Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Fahrenheit 451'

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-06-08T12:26:50Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Terezinha de Assis Oliveira - 2014.pdf: 1987243 bytes, checksum: 7c9ec60e217a6a11e97b56cbd0f7c57b (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5)
Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-06-08T12:27:39Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Terezinha de Assis Oliveira - 2014.pdf: 1987243 bytes, checksum: 7c9ec60e217a6a11e97b56cbd0f7c57b (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-08T12:27:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Terezinha de Assis Oliveira - 2014.pdf: 1987243 bytes, checksum: 7c9ec60e217a6a11e97b56cbd0f7c57b (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-01-30
This research aims to analyze the literary dystopians 1984, written by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury observing how these authors presented their reflections about their societies and how the human being was inserted in this context. In this perspective, the goal of this work is to demonstrate how the manipulation of memory and language reflects the contrasts between English and American dystopia in the works mentioned above and how the authors presented their critics to their societies. The discussions have presented theoretical support on the studies of Jacques Le Goff (1990), Maurice Halbwachs (2006) and Paul Ricouer (2008), which have highlighted aspects of memory and language that are common to both works, but were approached differently by their authors. This is justified by the fact that they belonged to different societies and the historical ideological context of post world wars in England and the United States was a determining factor to the emersion of dystopian literature and technological society even if differently in each country. This study also presents an overview on the science fiction, emphasizing the most representative moments of this literary strand in which the novels that make up the corpus of this work are inserted.
Esta pesquisa destina-se a uma análise das obras literárias distópicas 1984 de George Orwell e Fahrenheit 451 de Ray Bradbury, observando como os autores apresentaram suas reflexões sobre os caminhos das sociedades e como enxergavam o homem inserido neste contexto. Nesta perspectiva, o objetivo deste trabalho é demonstrar como a manipulação da memória e da linguagem reflete os contrastes entre a distopia inglesa e norte-americana nas obras supracitadas e como os autores formularam suas críticas às sociedades das quais participavam. As discussões apresentadas possuem como suporte teórico os estudos de Jacques Le Goff (1990), Maurice Halbwachs (2006) e Paul Ricouer (2008), os quais permitiram evidenciar aspectos de memória e linguagem que são comuns às duas obras, mas que foram abordados diferentemente por seus autores. Isto se justifica pelo fato de que eles pertenciam a sociedades distintas e o contexto histórico-ideológico pós-guerras mundiais na Inglaterra e Estados Unidos foi fator determinante para a emersão da literatura distópica e da sociedade tecnológica, ainda que de maneira diferente em cada país. Este estudo apresenta ainda um panorama acerca da ficção científica, destacando momentos representativos desta vertente literária na qual se inserem os romances que compõem o corpus deste trabalho.

This thesis studies Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 using Critical Discourse Analysis as the primary tool. It argues that the narrative develops through the supporting characters’ actions, and the different societal discourses of hegemony, otherness and class struggle they represent. Basing the analysis on Althusserian and Gramscian ideas and discussing citizen’s transformation from subjects to individuals, this study concludes that although a subject may be power-less and wary, it is by learning to act through being given information through discourse that personal development occurs.

Este trabalho analisa o Fahrenheit 451 de Ray Bradbury e o de François Truffaut, em sua proposição de utilizar a oralidade (discurso oral) como forma de manutenção do literário e resistência à imposição e à censura ideológica. Efetua também uma análise comparatista das Utopias Negativas do século XX (obras Distópicas). Ao longo deste projeto, é feita uma análise do surgimento da escrita (alfabético-fonética), e sua estreita relação com o discurso oral. Tenta-se reproduzir a trajetória traçada pelo discurso oral, passando pelo desenvolvimento da tecnologia escrita, assim como a produção cultural tanto no meio oral quanto no escrito, junto com suas conseqüências e influências sobre pensamento humano. Da oralidade dos poemas homéricos à oralidade advinda com o desenvolvimento de aparelhos eletrônicos como o telefone, que, em plena modernidade, voltam a valorizar o discurso oral. Neste projeto a oralidade é vista como algo cíclico.
This thesis analyses Ray Bradbury’s and François Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451, in their proposal of using the oral discourse as a way of maintenance of the literacy as well as resistance to ideological imposition and censorship. It also brings a comparative analysis of the Negative Utopias of the twentieth century (Distopic Literature), along with the rise of writing (alphabetic-phonetic writing), and its close relation to oral discourse. It tries to reproduce the path trailed by oral discourse, passing through the development of writing technology, as well as the cultural production both in the oral and in the writing media, along with its consequences and influences to human thought. From Homer’s oral poems to the oral discourse emerged with the development of electronic devices such as the telephone, which enhance oral discourse in modern times. In this project oral discourse is seen as something cyclical.

