Premium Essay

The World of Big Brother

In:

Submitted By nasreenk
Words 895
Pages 4
The World of Big Brother
By: Nasreen Khaliq
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a film directed by Michael Radford. It was released in 1984 and is a movie adaptation of the dystopian novel of the same name by George Orwell. It stars John Hurt as Winston Smith, Suzanna Hamilton as Julia, Richard Burton as O’Brien, Cyril Cusack as Charrington, Gregor Fisher as Parsons, and James Walker as Syme. It is a film about the super power Oceania, which is one of the three states in the world, and how everything in the citizens’ lives, from work to thought and emotion, is either supressed or controlled by the totalitarian government. History is constantly edited and rewritten, and eradication of the English language is seen as a wonderful thing and is encouraged to make way for a new language called “Newspeak”, which consists of worlds like “thoughtcrime” and “crimestop”. The film deals with the main character Winston Smith, and his life living under the watchful eyes of “Big Brother”.
Directors face quite a daunting task when creating a film based on a novel. It is always hard to find the perfect actors who not only fit the part of the characters, but can also portray them in a realistic way. In between reading the characters in the novel, and watching them later on in the film, it is evident that the characters have suffered many alterations. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, one character that has managed to evade change is O’Brien. In the novel he is described as a very intelligent and powerful man who wholeheartedly accepts the ideas of the Party as if they were his own, and Richard Burton manages to fit that role perfectly. Rather than developing like most characters in a novel, O’Brien’s character seems to do the opposite. By the end of the novel, it seems like we know less about him than we did to begin with. Or rather, we never really knew anything about him at all. They managed to bring

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

1984

...Milana Manojlovic   Ms. Miminas  ENG 3U  Tuesday, June 14th, 2016  Dystopian Society in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four  The citizens in Nineteen Eighty-Four live in a world polar opposite of perfect. They are constantly being watched and oppressed by big brother and the thought police. The citizens live an unorthodox life due to the totalitarian government. The theme of dystopia is evident in nineteen eighty-four because information, independent thought and freedom are restricted, a figurehead is worshipped by citizens, and they are under constant surveillance.   Firstly, Nineteen Eighty- Four emulates the theme of dystopia because information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted. The citizens in Oceania live in a world where they are not allowed to feel human emotions. They are constantly being watched by the thought police and are forced to live in constant fear. They must show that they are abiding Big Brothers orders constantly to avoid being annihilated. The citizens are blind to Big Brothers plans because all information from the past is erased and all information for the future is kept secret. The proles are the only people in their world who do not look up to Big Brother. Although they live in a lower class compared to the people in the party, the proles are able to do whatever they want because Big Brother does not control them. The people in the party may have a more secure home and Manojlovic 2 material items; however, the proles are free to experience...

Words: 1182 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

1984 Freedom

...In a world where almost everyone blindly follows a leader, there are bound to be problems. Where no thoughts are allowed, there is bound to be at least one that wants to rebel. In the novel, 1984, by George Orwell, all citizens of Oceania are kept under surveillance 24/7. There is no freedom in their world. However, not everyone is down with the party. Winston and Julia take a different route, and choose to rebel against Big Brother, thinking they have escaped the watchful eyes of the party. However, they were sadly mistaken. Big Brother sees all.Orwell’s character, Winston, is a quiet and critical thinker; Winston’s role is to overthrow the party in order to bring the past back; however, while on his journey, Winston is caught by Big Brother....

Words: 1157 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

1984 Overview

...written by George Orwell, about a period of time in the future where the government known as Big Brother controls and manipulates the thoughts of the individuals. The main character, Winston Smith, is outright against the government in the beginning and struggles with going undetected. Winston is all about doing what he wants, when he wants, while Big Brother on the other hand wants to be able to control every aspect of one’s life. As the novel progresses, we see a magnitude of changes with Winston’s thoughts on Big Brother. From the very beginning we are able to see Winston setting out to defy Big Brother. Winston’s job for one of the four branches of the government is to rewrite past publications such as newspapers, magazine, or anything that the government originally published. This is the first area where Orwell is able to show the reader how the government is able to manipulate history. Winston makes a terrific point, “if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. “ and further goes on to state a government Party catch phrase ‘Who controls the past, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” (Orwell 44). Winston starts a journal or diary in which he expresses his true thoughts on Big Brother and there want to restrict freedom. His signature tag line written repeatedly throughout the diary is “Down with Big Brother” (Orwell 24). The reader is able to see a gradual progression through the first two parts...

