Nineteen Eighty-Four（１９８４）by George Orwell: 4

Technology

The world of Nineteen Eighty-Four is a political, not a technological, dystopia . The technological level of the society in the novel is mostly crude and less advanced than in the real 1980s. Apart from the telescreens , speech-recognizing typewriters, and novel-writing machines (the credibility of which is stated to be dubious), technology is barely more advanced than in wartime Britain. Orwell explains that, in the latter part of the twentieth century, technology has been driven by only two things: "war, and the desire to determine against his will what another human being is thinking."

Living standards are low and declining, with rationing and unpalatable ersatz products; in that regard, Orwell's vision is diametrically opposed to the technologically advanced hedonism of Brave New World .

None of the three blocs has much genuine interest in technological progress, since it could destabilise their grip on power. Some scientific advance is conducted in the field of interrogation, developing techniques against thought criminals through advanced torture, drugs, and hypnosis, but in other fields, technology is stagnant. Atomic weapons are avoided in the perpetual war , since the whole point of the conflict is to be indecisive and wasteful. The technologies employed are obsolete and deliberately wasteful. This stagnation is related to what is perhaps the most frightening aspect of the novel: for all their brutality, the regimes are not going to burn themselves out in strategically significant conquests or technological arms races. Rather, they have reached a stable equilibrium which could theoretically last forever—" a boot stamping on a human face ...forever".

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The themes of Nineteen Eighty-Four

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Nationalism

Nineteen Eighty-Four expands upon the themes summarised in Orwell’s preparatory essay, Notes on Nationalism (1945) : [2] . In it, Orwell expresses frustration at the lack of vocabulary needed to explain an unrecognised phenomenon that he felt was behind certain forces. He addresses this problem in Nineteen Eighty-Four by inventing the jargon of Newspeak.

A fictional society, to which the readers have no preconceived bias, was a tool in illustrating why Orwell thought examples shown below were different manifestations of the same forces at work, despite their being ideologically incompatible.

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Positive nationalism

This is apparent in the novel, in the Oceanians’ undying love for Big Brother, whose physical existence is doubtful. Orwell lists Celtic Nationalism , Neo-Toryism and Zionism as examples of positive nationalism.

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Negative nationalism

This is apparent in the novel, in the Oceanians’ undying hatred for Goldstein, whose continued existence is doubtful. Orwell lists Trotskyism , Anti-Semitism and Anglophobia as examples of negative nationalism.

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Transferred nationalism

In the novel, an orator, mid-sentence, alters the alleged enemy of Oceania, and the crowd instantly transfer their same feelings of hatred toward the new alleged enemy. In Notes on Nationalism, Orwell describes transferred nationalism as swiftly redirecting emotions from one power unit to another, as if not by reasoned change in opinion, but as if one’s beliefs are serving one’s loyalties, which can be altered, but with the original fanaticism intact. Orwell lists Communism , Political Catholicism , Pacifism , Colour Feeling , and Class Feeling as examples of transferred nationalism.

Nationalism for its own sake is described by O'Brien in one of his most conclusive statements: “The object of power is power; The object of torture is torture.”

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Sexual repression

In the novel, Julia describes party fanaticism as "sex gone sour;" Winston, aside from during his affair with Julia, suffers from an ankle inflammation, alluding to Oedipus Rex and symbolizing an unhealthy repression of the sex drive. Orwell supposed that the sufficient mental energy for prolonged worship requires the repression of a vital instinct, such as the sex instinct. This possibly alludes to the restrictions on sexuality imposed by authorities (civil, political, religious or otherwise, such as in the German National-socialist regime), be it consciously or by selective pressures on doctrine.

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Futurology

It is not clear to what extent Orwell believed his work was prophetic.

He describes what he believed was the future of England in his essay England, Your England :

"The intellectuals who hope to see it Russianised or Germanised will be disappointed. The gentleness, the hypocrisy, the thoughtlessness, the reverence for law and the hatred of uniforms will remain, along with the suet puddings and the misty skies. It needs some very great disaster, such as prolonged subjugation by a foreign enemy, to destroy a national culture. The Stock Exchange will be pulled down, the horse plough will give way to the tractor, the country houses will be turned into children's holiday camps, the Eton and Harrow match will be forgotten, but England will still be England, an everlasting animal stretching into the future and the past, and, like all living things, having the power to change out of recognition and yet remain the same."

This is in stark contrast to O'Brien's forecast:

"There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always -- do not forget this, Winston -- always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face ...for ever."
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Appendix on Newspeak

The novel includes an appendix, The Principles of Newspeak [3] , written in the style of an academic essay. The appendix describes the development of Newspeak, and explains how the language is designed to standardise thought to reflect the ideology of Ingsoc; that is, by making "all other modes of thought impossible".