Esta dissertação busca analisar como o romance Fahrenheit 451 de Ray Bradbury lida com seu contexto histórico e qual é a resolução simbólica sugerida para o problema por ele apontado. Para tanto, traçaremos paralelos entre o cenário político-social da sociedade fictícia do romance e os Estados Unidos entre 1945 até 1953, data de sua publicação oficial.
The purpose of this research is to analyze how the novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, deals with its historical context and which is the symbolic resolution suggested for the issues noted. Therefore, parallels will be drawn between the political-social scene described in its fictional society and that of the United States from 1945 until 1953, the novels official publication date.

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953) is one of the best-known science fiction dystopias, presenting a strictly controlled state maintained by book-burning ‘firemen’. People of the society have been turned into non-thinking masses, as books are banned, and technology and media are used to control their thought. The protagonist, Guy Montag, is a fireman, who goes through a transformation leading him to question the society and internalize humane values. In this thesis, I will examine the relationships between Montag and two female characters contributing to his transformation, namely Clarisse and Montag’s wife, Mildred, and compare these relationships and the two female characters. Love-triangle construction between the three characters is used to demonstrate the contrast between Clarisse and Mildred and their relationships to Montag, revealing the contrasts of life and death, meaningful and shallow relationship, and nature and technology. These contrasts foreground common dystopian elements in Fahrenheit 451: the fears of deindividualization and dehumanization, as well as critique towards consumer culture. Thus, Mildred and Clarisse are not only affecting Montag’s transformation, but have a function of representing the dystopian society of the novel
Ray Bradburyn Fahrenheit 451 (1953) on yksi tunnetuimpia ”science fiction” -dystopioita. Se esittelee tiukasti kontrolloidun yhteiskunnan, jota valvovat kirjoja polttavat ”palomiehet”. Yhteiskunnan asukkaat on muutettu ajatteluun kykenemättömiksi massoiksi kieltämällä kirjat ja käyttämällä teknologiaa ja mediaa ajatusten kontrolloimiseen. Päähenkilö Guy Montag on palomies, joka käy läpi yhteiskunnan kyseenalaistamiseen ja inhimillisten arvojen sisäistämiseen johtavan muutoksen. Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastelen Montag’n suhteita kahteen hänen muutokseensa vaikuttavaan naishenkilöön, jotka ovat Clarisse sekä Montag’n vaimo Mildred, ja vertaan näitä suhteita sekä naishenkilöitä toisiinsa. Mainittujen henkilöiden välistä kolmiodraama -rakennelmaa käytetään teoksessa havainnollistamaan Clarissen ja Mildred’n sekä heidän ja Montag’n välisten suhteiden luomaa kontrastia, paljastaen näin elämän ja kuoleman, merkityksellisen ja pinnallisen suhteen sekä luonnon ja teknologian väliset kontrastit. Nämä kontrastit puolestaan tuovat esiin tyypilliset dystopian elementit teoksessa Fahrenheit 451, toisin sanoen pelon yksilöllisyyden ja inhimillisyyden häviämisestä sekä kritiikin kulutuskulttuuria kohtaan. Näin ollen Mildred ja Clarisse eivät ainoastaan vaikuta Montag’n muutokseen, vaan he toimivat myös dystopisen yhteiskunnan piirteiden esiintuojina

This project discusses the ways in which Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 functions as an indictment of media culture. While many analyses of the novel focus on the text’s sweeping themes of literary censorship, this study instead centers on Bradbury’s depiction of media—particularly television—culture and the ways in which Bradbury feared it could be harmful. Although Bradbury wrote about a future society a century beyond his own, his novel serves as a remarkable reflection of his contemporaneous culture’s media consumption and gendered divisions; this thesis discusses Bradbury’s novel alongside such forces, considering the effects such influences may have had on his work.

