1984George Orwell

George Orwell (1903-1950)

❖ Real name: Eric Arthur Blair

❖ Born in India (British colony)

❖ Against British imperialism

❖ Democratic socialist

➢ economic socialism

➢ political democracy

❖ Known for novels and essays

➢ 1984 (1949)

➢ Animal Farm (1945)

“Early in life I had noticed that no event was ever correctly reported in a newspaper.”

TOTALITARIANISMA public or political system which strives to regulate

every aspect of public and private life

Characteristics of a Totalitarian State:

■ Mass surveillance■ State terrorism■ Personality cults■ Single-party politics■ Mass media propaganda■ Censored/controlled speech

■ Official central ideology

Historical Context:

❖ Totalitarian States:➢ Germany - Adolf Hitler➢ Soviet Union - Joseph Stalin

“...the poster gazed from the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a meter wide: the face of a man about forty-five, with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features.”

Thoughtcrime

“Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you.”

“Thoughtcrime does not entail death; thoughtcrime is death.”

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four. If this is granted, all else follows.”

Class system

Ministries of the Party

Minitrue

“Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts”

Minipax

“the Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war”

Miniplenty

“the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs”

Miniluv

“the Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order”

THEMES

❖ Military as means of control❖ People as “sheeple” / ignorance en masse❖ Psychological manipulation and fear ❖ Control of history and information❖ Language as mind control❖ Absolute power corrupts absolutely❖ Children as antagonists❖ Dehumanizing certain groups❖ Trust vs. Mistrust

CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION

Komsomols

❖ First called “Young Pioneers”

❖ Ages 7-13❖ Free university

education (incentive!)

Children: Soviet Union

Hitler Youth

❖ Motto: Blut und Ehre❖ Ages 13-18❖ “German Youth” for

younger boys❖ “League of German Girls”❖ Uniforms❖ Racist doctrine❖ Physical fitness, weapons

training, etc.

Children: Nazi Germany

“Look at these young men and boys! What material. With them I can make a new world. My teaching will be hard. Weakness will be knocked out of them. A violently active, dominating, brutal youth – that is what I am after. Youth must be indifferent to pain. There must be no weakness and tenderness in it. I want to see once more in its eyes the gleam of pride and independence of the beast of prey. I will have no intellectual training. Knowledge is ruin to my young men. I would have them learn only what takes their fancy. But one thing they must learn – self-command. They shall learn to overcome their fear of death under the severest tests. This is the heroic stage of youth. Out of it will come the creative man, the god-man.”

Adolf Hitler on Education

Sound familiar?

■ “Master” Aryan race

■ Blond hair, blue eyes, tall, muscular

■ Ideology that Nordic & Germanic people

were superior to others

“How easy it was, thought Winston,

if you did not look about you, to believe that the physical type set up by the Party as ideal - tall muscular youths and deep- bosomed maidens, blond-haired, vital, sunburnt, carefree - existed and even predominated.” (Orwell 60)

Altered Images

CENSORSHIP: Stalin and Hitler denied citizens access to the truth.The Third Reich “can be read as a war against memory - an Orwellian falsification of reality…” (Primo Levi)

Oceania conducts an unceasing war on memory-evidence. Any information that conflicts with the latest official line is systematically destroyed and a false trail is laid in its place.

NATIONALISM: The Nuremberg Rallies- after 1933- “National Day of the Party of the German People”

PROPAGANDA: Nazi Germany

“Ever since I have been scrutinizing political events, I have taken a tremendous interest in propagandist activity. I saw that the Socialist-Marxist organizations mastered and applied this instrument with astounding skill. And I soon realized that the correct use of propaganda is a true art which has remained practically unknown to the bourgeois parties.“

Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

“We do not intend to use the radio only for our partisan purposes. We

want room for entertainment, popular arts, games, jokes, and music. But everything should have a relationship to our day. Everything should

include the theme of our great reconstructive work, or at least not stand in its way. Above all it is necessary to clearly centralize all radio

activities, to place spiritual tasks ahead of technical ones, to introduce the leadership principle, to provide a clear worldview, and to present

this worldview in flexible ways.

Joseph Goebbels, 1938

Totalitarian Symbols: Popular Trends★ Red, white, black★ Straight lines★ Eagle★ Tools (labor imagery)

Fiction: Look Familiar?