George Orwell's 1984 and The Lego Movie, are two texts which develop the theme that if one desires to obtain control one feels the need to alter feelings, capabilities and even the world seen in reality, which can result in a artificial society lacking the presence of human nature. In 1984 the Party of Oceania and the antagonist, President Business in The Lego Movie portray similar characteristics and goals which connect to the theme. In 1984 the ideology of thoughtcrime and the cotton swab in The Lego Movie portrays similar meanings which connect to the theme. In both the pieces of literature, there are totalitarian controlled communities. They are both controlled by hierarchies who's only determination is perfection and complete control over their society. In 1984, the Big Brother and the Party have total control over their society by asking the citizens to perfect the ideology of thought crime. They have the perfect vision of a society where people only love and worship the Party. In the Lego Movie, President Business wants to have a perfect society who only follows the rules given to them by him; if what he wills is not fulfilled he uses a cotton swab to perfect the blemish which would make his society perfect. In this society there are TVs everywhere displaying propaganda and there is also a 24/7 surveillance system. The two hierarchies illusion of a perfect society to obtain control, requires the loss of human nature and human creativity. This consequently involves the sacrifice of freedom of thought, speech and the expression of emotions . To begin with, the Party of Oceania in 1984 creates the illusion of reality to control the citizens in Oceania. The Party of Oceania means well for their citizens; their main ... ... middle of paper ... ...ist President Business in The Lego Movie and the Party of Oceania in 1984, have similar characteristics' which portray the theme displays by both pieces of literature. The ideology of thoughtcrime in 1984 and the cotton swab in The Lego Movie, symbolize the theme developed in the two texts. The illusion of perfection which is desired by the hierarchies to obtain control, is what covers natural human behaviour resulting in a artificial society. The idea of a perfect society is what drives the leaders to take drastic measures and to underestimate the consequences of their actions and control can do to their society. Work Cited: The Lego Movie. Dir. Chris Miller, Phil Lord. Warner Bros, 2014, film. Orwell, George. 1984. Ed. Erich Fromm. New York: Harcourt, 1949. thelegomovie.com (for the citation and character names)
Destruction of individuality is an idea both authors explore to expose the broad social wrong of an oppressive society. Both Orwell and Niccol use their protagonists to demonstrate how dictatorial governments that destroy any semblance of individuality are inherently wrong. Orwell uses third person narration, which directly follows his protagonist as he fights to maintain his individuality in a society driven to eliminate the capability of “love, or friendship, or joy of living” by making him “hollow”. By employing the use third person narration Orwell portrays to the reader that even an individual with powerful intent to remain different can be broken down and made to believe that “2+2 = 5”. Similarly, Niccol uses extreme close up shots focusing on Vincent’s cleaning process and the motif of constant DNA checks to reinforce how authoritarian societies can demolish all sense of individuality. Vincent, an “in-valid” must take extreme measures to overcome the prejudices of soc...
1984 tells the story of Winston Smith who lives in Oceania, a dystopian nation ruled by a strictly totalitarian government know only as ‘The Party’. The Party controls everything in Oceania, even people's history and language. It uses telescreens which are everywhere-you can’t speak, breathe or sneeze without the government knowing about it. The Party even enforces a new language to prevent political rebellion by eliminating all words related to it. Even thinking rebellious thoughts, known as thoughtcrime, is illegal: "Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death."
George Orwell’s haunting dystopian novel 1984 delves into the closely monitored lives of the citizens of Oceania as the Party tries to take control of society. In totalitarianism, propaganda and terrorism are ways of subjugation with a main goal: total obedience. He aimed to create a “what if” novel, what would happen if totalitarian regimes, such as the Nazis and Soviets, were to take over the world. If totalitarianism were to happen, the leader would be the brain of the whole system. Orwell emphasizes the theme of individualism versus collective identity through Winston, the protagonist, and his defiance to the Party and Big Brother, with a frightening tone, surreal imagery and a third person limited point of view.
According to Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World both predicted that society would eventually be governed by a global totalitarian system; however, the key difference between both their predictions is the method by which society’s cognizance would be undermined. Orwell claimed that contemporary society would be controlled by overt modes of policing and supervising the social hierarchy, whereas Huxley stated that society’s infatuation with entertainment and superficial pleasure alone would be enough for the government to have absolute control over the public. Unfortunately, today’s society is not an Animal Farm. All jokes aside, Postman’s assertion of Huxley’s theory, “what
Consider how the natural development of narrative techniques in George Orwell’s 1984 creates a theme of individualism verses state. What was the point in writing such an obvious theme, since a dystopia is the prime example of an imperfect world? He uses extremely well-developed techniques to demonstrate the dystopian society. Specifically, Orwell uses symbols as well as the setting to thoroughly contribute to the idea of a totalitarian state in his dystopian society; the ideas are in symbolic objects, themes, and characters. Orwell clearly suggests that are flaws in the world that he has created, and, more importantly, Orwell the possibility of the characteristics becoming reality.
