“Dad’s like a kid again when Bill and Bobby bring out their construction set. And Mom and Betty can’t resist a little “experting” on the sidelines. At all family affairs 7 up is a welcome part of everybody’s fun. 7-Up the all family drink-is a good friend of youngest and oldest alike. Be a fresh family…every member can be a 7 Up steady.” Vintage 7-Up advertisement 1949 (Ad from envisioningtheamericandream.com)
In the slides, I suggest that while Bradbury’s book attacks intellectual and social conformity, Fahrenheit 451 also gives us a complicated vision of the idealized nuclear family of the 1950s. In what way, if any, does the novel seem to welcome the vision of family in this 7 up ad? In what ways might Bradbury find the ad appalling? You don’t have to discuss everything about the family pictured, just one or two details.
Throughout Bradbury’s book, it is clear that Bradbury craves the idealized family, yet seems like this part of his life is absent. We see this in numerous examples throughout the book, such as when Mildred would rather watch TV than talk with Montag or when Mildred accuses Montag of falling out of low due to not installing another wall in the house. Furthermore, Bradbury constantly hints at the jealousy of the family dynamic of Clarisse’s family, such as when Montag reaches Clarisse’s house and sees all the lights open and Clarisse mentioning it was because the uncle, mother, and father are all together, sitting and talking.
We see this same family dynamic in the 7up ad above as the one that Clarisse’s family is depicted in the book with a very close knit family huddled up together, enjoying 7up together, thus I assume that Bradbury would have appreciated this picture and the portrayal of a loving, close family. In contrary to the family dynamic, I think that Bradbury would have found the construction of what seems like new technology at the time appalling. Technology is portrayed in a negative light throughout the Fahrenheit 451 book, such as televisions “hypnotizing” viewers, where no analytical thought is being used. Due to the technology that is clearly shown in the picture with the high speed trains on the ground and massive skyscrapers (perhaps as a precursor to a dystopian society in the future), I wonder if Bradbury would view this picture in a negative light.
The vision of the family is welcomed by the novel in that each individual is acting upon there assigned gender roles. The males are hard at work while the females are watching the men hard at work. Bradbury’s novel indicates that in a dystopian society this is a necessary binarism as we see the roles that Mildred and Montag both have. Montag brings in the money and Mildred sits back and tends to her virtual family. Though the stark difference between the 7 Up ad and the novel is that in Bradbury’s novel the nuclear family has no kids. Further, when children are brought up by one of Mildred’s friends they are considered ruinous, this is a curious statement because it contradicts Bradbury’s dystopian world that requires reproduction. On the other side of things, Bradbury would be upset with this ad because it perpetuates mass consumerism. The novel does after all exaggerate the role of advertisements, heck, if I recall correctly, a book that Montag has specific parts replaced with advertisements. It is quite shocking to that despite this ad being 50+ years old not much has changed. I think Bradbury would agree that we approaching his dystopian society closer and closer in that we have really lost autonomy, hell, our data isn’t private anymore–thanks Google. What is surprising about this ad is that it is no different from the suburban standardization restrictions. This ad openly regulates what relationships should be, what family looks like, who is a citizen of the nation state, and like the 7 Up slogan states, we are somehow, supposed to believe, without thoughts, that this is what we are supposed to like because it likes, no, mandates, from us.
I understand the value in Austin and Jasmine’s argument; that Bradbury’s criticism of the women who drink martinis and watch the TV with friends instead of having trying to develop a family would suggest that he may find a nuclear family in its ideal appealing. However, something I can’t stop thinking about is how the ‘parlor family’ is entrenched in the blanket of post-intellectual dread that Bradbury lays over the world of Fahrenheit 451. In fact, it seems to me that the ‘parlor family’ in the domain of this novel is the pinnacle of the impersonal, escapist nature of technology depicted by Bradbury. Furthermore, the sitcom-style program I imagine Bradbury writes of is at the perfect intersection between the coldness of the relationship between technology and the characters of the novel (clearly depicted through the snake-like medical device and its operators at the beginning of the book) and the authoritarian-created distractions that keep people from thinking too much in the world of the book (as Clarisse described). The parlor family, therefore, seems to me as an essential part of this dystopian frame, keeping the populous in check through the use of cold, new technology.