This study explored the reading-subjects relationship to reading and texts, and if this relationship, through metaphors, could be compared to that of a parasite or a symbiosis. In other words the question that was asked was; can the reading-subjects relationship to the written text be compared to that of a parasite and it’s host, or is the relationship more similar to that of a symbiosis? The method for the study has been to find and compare different views on reading and text, that has been presented by a series of different theoreticians. The author’s whose work the study is based upon are Anders Johansson and his studies concerning “good” and “evil”, Martin Borgs work on propaganda and Iser Wolfgangs book The implied reader. The analysis is also based of the worldview presented by the characters in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. In conclusion, the parasitic and symbiotic metaphor, could be applied and seen in each off the works listed above, it is however not possible to fully say the relationship is closer to one or the other. Each text works in a network of other texts with all different background and intentions. To be able to fully understand the relationship – further studies must be made.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
This document offers scholarly researchers, students and general readers a reliable, genealogically-based descriptive bibliography of all U.S. and British publications of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (1953). The driving force behind this thesis is the desire to preserve, catalog, describe and archive a work of literature that has stood the test of time and continues to be an influential milestone of American culture well into the twenty-first century.

Dissertação mest., Estudos Americanos, Universidade Aberta, 2008
A tecnologia faz parte da vida do ser humano, constituindo a força motriz que impulsiona a sua evolução. Paralelamente, a busca da felicidade é uma constante que define o indivíduo, independentemente de diferenças económicas, sociais ou culturais. Todavia, a relação entre felicidade e tecnologia é ambígua, porquanto a última é frequentemente descrita como um meio de atingir a primeira, o que não raras vezes reduz o ser humano à demanda de significado na materialidade dos objectos. A problemática felicidade/tecnologia constitui uma das temáticas de Fahrenheit 451 e o presente trabalho de investigação propõe-se analisar de que modo esta dicotomia é apresentada, tratada e solucionada na referida obra, em que está subjacente a crítica ao efeito nocivo que o excesso de tecnologia pode causar no indivíduo e na sociedade. Como abordagem optou-se pela definição sumária do conceito de felicidade e busca de felicidade em várias épocas históricas, pela análise da importância da tecnologia em três momentos históricos distintos, pelo enquadramento histórico e cultural do momento em que se insere a obra, pela análise de Fahrenheit 451e pela definição do papel desempenhado pelos conceitos de conformismo e individualismo na busca da felicidade. Em Fahrenheit 451 a tecnologia é apresentada como a antítese da felicidade, que é passível de ser atingida através do regresso à Natureza e do contacto com a literatura e filosofia. Contudo, a tecnologia não é apresentada como um mal per se, mas como uma força neutra, sendo o utilizador responsabilizado pela aplicação daquela e pelas consequências daí resultantes.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Estudos Americanos apresentada à Universidade Aberta
Resumo - A tecnologia faz parte da vida do ser humano, constituindo a força motriz que impulsiona a sua evolução. Paralelamente, a busca da felicidade é uma constante que define o indivíduo, independentemente de diferenças económicas, sociais ou culturais. Todavia, a relação entre felicidade e tecnologia é ambígua, porquanto a última é frequentemente descrita como um meio de atingir a primeira, o que não raras vezes reduz o ser humano à demanda de significado na materialidade dos objectos. A problemática felicidade/tecnologia constitui uma das temáticas de Fahrenheit 451 e o presente trabalho de investigação propõe-se analisar de que modo esta dicotomia é apresentada, tratada e solucionada na referida obra, em que está subjacente a crítica ao efeito nocivo que o excesso de tecnologia pode causar no indivíduo e na sociedade. Como abordagem optou-se pela definição sumária do conceito de felicidade e busca de felicidade em várias épocas históricas, pela análise da importância da tecnologia em três momentos históricos distintos, pelo enquadramento histórico e cultural do momento em que se insere a obra, pela análise de Fahrenheit 451e pela definição do papel desempenhado pelos conceitos de conformismo e individualismo na busca da felicidade. Em Fahrenheit 451 a tecnologia é apresentada como a antítese da felicidade, que é passível de ser atingida através do regresso à Natureza e do contacto com a literatura e filosofia. Contudo, a tecnologia não é apresentada como um mal per se, mas como uma força neutra, sendo o utilizador responsabilizado pela aplicação daquela e pelas consequências daí resultantes
