What Are The Similarities Between 1984 And Metropolis

In the dystopian worlds created by the film director Andrew Niccol and renowned author George Orwell, notions of control and freedom are explored. Both worlds contain an overarching power that governs the rest of the population and restricts freedom of individuals, these powers also aid in the progression of technology, which further act to control individuals. The characterisations of the protagonists of each text portray the lack of freedom from the perspective of those that are affected. Both authors use a variety of techniques to portray themes of control and freedom in their texts.

George Orwell’s 1984 is more than just a novel, it is a warning to a potential dystopian society of the future. Written in 1949, Orwell envisioned a totalitarian government under the figurehead Big Brother. In this totalitarian society, every thought and action is carefully examined for any sign of rebellion against the ruling party. Emotion has been abolished and love is nonexistent; an entire new language is being drafted to reduce human thought to the bare minimum. In a society such as the one portrayed in 1984, one is hardly human. In George Orwell’s 1984, the party uses fear, oppression, and propaganda to strip the people of their humanity.

1984 examines a future under the rule of a totalitarian society. One of the unique notes about Orwell's 1984, is the views that Orwell presents on humanity, and human nature. Orwell presents humanity as divided into two sides- the dominant, and the submissive, with few quickly-eradicated anomalies in between. Human nature, however, is universal, and all humans

Your world is not real. Kennedy was never assassinated, Michael jackson has actually always been white, and subway is certainly NOT always fresh. Stop thinking you are free, you’re not. Okay, I’m just kidding. But am I really? Because sometimes subway really just sucks. Questioning. With this, through his work ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’, George Orwell has brought to my attention that I should be occasionally thinking for myself rather than constantly abiding by what I’m told is right. More specifically, ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ suggests the plentiful ways that people can be oppressed in a totalitarian society will result in the loss of humanity and failure to rebound from the government’s control. These forces inhibit and encourage individuals’ actions and is described in the novel by the abundant use of technology combined with psychological manipulation. Orwell also uses symbols and metaphor to explain consequences of totalitarianism on a deeper level.

The quote “The object of power is power” is heavily supported by George Orwell’s 1949 novel ‘1984’ and Fritz Lang’s 1927 film ‘Metropolis’ through their intertextual connections and shared perspectives. Both texts were composed around the context of pre and post World War 2 which is clearly evident through their settings, characterisation, themes and ideas. Through Orwell’s and Fritz’s use of dystopic societies, empowerment of women and detrimental dictatorship rule it is blatant that George Orwell’s quote “The object of power is power” is quite strongly supported by the intertextual connections and shared perspectives of Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Lang’s ‘Metropolis’.

Even though some technology was beneficial in Fahrenheit 451, “The Pedestrian”, and “Harrison Bergeron”, most of the technology caused problems and hurt the lives of the citizens in one way or another. An example of technology that caused a problem were the little mental handicap radios in, “Harrison Bergeron”, “in his ear. . . . would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains” (Vonnegut 1) . This statement proves that dystopian governments in many books and stories take unfair advantage of their citizens. Some of the governments even hurt people that were unique to make them equal to everyone else. An example of the government using this type of technology is the little mental handicap

Humanity is, at its most basic sense, a series of interlinking concepts and features that humans possess – it cannot be tied down to a single one; however, the quality that links these concepts and features can be – abstract thought. Abstract thought is the sole provider of individualism, a necessary aspect required to challenge conformity and incite rebellion. Consequently, depletion of abstract thought and subsequent depletion of humanity reduces and individual’s ability to challenge conformity, and the society will remain stagnant. This is shown in George Orwell’s satirical novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, and in Fritz Lang’s expressionist film Metropolis, through the texts’ warnings against obliviousness and propaganda, the abuse of technology

The characters presented in Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis and George Orwell’s novel 1984 are unique in terms of their personalities however share similar values of freedom, purity and honesty. As a result, the comparative representation of characters in these texts has substantially informed my understanding that composers affirm values like individuality, freedom and equality in order to respond to contextual concerns and warn of a future where these values would not exist.

Historically, literature has always echoed the key issues and themes present during that time. In the period which Orwell wrote this novel, totalitarian government was a popular concept seeing implementation around the world such as Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and Mussolini’s Italy. In the novel 1984. While Orwell’s world is a fictional one, it can be said that he uses it as a voice for social commentary, and he predictions as to what a world would be like if totalitarian governments would rule the world. This essay will aim to explore how Orwell goes about doing this.

It goes without saying that every work in literature is unique. The way that certain novels, novellas, or poems go about accentuating certain themes or points, whether of grand nature or of little consequence to society, is certainly achieved through a concoction of literary styles. The most enduring and effective works of literature exhibit an artful combination of literary device and aforementioned technique. Without a doubt, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four exhibits such a blend of style through characteristics of a dystopian novel and satire. Orwell lived in a time when the spread of communism, mostly unbeknownst to his audience, posed an unimaginable threat to freedom. Therefore, though his novel, he attempted to emphasize the

The comparative study of perspectives offered by Fritz Lang’s German Expressionist silent film, Metropolis (1927) and George Orwell’s novel 1984 (1949) encourages a heightened understanding of the values and contemporary issues of the composers’ social and historical context. Lang reflects the Weimar Republic’s preoccupation with World War 1 reconstruction and manifests the growing tension between idealism and progress central to ‘Machine Age’ Germany to advocate for unity between the upper and working class. Orwell’s cautionary novel instead reflects on the communist regimes of Adolf Hitler (Germany) and Joseph Stalin (Russia) to warn against despotic governments and advocate for democratic socialism. Both texts envisage a dystopian future

The influence of vicissitudes in social, cultural and historical contexts evokes composers to construct dystopic texts to warn their audiences of power’s subjugating capability to supersede egalitarian values. Derived from post-war contexts, Fritz Lang’s 1927 German Expressionistic silent film, Metropolis, and George Orwell’s 1949 satirical science fiction novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), provide intertextual paradigms on the ramifications of the exploitation of technological power and the manipulation of the lower class in a totalitarian society. Through their overlapping political, scientific, religious and gender perspectives, both composers communicate a cautionary warning to their future audiences in their respective dystopia. The

In George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, oppression is the jail that imprisons man—and technology is its warden. “For Orwell,” writes comparative literature professor John Frodsham, “Nature was essentially good and technology essentially evil. Technology in Nineteen Eighty-Four is used to enslave men, not liberate them. The telescreen, the speakwrite, the helicopter…the book-writing machine on which Julia labors, and all the rest of the technological paraphernalia of the novel exist only to aggrandize the power of the state and violate human nature.”

Valuable literature reflects changing values and perspectives which are essential for understanding the influence of social, cultural and historical paradigms. George Orwell’s satire novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), follows a working class rebel, Winston Smith, through totalitarian Oceania to satirise the communist regimes of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union. Fritz Lang’s German Expressionist film, Metropolis (1927), criticises capitalist values and technology advancements by creating a totalitarian state ruled by the powerful industrialist, Fredersen. Both speculative texts present a dystopian vision of the future, and represent the Marxist struggle of the underclass in totalitarianism, allowing the responders

Brave New World and 1984 are two monumental works belonging to dystopian literature by imagining worlds in which society itself is struggling to subdue people, in which human rights are being abolished and the offered living conditions are tailored to meet some ‘human machines’ rather than ‘human beings’. In this respect, the two literary works bring in front of the reader’s eyes two alarming visions of a possible future, together with two powerful social satires. Our goal is to prove that the two authors, despite the fact that they have created two very different books, had the same intention: to warn the present.