Fahrenheit was written in 1953 and is more relevant today than it was then. It involves futuristic technologies such as television walls and content devoid of context. It tells of how "factoids", partial facts, wrapped in no context have served to dumb down society as a whole. Firemen have now been tasked to burn books, instead of preserving life. The book will give you pause and make you think of Nazi Germany, but the play transports the audience to a future that is not too distant any more. Fahrenheit seems to be speaking directly to today's society, screaming and clawing at the faces of the audience to, "wake up".
"Give the people contests they win remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy (Fahrenheit, 61)."
Our so called news is just this, crammed full of useless, uncorroborated facts, that are used to legitimate something that is not even relevant We are inundated with fluff and posture, assaulted with statistics and gaff's, shocked and horrified, but never inspired or aroused. News has become ratings orientated, instead of contextually substantiated. We are being deliberately duped into passivity by taking the surface value of a claimed fact, espousing it as truth, and later in conversation speaking as if the idea is ours alone.
The actors in the play give Ray Bradbury's book a voice that is haunting and so very well deserved. The characters leap off the stage and call to the audience to take notice of what they are willfully giving up. The actors challenge and assault the senses of the audience with quotes that bring chills to even the steeliest reserve. I found myself welling up with emotions as I heard the actors giving a new voice to old characters. I found myself captivated, drawn in, and completely seduced.
The voices and humanity that the actors gave the characters, compelled me to think critically about the words and how they were delivered. The line in the play that has stuck with me and continues to wreak havoc on me is; "the moment a man goes from wanting to know how something works, to wanting to know why", "that is a dangerous man, a thinking, questioning man is dangerous man". The play commands the audience to ask why? Ask why they have willingly given up so many freedoms for supposed freedoms? To ask why facts are more important that context, because after all a fact is plucked from context? The full frontal assault of Fahrenheit 451, is a must see/read for anyone who feels "news", has become an indictment of our society as a whole.
I love that one too! Here's another: “We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?”
ReplyDeleteThat pretty much explains my interest in Ulmer.
I can see how Ulmer is disturbing. I have to tell you, the play was amazing! I specifically wanted to see this one because of the great job Giles Davis did last year in Quills. It's a shame it is over. I recommended it to everyone I knew.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen a play that has stuck with me the way this one has. Maybe when I Phantom for the first time in '92? I think it was how they made the words come alive, they were such strong characters in the book. The actors gave the characters a humanity that I don't think I will ever forget. It compelled my girlfriend to buy the book the next morning.