Why Big Brother Matters: The Enduring Importance of ‘1984′

by John T. Simpson

Few books in history, if any, have left such a powerfully lingering effect with their last four words as the classic tale of a totalitarian nightmare by Eric Blair (aka George Orwell), ’Nineteen Eighty-Four’: “He Loved Big Brother.” In those four words, the utter destruction of a human being, and by extension humanity itself, was complete. The novel remains a most dark and compelling tale, and is even taught as a full course in many college classrooms.


John Hurt in Michael Radford’s ‘1984′

The essential fact, the very heart of the matter, in George Orwell’s timeless classic is “the ability to say two plus two equals four. If than can be done, all else follows.” Yet the nightmare Big Brother regime of ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ must by necessity keep redoing the math, even as it keeps rewriting history. Those who do the correct math, and refuse to see the equation otherwise, are the greatest dangers to Big Brother’s existence and are doomed to suffer fates worse than death.

Could not the loss of Winston Smith’s very soul to Big Brother in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ not truly be worse than death? It is, in fact, a living death. At least until they fully cure Winston Smith with a bullet, an inevitable outcome that is only implied at the end of the novel.

Since that forever age long ago in 1948 when George Orwell penned his last and most important cautionary tale, the world has seen countless interpretations of Orwell’s worst fears. In fact, it has seen them in Orwellian fashion. In the year 1984 itself, the then-Soviet Union accused America of being Orwell’s Big Brother. It was rather difficult for Russians of the time to interpret that analogy, as the book was banned throughout the Soviet Union. Most Orwellian indeed.

But there was yet another stark development for Orwell’s classic in that infamous year synonymous with omnipotent and omniscient terror.  Writer-Director Michael Radford tackled Orwell’s nightmarish vision for the big screen and won. Starring John Hurt as the doomed Winston Smith, Suzannah Hamilton as his equally doomed lover Julia, and Richard Burton in his final and most chilling performance as the cold and sinister O’Brien, Michael Radford managed to transport the terrors of the novel in toto to film.

A haunting original score by the Eurythmics is the black icing on this unpalatable celluloid cake.

It is now celebrating a quarter-century of existence, which is a very good sign indeed. And its importance could not be more significant in our twisted Age of Unreason, where declaring two plus two equals four is a major inconvenience to many in politics, the media and show biz.

In fact, isn’t that ongoing math problem by Hollywood movers and shakers a main reason many of us here now congregate at Big Hollywood? To counter and call to the Carpet of Truth film icons like Annette Bening when she praises women’s rights in Iran? A true Orwellian oxymoron, if ever there was one.

As a Bonus Prize, I have found Michael Radford’s brilliant film adaptation, performed by some the finest actors ever to stand in front of a camera, free for viewing and download at Google Video. No excuse not to see it now. Yet as great a film as it is, I doubt you’ll be thanking me later.

But that’s the whole point. Peace and Freedom, Everyone :)


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Posted Mar 30th 2009 at 10:13 am in Entertainment, Politics, Video | 339 Comments