MovieChat Forums > Fahrenheit 451 (1966) Discussion > The MANY idiocies of this film. SPOILERS

The MANY idiocies of this film. SPOILERS

posted 15 years ago by MrPie7
28 replies | jump to latest

1. When a guy knows he's about to be arrested, hand him a FLAMETHROWER!!!!!!

2. In a bookless society, everyone knows how to read.

3. The fire captain appears to me more literate than the average American! Note his comments on philosophers and his comments on books that black people would find offensive.

4. The cops flying thru the air being elbow to elbow, thus narrowing the area they COULD have searched, to one quarter of the territory that could be covered if they were spead out.
a. Sub idiocy: The cops are filmed in black and white thus making the rear projection gag stand out like a terd in the punch bowl!

5. Any victim will do! Yes, just kill ANYONE. It isn't like Montag has dangerous ideas plus knowledge of how firemen operate or anything.

6. Leave the "living books" unmolested while destroying inanimate books that are have to actually be READ. After all it's the books THEMSELVES running around causing all the trouble for the state, NOT the "dangerous" ideas contained in them!

7. No need for actual firemen to put out fires. After all the entire world has been "fireproofed". No wood exists anymore which might catch fire. And a forrest fire wouldn't be a problem to anyone. Even toilet paper is apparently fireproof! That's a good thing if you eat Mexican food...

8. A guy rides the monorail every day with a woman that looks EXACTLY LIKE HIS WIFE, and he never notices her. Lois Lane was more perceptive. At least Clark Kent wore glasses.

9. Have the box where you rat out friends and neighbors, right outside the firestation where everyone can see that you are turning someone in. Oh, and place a flashing light on the top to make SURE no one misses this.

10. The wife's double lives in a society OBSESSED with burning books, yet has to ask Montag about the significance of the # 451 on his uniform.

11. Lets have a dozen guys and a big red truck with flame throwers & stuff to do a job that usually requires no more than one guy on a bicycle with a can of lighter fluid and a lighter.

Whew! Need I go on? I CAN......!

[–] genevaporter 11 years ago

A lot of these plot holes can be explained away by the characters' hypocrisy and selective memory, both of which are common symptoms of people living in a totalitarian society.

I gathered that the fire captain was a hypocrite who didn't like the idea of anyone being smarter or superior to him. "Equality" means he wants everybody equally beneath his status.

There are things that are still not fireproof, but nobody really acknowledges them, or there is another official division that takes care of those fires.

They do seem to like making book burnings a public spectacle.

[–] novastar_6 11 years ago

Nope, the only thing that they were ever concerned about in the book was that HOUSES were fireproofed, they weren't concerned about anything else still being flammable, except the books of course.

[–] Zoomorph 11 years ago

1. The captain had read books himself and commented that it was normal for every fireman to be curious about them once in his life. He was giving Montag a chance to reform and renounce books. It's not until Montag demonstrated his utter lack of reform and deceptiveness by hiding one last book on his body, that the captain realized he was a lost cause and must be arrested. Montag already had the flamethrower in his hands when this happened.

~ Observe, and act with clarity. ~