Résumé - Tandis que la technologie fait partie de la vie de l’espèce humaine, moteur de son évolution, la recherche du bonheur est une constante qui définit l’individu, indépendamment des différences économiques, sociales ou culturelles. Toutefois, le rapport entre bonheur et technologie est ambigu, puisque que cette dernière est fréquemment décrite comme un moyen pour atteindre le bonheur. Ce qui souvent conduit l’être humain à la quête de sens dans la matérialité des objets. La problématique bonheur/technologie constitue une des thématiques de Fahrenheit 451 et la présente étude propose d’analyser comment cette dichotomie est présentée, traitée et résolue dans l’ouvrage cité. Ouvrage dans lequel est présente la critique à l’effet nocif que l’excès de technologie peut provoquer aussi bien à l’individu qu’à la société. Cette étude aborde la définition sommaire des concepts de bonheur et de recherche de bonheur à différentes époques historiques; l’analyse de l’importance de la technologie à trois moments historiques différents; l’encadrement historique et culturel de l’époque à laquelle se situe cet ouvrage; l’analyse de Fahrenheit 451 puis la définition du rôle que jouent les concepts de conformisme et d’individu dans la recherche du bonheur. Dans l’ouvrage Fahrenheit 451, la technologie est présentée comme l’antithèse du bonheur. Bonheur qu’on ne peut atteindre que par le retour à la Nature ainsi que par le recours à la littérature et la philosophie. Toutefois, la technologie n’est pas représentée comme un mal en soi, mais comme une force neutre. C’est à celui qui utilise la technologie qu’incombe la responsabilité de son utilisation et des conséquences qui en découlent
Abstract - Technology is a part of daily life and can be considered the impulse that pushes evolution forward. Simultaneously the pursuit of happiness is a constant that defines man, regardless of economic, social or cultural differences. However, the relationship between happiness and technology is ambiguous, for the latter is frequently described as a means of attaining the former, something which reduces man to the quest for meaning in the material, rather than in the spiritual. This dichotomy constitutes an underlying theme of Fahrenheit 451, and the present research paper is set to analyse the manner in which it is presented, contended with and solved in the narrative, where the author portrays the harmful effects of technology on individuals and on society. A brief definition of the concept of happiness and pursuit of happiness in chronological sequence, the assessment of the importance of technology in three different periods of history, the analysis of the historical and cultural framework in which Fahrenheit 451 was produced, the breakdown of the novel itself and the definition of the role played by conformism and individualism in the pursuit of happiness were some of the approaches used. In Fahrenheit 451 technology is presented as the antithesis of happiness, which can be regained through a close relationship with nature, literature and philosophy. Nevertheless, technology is not displayed as evil by itself, but rather as a neutral force that can be used for malevolent or benevolent purposes by men, who are solely responsible for the consequences of their actions

碩士
國立成功大學
外國語文學系碩博士班
101
This thesis explores the way the majority of citizens depend on their individual efforts rather than government authority to attain their virtual utopia, and the reasons the dissident group regards their utopia as a real dystopia which fails to ensure actual happiness in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. The majority of citizens coordinate with the school to produce conformists through intellectually undemanding schooling, so they willingly immerse in hedonistic entertainment against the intellectual struggles in book reading. They require the uniformity of book contents and entertainment media to maintain fragile comfort since they always regard individual differences or knowledge acquisition to disrupt their equality. The audiovisual media produce pseudo-intimacy, pseudo-individualism, and negative mediation to separate from actual intimacy, individual creations, and positive immediacy derived from humans’ interactions with the real world. The citizens develop self-censorship to regard all literature as hurtful to their happiness, so they request the firemen to execute government censorship to burn all the books. Their dull repetition in media entertainment even makes the citizens machine existences with intellectual stagnation; hence their mechanic mode of passive consumption in this new era stands against the dissidents’ handicraft model of active production in the past. The majority of people have their egocentric fantasy of their virtual utopia based on their technological superiority; they even keep deliberate obliviousness to the atomic war declared by the neighboring countries. However, the nuclear cataclysm actually reveals a real dystopia by destroying their narcissism toward the virtual utopia. The nuclear destruction brings about apocalypse for the dominant group but resurrection optimism for the minority group. Eventually, the continual reflections required by the minority group disclose such perfection as permanent stagnation.

