"Hello?"
"Get out!"
"What?"
"Hurry!"
"Who is there?"
"Quickly, get moving!
For God's sake, get out of there!"
Fahrenheit 451 is known for depicting a government
which violates its people's right to freedom
of expression.
In the film, the firemen are ironically employed
to burn books, and we watch them attempt to
destroy every scrap of literature in society.
This recalls the practice of book-burning
by Fascist and Communist regimes.
So the society in the film is defined by state
censorship, but this is not the only human
rights violation committed by the repressive
government in Fahrenheit 451.
In their pursuit of literature, the firemen
destroy people's homes and possessions, a
clear violation of a person's right not to
be arbitrarily deprived of their property.
Oppressive governments often engage in such
abuses against dissidents, as seen today in
Communist countries such as Cuba.
Throughout the movie, we see that people under
this government are made to fear for their
lives and are physically abused, much as dissidents
in Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany lived in
constant danger and fear.
As the film progresses, a young woman named
Clarisse confides in Montag, the main character,
that she has lost her job for not conforming
to the government's oppressive rules for her workplace.
"What's happened?"
"Well, you remember the analyst, how worried
I was?
I was right to be worried.
I've been dismissed."
"Why?
What reason did they give you?"
"None at all.
Just an official call: services no longer
required."
As is the case of refugees fleeing countries
such as North Korea, Montag must risk his
life in an effort to escape.
Fahrenheit 451 offers an eerie picture of
a society that seeks to crush all human expression,
dissent, and other freedoms that allow for
people to resist the state.
But the book-burning in the movie is only
a symbol of the many ways that such censorship
is presented in the digital age.
In fact, digital censorship and the persecution
of dissidents such as bloggers is on the rise
everywhere from China to Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps this is why Fahrenheit 451 still holds
so much power
for us today.
"Will you come play with us?
You will?
Good!
I thought you would.
Come in, cousins.
Be one of the family."
