Charlie Chaplin & George Orwell versus Totalitarianism
So far of what is known, there are 2 stories that was addressed and talks about different social values in society, whether it was through history or today. Orwell’s Animal Farm talks about the process, aftermath, and danger of totalitarianism in the Russian Revolution using allegories of farm animals. Pericles takes praise of his Athenian society while contrasting it with other societies in a funeral oration. There is another literature work that majority of people would find brilliant and somewhat relates to one of the learned works about social values in society. A speech made by the famous Charlie Chaplin, called “The Final Speech” from the classic 1940s film, “The Great Dictator,” includes many points that are associated with dictatorship and the free will of people. Chaplin’s speech and Orwell’s Animal Farm have quite similar in terms of technique usage and purposes to the audience. One of the many points “The Final Speech” and “Animal Farm” have in common is that it addresses the harm or the danger of totalitarianism applied to a society.
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The Great Dictator also discusses totalitarianism but in the form of encouraging people oppressed by dictators to go against them and to be free, as noted in the line, “Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes … Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men!” (Paragraph 5, Great Dictator) They both prove that totalitarianism is never the best government as they enslave the people, bringing them misery and suffering, and corrupt the government with power. They also encourage the oppressed people to revolve against totalitarianism and to be free as it was always intended to be. Both the Final Speech and Animal Farm are similar as they share positive points about never accepting totalitarianism into their
Imagine a world where the people holding power always did what was good for everyone. As history has taught us, this doesn’t always happen. Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is a complex story about the dangers of too much government power, and the ones in power are definitely not doing things for the good of others. When the pigs take control of the farm, they become greedy, dishonest, and deceitful. Orwell lived in Europe during the time of the Russian Revolution, when there were countless dictatorships around the world. He wrote this story to symbolize (and mock) the Russian Revolution; which includes Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, and Vyacheslav Molotov. Orwell uses this story, where the oppressed become the oppressors, to warn the world about the power of the government. He also warns the reader not to let the corrupt control and not stand by and let it happen. He shows that the abuse of absolute power can lead to corruption, violence, and finally, chaos.
Animal Farm by George Orwell which is an allegory of the Russian Revolution and the film adaptation of George Orwell’s novel 1984, which is set in a futuristic dystopian society, directed by Michael Radford uses Symbolism, foreshadowing and irony to convey the central ideas of power, politics, control, fear and they both also portray the dangers of totalitarianism. 1984 follows one main character (Winston) which shows how the society is being controlled whereas Animal Farm does not follow one character specifically. Though there are differences, Animal Farm and 1984 use the language techniques of symbolism, foreshadowing and irony in very similar ways.
In the allegorical novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the aging pig Old Major speaks to all the animals on the farm, making a stirring speech calling them to arms. He tells them that Man is the enemy, and a rebellion is inevitable.His clever use of rhetorical devices such as appeal to ethos, rhetorical questions, among many others, is what makes his speech so effective.
After reading Animal Farm by George Orwell I feel that it can be a warning to us about many things. Orwell’s Animal Farm is about the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalin’s dictatorship, but we can actually relate to it with what is happening today with our government. To me Animal Farm delivers many warnings like I mentioned, but there were two that stood out to me the most which were: first, how easily we can be fooled by what the government tell us and second, having too much power and wanting more can be bad and lead to terrible things.
George Orwell, in Animal Farm, addresses blind conformity and misuse of power. There are many comparisons between Animal Farm and Germany under Hitler’s tyranny concerning these two themes. Napoleon and Hitler both used propaganda to ensure there was blind conformity amongst the common people/animals and they both misused their power. The two themes of blind conformity and misuse of power are constantly repeated throughout the novel and will be studied throughout this essay.
