"Tearing human minds apart"

While watching 1984 (which I must say differs at some points rather strongly from the novel and of course needs to keep in the one thing which makes all movies amazing-A cheesey love story), I couldn't help but imagine what Orwell would think about our modern media and the way in which is operates.

On the one hand, I have seen "Orwell Rolls in His Grave" and commented on its bias and distortion of facts, on the other hand, I do question whether or not Orwell would be that upset (surely he wouldn't be surprised) with the state of our media today.

I think that there are two main points of emphasis in the film:

The first is the very task with which Winston Smith (played by John Hurt) is assigned. His task, as a worker in the Ministry of Truth, is rewrite history in order to benefit "the Party," lead by "Big Brother," who rules Oceania.

On the one hand, the very thought of "rewriting history" is startling and seems somewhat foreign to our lives. On the other , when we consider the power of media bias, as we have done so often throughout the semester (and I discussed here and here among other posts), we might be able to see no difference between the task that Smith is charged with in the film, and the job of modern day media executives and editors. These executives and editors (see "Outfoxed") are often times given orders from the higher powers at the media outlet to create, or bend facts, something which seems only slightly different from the task that Smith is given by "the Party."

The second part of the film that I think need highlighting and discussion is the fact that there is full transparency from everyone, not only in their actions and words, but even in their thoughts. Again, while the idea of a mechanism similar to "telescreens" (two-way TV monitors) and the charges of "thoughtcrimes" is shocking on the surface, would it be so terrible if there was more transparency from our political figures? I understand that my statements may seem way too over the top, but if the media did their job as defined by many, which again we have delved deeply into this semester, then this transparency may be possible.

And I would argue that more transparency on the part of our political figures can only benefit the public. It seems that we wouldn't be as greatly effected by scandals (like Gov. Blagojevich and even Clinton-Lewinsky) and the American public would build more confidence in our political leaders, a confidence that is at an all-time low and negatively effects the strength of our democracy.

Lastly, I would like to highlight what I felt was the most striking and important quote from the entire film. It comes from O'Brien (played by Richard Burton) who is a senior "Party" member:

"Power is tearing human minds apart and putting them back together in new shapes of your own choosing."

If O'brien's statement is even remotely accurate, then our media is "stronger" then ever. The real question is if this is a "good" or "bad" thing, and what we can/will do about it....

So when it comes to thinking of how Orwell himself would react to today's media, I think the answer is two-fold. On the one hand, he would be upset (but definitely not shocked) by the fact that the rewriting of history which he tried to warn about in the future would be taking place. On the other hand, I feel that he would be encouraged by some forms of the "new media," like blogs which bring more transparency (obviously not to the negative level that he portrays it effecting Winston) to our political figures and may have been able to take down the "Party" like it has succeeded in doing (or at least) helping already (see Dan Rather).

Note: While I was searching for information on the Dan Rather story I came across an amazing quote which I think brings this whole thing full circle in a VERY ironic way:

"If the press was so free in the U.S., Putin asked, then why had those reporters at CBS lost their jobs? Bush was openmouthed. 'Putin thought we'd fired Dan Rather,' says a senior Administration official. 'It was like something out of 1984.'"