
It’s been filmed before, in 1966. (And, I note with interest, it was turned into a computer game in 1984, with Bradbury doing a lot of the writing…) The 1966 film also took the interesting route of having Montag’s wife Linda (Mildred in the book) and his rebellious neighbour Clarisse played by the same actress…