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.****
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. 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."
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....
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).
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.