Conversely, Orwell highlights the freedom of the proletariat and their retention of humanity, exemplified when Winston wrote, “The proles are human beings. We are not human”. Orwell’s effective use of diction is further explored as Winston recognizes the potential for revolt locked within the proletariat society. This is portrayed when he writes, “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious”. Through Orwell’s use of chiasmus, the reader affirms links to contextual details such as the concept of Marxism, a fundamental theory in the early 20th Century. Orwell’s exploration of the loss of human values is pertinent to historical context and his satirical message of the dehumanisation of society as a result of totalitarian control is heightened when paralleled to Lang’s portrayal of similar values in Metropolis.
Societies built on foundations of inequality and deprivation are prone to a growing discontent among citizens and eventual destruction. The continued oppression of an individual’s entitlements to freedom and expression can only be tolerated to …show more content…
Orwell’s ‘1984’, elucidates the intrinsic characteristic of humanity that provokes one to question the nature of their world and the distribution of power and control within it, even if this attempt is accepted and recognised as futile. Lang explores this inherent desire in his film, however, one may argue that his representation of the oppressed class possess a far more promising capacity to rebel and to succeed in establishing a better society. Contrastingly, Orwell’s anti-hero Winston knowingly accepts that his life is doomed from the moment he opens his diary and marks its pages; ‘the decisive act’. Every trait considered human is stripped from the citizens of Oceania; their humanity, their family, their dignity, their sexual instinct and their individual will to live. This is replaced by the all-encompassing fear and love of Big-Brother, elucidating the mass extent of infiltration, control and suppression of any possible rebellion. Orwell depicts Winston’s sombre psychological state; he feels ‘lost in a monstrous world where he himself was the monster’ and hence his only potential resistance is his own internal contemplation of thought. Similarly to Lang’s depiction of Rotwang’s house as ‘a relic of the dim, forgotten, past’, Orwell depicts motifs in his novel that serve as reminders of a time brighter