1. What is the central conflict of 1984?

2. Name three specific scenes in which we see that conflict play out (+ notes about how it plays out)

3. Compare the conflict you’ve identified to:
a) the film noir genre as you’ve come to know it;
b) Brazil

1.
“Winston’s struggle to retain control of his own thoughts ”
Winston’s struggle to retain control of his own thoughts in the face of the thought police and the presence of surveillance and the constant rewriting of the past by the Ministry of Information.

“Big Brother suppressed citizens so that they can’t think on their and so that they can’t write or do things they enjoy”
“Big Brother suppressed citizens of Oceana through a variety of means (Newspeak, rewriting history, …) so that they can’t think on their own and so that they can’t write or do things they enjoy”

1984 is a search for liberty from the government/ministry of information. finding the truth where both the truth and history have been rewitten by a regime of people who decide to control their underlings.

“the idea of breaking the illusions of the current social standards set forth by the current ruling power and the effects it has as seen by the ability of individuals not to be possessed and to retain control over their own minds and inner freedoms

topic things — first sentence of every paragraph — needs to:
— express main idea of the paragraph
— show progress towards the thesis
-=- link to the previous paragraph (transition)

2.
Winston buying the journal

The book 1984 is a novel by George Orwell written in 1944. It is a look into the future as Orwell saw it, a dystopian universe in which the “Party” had absolute power and used it mercilessly to dominate its people.  People were separated into three groups, the Inner Party, the Outer Party and proletariats; at the head of these groups was Big Brother who had everyone under constant surveillance and rigid rules of conduct. This was achieved by forcing them to live in austere conditions with only the basic necessities and the threat of torture and certain death for those who deviated from rules. Pleasure or personal feelings were forbidden and even your spouse and children could be your persecutor.

The protagonist Winston was a member of the outer party working in the records department. His job was to alter the record of events that displeased or opposed the vision and goals of the party. He lives in a world where major countries aligned themselves into three groups, Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia; two of these three States were usually at war with each other, a strategy used to keep the people in fear and oppression, as well as, utilize any excess resources that were produced; Winston lived in Oceania. He hated the ideals of the Party and hoped that someday there would be an uprising; however Winston was not brave enough to proactively start one of his own. Julia, Winston’s love interest was also a member of the outer party, she was rebellious but she knew how to play the system. Her courage gave Winston the nerve to be more assertive and share his disdain for the Party with O’Brien a fellow co-worker who turned out to be his interrogator after he and Julia were captured.

The world of 1984 was a figment of Orwell’s imagination, however, in today’s society there are factors that are reminiscent of some of the events that took place in the book. Surveillance of citizens by its government has been steadily increasing, under the guise of protection. This has been especially true since the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.Freedoms and liberties are gradually being taken away and the presence of police at every corner has become normal. While we are not quite at the extremes described in the book; such as open surveillance of individuals in their homes and prosecution for mere thought we are well underway to making this Orwellian novel a prophecy.

“The Maltese Falcon” is a noir masterpiece, from any perspectives not just about the story and protagonist, but also the scene, lighting and photographic composition is giving viewers that perplexing feeling and curiosity, force themselves fully invested in the story. Story looks an easy case but astonishing behind the scenes. Also I think Sam Spade is giving a perfect model of protagonist in film noir. This film is such cold, and his face looks even colder, no feelings, even more like a bad person, but full of wisdom. He never exposes his inner thoughts, does not believe anyone, nor pay any emotion, but only with a cold heart. His role matches to the story perfectly. Therefore I think each film noir must have a kind of protagonist who is wise and brave, and cool. Which make film noir become special because of the noir charm of protagonist.

We can see Sam Spade is wise and brave. He did not believe in the words of neither Mary Astor, nor anyone else, he acts with the brightest minds of his own, as well as sharp language, against to three gangsters and wrapped them around his little finger. Moreover, not only the three gangsters, but also police and prosecutors could not reach him either. The most incredible is that Sam Spade would escape from all kinds of danger, but never without empty-handed.

The femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson from “Double Indemnity” was attracted me, she and insurance agent Walter Neff who is the hero in the film, conspired to kill her husband in order to get a huge indemnity, and the purpose of doing so is because cannot stand with her husband, wanted to escape the shackles of the family. Femme fatale is beautiful and sexy, for men, she is dangerous. Since she can bring a man completely different feeling, so that men are willing attracted, be tempted, so took the road of betrayal of the family, so she must be punished in order to restore and maintain the balance of the traditional family system. In the film “Double Indemnity”, the insurance agent Walter Neff was outset by femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson’s temptation, with her plan and execute the murder, but in the end, he found Phyllis Dietrichson was trying to kill him too, he took the money and left, he shot Phyllis Dietrichson the lady who was already conquered by him without any hesitation. With respect to the boring stability of family life, although femme fatale touches men’s heart, but never assume the role of wife.

1984/film noir

obstacles in front of film noir protagonists/Winston

surveillance –
cf. NSA

trying to protect us

“to a certain extent, we do have freedom of speech”
as long as you don’t go against the government

for our safety

militarization of police

surveillance cameras

newspeak – purpose is to limit thought

Michel Foucault – Discipline and Punish

discipline selves

internalize gaze

trust — government

whether we like it or not, we’ve always been watched

should privacy exist?

dystopic

Brazil – differences, similarities

In this 1944 American Film Noir film the protagonist Phillip Marlowe is hired by Moose Malloy to find his girlfriend Velma Valento since he was released from jail. As the story goes on Phillip is dragged into a bigger problem than he originally though. He witnesses a murder of someone trying to get back his jewelry. Then has Marlowe goes in deeper he sees there is more to the store then a lost girlfriend. Phil meets Helen Grayle his femme fatale who turns out to be Velma. She has coned an older man into marrying her and plans to kill him and take his money. He tries to stop it and in the end Moose, Mr. Grayle and Velma end up dying in an odd love triangle. But Marlowe ends up getting Ann Grayle the girl he has had his eye on since the beginning of the movie.

“The Set Up” is a film noir centered around boxing, the intense movies protagonist goes by the name, “Stoker” who is a aging boxers nearing the end of his fighting career and thinks he’s only a fight away from breaking his streak of bad luck. The film opens and closes with the same shot, across the street from a dark Paradise City and a clock. The dressing room where all the boxers rested before and after the fights was filled with emotions. You could clearly see who was nervous, who was excited, and who was worried. Each person in the room is specifically portrayed to be a certain way, from a overly confident fighter, to a young new fighter who’s nerves are rattling. This movie was half persistence and half romance. The fighting scenes were lengthy and as real as possible, they were almost like watching a real fight. However even though Stoker is standing strong punch after punch he cant seem to get over the fact his wife did not come to support his show which is the first time during their marriage that she has done this. Throughout the fight Stoker peeks back towards the seat he saved her in the fourth row anxiously, but she never shows up.