Contrast-comparison essay. Nadia Korniyenko

"Fahrenheit 451" and "The Truman Show"

    A dystopia is an integral feature of modern cinematography, which is aiming for illumination of alarming community or society  problems. In the spotlight in these two films are, among others, problems of self-identity, domination of the public, mass mind and human’s desire for knowledge. In both cases, in "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Truman Show", its creators talk to their public to prove the reverse , depicting the consequences of passive thoughtlessness.

 “The Truman show” is a wide allegory of the sinister influence of the media upon our lives.  In this movie Truman, an ordinary citizen in ordinary town live his live not knowing that all the world he knew is a huge fake, a show made for millions of other media-addicted and he is a sample for ideal man’s way of living.  It is a story that reveals an essential truth about what is happening to society in the 20th century, how the media and corporations have begun to surround us with a universe of illusions. In this reading, Truman Burbank is an everyman, a "true man," analogous to each one of us. The same situation Montag is in. Only cranks and blessed people in his society can tear this circle of making themselves zombies, who absorb the image 25 pictures per second from morning to evening without leaving home. There always would be revolutionists who would remove this dark veil from the hero’s eyes – its nostalgic Clarissa for Montag and rebellious actress Sylvia for Truman.

    At the same time solution line in these films differs sharply. In Truman’s case the producer-director of this stage-set world, who blocks his effort to escape or to reform the system, fails in his intentions. It all end up when Truman tore the decorations and took a trip to the realm of authentic desire. The same desire - passion for the unknown and thirst for knowledge - is impersonated in reading for Montag. But in his case such rebels would lead in nowhere. The answer to a film’s slogan “What would happen if your right to read the books would be taken away?" is 'nothing', because there always were and there always would be ‘crackpots’ who hide their knowledge somewhere in the forest, away from civilization, which now dominates. 

    In the end we see that in  Montag even evoluting from a robot to a personality still lives his life as a passive rebel, choosing the destiny of a knowledge keeper. Though we see that Truman made his escape from the whole system we cannot know if life outside the bubble is not just as mythic as life inside. So, we cannot assume “The Truman show” as a serious critique of consumer society – it’s closer to a dystopia that ends up in utopia, or at least a charming fairy tale. At this point "Fahrenheit 451" also cannot be assumed as a deep-problematic film. At least in our digital era the problem of authoritarianism of media and fabricated illusions is stated more dangerously than peril to have no information at all.