1984 and Brave New World
Throughout the weekend I watched Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. I have always been a sucker for the futuristic movies, the viewing depictions of what the future might look like holds a fascination that, I trust, need not be explained as I watched 1984 and Brave New World in particular, I was struck by both the similarities and differences between the movies.
For instance, both movies depict a terrifying version of the future consisting of totalitarian governments, the dehumanization of the populace, extreme social conditioning from on high, rigid, prescribed caste systems, and the obliteration of Christianity. In both stories there is a “hero” who gradually awakens to the horror of the society in which he finds himself. In 1984, it is Winston and Julia. In Brave New World it’s John, “the savage.” In both movies, the heroes feel that there is more than a State-constructed reality. Yet, in both stories the heroes end in despair and defeat, unable to change the social structure or see the victorious intrusion of greater transcendent reality into their bleak worlds.
In both stories, books are outlawed, individuality is suppressed, free thought is unacceptable, and a suffocating collectivism defined and controlled by the State is enforced. The differences are striking too. For instance, Orwell depicts a future of government-enforced sterility, sex is essentially outlawed and taboo. Huxley, on the other hand, depicts a hyper sexualized society in which sex has not been outlawed so much as decasualized. Children’s erotic games are encouraged, monogamy and marriage are unheard of, and promiscuity is a virtue. Sex is simply a mechanical diversion for the pleasure-seeking people. In this, Huxley was certainly more apocalyptic than Orwell.
Orwell depict of the future as one of constant if largely imaginary war. War is always in the air as a means of keeping patriotic fervor, not so in Huxley’s future. The masses are controlled by drug, soma, as well
For instance, both movies depict a terrifying version of the future consisting of totalitarian governments, the dehumanization of the populace, extreme social conditioning from on high, rigid, prescribed caste systems, and the obliteration of Christianity. In both stories there is a “hero” who gradually awakens to the horror of the society in which he finds himself. In 1984, it is Winston and Julia. In Brave New World it’s John, “the savage.” In both movies, the heroes feel that there is more than a State-constructed reality. Yet, in both stories the heroes end in despair and defeat, unable to change the social structure or see the victorious intrusion of greater transcendent reality into their bleak worlds.
In both stories, books are outlawed, individuality is suppressed, free thought is unacceptable, and a suffocating collectivism defined and controlled by the State is enforced. The differences are striking too. For instance, Orwell depicts a future of government-enforced sterility, sex is essentially outlawed and taboo. Huxley, on the other hand, depicts a hyper sexualized society in which sex has not been outlawed so much as decasualized. Children’s erotic games are encouraged, monogamy and marriage are unheard of, and promiscuity is a virtue. Sex is simply a mechanical diversion for the pleasure-seeking people. In this, Huxley was certainly more apocalyptic than Orwell.
Orwell depict of the future as one of constant if largely imaginary war. War is always in the air as a means of keeping patriotic fervor, not so in Huxley’s future. The masses are controlled by drug, soma, as well