Man has continually pondered the thought of whether one has control over one’s destiny, or that life is a play and each individual is simply acting out their part of the script. It is human's (universally/innate?) incessant curiosity and relentless pursuit for truth which enables man to have control over their future. This can be observed in George Orwell’s novel 1984, Peter Weir’s production of The Truman Show and Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report. While these are merely stories, their aim is to prove that whether or not we think our lives are predetermined, it is our inquisitiveness and chase for true reality which allows us to have control over our decisions and ultimately our future.

1984 is set in Oceania, formerly Britain, one of the three super-states of the world after a post-global atomic war. Winston Smith, the protagonist tries to unveil how life was before the war while everyone is being constantly watched and regulated. All past records are destroyed, and a new language, Newspeak, is invented in order to remove all meaning from language, thus dramatically reducing the chances of the inhabitants finding out about the past.

The Truman Show is about a man whose life is a television show. He was adopted by a television company and ever since birth his life was broadcasted on television. Truman lives thirty years not questioning anything, until mistakes on the part of the actors or the production company cue him to find the explanation to these mysteries. This ultimately leads his pursuit to find out what had been hidden from him all his life.

Minority Report is set in 2054, in Washington D.C, where an experiment involving pre-cognitive twins who can identify killers before they commit the murders is being put into practice. Since its implementation the homicide rate dropped 100%. The creator, John Anderton is however later identified as a future murderer and must prove that he will not kill anyone. He must fight his “destiny” and demonstrate that free will overpowers determinism: thus, refuting the validity of the system he designed.

Both Winston and Truman find themselves in a similar situation; they are living in a world in which they are presented with a certain reality that differs from the actual world. In 1984, Winston lives in a world in which all information from the past is either omitted or modified. It is actually Winston’s job to edit history in order to empower the government. Knowledge is power, and the less the citizens have, the better is it is for Big Brother. From the Ministry of Truth where all the propaganda originates, to Newspeak, the language invented to eliminate almost all meaning from the English language. In The Truman Show, Truman is presented with a fake reality in an even more extreme manner than that of Winstin’s. The latter at the very least, had memories of his childhood, which the government states undoubtedly claim are false and inaccurate...Truman on the other hand, has lived in his “reality” his entire life. Even though he has no reason to suspect anything at first, after several strange events, his curiosity kicks in and leads him to finding more peculiar abnormalities around him. Truman could have very well ignored that set light that fell from the sky, and just acknowledged what the radio said it was...Truman could have accepted that he was simply imagining things when he dials in to the radio output that the television studio used to communicate. His curiosities to justify these events lead him to be more meticulous in the way he observed everything around him. If it were not for his will to have an explanation, he would not have noticed the loops of events that happen daily.

Despite the fact that Truman constantly came across abnormalities, the television studio would come up with reasons that would either cut him in his tracks or discourage him to continue. In 1984: “The thought police would get him just the same. He had committed--would have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper--the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you.” By being able to identify and punish those who have negative thoughts towards the government, Big Brother is able to discontinue any attempt to overthrow or even mildly protest the government. “All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.” “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself--anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face...; was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime.” “Your worst enemy, he reflected, was your nervous system. At any moment the tension inside you was liable to translate itself into some visible symptom.”