Metropolis (1927) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) Nineteen Eighty-Four

CONTEXT o Criticises the values of totalitarian governments.

Metropolis o Freedom
o Created in the 1920’s o Human Rights
o After WW1 o Individuality
o Weimar Republic
o Hyperinflation Government Manipulation/Control/Abuse of Power Quotes
o Political and economic instability Nineteen Eighty-Four
o Stresses his hopes for a unified future o “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength” –
allegory
Nineteen Eighty-Four o Satirical techniques used to flaw totalitarian government
o Written in the 1940’s o Monolithic Ministries: of truth, love, peace, plenty. 
o Political speculation juxtaposition used to emphasise the difference in realities
o During WW2 o 2+2=5 – paradox
o Social instability o Symbols, metaphors – telescreens, thought police,
o Rise of communism thoughtcrime, doublethink
o Political instability o “Big Brother is Watching You”– emphasise BB omnipresence
o Rise of totalitarian state – reinforces the inexistence of privacy
o Stresses his personal opinions and views o “Junior Spies”
o Orwell draws on the on the worst excesses and abuses of o Use of a cult figurehead
power under Nazi or Communist rule, including torture, o Totalitarian regime is one that feasts on human suffering
show-trials and surveillance to degrade the population of o 2 minutes hate  unifying
Oceania to servitude and misery
o In Stalinist Russia a pervasive state of perpetual crisis was Metropolis
used to promulgate the perception that the interests of the o Positioning of men + movements + uniform + bars –
people were integrally linked to national interests. conformity, suppression
o Contextual barbarism and inhumanity of WW2 makes o Spotlight on the city - emphasise the pyramid and structure of
depictions of monstrous behaviour from children authentic. society
o Deified city as “mother”  a futuristic powerhouse worthy of
VALUES worship
Metropolis o “As deep as lay the worker’s city below the earth, so high
o Empathy above it towered the complex named the “Club of Sons” – text
o Love on screen – hierarchy
 o Moloch Scene – exploitation o Any form of dissension is directed towards the God-like
o Urbanisation would exacerbate social divisions and class machines that demand their labour and leaves them without
tensions individuality.
o Rotwang and Frederson have a fractured relationship as a o Expressionist imagery uses twisted angles and heavy
result of their rival for Hel’s affection shadows, to portray the workers world as one of darkness,
o Rotwang also is smooth and self-assured when created his drudgery and impoverishment
Robot-Maria’s opposed to his jerky movements. o Oppressive societal control stresses the human cost of
o Rotwang’s robot is a prototype surrogate worker, his self- technological advancement.
centredness evident in his creating something that will enable
him to gain power over Frederson
o Rotwang falls and dies while the equally duplicitous Rebellion
industrialist manages to restore the status quo with minimal Nineteen Eighty-Four
loss of control  the autocrat remains in control o Rehabilitation of Winston
o “The Brotherhood”
Oppression/Subjugation/Dehumanisation of Individualism o Romantic relationship between Winston and Julia
Quotes o Diary
Nineteen Eighty-Four o Renting the room in Mr Charington’s room  provides
o “3 hundred million people all with the same face” somewhere “not to stay alive but to stay human”
o “Newspeak” o “Down with Big Brother”
o “The individual is only a cell”
o “They can be granted intellectual liberty because they have no Metropolis
intellect” o Freder’s love of Maria
o “He loved Big Brother” o Worker’s rebellion
o The individual is subjugated by despotism o Flooding, death of children, destruction of machines.
o Orthodoxy has replaced individuality o “What if one day they rise against you?”
o Shift in human values and relationships through propaganda o Frederson ironically instigates the worker’s rebellion because
and indoctrination. of his creation
o o Technology (Cyborg Maria) has overtaken Frederson’s
control of the workers
Metropolis o Cyborgdemonic
o Positioning of men, uniforms, bars
o Exploitation and alienati
o Moloch
Nineteen Eighty-Four
- Sardonic and mordant tone
- Tripartite structure  establishes the setting, acts of
rebellion, period of punishment.
- Affection is replaced with zealotry

COMMON THEMES
o Criticising Totalitarian Government through
visions/speculations of the future
o Poverty vs Wealth (Class Struggle)
o Technology
o Repression