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)
“"Propaganda is as powerful as heroin, it surreptitiously dissolves all capacity to think” by Gil Courtemanche connects to the sad fact of using propaganda as a deadly weapon to feed people with false information and stop them from thinking. George Orwell’s novel, 1984, describes a totalitarian dystopian society where the Party is constantly brainwashing its citizens with information that is beneficial to its own rights. On the opposite side, people are working for the party just like dominated slaves for their masters without knowing what’s going on. But, in order for the party to achieve this goal, they have to use different techniques of propaganda in Oceania to create fear for people so that they can obey the rules. The use of propaganda in the society of 1984 takes away freedom from individuals because of the absence of privacy, thinking and making decisions.
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...
Several conflicting frames of mind have played defining roles in shaping humanity throughout the twentieth century. Philosophical optimism of a bright future held by humanity in general was taken advantage of by the promise of a better life through sacrifice of individuality to the state. In the books Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 clear opposition to these subtle entrapments was voiced in similarly convincing ways. They first all established, to varying degrees of balance, the atmosphere and seductiveness of the “utopia” and the fear of the consequences of acting in the non-prescribed way through character development. A single character is alienated because of their inability to conform – often in protest to the forced conditions of happiness and well being. Their struggle is to hide this fact from the state’s relentless supervision of (supposedly) everything. This leads them to eventually come into conflict with some hand of the state which serves as the authors voice presenting the reader with the ‘absurdity’ of the principles on which the society is based. The similar fear of the state’s abuse of power and technology at the expense of human individuality present within these novels speaks to the relevance of these novels within their historical context and their usefulness for awakening people to the horrendous consequences of their ignorance.
Imagine the world we are living in today, now imagine a world where we are told who to marry, where to work, who to hate and not to love. It is hard to imagine right, some people even today are living in the world actually have governments that are controlling their everyday life. In literature many writers have given us a view of how life may be like if our rights as citizen and our rights simply as human beings. One day the government may actually find a way to control and brainwash people into beings with no emotions like they have in the book 1984 where they express only hate, because that’s what they have been taught by the party.
Things to know: 1984 was a book written about life under a totalitarian regime from an average citizen’s point of view. This book envisions the theme of an all knowing government with strong control over its citizens. This book tells the story of Winston Smith, a worker of the Ministry of Truth, who is in charge of editing the truth to fit the government’s policies and claims. It shows the future of a government bleeding with brute force and propaganda. This story begins and ends in the continent of Oceania one of the three supercontinents of the world. Oceania has three classes the Inner Party, the Outer Party and the lowest of all, the Proles (proletarian). Oceania’s government is the Party or Ingsoc (English Socialism
It is clear that the government of Oceania in 1984 is self-serving, existing not to benefit its citizens or the elite Party members, but existing purely to exist and grow. Perhaps the most clear indication of this was O’Brien explaining the Party’s motives while torturing Winston. O’Brien explains that “the Party seeks power only for its own sake” and that “the object of power is power.” (185) This clearly indicates that the government of Oceania, a totalitarian state, seeks power not to improve the lives of citizens, but for power
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.
When writing his novel 1984, George Orwell was conveying his disapproving thoughts about the actions of the fascist dictators that were attempting their rise to power during World War II. The dystopian society created in the novel was created as a warning to those who supported the dictators at the time, including Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini, and the negative effects that their power would bring. Although Orwell’s intentions were not to prophesy what the world would be like, society today is beginning to closely resemble that of 1984. The similarities between George Orwell’s novel 1984 and society today are becoming increasingly more significant because of an excess use of technology, a lack of privacy, and the extreme measures taken by the government.
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.
Paragraph 1: History: Explain Revisionism Its Process How it affects the present. Paragraph 2: Psychology: Artificial Scarcity: Affects Human Behavior Maslow Theory of Human Behavior. Paragraph 3: God: Big Brother has taken the place of God: Omnipotent and Omniscient, and is under the control of the party. Among the many themes expressed in the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the most interesting and frightening is the concept of creating an alternative reality to control a mass population. The Inner Party stays in power by shaping the thoughts and opinions of the masses and it does this by creating a reality where everything suits whatever it is the party needs to be believed.
“WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” Part 1,Chapter 1,pg. 6. These three principles were repeatedly emphasized throughout the book and helped lay the foundation of the dystopian society George Orwell imagined in his novel 1984. Fear, manipulation, and control were all encompassed throughout this dystopian society set in the distant future. The freedom to express ones thoughts was no longer acceptable and would not be tolerated under any circumstances. Humankind was rapidly transforming into a corrupt and evil state of mind.
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 family unit of Oceania in George Orwell’s book, 1984, plays an important part to society. These families are broken rather than households of affection and comfort. Oceania’s government, called the Party, controls the families in every aspect. With these non-existent families, there is a cycle of breaking down of family and a stronger Party as times passes until a there is force strong enough to end it. These families that lead to corruption in society should be avoided in order to prevent a totalitarian government from rising.
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.