Big Brother (1984)

All you want to know about Big Brother (1984)

Big Brother is a fictional character in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the enigmatic dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state taken to its utmost logical consequence - where the ruling elite ('the Party') wield total power for its own sake over the inhabitants.

In the society that Orwell describes, everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens. The people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase "Big Brother is watching you", which is the core "truth" of the propaganda system in this state. The physical description of Big Brother is reminiscent of Joseph Stalin or Lord Kitchener. His moustache is also similar to that of Adolf Hitler.

Contents

Purported origins of Big Brother

In the essay section of his novel 1985, Anthony Burgess states that Orwell got the idea for Big Brother from advertising hoardings current during World War II, for educational correspondence courses from a company called Bennett's. The original posters showed Bennett himself; a kindly looking old man offering guidance and support to would-be students with the phrase "Let me be your father" attached. After Bennett's death however, his son took over the company and the posters were replaced with pictures of the son (who looked imposing and stern in contrast to his father's kindly demeanor) with the text "Let me be your big brother."

Appearance in the novel

Existence

Big Brother's face looms from giant telescreens in Victory Square (the location is Alexandra Palace in Muswell Hill, north London) in Michael Radford's 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty Four.

In the novel, it is unclear if Big Brother is a man or an image crafted by the Party.

In a book supposedly written by the rebel Emmanuel Goldstein (but later revealed to have a more complex origin) it is stated that "nobody has ever seen Big Brother. His function is to act as a focusing point for love, fear, and reverence; emotions which are more easily felt towards an individual than towards an organization." (See Goldstein's book).

In Party propaganda, however, Big Brother is presented as a real person; one of the founders of the Party along with Goldstein. At one point in the year 1984, the protagonist of Orwell's novel tries "to remember in what year he had first heard mention of Big Brother. He thought it must have been at some time in the sixties, but it was impossible to be certain. In the Party histories, of course, Big Brother figured as the leader and guardian of the Revolution since its very earliest days. His exploits had been gradually pushed backwards in time until already they extended into the fabulous world of the forties and the thirties, when the capitalists in their strange cylindrical hats still rode through the streets of London in great gleaming motor-cars or horse carriages with glass sides. There was no knowing how much of this legend was true and how much invented."

In the year 1984, Big Brother (as seen on posters and on the telescreen) appears as a man of about 45. Goldstein's book comments: "We may be reasonably sure that he will never die, and there is already considerable uncertainty as to when he was born."[citation needed]

Love of Big Brother

A spontaneous ritual of devotion to Big Brother ("BB") is illustrated at the end of the "Two Minutes Hate":

“

At this moment the entire group of people broke into a deep, slow, rhythmic chant of 'B-B! .... B-B! .... B-B!'—over and over again, very slowly, with a long pause between the first 'B' and the second—a heavy murmurous sound, somehow curiously savage, in the background of which one seemed to hear the stamps of naked feet and the throbbing of tom-toms. For perhaps as much as thirty seconds they kept it up. It was a refrain that was often heard in moments of overwhelming emotion. Partly it was a sort of hymn to the wisdom and majesty of Big Brother, but still more it was an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise.[1]

 ”

Though Oceania's Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Plenty, and Ministry of Peace each have names with meanings inverse to their purpose, the Ministry of Love is perhaps the most straightforward, in that rehabilitated thought criminals leave the Ministry as loyal subjects who love Big Brother (albeit only having undergone a rigorous campaign of torture).

Response to Big Brother today

Since the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the phrase "Big Brother" has entered general usage, to describe any overly-inquisitive or overly-controlling authority figure or attempts by government to increase surveillance. The magazine Book ranked Big Brother #59 on its 100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900 list.

In October 2006, the book The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived listed Big Brother as #2. [2] Wizard Magazine rated him the 75th greatest villain of all time.[3]

The worldwide reality television show, Big Brother, is based on the concept of people always being watched and being under constant surveillance from this novel. In 2000, after the U.S. version of the CBS program "Big Brother" premiered, the Estate of George Orwell sued CBS and its production company named "Orwell Productions, Inc." in federal court in Chicago for copyright and trademark infringement. The case was Estate of Orwell v. CBS, 00-c-5034 (ND Ill). On the eve of trial, the case settled worldwide to the parties' "mutual satisfaction". The amount that CBS paid to the Orwell Estate was not disclosed. CBS had made no effort whatever to get permission from the Estate . The novel 1984 is still under copyright protection until 2044.

In a play on the Big Brother name, some privacy advocates use the phrase Little Brother to refer to the increasing threats to privacy stemming not from institutional surveillance, but from individuals snooping on each other with the help of new technology such as camera phones, search engines, and social web sites.[4]

Inspirations

Big Brother served for an inspiration of an advertisement by Apple for their new computer, the Macintosh. In this 1984 television commercial, IBM is portrayed as Big Brother, whilst the Mac is represented as the heroine, smashing the "Big Brother" with a hammer. Finally, it says "Why 1984 won't be like 1984". The Estate of George Orwell, through its licensee, sent a "cease-and-desist" letter to Apple's ad agency after the ad first appeared, stating that the ad violated copyright and trademark laws. Apple had never sought permission from the Estate. The ad was never telecast again.

References

  1. ^ Orwell, George (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four.
  2. ^ 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived
  3. ^ Wizard #177
  4. ^ Maria Puente (2007-02-28). "Hello to less privacy", USA TODAY. Retrieved on 10 February 2008. 

See also

v • d • e
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Characters
Winston Smith · Julia · O'Brien · Big Brother · Emmanuel Goldstein · Comrade Ogilvy · Syme
Places
Classes
Ministries
Concepts
Adaptations
Influence
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(Nineteen_Eighty-Four)"

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