1984 metropolis

8/17/2019 1984 Metropolis

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Analogously' ,n -rwell"s #$/' the 1arty"s unrestricted power overall acets o society creates t5ensions in terms o individuals desiringthe a6rmation their humanist values in order to escape this control.4owever' -rwell ta(es a more pessimistic view' seeing this as

impossible actors such as 0talinist dictatorship and the beginning o the cold war.

• ,nitial discovery o the possibility o assertion o personalvalues

o +riting the diary

o 7i)erences to +inston8 Fatalist attitude

• 9The thought police would get him :ust the

same. 4e had committed ; would still have

committed' even i he had never set pen topaper<

0exual 3ebellion

• 0mall and private rebellion' which is all he isallowed. 0mall step to brea(ing suppressiono individuality

• And what he wanted, more even than to be

loved, was to break down that wall of virtue,

even if it were only once in his whole life. The

sexual act, successfully performed, wasrebellion.

Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a

victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political

•

Tric(ed by -"=rien

• 7i)erent positions within society

• +inston is on the oppressed side

• Freder still has inuence ,nstead o 9saving the childrenery minor rebellion' but he is still totally destroyed' the ideao actual social transormation is not going to be possible.

Unmediated power of an institution inevitably clashes withthe desire of individuals to assert personal values.

• 2apitalist -ligarchy in power ; embodied as exploiting the

proletariat in order to achieve capitalist expansion


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• Enorce oppression by8 they are dehumanised to cogs in thewheel o a machine. The wor(ers are dehumanised so they arereduced to parts o a machine so that there is less chance orebellion. The purpose is not dehumanisation but an addedbeneft is that the wor(ers do not rebel.

• Embodying the institution8

• Economic hegemony established by

• Freder"s ather or use mise en scene to demonstrate the towero babel ; modernist' light' in contrast to the gothic #$th century underground to demonstrate the oppressive nature othe societal structure

• Tie into the moloch machine and the dehumanisation

#. 0omething embodying the institution' reder"s ather'architecture

%. Moloch ? technology@. 0cientifc paradigm/. 1ossibility o overcoming the instititution' how the tension

clashes etc

• 0cientifc 1aradigm

• ?wor(ing with economic paradigm' to (eep them distractedand motivated' so they dont rebel ; rotwang and evil maria

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?contextual point' in +eimar republic those who have theeconomic power also drive the science and technology

• hope that the intellectuals and the enlightened bourgeoisiecould mediate between oligarchy and wor(ing class. Economicconditions allowed him to have hope

• started to become consumerist

• =ecause o that' the character is able to succeed in hisultimate triumph in mediating between sel?interest anddivision o the two groups' is predicated by his unction as themoral' intellectual leader' who can defne a social progressivebalance reecting the unction o the bourgeoisie intellectualsin +eimar BcontextC

Idea 2 - 1!"4owever ; restricted by totalised society Totalised ; the complete construction o a ideological version o

reality' through brainwashing' alteration o history


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? o stalins idea o writers being the 9engineers o human souls< ;Duote#$/

#. 0omething embodying the institution' inner party

%. Telescreens ; technology“Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer,

though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing.”@. Energy is not spent on science but totalising reality ; rewriting

history' newspea(' or the way they switch wars or torture o+inston and orcing them to accept etc.

9to be conscious o complete truthulness whiletelling careully constructed lies<Day by day and

almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date.

/. 7estruction o individuals with conicting ideals

#. / Ministries and their paradox' the sense that they control allaspects o lie' and are predicated on 7oublethin( so that they areentering into heads and shaping reality ; clearly in contrast with theway the oligarchy' who have transormed the topography' but havenot changed perception o reality

Through the oppressive party clutches on8? 4istory? Thought

? !anguage? 1rivacy? 1olitics? Emotion? 0ex

Absolute power over individuals7emonstrated through absolute power to alter all aspects o anindividuals lie

? ree thought? perception o reality

? emotion? ree speech etc


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? Truth? 1ower over society' not :ust physically but mentally and

psychologically

,nclude examples' telescreens' newspea(' ministry o truth etc

2ontrast with reder"s triumph? despite winston"s utile attempts to rebel and :oin a rebellion

against the oppressive 1arty' his ultimate ailure and totaldestruction is representative o the inability or any competingideology to even exist let along transorm any aspect osociety. ;

? this is because the 1arty is solely devoted to maintainingpower BtotalitariansmC and does not care about the indiviudalsor the economy' and thus they will never let competing ideasemerge and transorm the society' as this will reduce the holdthey have over the society

? Also totalisation o the society B control o reality in the headC'no attempt to engineer souls in metropolis

? -rwell"s comment on totalitarian states that individuals inthose states are utterly powerless to rise up against thesystem' since the system actively shuts down the ideas as athreat against the power and control

? ,n contrast with Freder"s rebellion because the aim o thecapitalist society was to grow the economy. =ecause o this'capitalist societies did not have the goal o oppression and

thus are easy to transorm.? Freder is rom the oligarchy itsel' in a better position

Also remember the wor(ers are rom pre ++,' now the conditionsare slightly better due to +eimar *ermany.

1984 metropolis

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