Fahrenheit 451 Social Commentary Analysis

Ever notice how fast the world is changing? Advancements in technology are rapidly increasing, making our lives that much easier to communicate, learn, and travel, so where’s the bad side to all of this? Is there one? And how will the general public come to acknowledge it? Throughout the years, many writers, artist, and directors have taken this into consideration and made it their goal to answer questions like these through the use of social commentary. Social commentary can be found in most, if not all, forms of media highlighting and making the reader or viewer aware of any form of negative outcomes caused by events taking place during a specific period of time. Three important examples of social commentary that are worth noting are …show more content…
In the dystopian society of Fahrenheit 451 advances in technology are being made with the intention to solely entertain the public without distributing knowledge due to the fact that knowledge can lead to disputes between contrasting ideological standpoints, something books have been known for which is why they have been banned and made illegal making technology the only source of education. These ideas came from the growth in popularity that television had in the 1950’s. During this time the nuclear arms race was occurring and instead of focusing on this very important issue the public was too distracted with this new form of mindless entertainment. Bradbury touches upon this issue in Fahrenheit 451 with the atomic wars that occur during the events of this novel, but that no one seems to care about because they have found a way to distract themselves from these disputes. One example of this is Mildred, who is Montag’s(the main protagonists) wife. Mildred spends most of her time in front of these parlor walls consuming nothing but mindless entertainment and demonstrating no sign of concern or emotion toward the issues facing her