The fact that the appendix is written in the past tense, as well as other grammatical and non-grammatical features, has led some to argue that it can be seen to be describing Newspeak, and by extension Ingsoc, as a thing of the past, possibly implying a more ambiguous ending for the novel than is commonly thought (Atwood [4] , Benstead [5] ). However, there is no explicit statement in the appendix to suggest that it existed or was written in the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four, and it could simply be a part of the third person narrative that is deployed throughout the rest of the novel.

Furthermore, it could be argued that Orwell, as an advocate of plain English , would be unlikely to underpin such a significant plot detail with such a subtle clue.

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Cultural impact

Nineteen Eighty-Four has had a surprisingly large impact on the English language. Many of its concepts, Big Brother, Room 101, thought police, doublethink and Newspeak, have entered common usage in describing totalitarian or overarching behaviour by authority. Doublespeak or doubletalk is a subsequent elaboration on the word doublethink that never actually appeared in the novel itself. The adjective "Orwellian" is often used to describe any real world scenario reminiscent of the novel. The practice of suffixing words with "-speak" and "-think" (groupthink , mediaspeak) arguably originated with the novel.

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Controversy

In 1981, Jackson County, Florida challenged the novel on the grounds that the book was "pro-communist and contained explicit sexual matter." [6] Supporters of the book have called this accusation preposterous, saying it casts more light on the accusers than the book.

The book's proponents admit that there are some passages relating to sex, and some to torture, but they are by no means extreme for the time, and are quite relevant to the plot. Still, some people have objected to the book for those depictions.

Another criticism that can be leveled is that of antisemitism. Goldstein, who is described as having "a Jewish face", is held up as "the Enemy of the People" by the Party, and is the subject of the Two Minutes Hate. However it can be argued that the Party is seen throughout the book as evil, making its main opponent Jewish cannot be seen as an antisemitic attitude on the part of Orwell. In fact, the Soviet Union was antisemitic in some ways, and the Goldstein character may reflect this. In addition, some aspects of 1984 seem modeled after Nazi Germany .

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Adaptations

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Films

Nineteen Eighty-Four has been made into two theatrically released films. The the first 1984 film was released in 1956. The second 1984 film , released in 1984, is a reasonably faithful adaptation of the novel, and was critically acclaimed. The film's soundtrack was performed by the band Eurythmics , and a single taken from this, "Sexcrime (1984)", was a hit in several countries. The film is notable for containing Richard Burton 's last performance.

The Terry Gilliam film Brazil has been interpreted as a 'tribute' to the novel, although Gilliam claims not to have read the book before making his film.

Recently, it has been rumoured that another film adaptation is set to be released in 2007 , however according to the IMDB it is still in development. According to Dark Horizons and Moviehole , Tim Robbins is set to direct.

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Radio

The first radio broadcast of Nineteen Eighty-Four was a one-hour adaptation transmitted by the NBC radio network at 9.00 p.m. on August 27 , 1949 as number 55 in the series N.B.C. University Theater, which adapted the world's great novels for broadcast. Another broadcast on the NBC radio network was made by the Theater Guild on Sunday April 26 , 1953 for the United States Steel Hour .

In the United Kingdom , the BBC Home Service produced a 90-minute version with Patrick Troughton and Sylvia Syms in the lead roles, first broadcast on October 11 , 1965 . In April and May 2005 , BBC Radio 2 broadcast a reading of the novel in eight weekly parts.

The liberal radio program, The Mike Malloy Show began reading Nineteen Eighty-Four in late 2005 and vowed to continue doing so every night until whichever comes first: U.S. President George W. Bush is impeached, or the show is taken off the air. The reading was completed on May 11 , 2006 .

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Television

Nineteen Eighty-Four was adapted for television by the BBC in 1954 , and again in 1965 .

It was voted No. 7 in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation 's television special, My Favourite Book , which sought to find Australia's favourite book.

The scene involving Winston in Room 101 from the 1984 movie adaptation of the book was ranked among the 100 scariest moments of TV history, as voted by Channel 4 viewers.

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Opera

Lorin Maazel , better known as a conductor, has composed the opera, 1984 . The libretto is by Tom Meehan, who worked on The Producers and JD McClatchy, professor of poetry at Yale University. The opera directed by Canadian director Robert Lepage premiered on May 3 , 2005 at the Royal Opera House , Covent Garden. See Science-fiction operas .

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Big Brother Awards

Each year, the national members and affiliated organizations of Privacy International present the "Big Brother" awards to the government and private sector organisations which have done the most to threaten personal privacy in their countries. Since 1998, over 40 ceremonies have been held in 16 countries and have given out hundreds of awards to some of the most powerful government agencies, individuals and corporations in those countries.

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Related works

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Literature

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