Big Brother(Nineteen Eighty-Four)

tuxy

Another thread had me thinking, do people that watch big brother know where the original phrase "big brother" came from.

It comes from a great book by George Orwell, and is about a fictional totalitarian state where the government has total control over people and is constantly watching it's citizens(Big Brother is watching you). Anyone that is out of line is vaporised.

Anyway, just figured some people might find that interesting. And would hightly recommend the book.

dSTAR

Glad to see that my little Orwellian reference here wasn't completely wasted on proles.

kittex

Currently teaching 'Animal Farm' to my 3rd years and am reading 'The Road to Wigan Pier'.
Genius.

blackbeard

yeah

DublinWriter

I'm a big Orwell fan myself, but Nigel Kneale is worth checking out as an aside.

He was the BBC-staff writer behind the cult sci-fi series Quatermass.

In the early 1970's he wrote a series called 'The Year of the Sex Olympics' where the main premise was that by the start of the 21st century over-population had lead the government to show live-coverage of people 24 X 7 living on an island with cameras in every location to try and hook people into watching it and to stop having sex. Sound familiar?

He also brought 1984 to the TV, screenplaying an adaptation of it on the BBC live on TV in 1954 starring Peter Cushing as Winston. At the time the BBC only screened live shows as video and telecine were only new technologies at the time.

The BBC were scheduled to broadcast it on Sunday with a repeat performance on the following Thursday. Such was the press outrage following the Sunday performance (you know, rats, etc) that the BBC almost cancelled the Thursday broadcast until no less a personage than the newly crowned Elizabeth II voiced her admiration for the show, then everyone changed their tune (of course!).

There's was a new compilation of Orwell's prose released last year.

His short essay on how to write fiction still is a 1000-word classic. All writers should read it.

Room 101 was the number of the room in Broadcasting House in London were George Orwell (Eric Blair) worked as a staff writer for the BBC. It still exists.

Personally, I love 1984. Orwell got so many things right regarding the media, or example double-speak; 'Operation Enduring Iraqi Freedom' anyone?

However I don't think he was in Nostradamus mode, he looked very closely at Communist Russia during the Stalinist post-WWII purges to draw on how an ultimate authority could ultimately function.

And I always think that their was something very 'Irish' about O'Brien. It's not just the surname, certain little nuances of the character give it away. I always thought the American actor Brian Dennehy would have been the perfect O'Brien for the 1984 movie starring John Hurt.

dSTAR

Hmmmm interesting post....