An analysis of Francois Truffaut's 'Fahrenheit 451'

An analysis of Truffaut's 'Fahrenheit 451'

Here is a plot analysis of Fahrenheit 451 I want to share with everyone. Thanks. 

Fahrenheit 451 is a 1966 British film directed by Francois Truffaut who co-wrote the script with Jean-Louis Richard. In an unspecified dystopian future, individuality is denied, conformity is the law, and firemen are paid to burn books. Based on the 1954 novel by Ray Bradbury after the book burnings in Nazi Germany, the film stars Julie Christie as Clarisse, Oskar Werner as Guy Montag, and Cyril Cusack as the Fire Captain of Engine House 451. 

The dominant theme in this film is censorship in literature and speech. The film is also about a future where people are more engaged with technology and gadgets than each other; this future has arrived. Today, you see people in public places, on packed on buses, in malls, etc, oblivious of each other on their “smart phones.” People zoned out of the real world, involved in fatal car accidents, etc. Social interaction is incrementally shifting out of flesh and blood situations and into artificial environments where friends are digitized and reduced to numbers, just like the characters in this film (Montag’s number is 813). Technology is pulling us further and further apart everyday and now, with virtual reality, we will soon be able to go to the public parks, zoos, museums, etc, from the comfort of our homes. 

The film depicts a society that is dehumanized, a society that has lost its ability to feel. Texting and emailing have stripped communicating down to black characters, numbers, emojis, and white, dry, lifeless space.

The people in this film have no memories of the past because those memories are preserved in the books that are burned. Do you notice how fast things become old now? Everything from movies, to music, the cars we drive, our homes, our relationships, smartphones— in every area of our lives, change is outpacing our ability to adapt, being born and dying faster than ever. This explains the high rate of turnover in our society and the irrelevance of the elderly and history to this and future generations. 

Director Francois Truffaut uses actress Julie Christie to play Montag’s wife Linda and Clarisse. Truffaut did this because he wanted the characters to be 2 sides of the same coin. Linda is numb and distracted preferring to talk to her television than with her husband. Director Luis Buñuel employs an inversion of this technique in his 1977 film That Obscure Object Of Desirewhere he uses 2 actresses—Carole Bouquet and Ángela Molina Tejedor to play a single character named Conchita who is involved in a dysfunctional relationship with an older man named Mathieu played by the great Fernando Rey. In Fahrenheit 451, Christie’s characters are contrasted against each other with Linda playing the closed-minded follower and Clarisse the open-minded thinker and the attitudes they both have in regard to the system of government they live in. 

Books preserve history, memories, and feelings

• Montag asks his wife when they got married and she can’t remember
• He argues with Linda and her friends and reads from a book he rescued from old woman’s house. One of the women actually cries: “I’d forgotten about those feelings,” she says
• Early in the film, Clarisse asks Montag if it is true that firemen used to put out fires instead of starting them and he can’t remember

Citizens are non persons 

• Faber addresses Montag in the third person: “Montag has 1 quality I appreciate greatly; he says very little.”
• Montag is identified by his number (813)

Books are people

• The Book People become the books they read which is a way of them regaining the individuality the state took from them
• Montag is introduced to Plato’s Republic, Alice in Wonderland, The Martian Chronicles, Pride and Prejudice (twins volumes 1 and 2), and others
• Old lady wants to die with her books

Sports and other activities promote “group-thinking”

Sociologically, there’s a latent and manifest function built into most group activities, particularly sports which promote teamwork but which also discourages individuality. Here is 1 of many examples I’ve taken from the film:

The firehouse Captain tells Montag to increase the dosage of sports and other group activities for the recruits to keep them happy and busy.

Clarisse is different

• Clarisse is fired from her job as a school teacher for not sticking to the timetable and having fun with the students
• The school’s staff is afraid of Clarisse and old woman because they are different
• She doesn’t watch television like everybody else and prefers to talk with real people
• She asks questions and talks a lot

Intolerance

Racial intolerance

• The Native Americans
• African Americans
• Jews in Nazi Germany
• President Trump’s immigration policy

Idealogical intolerance

• The demonization of Islam
• In 1634, the Catholic Church put Galileo under house arrest after he discovered that the Sun, and not Earth, is the center of the universe
• The Salem Witch trials, etc.

The safety of silence

What do Martin Luther King, The Dixie Chicks, Jesus Christ, Fidel Castro have in common? They were all demonized, penalized, and, in some cases, assassinated for bucking the norms of their time and saying things that offended the status quo. It is safer to go with the flow than to go against the grain which is why there are more followers than leaders. When it comes to offending the beliefs of others, the safest thing is to not say anything at all: 

• At around 9:00 into film, Montag asks Clarisse if her parents ever warn her not to talk to strangers
• In a training class at the fire house, the instructor separates 2 classmates who like sitting beside each other
• Faber, the Fire Captain: “Montag has 1 quality I appreciate greatly; he says very little.”
  Montag looks uncomfortable when girl on monorail strikes up a conversation with him

People fear and censure those who are different

• They go to school and a boy in hall sees them and runs away. Clarissa wants to believe that the boy ran away afraid of Montag’s suit. Montag hides and leaves Clarisse alone in the hall. The boy comes out again and runs away when he sees Clarisse
• Clarisse and old woman are fired for having fun with the students

Conformity

• Faber tells Montag that destroying books makes people the same. Books, in this film, are people and ideas that are considered different
• There is a report box for citizens to anonymously report on fellow citizens who own books
• Independent thinking carries a stigma. Clarissa is fired for deviating from the coursework and when she returns to the school to pick up her things, one of her students runs away from her

Books give people back their feelings

Montag argues with Linda and her friends and reads book he rescued from old woman’s house. One of the women cries, touched by the words he reads from the book
“I’d forgotten about those feelings,” she says

People put down ideas they are not familiar with

Clarisse asks Montag why he burns books and his answer is that books are rubbish and they make people unhappy. She asks him if he’s read a book and he says no. This illustrates the power of propaganda and how it feeds off of ignorance. Think about Montag’s answer to Clarisse’s question as to whether he has read any of the books he’s burned. He says that he hasn’t; therefore, he doesn’t know what he’s burning. He’s been TAUGHT that books are bad without reading one for himself. 

Depersonalization 

• Faber, the Fire Captain, addresses Montag in the 3rd person
• When Montag is killed, only the back of his head is shown
• Linda plays a TV game where she is questioned by the show’s hosts. Montag disappoints her by reminding her that there are hundreds of thousands of people with her name