Words: 887 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Technology In North Korea

...In an article I read, it states that the state has absolute and systematic control of all forms of telecommunications and is actively spying on its citizens through mass surveillance programmes. They have sent civilians to prison camps for communicating with the world, which is illegal to do. The ‘Bureau 27’ monitors every phone call and internet activity in North Korea’s State Security Department. Apparently, the unit specialises in converting intelligence and uses sophisticated equipment to detect mobile phone frequencies. Citizens find it impossible to make international calls. The vast majority of North Koreans have no access to the internet and live like if they are in prison. The domestic intranet, the Kwangmyong, are the only ones allowed access to government approved websites and email systems. Someone proficient at computers, especially a hobbyist, can take advantage of his/hers knowledge and stalk,spy and stalk on someone. They can hack into a person’s mobile device and read their private messages...

Words: 1038 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

1984 Big Brother

...Society in this day in age relies heavily on technology so much that we may become controlled by it. Can that lead us into a world like that of Big Brother? Technology can have the intense ability to force people to believe in fictional information and watch people every move they make. Extreme surveillance can have the power to force us into a totalitarian government. The current society we live in has the potential to become that of Big Brother in the far future. In the book 1984 O’brien states “the Brotherhood cannot be wiped because it is not an organization in the ordinary sense”(Orwell 176). If everyone developed the idea that having a totalitarian government was normal, no one would question the idea. Surveillance has the potential to become an issue. It is said in the article “Thats No Phone. Thats My Tracker” from the New York Times it is claiming that we can now call cell phones and tracking devices “ mini robots” and “minicomputers.” Society should be able to take into account that a world similar to that of Big Brother could be possible. 1984 gave us a type...

Words: 511 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

1984 Privacy Technology

...smaller. In the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, illustrates his prediction of a future dystopian society where every citizen is continuously watched by “Big Brother”; at work, in their homes, everywhere. Technology is taking us closer and closer to the world of Big Brother since American’s...

Words: 1158 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Miss

...Written in 1949, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a warning about what the world might become only thirty-five years later. The story is set in London, chief city of Airstrip One, which is part of Oceania. Oceania is in a state of constant war, against either Eurasia or Eastasia, the other two great power blocks. The Head of Oceania is Big Brother. There are three classes in Oceania: the Inner Party, which effectively rules Oceania; the Outer Party, to which Winston Smith belongs; and the proles, who might be seen as the working class. At the start of the novel, Winston is rebelling against Big Brother by buying a book that he uses as a diary and in which he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER”. He has come to believe that O’Brien, an Inner Party member, is also a secret rebel with whom he has a special sympathy. He suspects a dark-haired fellow-worker, whom he later discovers is called Julia, of being a member of the Thought Police and intending to find evidence for denouncing him. As their paths continue to cross, Winston is stunned to receive a note from Julia saying “I love you”, which changes his vague intention of murdering her into falling in with her plan to meet him and make love to him. Their relationship is at first only physical. Winston rents a room over a shop run by an apparently harmless old man, Mr Charrington. The room becomes their regular meeting-place. O’Brien contacts Winston, inviting him to his apartment and recruits him into the Brotherhood, an organisation headed...

Words: 487 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Rationing In 1984

...other departments. Winston works in the Records Department where he creates and changes the past. In the Records Department, Winston receives orders to revise newspaper and magazine articles, such as “Big Brother’s Order for the Day in the Times of December 3rd 1983” (Orwell, 44). Big Brother’s order was “extremely...

Words: 1151 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Winston Smith In George Orwell's 1984

...In the book 1984 Winston Smith is a man hat lives in Oceania. Oceania was one of three split sections in the world at the time. His job was to change the history to what Big Brother wanted everyone to believe. Winston is unable to quit his job because of how much power the government had. If he were to even try he would most likely be punished or even killed. Winston was very unhappy with his job and his life. This showed a lot during the book. Everyone had to keep there ideas and opinions to them self because Big Brother was "always watching". Even then if for some reason abig brother wasn't around he had thought police. The thought police are exactly what it sounds like. They had servalaince screens that where always around. Winston kept...

