3638 - Bradbury Was Right: Prophecy of Fahrenheit 451 (Colin Mackey)
Course Description
Instructor: Colin Mackey
In a weeklong frenzy in 1953, Ray Bradbury wrote his masterpiece Fahrenheit 451 in the midst of the Red Scare. While it is mostly seen as a cautionary tale about censorship, it was as much a cautionary tale of the rise of a new medium, television. Bradbury was terrified of what this new invention would do to the minds of the citizenry and how governments might exploit it. In this class, we will look at this aspect of his prediction of where this new technology might eventually lead by exploring the novel and watching films such as Pleasantville and The Truman Show that reflect many of his predictions. Each class will include an introduction of the film of the week, putting it in context and highlighting passages in the novel that it reflects. Then, we will open up for class discussion of the topic of the week.
Bio: I was a middle and high school English teacher at Holy Innocents' Episcopal School and Westminster. I have a bachelor's degree in Linguistics from the University of Georgia and a Masters in English Education from Agnes Scott College where I was the first male graduate. I also completed a program in Film Education from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.