Bradbury wrote many short essays on culture and the arts, attracting the attention of critics in this field, using his fiction to explore and criticize his culture and society. He observed, for example, that Fahrenheit 451 touched on the alienation of people by media:
In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451 I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife passed me, walking their dog. I stood staring after them, absolutely stunned. The woman held in one hand a small cigarette-package-sized radio, its antenna quivering. From this sprang tiny copper wires which ended in a dainty cone plugged into her right ear. There she was, oblivious to man and dog, listening to far winds and whispers and soap opera cries, sleep walking, helped up and down curbs by a husband who might just as well not have been there. This was not fiction.[45]
Bradbury stated that the novel worked as a critique of the later development of political correctness:
How does the story of Fahrenheit 451 stand up in 1994? R.B.: It works even better because we have political correctness now. Political correctness is the real enemy these days. The black groups want to control our thinking and you can't say certain things. The homosexual groups don't want you to criticize them. It's thought control and freedom of speech control.[46]
In a 1982 essay, he wrote: "People ask me to predict the Future, when all I want to do is prevent it." This intent had been expressed earlier by other authors, most of whom attributed it to him.[47]
On May 24, 1956, Bradbury appeared on the popular quiz show You Bet Your Life hosted by Groucho Marx. During his introductory comments and on-air banter with Marx, Bradbury briefly discussed some of his books and other works, including giving an overview of "The Veldt", his short story published six years earlier in The Saturday Evening Post under the title "The World the Children Made".[48]
Bradbury was a consultant for the American Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair and wrote the narration script for The American Journey attraction there.[49][50] He also worked on the original exhibit in Epcot's Spaceship Earth geosphere at Walt Disney World.[51][52][53] He focused on detective fiction in the 1980s.[54] In the latter half of the 1980s and early 1990s, he hosted The Ray Bradbury Theater, a televised anthology series based on his short stories.
Bradbury was a strong supporter of public libraries, raising money to prevent the closure of several libraries in California facing budgetary cuts. He said "libraries raised me", and shunned colleges and universities, comparing his own lack of funds during the Depression with poor contemporary students.[55] His opinion varied on modern technology. In 1985 Bradbury wrote: "I see nothing but good coming from computers. When they first appeared on the scene, people were saying, 'Oh my God, I'm so afraid.' I hate people like that—I call them the neo-Luddites" and: "In a sense, [computers] are simply books. Books are all over the place, and computers will be, too."[56] He resisted the conversion of his work into e-books, saying in 2010: "We have too many cellphones. We've got too many internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now."[57] When the publishing rights for Fahrenheit 451 came up for renewal in December 2011, Bradbury permitted its publication in electronic form provided that the publisher, Simon & Schuster, allowed the e-book to be digitally downloaded by any library patron. The title remains the only book in the Simon & Schuster catalog for which this is possible.[58]
Several comic-book writers have adapted Bradbury's stories, particularly the authors of EC Comics's line of horror and science-fiction comics. Initially, the writers plagiarized his stories, but a diplomatic letter from Bradbury led to the company's paying him and negotiating properly licensed adaptations of his work. The comics featuring Bradbury's stories included Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, Crime Suspenstories, and Haunt of Fear.[59]
Bradbury remained an enthusiastic playwright all his life, leaving a rich theatrical legacy as well as literary. He headed the Pandemonium Theatre Company in Los Angeles for many years, and had a five-year relationship with the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena.[60]
Bradbury is featured prominently in two documentaries related to his classic 1950s–1960s era: Jason V Brock's Charles Beaumont: The Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man,[61] detailing his troubles with Rod Serling and his friendships with writers Charles Beaumont, George Clayton Johnson, and most especially his dear friend William F. Nolan; and Brock's The AckerMonster Chronicles!, which delves into the life of former Bradbury agent, close friend, mega-fan and Famous Monsters of Filmland editor Forrest J Ackerman.
Bradbury's legacy was celebrated by the bookstore Fahrenheit 451 Books in Laguna Beach, California, in the 1970s and 1980s. He and his favorite illustrator, Joseph Mugnaini, attended the opening of an addition to the store in the mid-1980s. It closed its doors in 1987, but in 1990, another shop of the same name (with different owners) opened in Carlsbad, California.[62]
In the 1980s and 1990s, Bradbury served on the advisory board of the Los Angeles Student Film Institute.[63][64]
