1984 Book Art Comparison


Both of the above images depict art inspired by George Orwell's book, 1984.  Upon reading the first part of the book, it is apparent that the story follows a man named Winston throughout his days living as a party member of INGSOC in Oceania, London. The book radiated strong themes of surveillance and the puniness of the individual.  Both of these themes are clearly in the pieces of art above. However, their methods in displaying these themes are drastically different.



The top image is diffidently literal in the sense that it shows Wilson and the Anti-Sex League Woman and Big Brother.  It is so literal to the book 1984 that it even shows the pyramidal buildings of the government. The art pushes both the themes in quite a round-about way, however. The theme of constant surveillance is brought to light via the plethora of faces glaring every-which-way; even Big Brother is glaring! Secondly, the theme of surveillance is shown because both Winston and the Anti-Sex League Woman are looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes (despite being back-to-back), giving the allusion that you can turn your back on no one.  The theme of the puniness of the individual, however, is a little bit harder to grasp.  One must understand that the primary focus is Winston, not the Anti-Sex League Woman, because of that it is clear that he is amidst tons of people. Winston is so small that he cannot even be the #1 character in the foreground.  Other than that there are very few themes that could be found.



The Second work of art is a much more abstract interpretation, as compared to the first.  Due to this, and the thematic nature of abstract art, both the ideas of surveillance and the puniness of the individual stick out extremely clear.  So, as for the theme of surveillance, it is brought about by the density of eyeballs.  Not only are there a lot of eyeballs, but they are also all looking at the same thing.  This emphasizes the idea that the main character (Winston) is being heavily watched all the time.  The puniness of the individual is also very clear in that it the main character, and the only one without eyeballs is smaller than anyone or anything else on the artwork.  This piece is also really rich in its thematic potential because it is abstract.  One other theme for example related to the amount of darkness and the seemingly prevalent tunnels under the eyes.  This could possibly represent the system in which people know what is going on with the government or it could just be an artistic representation for the memory holes in the book and it's meant to represent the state of artificial reality in which the society lives in. 



So, in conclusion, the above images are very similar in their ability to reflect the themes of surveillance and the puniness of the individual.  However, they differed in their artistic representations and in their thematic depth.

References: 1984 by George Orwell

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 14, 2019 at 7:33 PM

    Ayden,
    I thought your connections of the themes of the photos to the book were insight and well thought out. I also thought that your conclusion was a little lackluster compared to your insights into the photos but was also concise and straight to the point. Overall I think this was well written.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 22, 2019 at 9:04 AM

    Postings provide comprehensive insight, understanding, and reflective thought about the topic by
    ...building a focused argument around a specific issue or
    ...asking a new related question or
    ...making an oppositional statement supported by personal experience or related research. (4)

    Postings present a specific viewpoint but lack supporting examples or links to websites or documents, but not all links enhance the information presented. (2)

    Postings are creatively and fluently written to stimulate dialogue and commentary. (4)
    Postings are written in a style that is appealing and appropriate for the intended audience and a consistent voice is evident throughout. (4)
    Postings reflect the author’s unique personality through expressive and carefully selected word choices that bring the topic to life. (4)
    All images, media and text created by others display appropriate copyright permissions and accurate citations. (4)
    Written responses are free of grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. The style of writing facilitates communication. (4)
    26/28

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