碩士
國立高雄師範大學
英語學系
106
This paper discusses issues of contemporary concern through the lens of two famous works of literature: George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In so doing, the analysis of these novels concentrates upon the related ideas of totalitarianism and liberty. In discussing liberty, it is necessary to review in detail the connected ideas of individuality, freedom of speech and expression, as well as its most commonly found abnegation: censorship. The novels discussed describe extreme forms of totalitarianism. Such visions cannot be dismissed as mere fantasy. Quite the opposite is in fact the case; the modern world still contains multiple threats to freedom of speech and individuality. They may be differently and at times attractively packaged, but they carry the marks of totalitarian thinking. How can something as abhorrent as political or social tyranny, and the loss of freedom, still pose a threat? This question is particularly pertinent in the light of the clear warnings given in both of these novels. The discussion will also cover recent trends affecting freedom, such as the marking out of hate speech and the acceptance of a greater degree of surveillance. It is important to see these threats as real, having a significant impact upon modern lives. Thus, analysis of two classic dystopian novels concerned with totalitarianism and man’s loss of liberty can hardly be more timely.

碩士
國立彰化師範大學
翻譯研究所
105
The present study focuses on the comparison of the similarities and differences between two Chinese translated versions of Fahrenheit 451 published in Taiwan and in China. The research was carried out based on Newmarks’s (1988a, 1988b) communicative translation theory and Guo’s (2004) three criteria for translating science fiction (literariness, scientificity, and popularity) for further analysis. 　From a literary perspective, descriptions of settings and characters were analyzed. Through data analysis, this study found that both translators of the two Chinese versions favored employing either four-character Chinese idioms or repeated words to make the translation more eloquent. Furthermore, whenever parallel structure was used in the source text, they both stuck to the parallel structure so as to create the same effects. The difference between the two translated versions was that the traditional Chinese version stayed faithful to the source text and rendered the text literally. On the other hand, the simplified Chinese version paraphrased the text to replicate the scenes from the novel. In most cases, the second approach produced a more accurate translation of the scenes and characters in the novel, but sometimes the translation departed from the source text. 　From a scientific perspective, technological neologisms were discussed. Through analyzing the two versions of the translated text and comparing them with the source material, it was worth pointing out that both Yu (2006) and Zhu (2005) chose not to coin new lexical items. Instead, they translated technological neologisms by their modern equivalents in the target language. If no direct equivalent could be found for the neologism, they either utilized expressions that have similar concepts or revised an existing counterpart with a similar syntactic structure as the source text and utilized it as the equivalent. If these ways did not work, Mr. Yu and Ms. Zhu chose to adopt different approaches to technological neologisms. Yu, the translator of the traditional Chinese, preferred to faithfully follow the punctuation of the source text and translated it literally. In contrast, Ms. Zhu, the translator of the simplified Chinese version, preferred to ignore the uncommon usage of capitals in the target language. She tended to employ descriptive expressions to make the scientific features more comprehensible to the readers, which enables the readership to engage with the text. 　From a popular perspective, the study was conducted in two parts, word groups and sentences. In terms of word groups, words and phrases, the conceptual, contextual, and collocative meanings were analyzed. In terms of sentences, sentence reconstruction and rephrasing were explored. This study found that both Yu and Zhu had excellent translations in that they boldly recast the syntactic structures of the source text to make them fit in with common Chinese usage. Nevertheless, through comparison, it was easy to find both translators more or less stayed too close to the source text structure, so their translations seemed clumsy in the target language. 　It is easy to see that there was a large amount of research on a variety of literary topics with the exception of research on the translation of science fiction. Hence, through analyzing examples from previously published translated works, this present study aimed at comparing two Chinese translated versions of the same English science fiction novel in order to offer translators some references to learn from and avoid making same errors.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Cultura e Literatura Inglesas
“A Manipulação do Olhar no Cinema: o alcance, o controlo e as limitações da câmara em Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four e Fahrenheit 451” pretende ser uma leitura ampla e crítica sobre o papel dos mass media. Ao longo desta dissertação, analisamos a presença do olhar fílmico, mormente do cinema e da televisão como possíveis meios de vigilância, domínio e de manipulação dos comportamentos dos cidadãos, mediante o estudo de três documentos literários, a saber: Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four e Fahrenheit 451 e, sobretudo as respectivas transposições fílmicas. As obras narram hipotéticas sociedades distópicas governadas por regimes repressivos, que sustentam a sua liderança nos meios de informação e entretenimento. Os regimes servem-se deles, de modo a disseminar a sua ideologia dominante e controlar as reacções e necessidades dos cidadãos, mantendo-os na ignorância da sua condição, numa autêntica redoma de vidro, fazendo-os crer que são felizes. Não obstante, ao longo desta dissertação debateremos as limitações do alcance do olhar fílmico e, sobretudo se o próprio discurso fílmico adopta uma atitude de resistência à imposição do primeiro. Questões ligadas à vigilância indiscreta e à consequente perda de privacidade e liberdade presentes nos documentos literários e fílmicos são também questões recorrentes e largamente debatidas nos nossos dias e que reforçam a pertinência deste projecto.
“A Manipulação do Olhar no Cinema: o alcance, o controlo e as limitações da câmara em Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four e Fahrenheit 451” is a profound and critical analysis on the role of mass media. We will analise three novels: Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Fahrenheit 451, and above all their filmic adaptations in order to demonstrate the presence of the cinematic perspective, especially of cinema and television as possible means of surveillance, control and manipulation on citizen’s behaviours. These works depict hypothetical dystopic societies ruled by repressive regimes. The power of these regimes is supplied by the usage of mass media. On one hand, through its usage they find the means to propagate their predominant ideology and to control people’s needs and reactions. On the other hand, they lead people to live in a glass shade, which provides them with a full state of ignorance and the strong belief they are truly happy. Nonetheless, throughout this very same essay we will discuss the limits of the cinematic perspective reach and trying to find out whether the filmic discourse adopts or not an attitude of resistance towards the pervasive cinematic perspective. In the different works we identify issues related to the total surveillance resulting in the loss of privacy and freedom. These issues concern all of us nowadays and supply additional importance to this essay.

