Adapting George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" into a movie is a thankless task in itself. The essence of the original book is almost all in psychological activities. Slavery, ignorance is power" is even more detailed in a long text, and the final outcome of Winston has different views on life and death among different readers. In my opinion, to adapt this masterpiece, one must be good at using montage or close-up of facial expressions, not in the style of a gloomy historical film, but in a dilapidated environment by applying personal thoughts to colorful and realistic The gloom and sparks of thought are expressed in cross-montages, thoroughly creating crazy, absurd visuals. If Jan Svanmeier could make Orwell's "Animal Farm," the duo could definitely cook a good dark dish.
The same is true of Nineteen Eighty-Four, which uses surrealism to express Winston's emotions and humanity. For example, the scene of Winston doing aerobics and writing a diary can be placed closer, making the character's face more frenzied when doing the gymnastics, and writing a diary to recall a prostitute can fill in a little resentment. I prefer to let the paper on the notebook slowly become the skin of a prostitute when he writes his diary, the slogans on the telescreen cover up the moan of the prostitute, and he writes more and more smoothly like a piston movement without resistance Usually, the details of the prostitute's old ugly are slowly turned into the lines of words, and the dry skin and the traces of writing are printed together, and then suddenly engulfed by the blood that shoots out.
Although this film is an adaptation, those who haven't read the original may have overlooked many unexplained details in the film and the background of a centralized country like Oceania. The mind is unclear. Although "War is Peace" is outlined in detail in the book, the film only shows how the regime confuses the facts and tests the people's ideological crimes, so as to achieve the purpose of popularizing double thoughts. The most obvious performance is in Wen The busiest time in the Records Division of Stony's office - compiling all the records of Oceania's war with Eurasia - was simply to keep everyone busy, and to go through it in one sentence. At the end, the sentence "Oceania is at war with Eurasia" is finished. The huge impact of the two wars on the people should not be underestimated, and such details should be reflected in more levels, such as psychological activities, which may increase the lens of the psychological activities of the masses, so that two friends with enthusiastic faces can talk, but their hearts are not. They were all thinking, "If you dare to say the wrong thing about Oceania's war target, I will report you to the Thought Police immediately."
Here are a few key words to interpret my understanding of Nineteen Eighty-Four:
War is peace.
Through the war, the living standards of the masses are reduced to a minimum, and there is no time to think about anything other than maintaining the basic survival ability. You can refer to the line "Bread and the Circus" by the Roman satirical poet Juvenalis, referring to the use of free food (you can refer to the fixed weekly chocolate ration in "Nineteen Eighty-Four") and low-level entertainment (Julia's fiction department It is responsible for the low-level entertainment of the proletariat) to win over and appease the policy of the common people, and at the same time satirize the ignorance of the common people to be satisfied with this. Years of war have accelerated the production of the people while reducing material needs. The excess time and energy are just used to replace the hatred generated by radical films or speeches. The deeper the hatred, the stronger the corresponding patriotic sentiment. . Of course, even hatred is the product of deformed rule, and the existence of patriotic sentiments is no different from passing the time with sweaters and drying clothes. The consistency of material level and mental state makes the masses exist in the same class, and any early bird is a rat crossing the street. It is also difficult to generate contradictions in a society that eliminates individuality, and extreme "peace" is ushered in under extreme rule. To maintain such domination and world situation, it is impossible for only one country in Oceania to implement totalitarianism. The people of the whole world should be in this state, hating and alienating the people of other countries. The endless war means that every change can help the three countries to eliminate the heretics among the masses, and it can also maintain the existing regime, guarantee the eternity of the government's centralization, and the world will be in three classes that will not change for a long time. : The ruling class, the peripheral masses and the proletariat, this is peace.
Ignorance is power.
"Ignorance" can be spoken of openly, and such a regime already controls the means of education. Whether in the book or in the film, only organizations such as the "Juvenile Scouting Team", "Youth League", and "Juvenile Anti-Sex League" are involved in juvenile education. Rong, any scientific and cultural knowledge in their view is to corrupt patriotism, waste time in catching criminals, and even spies and traitors to shake their loyalty to the party, so ignorance is a kind of honor. The intellectual party who needs to know will naturally teach, and things that don't need to be known are cancerous tumors that defy the party's policies. Only the party can decide everything, and only the party can spread everything. This is ignorance, or in other words, glory. This glory gives children endless power to grow into qualified party members and even thought police. So Parsons' daughter could report a man as a spy for wearing boots she hadn't seen, and his son could report his father as a follower of Goldstein. The speed of the "guess-determination" stage of teenagers is also an important help to exercise their double thinking. You don't need to know the cause and effect, just accept the party's tasks and teachings. Two plus two equals how much, the party has the final say, and we must be grateful to the party after knowing the answer. So no need to think about class, no need to overthrow the regime, no need to doubt now, until you become the inner party and have mature double thinking. As long as you think and the other person thinks he is flying, then he is flying, and gravity is the disappearing finger.
Freedom is slavery.
