Fahrenheit 451: Book vs Movie

During my summer vacation, on my flight to San Francisco, I was flipping through the entertainment guide, trying to quench my boredom. To my surprise, I stumbled across a movie entitled Fahrenheit 451. This movie was actually based on a book, written by ray Bradbury, one that I had read 2 years ago, in Grade 10. So, quite unsurprisingly, I decided to watch it. I’ve always been weary on books being made into movies, as the director tends to cut out some scenes and the actors usually don’t meet up to the standards in my mind. I find this the common problem, as books enable the reader to enter a different realm, one where they can visualize characters to their liking, somewhat like a mental motion picture. Before I give my two cents comments and criticism of the movie, let me give a brief synopsis of the book. 

SPOILERS AHEAD WHOOPS!

Set in the dystopian world of America (24^thcentury), Fahrenheit 451 tells the tale of Montag, a fireman, who (oddly) burns books and houses containing books, instead of putting fires out. Fahrenheit 451 is actually the temperature at which paper catches fire and burns. Initially, he remains resilient and devout to the practices of his community, but soon, after meeting a young girl named Clarisse, who has a rather humanistic perspective on life and sadly dies by a speeding car, starts to question the values of his professions and the mass censorship in his community. He then steals books from one of the houses he sets on fire, which is very illegal, becomes a fugitive, meets other rebels outside the city and then march with them to the city that has been stuck with an atomic bomb. Sorry, I’m summarizing a lot. 

Basically, he realizes the value of books, but more importantly how people were caught up in the material aspects of life, like his wife, who constantly OD’s and then has to get her stomach pumped.

Anyway, back to the movie. FIRSTLY, they just eliminated Mildred, Montag’s wife, who he later realizes he doesn’t love. SO, I feel like they shouldn’t have down that cause she’s pretty important to his character growth. SECONDLY, they made Clarisse Montag’s love interest, which is warped because in the book she was 17 and died almost instantly. Let me not even get started on the OMNIS, some DNA that the government is preventing from releasing because it will ‘open eyes.’

Overall, I give the movie 5/10 and would suggest to just read the book, but that’s just my opinion.