Jean-Luc Godard's Two or Three Things I Know about Her/Deux ou trois chases que je sais d'elle (1966) clearly equates the Her/elle in the title with both the city of Paris and a young housewife living in a modern apartment on the outskirts of the city. Godard has insisted that this 'elle' is only Paris and not Juliette—the housewife whose daily activities the film documents. Yet the movements of Juliette within the film are inseparable from the knowledge imparted by the filming of the city's public and domestic spaces. Further, her quotidian route through these sites must constantly negotiate an almost excessive overabundance of consumer images. This film, and much of the work of the so-called French New Wave, attempts to articulate the problems posed by the 'Modern City' and the conditions of post-war capitalism. Weekend (1967) and Fahrenheit 451 (1966) envision a city in which the status quo delineated by consumer culture sets the pattern for all forms of urban life. Fahrenheit 451, a dystopic science fiction film directed by Francois Truffaut, describes a world in which the very structure of the home is conflated with technologies of mass culture and consumerism. Technology enters the domestic sphere in this film as a 'screen interface' that 'spectacularly' produces gendered and sexualized modes of identification almost exclusively for the suburban housewife. This thesis explores the gendered spaces of the cinematic city, particularly how architecture, technology, and consumerism are spatialized. In chapter one I address how the spaces of consumerism and the domestic are conflated, leaving it up to the suburban housewife to bear the burden. In chapter two I turn to the formation of female desire as it is reconfigured in the exchanges between the spaces of technology and the domestic. How are these intersecting spheres represented as potential sites of communal transformation? How do they serve to reveal the limits of transformation? The possibility for social change within this cinematic space is ultimately relocated outside of the urban. All three films offer a significant re-appraisal of the 'Modern City,' and in the process reveal its profound links to women's bodies and female desire. I conclude with a discussion of the failures of the post-war 'Modern City' which, in these films, is rejected in favour of a move 'into nature,' a going 'back to zero,' as a possible site for reimagining new patterns of social and sexual relations.