As examples of dystopian fiction, metropolis and 1984 share some common concerns and conventions. In a comparative essay, analyse and evaluate each text as an artistic response to the political, social and cultural climates of their respective contexts: Texts are inherently responses which represents composers concerns of their political, social and cultural climates. Both Fritz Lang’s German Expressionist Film Metropolis (1927) and George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1948) portray the subjugation of the individual and the divide between social classes. Lang’s focus is on the consequences to society due to loss of values such as compassion in Weimar Germany following WWI.
The movie, The Village, and the novel 1984 provides new insight and connections on a “utopian” society. Both are very similar to each other in a way that their utopian society has many flaws. 1984 is about a rebellion against an iron-fisted totalitarian government while The Village is about an attempt to protect the innocence of people. In these societies, the leaders lie in order to try and achieve a utopian world. Both societies have different purposes to control the people through fear, but despite their attempts to create a utopian society, they were only successful to a certain extent.
Society is made up of multiple factors including individuality and opposition. George Orwell’s 1984 is a novel that depicts a communist dystopian society. Orwell wrote this novel to show what will happen to society under Communist control—more specifically, Joseph Stalin’s control. Orwell presents the reader with a protagonist, Winston, and through Winston, the reader can see the effects of extreme, forced conformity in a society. Through 1984, the reader can conclude that a society as a whole cannot thrive when constrained.
Many a literary critic claims that the strongest aspect of the book 1984 by George Orwell is its plot. Indeed, there is some merit in this conclusion, as the entire purpose of Orwell’s writing of this book was not to create a literary classic, but to warn the public about the dangers of communism if it got out of hand, and what better way to do this than to write an engaging plot? Others may claim that 1984’s greatest strength is in its character development. This aspect, too, is quite strong in the book, as not only are the minor characters effected in serving the dystopian theme, but the major characters are believable and very human in their failings. Winston’s transformation from an oppressed office worker to revolutionary and finally
Lauren DeStefano said, “ 'dystopian, ' by definition, promises a darker story” (DeStefano). One may find this to be particularly true in Ursula Le Guin’s “Those Who Walk Away From Omelas” when he is able to look past the happiness displayed proudly on the surface. Le Guin’s “Those Who Walk Away From Omelas” employs dystopian elements because the story, like other dystopian works, warns about societies with trapped citizens, living in a supposedly perfect city, who fail to question the structure of their society.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is based on a utopian society with unique social, psychological, political, and cultural features. The novel hinges on the idea of an all-powerful state that controls almost all aspects of life and makes citizens ignorant problems occurring in their society. Bernard Marx is an Alpha male who fails to fit in the structure created by the World Controllers of his society due to his inferior capabilities. His discontent in society leads him to hold unorthodox ideas about many aspects of life and shapes him as an individual. Through Bernard’s exposure to John the Savage and his heightened need for social acceptance, Bernard Marx is shaped from an admirable character who yearns for more out of life than given in his
‘Positive characters … usually prove miserably ineffectual when contending with ruthless overwhelming powers’ claims Amin Malak, noting on such protagonists as Winston Smith and Offred in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and, when looking at the dystopian genre as a whole, he certainly seems to be correct. Dystopian fiction does seem to portray the worse side of human nature than the better, leaving the positive traits to the struggling protagonists. While utopian writers seemed to think that the essence of human nature was to do good, dystopian writers seem to think very differently and it is from this notion that these novels seem to be written. Nineteen Eighty-Four certainly seems to do this, with almost every member of the society representing one or more negative aspects of humanity.
In Aldous Huxley’s novel “Brave New World” the world has fallen into an authoritarian order, of which control is kept through constant distraction and suppression of information. Though through this remains communities of “savages” who reject the new world order and have continued more traditional human life in reservations. It is in one of the these reservations the Aldous Huxley introduces the character John, a foil to the society he is introduced to. This exile from the land and the ideologies of the home John once knew to the “brave new world” allows John to both learn about himself and gives him the ability to see the corruption within the world state. John is introduced in the novel as the protagonist, Bernard Marx, and his female companion,
George Orwell was an English novelist and journalist best known for his dystopian novel 1984 which was based on totalitarianism. Winston Smith, an employee in the Records Department for the Ministry of Truth and protagonist of this story, lives a life characterized by rebellion and hatred for the Party. His doubts for the Party’s actions and its control on truth begins to take a journey of discrete insurrection and the meeting of Julia, a young woman with cunning spirit and a worker at the Fiction Department. The plot rises as both of them have corresponding views on the Party; in this particular excerpt, George Orwell establishes antsy with this situation as Winston and Julia are caught by the Thought Police. Orwell’s use of repetition, details
The director makes the argument that unorthodox behavior is worse than murder to portray that unorthodoxy threatens more than the life of one person. Unorthodoxy is so dangerous for the reason that it threatens the whole society, it strikes at society itself (pg.148). D.C.H dislikes Bernard for Bernards heretical views on soma and sport, unorthodox sex life, and refusal to obey teaching of Ford. To humiliate Bernard D.C.H exposes Bernard. For instance, he states, “ this man who stands before you hear, this Alpha-Plus to whom so much has been given, and from whom, in consequence so much must be expected, this colleague of yours or should I anticipate and say this ex colleague?
In ‘1984’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, the destruction of the individual is due to a combination of the destruction of independence, language and totalitarian monopolistic control. Complete collectivism, despite separate political beliefs, is presented throughout dictatorial societal jurisdiction as being the predominant way to maintain eternal power. The regimes seek to control individuals and therefore engage in continuing reconnaissance or surveillance of the populace. The mind is the most individual source of power to any person and totalitarianism aims to create complete orthodoxy by controlling and manipulating the mind. Both Orwell in ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ and Atwood in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ are examples of how dystopian literature presents
Dystopian texts espouse a variety of didactic messages that depend significantly upon both the context and zeitgeist of the time in which they were created. Differences can be found when comparing the techniques and perspectives the authors have chosen to represent their contextual concerns to audiences. Together both Fritz Lang’s silent black and white film ‘Metropolis’ 1927 and George Orwell’s novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ (*referred to as 1984) 1948, confront and provoke audiences to consider the impact that (abusive power + unquestionable control= insert question statement) can have not only on the characters in these two texts, but also on the cultural and political lives of the reader and viewer. By subjugating & dehumanising the lower classes, dictators are
The society of this novel was a dystopia and it is how George Orwell viewed the world. In the novel 1984, Orwell portrays the acts of betrayal and
This is a literary analysis on the novel 1984 by George Orwell. 1984 is a more recent classic dystopian novel. Written in 1949, it's based in the future year of what is presumed to be 1984. It focuses on the life of Winston Smith, a member of the newly established Party that rules over a territory called Oceania and that is led by a man called Big Brother. This novel provides a rather frightening insight into a dystopian socialist environment.
Living through the first half of the twentieth century, George Orwell watched the rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union. Fighting in Spain, he witnessed the brutalities of the fascists and Stalinists first hand. His experiences awakened him to the evils of a totalitarian government. In his novel 1984, Orwell paints a dark and pessimistic vision of the future where society is completely controlled by a totalitarian government. He uses symbolism and the character’s developments to show the nature of total power in a government and the extremes it will go through to retain that power by repressing individual freedom and the truth.
