[Script Info] Title: [Events] Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.62,0:00:08.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“It was a pleasure to burn.\N Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.75,0:00:09.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was a special pleasure\Nto see things eaten, Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.75,0:00:13.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to see things blackened and changed.” Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.65,0:00:18.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fahrenheit 451 opens in a blissful blaze\N- and before long, Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.84,0:00:23.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we learn what’s going up in flames. Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.36,0:00:23.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ray Bradbury’s novel imagines a world\N Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.86,0:00:24.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where books are banned \Nfrom all areas of life - Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.36,0:00:29.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and possessing, let alone \Nreading them, is forbidden. Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.17,0:00:34.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The protagonist, Montag, is a fireman\Nresponsible for destroying what remains.\N Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.58,0:00:39.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But as his pleasure gives way to doubt,\N Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.79,0:00:44.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the story raises critical questions\Nof how to preserve one’s mind in a society Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.33,0:00:49.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where free will, self-expression,\Nand curiosity are under fire. Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.41,0:00:54.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In Montag’s world, mass media\Nhas a monopoly on information, Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.05,0:00:57.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,erasing almost all ability\Nfor independent thought. Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.73,0:01:03.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On the subway, ads blast out of the walls. Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.24,0:01:04.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At home, Montag’s wife Mildred listens to\Nthe radio around the clock,\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.24,0:01:07.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and three of their parlor walls\Nare plastered with screens.\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.82,0:01:12.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At work, the smell of kerosene\Nhangs over Montag’s colleagues, \N Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.18,0:01:16.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who smoke and set their mechanical\Nhound after rats to pass the time.\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.09,0:01:21.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When the alarm sounds they surge\Nout in salamander-shaped vehicles,\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.13,0:01:25.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sometimes to burn whole\Nlibraries to the ground.\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.02,0:01:29.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But as he sets tomes ablaze day\Nafter day like “black butterflies,”\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.31,0:01:34.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Montag’s mind occasionally wanders to the\Ncontraband that lies hidden in his home.\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.22,0:01:40.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Gradually, he begins to question\Nthe basis of his work. Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.41,0:01:44.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Montag realizes he’s always felt uneasy -\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.61,0:01:45.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but has lacked the descriptive words\Nto express his feelings in a society\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.61,0:01:49.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where even uttering the phrase\N“once upon a time” can be fatal.\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.75,0:01:54.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fahrenheit 451 depicts a world governed by\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.57,0:01:55.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,surveillance, robotics, \Nand virtual reality-\N Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.57,0:02:01.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a vision that proved remarkably prescient,\Nbut also spoke to the concerns of the time.\N Dialogue: 0,0:02:04.39,0:02:08.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The novel was published in 1953,\Nat the height of the Cold War. Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.95,0:02:13.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This era kindled widespread \Nparanoia and fear Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.90,0:02:14.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,throughout Bradbury’s home \Ncountry of the United States, Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.90,0:02:18.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,amplified by the suppression of information\Nand brutal government investigations.\N Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.76,0:02:24.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In particular, this witch hunt mentality Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.02,0:02:28.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,targeted artists and writers who\Nwere suspected of Communist sympathies. Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.73,0:02:31.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Bradbury was alarmed at\Nthis cultural crackdown. Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.93,0:02:35.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He believed it set a dangerous \Nprecedent for further censorship, Dialogue: 0,0:02:35.55,0:02:38.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and was reminded of the destruction of\Nthe Library of Alexandria Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.57,0:02:39.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the book-burning of Fascist regimes.\N Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.57,0:02:44.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He explored these chilling \Nconnections in Fahrenheit 451, Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.03,0:02:49.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,titled after the temperature \Nat which paper burns. Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.22,0:02:52.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The accuracy of that temperature\Nhas been called into question, Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.68,0:02:55.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but that doesn’t diminish the novel’s \Nstanding Dialogue: 0,0:02:55.01,0:02:56.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a masterpiece of dystopian fiction. Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.01,0:03:00.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Dystopian fiction as a genre amplifies\Ntroubling features of the world around us Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.78,0:03:04.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and imagines the consequences\Nof taking them to an extreme. Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.92,0:03:08.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In many dystopian stories, \N Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.85,0:03:12.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the government imposes constrictions\Nonto unwilling subjects. Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.80,0:03:17.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in Fahrenheit 451, Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.57,0:03:18.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Montag learns that it was\Nthe apathy of the masses Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.07,0:03:18.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that gave rise to the current regime. Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.57,0:03:22.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The government merely capitalized on\Nshort attention spans and Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.45,0:03:25.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the appetite for mindless entertainment,\Nreducing the circulation of ideas to ash. Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.78,0:03:31.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As culture disappears,\Nimagination and self-expression follow. Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.00,0:03:36.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even the way people talk\Nis short-circuited Dialogue: 0,0:03:36.40,0:03:41.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- such as when Montag’s boss Captain Beatty\Ndescribes the acceleration of mass culture: Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.97,0:03:47.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Speed up the film, Montag, quick.\NClick? Pic? Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here, Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.23,0:03:52.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out,\NWhy, How, Who, What, Where, Eh? Uh! Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.77,0:03:58.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Bang! Smack! Wallop, Bing, Bong, Boom!\NDigest-digests, digest-digest-digests. Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.73,0:04:03.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Politics? One column, two sentences, a\Nheadline! Then, in mid-air, all vanishes! Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.05,0:04:08.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In this barren world, Montag learns\Nhow difficult it is to resist when there’s Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.71,0:04:12.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,nothing left to hold on to.\N Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.68,0:04:13.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Altogether, Fahrenheit 451 is a portrait\Nof independent thought on the brink\Nof extinction - Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.68,0:04:18.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a parable about a Dialogue: 0,0:04:18.25,0:04:22.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,society which is complicit\Nin its own combustion.