Children of Men and 1984 Comparison
The 1984 novel by George Orwell and the film Children of Men have very different storylines but both share a similar dystopic view of Britain. They create a scary future where the state of life is poor and people lack freedom and happiness. To help create this dystopian view, they use the ideas of propaganda and loss of individuality.
Propaganda is a method of communication that is used to sway the attitude of a population. Propaganda is a major theme in both the book and the movie. In 1984, telescreens, “Big Brother”, Two Minutes of Hate, doublespeak and the Ministry of Truth are all good examples of the tactics the government uses to create and control propaganda. In Children of Men the “Fishes” use similar ideas like big brother, such as billboards and commercials to promote their propaganda. They use propaganda to promote ideas and manipulate citizens into believing what they want them to think. When citizens only hear one opinion it makes it easy for the government to manipulate their mind and get them to do what they want.
In both the novel and the movie, citizens are striped of their most important qualities; independence and individuality. To gain complete control over a society the government must remove people’s identities in order to make everyone alike, and in the novel 1984, Big Brother does exactly this. Through effective manipulation tactics such as; making everyone wear the same clothes, eat the same food, live in the same grungy apartments, they party creates a life that is uniform and orderly and destroys all sense of individuality. In Children of Men life is also uniform and ordinary. The terrorist attacks, infertility and quality of life is become all so ordinary that it’s expected, and nothing distinguishes people from each other. Both the movie and novel also strip away independence by diminishing personal ambition and encourage gain for the city. This causes the citizens to not only help the city but to lose the individual power to
Propaganda is a method of communication that is used to sway the attitude of a population. Propaganda is a major theme in both the book and the movie. In 1984, telescreens, “Big Brother”, Two Minutes of Hate, doublespeak and the Ministry of Truth are all good examples of the tactics the government uses to create and control propaganda. In Children of Men the “Fishes” use similar ideas like big brother, such as billboards and commercials to promote their propaganda. They use propaganda to promote ideas and manipulate citizens into believing what they want them to think. When citizens only hear one opinion it makes it easy for the government to manipulate their mind and get them to do what they want.
In both the novel and the movie, citizens are striped of their most important qualities; independence and individuality. To gain complete control over a society the government must remove people’s identities in order to make everyone alike, and in the novel 1984, Big Brother does exactly this. Through effective manipulation tactics such as; making everyone wear the same clothes, eat the same food, live in the same grungy apartments, they party creates a life that is uniform and orderly and destroys all sense of individuality. In Children of Men life is also uniform and ordinary. The terrorist attacks, infertility and quality of life is become all so ordinary that it’s expected, and nothing distinguishes people from each other. Both the movie and novel also strip away independence by diminishing personal ambition and encourage gain for the city. This causes the citizens to not only help the city but to lose the individual power to