The Surprising Power of Propaganda in Dystopian Fiction:
By Trinity Goodwill.
Propaganda has become prevalent globally with countries like China, North Korea and Russia misinforming and lying to their citizens to gain a sense of complete control. Russia to this day continues to produce anti-Ukraine propaganda by creating mocking deep fakes of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to justify their invasion (V. Bergengren, 2023). It is within these uncertain times we turn to the media for reflections of our current struggles.
1984 is a novel written by the English author George Orwell in 1949 following the protagonist Winston Smith in a dystopian society set in Oceania dictated by “The Party” and an all-encompassing ruler called Big Brother.
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Indoctrination is represented in 1984 through the concepts of ‘Newspeak’ and ‘Doublethink’ which aim to limit language and thought, to prevent scepticism of the regime and thereby teaching the masses to accept their present life uncritically. In Chapter 5 Syme an employee in the Ministry of Truth explains the true political nature of Newspeak before he was vapourised for ‘thoughtcrime’, the quote is as follows; “… the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” INGSOC (Newspeak for the totalitarian regime) through the use of propaganda such as ‘Newspeak’, a limited, expressionless and difficult to understand language with the purpose of limiting a person’s ability to think indoctrinates Oceania by eliminating political and ideological individuality which is reflective of Orwell’s views of totalitrainsim. As a consequence characters such as Winston Smith are unable to think critically due to the restriction and education placed upon them by the Government. As further evidenced by a quote from chapter 9 where Winston explains in his journal about ‘Doublethink’, …show more content…
Misinformation is promotively represented in 1984 through the ‘Ministry of Truth’, which distributes propaganda and falsifies historical events to uphold the party’s values. In chapter 5 Winston who is an employee in the ‘Ministry of Truth’ and regularly falsifies books and newspapers to align with the party, tries to explain to his co-worker and lover about the lies of party. In which he states that “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, … Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” To complement in Jojo Rabbit Winston revealing the truth about the ‘Ministry of Truth’ is paralleled by Captain Klenzendorf an officer for the Nazi party. Like Winston, Captain K is aware of the misinformation spread by the Nazi party as he states at the introduction to the Hitlerjugend camp “And even though it would appear our country is on the backfoot. And there really isn’t much hope in us winning this war, apparently, we are doing just fine.” Indicating awareness of the misinformation of their respective parties by government officials. George Orwell and Taika Waititi illustrate how totalitarian Government will routinely lie to its citizens to present itself as idealised and to maintain absolute control, this can be seen in modern day with countries such as China
In this alternate 1984, the governments of three fictional nations – Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia – take control of mankind’s free thought by taking control of its media institutions, both written and spoken (Bossche). His points are relevant in the real world, because governments are developing institutions of surveillance and propaganda, just as they did in the novel. In the novel 1984, George Orwell employs the rhetorical techniques of symbolism, allegory, and
This shows the contrast between Winston's career and his personal choices. His job is to alter the past so that everything agrees with the present, however, when given the slightest opportunity, Winston betrays the Party and begins writing in his journal about them and their lies. This is ironic because not only is the Ministry of Truth changing that past into lies, but Winston is also lying to the party about his loyalty. He is not openly admitting to disliking the Party and has continued to work for them despite his moral beliefs. This shows us to opposition between Winston’s job and how he feels about doing it.
Another tactic used by a totalitarian government will use is the control of information. For example, you must always have your tele-screens on so that the party can use their propaganda against the citizens of Oceania; CANT FIND REAL WORLD EXAMPLE HERE. Another form of information that is controlled by the party is Oceania's history. In fact, Winston works in an agency for the party which rewrites everything such that the party is never seen as making mistakes.
Koyie Waples Melton/Schulze British Literature 28 March 2018 Manipulation and Control via the Government in 1984 In a unique dystopia created in the world of 1984, George Orwell establishes a totalitarian government that watches and psychologically manipulates its citizens to be mere pawns. Although there is a Big Brother constantly watching over everyone’s shoulder and influencing them, there are still those who desire nothing more than freedom. This is where the main character comes in, Winston Smith, a man who works for the Ministry of Truth, which is a government run organization that changes and alters history. Winston is tired of the mundane life that he lives, and is already rebeling in his own way by keeping a personal diary that
Winston is working in his department on “rectifying” documents the Party has assigned to him. He begins to explain how his job is to change the original information given to him, to what the government wants it to be. Winston describes just how the government is able to influence the people’s minds: “It was therefore necessary to rewrite a paragraph of Big Brother’s speech in such a way as to make him predict the thing had actually happened” and later Winston says, “in no case would it have been possible, once the deed was done, to prove that any falsification had taken place” (Orwell 39-40). Winston’s job is to change and delete the past in order to match the Party’s current slogan or belief. The government is creating false facts and manipulating the truth to control the citizens of Oceania.
