While many consider Ray Bradbury a pioneer in science fiction writing, the author considered himself an observer of life. “All my life,” he said in an interview, “I’ve been running through the fields and picking up bright objects. I turn it over and say, ‘Hey, there’s a story.’” It’s this ability to present very real human reactions to often extraordinary circumstances that has endeared Bradbury’s works to countless generations. In fact, the writer’s stories continue to have an influence on the films, TV shows and works of fiction which serve to both provoke and entertain their audience.
Nicknamed the “poet of the pulps”, Bradbury was known for his expert treatment of the everyday terror which lurks within the mundane. In his writing, there are no ghosts more distressing than the ones we create ourselves – even aliens, it seems, are no match against the “ogre called Death” which persists to haunt our subconscious. The realistic components of character development in his stories are always imbued with some element of the fantastical. His definition of sci-fi as essentially being the “fiction of ideas” gave him plenty of room to build worlds upon our own. Thus the highly prolific author‘s 27 novels and 600-plus short stories remain as exciting and influential as they were at time of publishing.
In his short story collection “The Illustrated Man,” he chose to focus on the deepening relationship between humans and machine technology – using that overarching theme to tie together each piece in the book. Without pontificating, Bradbury warned against a day when machines would have the upper hand. Today these tales seem eerily prescient. One of the stories from this particular collection, “Zero Hour,” has served as for inspiration for a new ABC series entitled The Whispers – which explores the strange interactions young children have with beings visible only to them, and their role in a larger conspiracy. The premiere episode is easily available on the WATCH ABC App (compatible with television providers such as DirecTV and Comcast XFINITY, among others). It dives right into the realm of children’s imaginations, suggesting that their perceptions are nothing to take lightly. In The Martian Chronicles, another one of the author’s iconic collections, Bradbury explores the colonization of Mars, which was spurred by humans’ desire to flee an increasingly troubled Earth.
Bradbury is rightfully credited with taking the sci-fi genre from the “pulp ghetto” to its current place in mainstream entertainment. Pre-dating ABC’s current interest in his writing, many of his other novels and short stories have also been made into TV shows, films, and plays. Throughout the course of his career he worked with Alfred Hitchcock and the producers of the Twilight Zone, even scripting a A Canadian-produced fantastic anthology series called The Ray Bradbury Theatre. His most famous artistic contribution however, remains his 1951 novel Fahrenheit 451. While the real world inspiration for this tale of a futuristic society where certain books were outlawed in an effort to control the masses was based on the “Red Scare” of the 1950s, its predominant theme of government overreach is still relevant today, particularly in the context of the ongoing debate over privacy issues and censorship.
Bradbury’s particular brand of science fiction and fantasy realized that, while our machines may be designed to be capable of almost anything, their power remains in the hands of fallible humans. The fact that he never relied on “hard science” made it very easy to tailor his tales to appeal to any age range or generation, as his stories don’t focus on the mechanics of how something works but rather on the human reactions to it. Bradbury’s “The Flying Machine” illustrates this point, with the emperor executing the inventor of a machine that allows man to take flight, effectively erasing knowledge of such an invention out of a fear of what such a capability might inspire, namely a way to escape an oppressive society. Another Bradbury story, “Something Wicked This Way Comes,” serves as the author’s take on man’s eternal struggle with good and evil, once again highlighting an innate ability to incorporate universal themes in his writings.
It’s easy to see the influence that Ray Bradbury had on the science fiction genre’s shift towards mainstream acceptability in the successful Star Wars, Terminator, Planet of the Apes and Jurassic Park franchises, each one drawing on some element of the human reaction to the world in which the people in those stories exist. Even more contemporary works by Stephen King, especially the TV adaptation of his novel Under the Dome, echo Bradbury’s work and personal vision for the future. Bradbury’s dystopias, and their metaphorical underpinnings, tie closely to concepts that still threaten all of us. But in his tales of terror there are still marvelous moments of wonderment – and it’s these moments, as with those in our real lives, which allow us to find the sublime in our shared fate, and the courage to muddle through with bravery and conviction.
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