1984 And Metropolis Essay

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Perspectives of an author being imposed through a text often influence the actions of readers, who extract these world views and place them in their own context in order to better understand what the author is superimposing in a text. Both George Orwell and Fritz Lang delve into the ideal of conformity and the consequences if it is not challenged, the most significant being a depleted sense of humanity. Both 1984 and Metropolis reveal the results of accepting totalitarian rule without questioning the state’s intrusion into individualism, family unity, and class & gender. Individual freedom, and the liberty to express one’s thoughts and opinions, is one important aspect which makes us human, and is being denied by complying with conformism. Through surveillance …show more content…

When oppressing any act of individuality and endorsing conformity, any choices available to those individuals are methodically stripped away, ensuring everyone acts in a way which is compatible to that of the state. Orwell presents a dystopic vision of the future which systematically strips away any freedoms of the people of Oceania, and their humanity. Surveillance and propaganda are complementary tools instigated by Big Brother and the Party of Oceania to gain total social control, directed not just at behaviour, but also thought. Surveillance is pervasive in the novel, with both panoptical and surreptitious surveillance being utilised in conjunction to create a sense that one is being watched majority of the time, with small instances of privacy. This false sense of security removes the action of self-censoring, and allows those conducting surveillance to pry into the secret recesses of the human heart. Propaganda of fact is also prevalent in 1984, under the Ministry of Truth where Winston Smith works. By destroying records of the past and substituting falsified records in their place, lies are fabricated to the

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