The party hides the truth to “starve the public of the concepts needed to think about the present, remember the past, and consider the future” (Snyder 61). Truth is a needed continuous element that shouldn’t succumb to control. However, when the truth itself is not consistent because it is always being changed and falsified, it is hard to make sense of reality. At Winston’s job, he rewrote history to fit the agenda of the party, so his concept of the truth is twisted. Winston grapples with his understanding of the truth many times.
Through his writing, Orwell conveys not only the dangers of totalitarianism but also the power of language and rhetoric to manipulate people. In this way, he warns against the use of words as a form of propaganda that can be used to manipulate individuals into believing something that is far from reality. For example, Big Brother’s Ministry of Truth takes advantage of citizens by using slogans such as “War is peace” or “Freedom is slavery” to confuse and disorient them. This manipulation allows Big Brother to maintain their authority over society. As Daniel Leab asserts, “Orwell's works contained a more global message that could be used as propaganda against the United States: ironically enough, it was an attack on all forms of propaganda - including that which might be employed by democratic nations” (Leab 2003, 145).
In Goerge Owell’s masterpiece novel, 1984, the characters struggle an internal battle against the rules imposed by INGSOC against their freedom. Often simple freedom, personal identity, and truth can be difficult to identify when one is not provided, but restricted from information. This is often unnoticeable until one breaks free of the flock, and opens their eyes to what is presented as truth. This internal struggle against constant rules and the manipulation of truth is experienced when we look closely at the characters' actions throughout the story. This internal battle for freedom, personal identity, and the truth is shown when we look at the characters Big Brother, Winston, and Julia.
151385 Magnet English 9 Ms. Halloran June 2, 2023 The Effects of Misinformation As Explored In 1984 In George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, the ruling government, known as the Party, maintains total control over the citizens of Oceania primarily through means of manipulation. This is because the citizens assume that the Party is successful and inherently trustworthy.
The people willingly obey and follow all their orders without knowing what they are actually doing. Many of these individual’s jobs, like Winston’s, are to hide and change facts to allow people to have faith in the Party. Many “books… were recalled and rewritten again and again, and were invariably reissued without any admission that any alteration had been made” to hide information from the people. The protagonist, Winston, figures out the real problem with this system and realizes the Party has tricked their citizens. Orwell exhibits the citizen’s oblivious attitude toward everything shown to them and their growing faith for the party allows them to follow the party’s orders.
Imagine living in a world where people are restricted to basic human rights like having their own thoughts. In the novel 1984 George Orwell creates a dystopian society that controls all the people of Oceania. Orwell uses media manipulation to control what people say and think. Some readers say it is similar to how Kim Jong-un and Yoon Suk Yeol rule North and South Korea. In 1984 George Orwell created a world where there is an abuse of power and technological advancements, similar to the governments North and South Korea, to illustrate the manipulation that people can become victims of.
Joseph Goebbels once said,”Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their freewill”. This statement is proven to be true in 1984. The author, George Orwell, creates a fictional dystopian society in which the population is manipulated into thinking they live in a great world, whereas the government has full control over them. In 1984, George Orwell’s prime message, supported by the article called Liberty in North Korea by Hae Re, was the lack of individualism gives power to the applicable leader, which is conveyed using the characters speech and symbolism. Orwell’s dystopian society showed the author 's message through what a character was saying and symbolism.
Propaganda; information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. Propaganda is a very manipulative method of controlling the audience's attitudes. In the novel 1984, by George Orwell, Winston Smith is a member of the outer party in the nation of Oceania. Winston, along with all the other citizens of Oceania, are constantly being watched by the Party through telescreens. Oceania is ruled by an omniscient leader only known as Big Brother, a powerful faceless figure who is feared by all of Oceania.
Throughout the book the slogans of “war is peace, freedom is slavery, [and] ignorance is strength” is a forced acceptance by all citizens (Orwell 16). These particular slogans, that exemplify doublethink, are plastered everywhere. The illogicalness of doublethink completely surrounds the citizens, constantly exposing them to it. The second characteristic of monopoly over mass media is quite evident in Winston 's life. Government employees run the internet, newspapers, and radio/tv announcements.
In 1984, George Orwell depicts a dystopian society pervaded by government control and the obsolescence of human emotion and society. Winston is forced to confront the reality of a totalitarian rule where the residents of Oceania are manipulated to ensure absolute government control and servitude of the people. The theme of totalitarianism and dystopia is employed in 1984 to grant absolute power to the government and ensure the deference of the people through the proliferation of propaganda, the repudiation of privacy and freedom, and the eradication of human thought and values. The repudiation of privacy and independent thought and the ubiquity of government surveillance is employed to secure absolute power to the government over the populace