A free man means that his thoughts are not bound by social rules and state policies, his actions are solely his responsibility, he enjoys absolute solitude, but has the most dangerous ideas. A free person means that you can choose what kind of books to read, through what channels to obtain your own voluntarily accepted ideas, and to choose your own worship objects and life goals. He was not watched by telescreens, not spied on by the Thought Police, not picked on by acquaintances, not like anyone else. In O'Brien's argument, such a person is destined to be defeated, because he is only one person, and fighting against the entire regime and ideological cognition by himself is undoubtedly a man's arm. But if you become the party, you are the spiritual symbol of the party, you are the right-hand man of the party, you will no longer be alone, the masses are your brothers and sisters, your existence is the existence of the party, you To exist is to accept the enslavement of the party. And only if you exist, you have the possibility to become a person, so there is no freedom, freedom is slavery.
Doublethink and Party Cybernetics
Simply put, you know a fallacy while still believing it to be true, and O'Brien is one of the best. He understands the essence of the party, and understands that the rise of any class (the middle class becomes the upper class, the lower class becomes the middle class) is all about gaining power. Whether it is "Animal Farm" or "1984", the power class is inseparable from one act: broadcasting various figures that prove the increase in the happiness index of life (now this kind of behavior is still talked about by the government or the people and has the courage to try, various The voice of the objective happiness index of various cities has long overshadowed the subjective living index of the people). Knowing that the supply of chocolate has been reduced from 30 grams to 25 grams, but having to increase the supply from 20 grams to 25 grams with relatives and friends, I even felt guilty for remembering that the supply was higher last week, and then erased this memory. This is the origin of the party’s saying, “Whoever controls the present controls the past.” In an environment of extreme control, the masses take the initiative to change the past, and everyone does not know that there is a past, so there is no reference to compare with the current life, and you will feel at ease Following the current trajectory of life smoothly, this is "who controls the past controls the future".
Winston
Judging from the results of Winston's successful transformation, he is no different from the thought prisoners who were caught before and those who will be caught later. Even a person like Parsons who thinks he has a pure mind says in his sleep Out of the words to kill big brother, it's just that the person who is caught can't grasp the essence of double thinking, you know it's fake, but you can't lie and say it's true, but believe it from the heart It's true. In fact, it can be used for people who have an affair. You know it is right to lie to yourself to maintain this kind of life even though you know that you no longer love your first wife or mistress. I can't help but think of a very interesting scene in Stephen Chow's "Shaolin Soccer". All kinds of hawkers selling groceries have dreams of becoming dancers, singers, etc. After a while of madness, they are busy. This is not the anaesthesia of double thought, you know the life you have now makes your soul scream and die but still can't extricate yourself and even enjoy it. Winston is not a special being, but a universal individual. Any peripheral masses who have not entered the inner party to experience the taste of power are Winston. The transformation will never end, and the doubt and resistance will never end. Perhaps for this reason, Winston did not make it clear in the original book whether he was actually shot, because there are still many young Winstons who are growing up, undergoing brainwashing, or resisting, or have been shot.
sex
The control of sex is the most severe, from the existence of the "juvenile anti-sex alliance" to the red belt that symbolizes chastity, so that the power of science can be used to completely eliminate orgasm and make sex completely the purpose of reproduction. I believe it is very important in Newspeak. The word "sex" may not exist, only "procreation". Newspeak's simplification eliminates the possibility of alien thought, because there is no language to describe it; it also eliminates the possibility of changing the meaning of sex to man, because there is no "sex", only reproduction. The successor of the birth party, a new human being who is qualified for birth. I think this kind of policy is entirely aimed at women, because the party tacitly approves people's prostitution behavior, and people like Winston can't get pleasure from sex at all, and they will naturally abstain over time. As women who control the future of the world, keeping them out of control of reproductive rights and sexual pleasure is the lifeblood of their lives, that is, women are tools. On the one hand, men agree with the party's policy and on the other hand, they dislike sexual contact with women. This is also a manifestation of double thinking. The ultimate goal of this policy is to isolate women, so that they can survive only by clinging to the party, which is simply a vicious circle.
mouse
In the book, I always thought that my mother and sister were just taken away by the Thought Police. In the movie, Winston is afraid of mice mainly because he stole his sister's chocolate and escaped. The weak mother and sister may be eaten by fierce mice because of insufficient nutrition. This is the biggest sin in his heart. Childhood nightmares often affect people's lives. I think the narrative in the movie helps to understand why Winston was so afraid of mice that he ended up betraying Julia and his soul. The existence of rats is Winston's weakness, and his vile selfishness is the food of rats.
The film "Nineteen Eighty-Four" has a grand setting, and the depressing atmosphere created by the dark and cold colors is extremely successful. The visual contrast between the ruthlessness of Big Brother on the screen and the frenzy of the audience is even stronger. The only regret is to play Wens. Dunn's actors perform hard, and usually dare to write doubts and numbness on their faces, and I don't know how many times they have died in the book.
PS: In "1984", a Hungarian wrote a sequel "1985", saying that Big Brother died, how could Big Brother die as a spiritual symbol of the party. Has anyone seen this sequel?
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