Burn Baby Burn

451 Contributions and Ideas

My key contribution to our Fahrenheit 451 group was to suggest that we attempt to translate to the class the feeling of living in a world that did not rely on the use of the written word. Another suggestion was to attempt to emulate the tele-screens that dominate the book and film. I would have liked to have had all our questions, and our responses to our classmates answers, pre-recorded and played regardless of how the class answered. This may prove difficult to do considering the multitude of possible responses and topics that the book and film create. It may feel at times as if we are doing a skit rather than a college level presentation.
In the actual presentation aspect of our group, my contribution would be to introduce the main themes from the book and the film to the class. These main themes would consist of: censorship, control of knowledge, control through advertising, and the destruction of personal relationships. The censorship aspect is evident; that the book itself has been censored many times over the can only be considered ironic. The censorship enables the shadow government of Fahrenheit 451 to control the way people disseminate information, and allows them to control the amount of knowledge that the people can gain. There is also the absence of emotionally fulfilling interpersonal relationships that permeate throughout both the text and the film. By preventing the clandestine spreading of information as well as minimizing the interactions between people helps to create an easily pliable society. These two aspects make any chance of revolution nearly impossible.