I got tired of waiting for this to appear in book club. I hear there is a new movie coming out. Should be good.
Have you read it? Thoughts? Critique? Quotes? Implications? How has it contributed or taken away from your attempts at creating a Dystopian story?
Orwell had a genius for making big things small IMHO. One of the best examples of what I mean by making big things understandable and small, is the elephant. LINK
***This thread will most likely contain spoilers. If you haven't read. Stop.****
I ws hoping we could talk about Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom. I'm disappointed.
We can still. You don't talk to Dr. Jones like that!
While it was my least favorite of the the three (I pretend that fourth one never happened and I would like you to do the same), it was still a fun time. But that blond was the worst. I always imagine that Short Round later died due to gang violence.
Yeah the fourth one sucked. I stopped halfway through.
What fourth one? I know not of what you speak. It's a trilogy. I mean, the third one was called THE LAST Crusade for God's sake!
"I think we should apologize"
Looks about right.
Look at you two, getting along!
But can we talk about 1984? I went to the science fiction exhibit at the National Library in London and there was a hand written letter from Orwell to his publisher about having written a great story while in bed with fevers from TB. In the letter, he also threatened to kick someone's ass, although which author it was is escaping me.
Look at you two, getting along!"
Getting along is a lie.
Orwell was a strange guy. He could have had a pretty easy life, even settled in Brighton after getting back from Burma. Instead he made himself homeless just to see what it was like and then started writing. Kind of a bad ass guy.
Yeah I have a book of his essays on Burma and those travels. I've got to get around to reading it. I love Orwell. 1984 is so powerful, yet very simple and minimal. Animal Farm is another simple story with great deeper meaning.
I just wiki everything.
Yeah. The elephant is my favorite essay. It shows the futility of imperialism and life in general. That those seemingly in power are more or less slaves to something.
I would agree. His true brilliance is expressing very complex ideas as something simple. Newspeak is something like that. They alter the language so that rebellion, creativity, individualism would be foreign, with nothing comprehendible to place them.
This is probably one of the creepiest lines in all of fiction.
"There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever."
Gave me goosebumps, Matt.
I bet I'll be pulling 1984 off the shelf by the end of the day.
I think I have finished it three times. The writing isn't the best from a technical standpoint, but the story and theories therein are.
Well, he did write it while hallucinating with fevers.
I guess it would explain lines like:
If human equality is to be forever averted — if the High, as we have called them, are to keep their places permanently — then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity.
Sanity is not statistical.
Homage to Catalonia is a big thumbs up.
Scariest book I've ever read. 1984 is also the reason I don't trust political ideologues like Michael Moore or Rush Limbaugh. Big Brother doesn't have to be a totalitarian political party, it can be an idea. These people who are so convinced they are right, whether they are conservative or liberal remind me of poor Winston Smith at the end of the book. They love Big Brother.
Mmmm, politics....
Scariest book"
Why do you think that is?
Despite having read a lot of classic lit as a younger man, somehow this is one I've never actually delved into. And I have no idea why. I really need to make a point of doing this so I can contribute to the discussion. Matt's bolded line is pure, concentrated awesome.
Also, I've never seen any of the Indiana Jones movies.
I know.
It was only last year that I finally got around to watching Back to the Future. I've never seen It's a Wonderful Life either (mostly because I'm pretty well convinced it isn't).
Also, I've never seen any of the Indiana Jones movies."
QWHAT!!!!.
No 1984, No It's a Wonderful Life!
I am sad for you now.
I have many better reasons to be sad for me. But to say that sounds so horrendously emo.
You should pick it up, Michael.
I think you'd love it.
No doubt. It's one of those things I've always intended to read. My "omg I get to start a new book" moments are horribly random, and I never really know what I'm going to end up grabbing off the shelf.
Its A Wonderful Life is my favorite heartwarming film. Which is funny, I guess..because my overall favorite film is Reservoir Dogs, and I am pretty sure the message is opposite.
How in the blue fuck is reservoir dogs your favorite film? Did you have your eyebones and eyelobes removed after 1992?
I have to come up with a new favorite movie every decade or what? I watch a lot of films and have a lot of "favorites" but that's one's number one.
I have a new favorite movie every week! Seriously though, what about like, Inglourious Basterds? Tarantino has come so far since RD. You only like it because of Buscemi--and while that is a perfectly valid reason for loving Con Air or Billy Madison, I still cannot allow you to choose RD as your favorite movie. I'm sorry, I don't make the rules.
Haha. No, I will agree that Inglorious Basterds was a better film (and who doesn't love watching Nazis get the shit beat out of them?) but RD will always be a favorite. It's about more than the script/acting/direction--it was the first Tarantino film I saw (although I saw it after Pulp Fiction was out) and it really hooked me and inspired me, and set me off on a whole different set of movies to see. Plus Tim Roth was my favorite in RD.
Or...Michael Madsen. I can't be forced to choose between Mr. Orange and Mr. Blonde, it's a logical impossibility.
