1984A review of the film by Michael Redford

8/18/2008 IIM Bangalore

Course: Business Government and Society (ESS105)

Submitted to : Prof. Rajeev Gowda M V

Submitted by

Ankoor Das

0811277

Section D

BACKGROUND

Directed by Michael Redford, the movie ‘1984’ was made in the year 1984. The movie is based

on a book written by George Orwell (aka Eric Arthur Blair) in the year 1949 and describes life

and times under a totalitarian government in the year 1984. The story is a satire on the extreme

socialist government, as prevalent during those times.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The movie is set in 1984 (the future as and when the book was written i.e. 1949) and is

based in the fictional super nation of Oceania, in the city of London – the capital of Airstrip One.

The main protagonist of the story, Winston Smith lives in a society which is governed by an

authoritarian government. The ‘Big Brother’ – as the government is referred, has taken total

control of the lives of its citizens. It utilizes massive surveillance systems to keep track of

activities of each individual with cameras placed at every possible place including their homes.

It also has complete control of the all modes of media and resorts to the alteration of reports

of historical events to justify the acts perform by it, both in the past and the present. This

happens in the Ministry of Truth, of which our protagonist is an employee. Along with this, the

government controls the distribution and availability of basic amenities like food, which is

rationed in miniscule amounts. Moreover, the omnipresent television screens relay news pieces

falsely glorifying the achievements of Oceania’s armies in the perennial war against Eurasia and

Eastasia, the other two super nations in this fictional world.

Another important element in the story is the ‘Thought Police’, which is responsible for

the enforcement of the government’s views on its people and the capture of the ‘thought

criminals’ – people with views contrary to those of the government’s. In this world, where love

is taboo, our protagonist resorts to fulfilling his manly desires by indulging into a relationship

with his fellow co-worker of the opposite sex. Though this adventure remains undetected for a

while, the couple is eventually captured by the ‘Thought Police’, with help from some deceptive

characters, and our protagonist is subjected to immense torture. The torturous and squalid

treatment meted out is aimed at bringing a defining change in the protagonist’s thought

process, so as to make it affiliated to those of the government’s. By the end of the movie, the

protagonist is involuntarily made conforming to the government’s agenda and also made to

repent for his ‘thought crimes’, as he awaits his definite termination.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Though the setting of the movie depicts a hypothetical society, the director is able to

create visuals and scenarios which make the portrayal extremely realistic. The noir mode of

storytelling pragmatically captures the despair carved in moods of the characters and the

overbearing nature of the government. The torn down buildings showcase the indifferent

nature of the government towards social welfare. The monotone seen in the work and living

culture and the blind adherence to all views enforced by the ‘Big Brother’ is symbolic of the lack

of social freedom in the community.

The extreme manipulation of facts, as practiced by the government clearly showcases

the restrictions put on media and information dissipation in the society. Also, prevention of

individual thinking has led to the death of social capital due to which the citizens are unable to

mobilize against the oppressive government. Moreover, with the government being the sole

provider and distributer of basic survival goods, we can see an extremely socialist-monopolistic

economy prevailing in the country.

RELEVANCE TO TODAY’S GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY

One sees an extreme form of a totalitarian government in the story of the motion

picture, which shows complete control of the society and its members. Such governments have

existed in our world, though not in the form suggested, but following similar principles of

forceful political conformation to the ruling party’s views and principles. Such an example could

have been seen in the some of the mainstream dictatorship governments which have existed

throughout time. One of the prominent examples in this regard was the form of government

followed by the Taliban government in Afghanistan during the 1990s, Idi Amin’s government in

Uganda in 1970s and the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in late 1970s. Though none of these

regimes reached the scope attained by INGSOC in the movie, some of the prominent features of

these governments were quite similar to the principles followed by the ‘Big Brother’ in the

motion picture. Similar to the movie, conformation to the government views was the supreme

duty of the citizen’s of the Talibanistic society. Non-conformists were systematically sterilized in

all the three – either by termination or by forceful adherence. Millions of people were killed in

Uganda and Cambodia during these oppressive regimes. Such crimes against humanity were

norm in such governments. And though these regimes were eventually put to task, the sheer

magnitude of their crimes is unfathomable and unforgivable. Even with such precedents, the

occurrence of such regimes is not completely extinct even now and we can still view sporadic

traces of similar developments. One example for this might be the emergence of the Robert

Mugabe government in Zimbabwe. On a broader scale, dictatorship is very much alive in

today’s world, for example – Musharaf in Pakistan, the Castros in Cuba, Quamar Gaddafi in

Tunisia, though none of them are as extreme as portrayed in the movie.

Similar to the control of media as portrayed in the movie, there have been incidences of

severe barricades placed to media at times in today’s world’s nations. For example, moving

closer to home, Media was highly restricted – specifically the press during the Emergency in

late 1970s. A sanity check was performed on all news articles going for print during those times.

Any anti-government or anti-establishment news items were debarred from being sent to print

and distributed. Similar was also true in the Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, with dissenters

being sent to concentration camps and arctic jails respectively. We can understand from the

movie that control of media affects the general awareness level among people; more

specifically it can be used to forward the ruling body’s propaganda by systematic alteration of

data. Such effects will hinder social growth as people will neglect the need of cognitive

development and will blindly follow what is being told to them.

Lastly, the prevention of individual thinking and socializing practices, as seen in the

movie, will bar the buildup of social capital in the society. This affects the society negatively as

lack social capital hinders growth of ideas and culture. Moreover prevention of social contact is

shown to have resulted in absence of relationship among the citizens. This extreme result will

definitely hamper the society as relationships are necessary for developing a civilization. As I

foresee, the current trends within the society portrayed in the movie will affect the

demographics in the long run and absence of young people in a later stage will make economic

growth stagnant or even declining in the future.