When you think of books like Fahrenheit 451, government authoritarianism comes to mind. But what if certain dystopian aspects from this work are already in play—and we didn’t even notice?
In Ray Bradbury’s famous novel, Fahrenheit 451, we delve deep into a society of censorship and government overreach. Terrifying, right?
(Don’t get me started…)
But there’s a B-plot at work too—that is the callousness of road violence. Highways are portrayed as a place of danger. Crossing one, on foot? Deadly!
In fact, a primary character is run over and killed by a car. A senseless death we can all relate to.
Characters being killed in “car accidents” is a recurring occurrence in books, TV and movies. Basically, anytime a character needs to be “offed” with no questions, lead-up or follow-through—run ’em over.
We see this in the book and TV Show Lessons in Chemistry.
Meet Joe Black famously starts with a pedestrian death.
After 11 seasons on Grey’s Anatomy, McDreamy himself was shuffled off-screen by a sudden “car accident.”
(Oh, spoiler alert, I guess.)
Why? Because it’s so damn believable. It’s so damn common. It raises no questions.
Just, “Oh—killed by a car? Yeah that tracks.”
But it’s getting really bad—in terms of how we address pedestrian deaths.
Take the case of the North Carolina couple now facing involuntary manslaughter charges for the death of their child.
Their crime? They allowed a seven-year-old to cross a street without an adult.
He was run down and killed without any charges to the driver.
Just to the parents.
As the act of walking across a street is seen as so deadly—even in the suburbs of a small-size US city—that a parent allowing a child to do so can be criminally charged.
From The New York Times:
“But if something that used to be a normal childhood activity is now seen as so dangerous that parents who let their sons walk in the neighborhood are considered felons, the problem is not just with how we enforce our laws but also with how we allow cars to define how we live.”
This, my friends, is how the sub-plot of Fahrenheit 451 came to life.
And we didn’t even notice.
[…] But, inserted, we have to deal with people like Diane Materi, Laurie Campbell, Malcom Miller and Shelley Lane… and the millions like them. All dead-set on blaming the victim. […]