Mykki Blanco Hosts Event for Fahrenheit 451

In anticipation of the release of HBO's film adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, HBO hosted its third and final night of impactful and intimate discussion and performances. The event featured and celebrated the artists, activists, and cultural leaders who are doing everything within their power to ensure the highly censored dystopian world as portrayed in Fahrenheit 451 never becomes reality.

451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper (i.e. books) burn, hence the title.

Friday night’s host - rapper, poet, and activist Mykki Blanco - kicked off the evening in conversation with Kimberly Drew, art curator and social media manager at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Drew and Blanco inspired the attendees with a candid conversation on misrepresentation in the art world.

Fahrenheit 451 follows Guy Montag (Michael B. Jordan), the most popular fireman in his district, with a mandate to achieve happiness and social harmony by burning books and deleting and altering history, art, photos and facts. “Natives,” or citizens, mainly stay home, getting anything they need from “Yuxie,” an advanced AI personal assistant that listens to and watches them at all times. Rebellious "Eels” fight to save books, knowledge, and culture. When firemen catch them, they punish Eels in public burnings, which are broadcast to the city; the Eels’ digital identities and histories are wiped clean and they are banished to Talay City, a poor slum with very little technology. 

Blanco was asked by HBO to take part in a "celebration of culture and ideas" that would reflect some of the themes woven throughout Fahrenheit 451. She thinks the message of the story is especially relevant today "because, look at the current administration in the U.S., a war on facts, a war on ideas and ideals; this is fiction-become-reality and I don't think people truly understand how far it all could go in a dystopian direction if we all don’t stay hyper vigilant and aware."

Blanco is currently at work on her largest scale music production to date, which will become her second album, coming out in 2019. "I am also currently working on my first novel. I just recently filmed an awesome short film, which comes out next month - it was directed by Zackary Drucker and is about re-imagining Hollywood through a queer lens, it will be presented on a new media outlet which is focused on queer and gender-nonconforming narratives."

The artist added, "I will also be playing festivals throughout the summer and enjoying life!"