These examples display the inevitable fact that all over the world subtle but significant events are taking place that appear to signify a shifting toward a totalitarian government, much like the one present in 1984. This is extremely disturbing because most people will agree that the life lived by the characters in 1984, is not one of any value. Though they are “protected” from several of the problems that many of the free world citizens and officials face, they have no control over their thoughts or actions. This leads to unbearable uniformity. It is chilling to know that though George Orwell’s book was written as fiction, portions of it are becoming factual.
In 1984, George Orwell explores the many facets of a negative utopia. Orwell seems to focus on the measures that the government takes to maintain a public of plebeians who have no personality or identity and believe that they are not unique individuals, but instead are part of a greater senseless mob of people who constantly work for a hostile and oppressive government which is involved in incessant wars. These people are taught to love. They then learn to fear their government because they believe all of the propaganda that is constantly instilled into their minds. They willing follow their government without contest for the duration of their meaningless lives. The government controls all forms of the media (thus denying the people the basic right of free speech) and use it to personify the government (known as “big brother”) .The government therefore seems omnipotent, or all knowing and always correct. Forecasts are changed from one week to the next always proving the government was correct. As was mentioned before, many of the rights that present day Westerners take for gran...
The background of 1984 is mainly divided into the social class of the people and the government system of Oceania. The social class is divided into the upper-class Inner Party, the middle-class Outer Party, and the lower-class Proles. As for the government, its divid...
The novel 1984 by George Orwell presents the readers an image of a totalitarian society that explores a world of control, power, and corruption. The main idea of government control presents itself in the novel by protecting and listening to the people of Oceania. However, Orwell suggests giving too much power to the government is a mistake because eventually the decisions they make will not be about the people anymore but rather themselves. In 1984, the power and corruption the party has is overwhelming for the people. There are no ways around the beliefs of the Party, the party attempts to control and eventually destroy any mental or physical resistance against their beliefs. The agenda for the party is to obtain mind control over its people and force them to adore their leader. The methods the Party uses to achieve its goal are: the use of constant propaganda and surveillance, the rewriting of history, and Room 101.
Totalitarianism is one of the main themes in 1984. In WWII Europe, Oceania became the ruling power with the so called “Party” ruling everybody and have the “Big Brother” at its head. Some examples of totalitarianism is how they make people workout, they put tele-screens everywhere to monitor the peoples actions, also they refuse to allow any sexual intercourse outside of marriage. “Winston kept his back turned to the tele-screen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing” (Book 1, Chapter 1). This quote represents how fearful Winston is that he ...
In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.
In George Orwell’s dystopian novel, the government blocks almost all forms of self-expression in order to assert its authority over the people. Those within the society who show signs of defiance against the set rules, even those who act unwillingly, are seen as a threat to the success of the regime are wiped from existence. In Orwell’s 1984, the government uses different forms of propaganda and brainwashing to achieve complete control of society for their own personal benefit.
The government system of Oceania is a totalitarian state. It is controlled by a group known as “The Party.” The Party claims to be headed by an entity known as “Big Brother,” though no one has ever seen him aside from in propaganda. The ideological basis of The Party is referred to as INGSOC. The three tenants of INGSOC are “WAR IS PEACE [.] FREEDOM IS SLAVERY [.] IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell, 6). The Party is split into two components, the Inner Party, and the Outer Party. The Inner Party - comprised of less than 2% of the population – is the upper ruling class that controls everything. The Outer Party functions as the middle class and works as lower level employees at the four Ministries of The Party. The majority of the population, known as the Proles (short for “proletariats”), are the poor working class.
In George Orwell’s 1984, the strategies used by Oceania’s Political Party to achieve total control over the population are similar to the ones employed by Joseph Stalin during his reign. Indeed, the tactics used by Oceania’s Party truly depicts the brutal totalitarian society of Stalin’s Russia. In making a connection between Stalin’s Russia and Big Brothers’ Oceania, each Political Party implements a psychological and physical manipulation over society by controlling the information and the language with the help of technology.
Most people can remember playing with Legos at some point in their lives. From 1958-2013, 650 billion Lego bricks were manufactured and sold in 130 countries, making Legos one of the most popular childhood toys. In more recent years, with digital technology on the rise, Lego’s have a become popular subject in video games and movies. The Lego Movie was the first movie centered around Legos to use a fully CGI animation style. While The Lego Movie may at first appear to be an average children's movie, it's storyline goes much deeper than that most movies marketed primarily to families, allowing it to quickly become one of the most sold movies of 2014. Through the use of creative cinematography which helps reinforce the storyline, as well as an ingenious adaptation of an Orwellian society, based upon capitalist values and extreme conformity, The Lego Movie pushes a pro-libertarian, anti-capitalist message, hidden behind the innocent facade of children’s movie.