Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon to burn books in HBO’s Fahrenheit 451
The Trump administration hasn’t quite started burning books yet, but its dedicated war on facts still makes Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 a bit more relevant than it’s been in decades. For those who never read it in school, the book is about a dystopian future where the government takes advantage of society’s short attention spans and obsession with flat-screen TVs by outlawing all books and enlisting “firemen” to burn any secret books that people have stashed away. Basically, it’s all about how crucial literature and history and culture are to society, but it’s also about how dangerous it can be when the people in power try to take those things away while everyone is distracted by drugs and big TVs. Again, it’s pretty relevant these days.