Compare and Contrast George Orwells Novel 1984 with the 1984 The movie directed by Michael Radford

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Professor
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6 December 2016
Compare and Contrast George Orwell’s Novel 1984 with 1984 Movie
The Radford version of Nineteen Eighty-four begins quite differently than George Orwell’s book. The movie stars with a pictorial propaganda of war and words. This brainwashing technique is the Two-minute Hate message. In the book, Winston Smith walks through the war-torn debris that represents London and now called Oceania after the great revolution (Orwell, 4). As he walks he is, followed by a Party woman, he thinks is spying on him. The ruling class called the Party with Big Brother as a leader. His picture is everywhere, along with the telescreen that can see and hear everything. These next paragraphs will compare and contrast both versions of this storyline.
Oceania, the city of slaves, work for the system that everyone calls the Party. Radford lines up with the movie as Winston coughs and struggles up the stairs to his flat. Winston comes inside and pulls out a smoke. He pulls a book out of a secret place in the wall. He starts a diary and the plot matches up with both versions. The Party wants to stamp out the free will of the populace. Every day the Party, play to a daily video called “The Two-minute Hate” (Orwell, 13), where the Party brainwashes them into declaring allegiance. Big Brother is really watching. They also march war prisoners through the streets past the people who rant and yell unspeakable things, a form of influence by what Orwell calls the “Thought Police.

” The art of Doublethink is all about mind control and reality control “WAR IS PEACE,” “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,” “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH,” (Orwell, 6). The humans in both versions are beaten, demoralized, and programmed in all facets of life. The people eat and drink together.
The government meters everything out, and all of it is swill, not fit for consumption. The people are sick, dying, and fearful of stepping out of line because the result is certain death. This entity even supplies the rotgut spirits and cigarettes that display the brand name of Victory. They live in a world that brainwashes them into submission. They know only what the Party wants them to know. Becoming more and more disillusioned, Winston writes in the diary he bought from a junk dealer. Something thing he knows is not allowed and knows in his heart he will be condemned for doing so.
Both versions document a world gone south. A world controlled by those who would subjugate anyone who disagrees with the authorities. Fear and torture are formable weapons. It is true fiction unless one remembers Hitler and Mussolini, who wanted the world as their oyster. Those that rebel are tortured and executed. A flashback from the past shows him and O’Brien looking at rats eating a dead woman. Winston acquires the rat phobia.
A young woman named Julia passes him a note that reads, “I love you.” Nonplussed Winston burns the note. He sees her again and she falls down. He helps her up and gets another note asking to meet in Victory Square. They begin a secret affair. For both versions, it is only a matter of time before one of the others will turn them in for enjoying sex. Sex for fun and pleasure is bad. Sex for procreation is good. No one should enjoy sex. Later, Julia and Winston rent a room above the junk store; she turns him into a Party hater. Julia just likes outwitting the Party. She takes pleasure in getting her own way. They choose to meet in the room above the junk shop. Winston sees a rat and panics. He finally gets the summons to see O’Brien. He hates the work Winston does rewriting the news. He is scared but Winston and Julia still meet for sex, and the Party finds them.
“Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.” This rhyme foreshadows the connection between the picture (behind which a telescreen is hidden) and the termination of Winston’s private rebellion,” (Orwell, 184).
O’Brien tortures him and he gives her up. Richard Burton is remarkable in the role of O’Brien. He shows no emotion during each session of torture. Neither version portrays this character as a normal human being. This character quite likes watching others being tortured. This part is similar from the book and both versions and brings the fear and hate message home to a lot of readers and moviegoers. The message is loud and clear, there is no denying the fact, and the world would be very different if the Allies lost the war. Both versions brought that detail clearly to the forefront. Orwell and Radford both made the horror point that no one escapes repercussions and no one is unaware of the consequences of rebellion.
“Radford’s style is an interesting experiment,” (Ebert, 1) “Orwell wrote about the world he lived in, near the end of WWII. Hitler or the Nazis come to mind. Life could be very different under a person like Hitler,” (Ebert, 1). Both Orwell and Radford were on the same page, Radford just eliminated the boring parts of the book. He added to the shock with visuals no one wants to see. This is unavoidable with modern cinematography, and the shorter attention span of moviegoers. Movies are about visual action, so Radford cut the not so interesting parts.
The New York Times movie critic Vincent Canby states “Nineteen and Eighty-four, published in 1949, but Orwell was first set on the road to it at least twelve years earlier, He fought the war in Spain,” (Canby, 1). This is how this book came about. The book and the movie are similar in this respect. Both were frightening to read and watch. The same repression is going on out in the world today and most just do not want to know about it. It would seem the propaganda machine is working fine. The BBC’s David Aaronovitch equates “the movie with a James Burnham, whose 1941 book The Managerial Revolution spoke of a world ruled by three superstates with Overlords of the future. This book both horrified and captivated Orwell,” (Aaronovitch, 1). It was when the A-bomb dropped on Japan, which spurred him to finish the book. The horror of both stories is that there really was no ending; both versions left it open to the imagination.
The book and movie version are a form of propaganda. Brainwashing and torture really did happen in all the wars on the planet. It gave sociopaths a right to torture those who refuse to join the cause. Both the movie and the book discussed the horrors of all the World Wars. It is all about one’s perspective about was is okay to do when nations are at war to those on the losing side. No one deserves to be tortured. Each version brought the horror of war and subjugation to the forefront. War and the propaganda sit on a fine line of what is right and what is easy. Only the Party knows the difference. It separates humans from the beasts. According to Aaronovitch, “It was Orwell, which came up with the term Cold War in the 1945 essay.”
Both versions are stories that all humans should take note of. This can still happen today. That is a frightening prospect. The wrong people in power today could aspire to make Nineteen and Eighty-four a reality, with just one push of that mythical mutual destruction button. The technology is out there, and it is in the hands of some very interesting people. Let us hope that history does not repeat at the hands of the scary people depicted in both versions of this story.
Conclusion
Nothing like have your face eaten off by rats. This is fodder for nightmares. O’Brien lets him go, as the brainwashing is complete. Both versions are only slightly different about the end. Throughout history, there are humans who love to torture others. In the past, they were the victor in ancient battles. War and propaganda appear in all eras of historical battles. The one that comes to mind is Hitler. He never did the torture himself; it was his minions, who did unspeakable things. In both the book and the movie, brainwashing, torture, and murder top the list. What happens when one is tortured? They will say and do anything for the pain to stop. “In the end, the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it.” (Orwell, 102).The end was horrific, and one cannot ever forget the screams. Those individuals that enjoy torturing others are still here. They are the serial killers of today. This is one student, who needs no help with nightmares, but they are coming. Maybe two plus two equals five, not.
Works Cited
Aaronovitch, David BBC News. Nineteen and Eighty-four 2013 Web
http://www. bbc.com/news/magazine-21337504
Canby, Vincent, Nineteen and Eighty-four, New York Times 1985 Web
http://www.nytimes.com/movie//review?res=9E0DEEDD143BF93BA25752C0A963948260
Ebert, Roger, Critic 1985 Nineteen and Eighty-four Web
http://www.rogerebert.com/1984-1984
Orwell, George. Nineteen and Eighty-four, New York: The New American Library, 199 people are constantly brainwashed in the for1 Ebook
Radford, Michael, Dir. John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, and Cyril Cusack,
Nineteen and Eighty-four UK 20th Century Fox Film 1984