Movie Gadget Friday: The Wall-Screen from Fahrenheit 451
For the last Movie Gadget Friday Josie Fraser checked out Pre-Crime Analytical Wing from Minority Report, for this week's installment she looks at the Wall-Screen from Fahrenheit 451:
New Wave critic and director François Truffaut released the only film version of Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel to date in 1966, although Frank Darabont's newer version has been languishing in production hell for the last couple of years. Unfortunately, Bradbury's gadget-imaginative script suffered somewhat in the face of what was technologically and financially possible in the 1960's, and so this week's featured gadget looks a bit rubbish. In the true spirit of the book though, you all get to use whatever's left of your over-spoon fed and over-stimulated imaginations to fantasize about just how good the Wall-Screens might be in the forthcoming film.
In the Fahrenheit 451 future, ideas and controversy have been banned. The government rules over a country pacified by free drugs, personal stereos, and bad television shows. Endless, purile programming is delivered by ingenious wall screens ? giant, room sized television sets that spew out a constant, suffocating stream of facile homilies. Like last week?s featured device, idiots are central to this one ? but this time the idiots have lovely teeth, nice presentation skills and bouffants. And thanks to the available add-ons, you can also fully participate in domestic dramas: characters will address you by name and leave pauses for you to complete, to save you having to have a life of your own. As well as interactive reality programming, Bradbury?s predicted his Wall Screens would show live helicopter footage of enemies of the state being pursued and mown down, accompanied by lovely voice-overs.
Linda (Julie Christie), living zombie wife of professional book-burner Montag, spends her time in between overdoses waiting for him to get a promotion so that she can afford to up her immersive viewing with yet another screen wall, and refers to the programming as her family.
As you can see from the stills, the size of the screen Truffaut managed to construct is probably a bit smaller than something you could get off the shelf at your local electronics store these days. On the plus side, it means you can start living the dream as soon as you get that bonus at work?