In many great texts concerning the politics, it can be observed that the context in which the piece was created greatly influences the ways in which values and themes are presented and the form in which it is produced. Major ground shaking events have the power to transform paradigms of individuals and whole societies, and in turn morph and influence the themes a text created in the same time period implores. Warner Brother's 2005 film "V for Vendetta" and George Orwell's 1945 novelette "Animal Farm" both deal with concepts present in the political climates of their times and the problems associated with them; the cost of apathy towards injustice, propaganda and its influence,
George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a perfect example of how ignorance and lack of education can be used for control. Control which can lead to political and social oppression. The experiences of the various characters present how the pigs use this idea to oppress the animals of Animal Farm.
Both Animal Farm and Fahrenheit 451 are fictional novels in which a dystopian society exists. These societies were both created by a “central government”. When citizens of these societies fail to stand up and protect their rights, authority figures will keep increasing their level of aggressiveness until it ruptures the society. When the authorities in these novels abuse their power, it fractures the society and greatly increases corruption.
Hopelessness is a very strong quality present in 1984 and Animal Farm both by George Orwell. Animal Farm is a very literal allegory to the Russian revolution and warns about the dangers of a communist society. It reflects that hope can quickly be lost and people or animals can quickly become what they once fought to be free and independent from. 1984 follows a man named Winston who comes to rebel against his society but in the end is shown how futile his efforts to break away truly are. In each novel literary devices are used to present hopelessness, which is a common theme. With his purposeful and blunt use of irony, tone, and anaphora, Orwell creates an all too realistic dystopian civilization where vivid feelings of hopelessness thrive.
As Ai Wei Wei once stated, “The biggest crime of a dictatorship is to eradicate human feelings from people.” In George Orwell's political novelette, Animal Farm, and from database research, the dictator robbed citizens of their security and initially trumped Adolf Hitler’s heinous crimes. Joseph Stalin’s lust for power terrorized post-revolutionary Russia.
Did you know that 49 million citizens died living under the ruling of Joseph Stalin? Living life under a dictator is one of the most difficult things to deal with. In our world today, many countries live under a dictator and people there are treated terribly. In Animal Farm and the 2 articles, “All Dictatorships Are Evil” and “Can Dictatorships Be a Good Form of Government” show government control through our modern society and in Animal Farm in different ways, slavery controlled by the government, dictators ruling without sympathy, and ruling the country harshly and brutally.
The prevalent theme throughout the novel Animal Farm is based upon the abuse of power and the danger of being uneducated. Author George Orwell, has shown this in the novel,
Tyranny has always been present in human history from Joseph Stalin to Adolf Hitler they have all taken advantage of the public and used them to their own advantage and personal needs. In the story Animal Farm by George Orwell this tyrannical, totalitarian, and corrupt form of government is seen. In the story the tired animals organize a rebellion against their owner and drive him out. They create their own government, with the pigs assuming control. But the corrupt pigs take advantage of this power entrusted to them, and oppress the animal for their own benefit. Even though the pigs abused the power they had, The naive and gullible animals themselves were the ones responsible for the pigs’ quick rise to power and control because the animals were tricked into supporting the pigs evil plans, they were too braindead to organize and execute a rebellion even after they realized the pigs were up to no good, and they were so foolish that they even supported the expulsion of snowball, the only good pig that worked for the good of the other animals.
George Orwell includes a strong message in his novel Animal Farm that is easily recognizable. Orwell’s Animal Farm focuses on two primary problems that were not only prominent in his WWII society, but also posed as reoccurring issues in all societies past and present. Orwell’s novel delivers a strong political message about class structure and oppression from the patriarchal society through an allegory of a farm that closely resembles the Soviet Union.
Two totalitarian regimes which are both political systems and influenced society significantly are Communism and Nazism. They influenced and changed people’s rights, their views on things and people in general. Communism and Nazism are the two totalitarian systems I’m going to talk about. They were spread in different areas, but both of them caused big consequences. Communism started in Russian and spread around in Eastern Europe and Nazism started in Germany and spread in that area. People have gone through many bad times when those two totalitarian systems were in power, but we can’t always say that people’s lives were better before they were in power.