An exploration of intertextual perspectives reveals the relationship between context and key values.
Composers ultimately capture the imperative need for the abolishment of totalitarianism to prevent a cataclysmic milieu based on observations of their epoch. Fritz Lang’s 1927 German expressionist film Metropolis and George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel 1984 explores fascist dogma: hunger for power and monopolistic control, and its consequences for humanity. Lang excoriates the dictatorial totalitarian regime of the Kaiser and Freikorps and Weimer Republic’s capitalist Zeitgeist. Likewise, Orwell also excoriates capitalist ideologies and the totalitarian regimes held by dictatorial leaders such as Stalin, Franko, and Hitler, succeeding the Spanish …show more content…
The high modality statement “We are the dead” uttered by Winston parallels the euphemism of ‘dead man walking’; the plosive consonant affirms the inevitability of our protagonist’s demise. However, the statement can also be interpreted metaphorically; foreshadowing Winston’s metaphorical death – the eradication of his individuality as later captured by the process of purgation in Room 101. In doing so, Orwell references Hitler’s purgation of the Jews (The Holocaust) and his endeavours to create Grossdeutschland (a country of unified Germans solely) as part of his Foreign …show more content…
This notion of rebellion is evoked by the repetitious imperative “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” (x5); the high modality imperative capture Winston’s subconscious and repressed thoughts of subversion. Additionally, Orwell metaphorically satirises totalitarian ideologies through the war analogy – “Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.” The metaphorical “blow” against the synecdochal – “the Party” where the Party represents Big Brother and totalitarian ideologies, is symbolic of Winston’s rebellious attitudes. Winston’s acts of treason and defiance are analogous to the actions of the Kreisau Circle (a group of conservative German dissidents) during Nazi Germany totalitarian regime. The group’s members were seized and then executed by the Gestapo (paralleling the Thought Police raid in Part 3).
Overall, both Metropolis and 1984 are cautionary films, which manifest Lang’s and Orwell’s respective prescience of the cataclysmic repercussions of an imbalanced society dictated by capitalism, totalitarianism, power, materialistic wealth and mankind’s hubris. Both texts are representative of the fate of the Weimar Republic and consequences of World War 2 during dictatorship ruling, and thus emphasise the imperative need for reformation of totalitarian
Composers ultimately capture the imperative need for the abolishment of totalitarianism to prevent a cataclysmic milieu based on observations of their epoch. Fritz Lang’s 1927 German expressionist film Metropolis and George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel 1984 explores fascist dogma: hunger for power and monopolistic control, and its consequences for humanity. Lang excoriates the dictatorial totalitarian regime of the Kaiser and Freikorps and Weimer Republic’s capitalist Zeitgeist. Likewise, Orwell also excoriates capitalist ideologies and the totalitarian regimes held by dictatorial leaders such as Stalin, Franko, and Hitler, succeeding the Spanish …show more content…
The high modality statement “We are the dead” uttered by Winston parallels the euphemism of ‘dead man walking’; the plosive consonant affirms the inevitability of our protagonist’s demise. However, the statement can also be interpreted metaphorically; foreshadowing Winston’s metaphorical death – the eradication of his individuality as later captured by the process of purgation in Room 101. In doing so, Orwell references Hitler’s purgation of the Jews (The Holocaust) and his endeavours to create Grossdeutschland (a country of unified Germans solely) as part of his Foreign …show more content…
This notion of rebellion is evoked by the repetitious imperative “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” (x5); the high modality imperative capture Winston’s subconscious and repressed thoughts of subversion. Additionally, Orwell metaphorically satirises totalitarian ideologies through the war analogy – “Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.” The metaphorical “blow” against the synecdochal – “the Party” where the Party represents Big Brother and totalitarian ideologies, is symbolic of Winston’s rebellious attitudes. Winston’s acts of treason and defiance are analogous to the actions of the Kreisau Circle (a group of conservative German dissidents) during Nazi Germany totalitarian regime. The group’s members were seized and then executed by the Gestapo (paralleling the Thought Police raid in Part 3).
Overall, both Metropolis and 1984 are cautionary films, which manifest Lang’s and Orwell’s respective prescience of the cataclysmic repercussions of an imbalanced society dictated by capitalism, totalitarianism, power, materialistic wealth and mankind’s hubris. Both texts are representative of the fate of the Weimar Republic and consequences of World War 2 during dictatorship ruling, and thus emphasise the imperative need for reformation of totalitarian