This is why I would like to present the argument that Bradbury would mostly abhor the depiction of a nuclear family on this 7-Up ad. While he would recognize that the family seems to be living in the moment, as Austin said, I think he would mostly find the distance between this ideal of a family and the reality of the time to be horrific. Perhaps visuals such as the ad, with smiling faces and happy togetherness, may feel manufactured, faked, just as the ‘parlor family’ on the television in the Montag home. Of course, I also do recognize the potential appeal of the detail in the wife/mother smiling, obedient and curious, “on the sidelines”, to Bradbury. I happened to watch the YouTube video you put on the slides before reading the book this morning, and so the presentation of Clarisse as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl was so present it made me laugh quite a bit. Bradbury was definitely wild for that one, and I can see how he might want a wife to smile and watch along with eyes of wonder as the father plays with the boys in the spotlight.
This ad shows the traditional family unit off well. We see that the little girl holds a baby doll and the boys playing with a train set. We also see the parents upholding traditional standards. The father only engaging with his sons and is dressed in business attire. While the mother watches on with the daughter. I think Bradbury would approve of the presentation of the family unit, being a white heterosexual couple with children. As Montag is critical of Mildred’s friends’ divorces and the lack of desire for children: “Go home and think of your first husband divorced and your second husband killed in a jet and your third husband blowing his brains out, go home and think of the dozen abortions you’ve had, go home and think of that and your damn Caesarian sections, too, and your children who hate your guts! Go home and think how it all happened and what did you ever do to stop it?” (98). The ad clearly shows happy and engaged parents, which Bradbury seems to be in support of, given that Clarisse’s upbringing allows Montag to be the catalyst for change.
I do agree with Ben that Bradbury criticizes social norms, but I am unsure if Bradbury would be appalled that the little girl is not playing. Even though Clarrise does push the societal norms of the book, she only serves the purpose of inspiring Montag to change through her death. Her actions don’t impact anyone but Montag and I agree that renders her a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. I also can’t tell if Bradbury wants women to stay home and be housewives or if he wants them out of the home. He seems very critical of society prescribing tranquilizers to women, but he also is hype critical of technology that would take women out of the home. As he describes the kitchen helper with the same disdain as he did the stomach pump, “Toast popped out of the silver toaster, was seized by a spidery metal hand that drenched it with melted butter.” (14) Even in the play that Mildred participates in the parlor, she plays a housewife. So it feels that Bradbury is unimaginative when it comes to answering what women could be doing if they weren’t housewives.
Fahrenheit 451’s entire premise is centered around the characters playing their roles in society and not questioning things too much. For example, Montag is not supposed to question why he has to burn the books and what information the books contain, he is just supposed to do his job. Likewise, even Montag’s wife turns against him and her friends turn him in to the authorities for holding onto books and not conforming with society. This is similar to this ad which seems to clearly display the roles of the family as well as put it into words. The dad is dressed up nice and looks as if he just came home from working his 9-5 day job. Then the two brothers are pulling out the construction set and the dad and the brothers are hands on working on it while the mom and sister watch. This fits the stereotypes of this era and the ad even says the mom and sister are “on the sidelines.” This family would seem to fit well in the novel with each of them sticking to what they are “supposed” to be doing; the boys playing and the girls watching. However, I could see Bradberry not liking this ad since his book is supposed to attack societal norms. He could be appalled by the clear misogyny and the picture of the family playing their roles. Finally, this family and ad would be perfect for Bradberry to use in his novel because they fit the standard family of the book as well as oppose his personal views.
I was more curious about which aspects Bradbury would approve of, so I’ll take about that and save the appalling for the others.
One of the sadder moments of Fahrenheit 451 for me was the description of Mrs. Bowles relationship with her children starting on the bottom of p.92, “I plunk the children in school nine days out of ten. I put up with them when they come home three days a month; it’s not bad at all. You heave them into the parlor and turn the switch. It’s like washing clothes; stuff laundry in and slam the lid….They’d just as soon kick as kiss me. Thank God, I can kick back!” Looking at this negative portrayal of an emotionally distant parent, the only glimmer the 7-UP ad contains is you do have a father interacting with his kids. Of course it is only with his sons and is only allowed through the manly lens of construction toys, but the “living in the moment” aspect that the our Manic Pixie Dream girl represents is being shown.
Later on Montag states that books is the one thing missing in his life hence his unhappiness, but I would posit that he, Millie, and everyone else is also missing a family. Back then Bradbury would define this family as a wife and two plus kids and nowadays we have less constricting definitions of families where marriage, sexual love or gender are not as important, but they still fill the same role of love and spiritual fulfillment. Montag knows he is missing this as shown by him being offended when Clarisse asked why didn’t Montag have children, and there is the scene where he goes outside Clarisse’s house to see what a real family looks like. Millie’s value of her relationship to her TV family shows she knows what she is missing but cannot fulfill her needs either. Therefore Bradbury would agree with this ad showing a happy, close family as an admirable goal albeit without a clear message on how to achieve this (besides buying 7-UP of course).