Words: 441 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Barbara Kingsolvers's The Poisonwood Bible

...are a set of principles used to bring the world to freedom and equality; consequently, if they are not followed, injustice and imparity plagues the world. In Barbara Kingsolvers’ The Poisonwood Bible, there are key moments where an individual’s freedom of religion, opinion, and expression are denied, suppressing people’s ability to join society openly. This can also be recognized in 1984, a dystopian novel by George Orwell, where the citizens living in its world face restrictions to their right to life and liberty, and freedom from inhumane treatment, all taken by their very own government. The fact is that individuals, or a group of individuals, seek authority by taking the human power of rights and freedoms, ultimately taking...

Words: 3330 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Totalitarian Government In 1984 By George Orwell

...point where it can do as much or even more as the aged books have foretold. In the novel, 1984, the author, George Orwell, wrote about a distant future where everything was controlled by one person known as Big Brother. The main protagonist in Orwell's story, Winston Smith, believes that things are not as they should be and explains how they were always being watched by the Inner Party which consisted of less than 2% of the entire population. Proles, as they were named, consisted about 80% of all the population, including the Party. The Outer Party, where Winston is,...

Words: 1006 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Similarities Between 1984 By George Orwell

...In the novel of 1984 by George Orwell, Winston lives in a controlled country and whether the people in this society know the difference from falsified or genuine information. In a society where someone could obtain absolute power over people and decide what is reality and what is not, is likely to happen. Then novel portrays a good point on a totalitarian government (Ingsoc) in which the “Big Brother” is seen as their leader. In this society, the citizens are educated with false information of the world itself and its own history. Past events in our society can also show what can be real or not and show some of the same similarities as the 1984 novel. For a society similar to the party to exist among us, the regime would have to be in existence...

Words: 626 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

V for Vendetta vs 1984

...there is no hope. This was what life was like for the inhabitants of 1984 and V for Vendetta. It was an existence full of ironic satirical tragedies, fruitless hope and rebellion. The people that are living in George Orwell’s 1984 and Wachowski brothers’ V for Vendetta are both the victims of a dystopian society. The society of 1984 and V for Vendetta heavily influenced by the possible alternate future in which Germany and the Soviet Union wins WWII and the conquered Great Britain is forced to become a fascist or a communist state. The government is shown to be playing a manipulative puppet-master role to the people in both societies. The two governments have gained absolute power over their people due to psychological motivation by the use of propaganda. Humanity is often criticized to be nothing more than evolved Neanderthals, striving for our own survival. These two novels show that human will turn a blind eye to any wrong-doing if there is a benefit for them. It analyzes how extreme human greed can be and how humans have great amounts of weakness. Both the text 1984 and V for Vendetta is a satire that ridicules the enemy leaders of World War II, exaggerates government manipulation, and criticizes humanity. The two satires ridicule the World War II leaders and the tactics involved. The society in 1984 is a ridiculed society that support communism; this is similar to the Stalin Russia in WWII. “… the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but … pretended…that...

Words: 1671 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

George Orwell 1984 Themes

...happening around the world today. Even though Oceania was a totalitarian government some of the tactics used to control its citizens are being used currently. The themes of 1984 occur in the present. Orwell wrote 1984 to give an example of what totalitarian country would be like in the future. At the time during World War II where dictatorship governments were all around the globe. Some of the things that the government did actually happens today. For example, Oceania used telescreens to spy on the citizens. In America there are cameras anywhere there are buildings and stop lights. Oceania also controlled what news and history the citizens were supposed to know about. Americas government...

Words: 434 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

1984, a Dystopian Novel

...perceived to be under constant surveillance. A great example of this, in 1984, would be the telescreen. The telescreen is a “futuristic device” used to survey the citizens of Oceania at all times for crimes such as “thoughtcrime, facecrime sexcrime etc. Throughout London, Winston sees posters with a man gazing down over the words “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” everywhere he goes. “Big Brother” is the face of the party and a leader behind the great power. Any One who goes against Big Brother will be vaporized. The poster of the Big Brother seems to control people of Oceania by reminding that they are being watched at all times. Furthermore, the party also uses propaganda as a powerful weapon to control the citizens of Oceania. One of the main propaganda used by the government is the “Two minutes”. The two minutes hate is used to brainwash the citizens into identifying who the true enemy is. Even though the “enemy”, Emmanuel Goldstein, speaks about freedom and peace, he is portrayed as the bad guy, someone you must hate. Goldstein represented what the party did not want their citizen to become. Goldstein was also used to create fear of the outside world. To create an illusion of a perfect society however, they held production announcements. Even though the production itself was decreasing, they...

Words: 508 - Pages: 3