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Similarities Between 1984 And Metropolis

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A comparative study of texts gives a richer understanding on how perspectives and common human values are shared within texts. These shed light upon how significant a texts context is in shaping a composer's perspective. Julia Kristeva comments on intertextuality, saying that it “deals with the materialisation of a text from a social text and its perpetual existence within society and history”. This is seen in Fritz Lang's Metropolis and George Orwell's 1984. Studying these two texts with different contexts reveals different values that can only be understood through the eye of perspective. Fritz Lang responds optimistically to the breakdown of class division in Metropolis, as his religious perspective reflects the values of faith in 1927. …show more content…

Written post world war II, Orwell characterises the rigid class structure of the era prior to the war, where conformity was expected and any attempt to deconstruct or disconnect from the social hierarchy was “restricted by social convention”. Orwell witnessed the danger of complete political authority, such as the governments in Spain and Russia whilst alluding to Stalin and Hitler and their greed for power. Orwell creates a novel that is thus a cautionary sign, indirectly showing us the dangers of a totalitarian society, capturing the real world belief of “purging the world for sins and desecration; and their sustenance for authority and total control. Throughout this book we see a member of the middle class feeling imprisoned within the world he lives, who then seeks freedom by breaking the laws. We see the power that the inner party holds in the quote “Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past”. Orwell uses repetition to emphasise who, while the high modality of the sentence reinforces the control that the party members seek. The novel is filled with indications that Big Brother is in control, as ‘he’ is at the top of the hierarchy; which further established through Winston stating “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull”. Orwell uses descriptive language, and the limited third person narration allows the audience to gain insight into Winston’s thoughts. This paints an image that highlights Winston’s thoughts being the only thing he can control in this totalitarian regime, showing us the extreme lack of freedom experienced by the outer party members. Throughout the novel Orwell continues to intensify his hatred toward totalitarianism and political authority, this demonstrates his pessimistic perspective and warns his readers of the aftermath of societal

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