Is the Government Controlling Every Single Thing People Do?

1. 1984 Summary.

The story takes place in a decadent London under totalitarianism, where there is not much food to eat and the few they have tastes disgusting. The city is somewhat dilapidated or dying because of the regime the country is being ruled by, and the only building that is not suffering from these is a pyramid-shape one which is inhabited by the government. The entire city is full of posters where "Big brother is watching you" is written; also, some cameras are located around it and films everything that occurs outside the pyramid; even some explosions occur randomly and threaten citizens.

The government is watching every single person through their televisions and they are not allowed to turn them off ever in order to control their lives. Sadly, this is not the only thing they cannot do, there are many other things people cannot do such as: miss the propaganda and the information the regime is making you see or read, if you do, you will be sent into a slavery place where you are not allowed to use any emotion at all and only be "productive" in what you are asked to (eg. harvest).

"...Big Brother is watching you..."

The main character, Winston Smith, is one of the many citizens that suffer the totalitarianism consequences and he is being watched by the whole government which means anything that is not allowed and it is known by them, will deserve punishment.

One day, he gets to know a lady named Julia, time passes by and they get to meet each other. After this, they begin a relationship and begin their allegiance against the "enemies" and Big Brother. Both fall in love during the process and make love in a secure room above a shop, this was their meeting spot for hiding and do unforgivable things.

After a period of time the couple meets O'Brien who pretends to be against the party as they do and welcomes them by giving him a copy of "the book" which was written by a traitor of the government who used to be Big Brother's ally and now enemy named Emmanuel Goldstein. Subsequently, the duo gets to their hiding spot and are disturbed by a noise near them, there was a telescreen in their hideout! Sorrowfully, Winston and Julia are dragged away and separated.

They get punished because of the "crimes" they committed and O'Brien sentence the main character because of things the mercenary has been watching from him for the last 7 years. After a serie of events, the couple's minds get rebooted and loose every hope they had to get rid of the society they were immersed on. At the very end, Winston sees Julia but they no longer love each other, both of them seem to forget what they felt and he admits he finishes "loving" Big Brother, this because of the damages his body and mind have been suffering.

2. V for Vendetta Summary.

One night in London in 1997, a 16-year-old girl without any money for food and hungry named Evey Hammond, tries to sell herself for sexual "activities"  to men who are members of the state secret police (The Finger). These men prepare themselves to rape and kill the girl, when this is about to happen, V appears and kills the Fingermen. V, an anarchist man, is wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and a cloak.

Before taking Evey away to the "Shadow Gallery" which was his underground lair, he remotely detonates TNT at the Houses or Parlament.

After arriving the refuge, the girl tells V her life story and also that the global nuclear war in the 80s brought out the growth of England's fascism.

Simultaneously, a member of the regular police (The Nose) named Eric Finch, who was forced to join the Norsefire, the corrupt fascist party that controls Britain, is investigating about V, his plans, and his hiding place. He usually ask the secret police and the Head anything new they might get about the suspect. Finch gets to investigate more of this man named V by a propaganda-broadcasting radio personality that he creates named Lewis Prothero; this personality tries to make people realise that all of what they were told to do or believe or are asked to do is wrong, that they are under a totalitarian regime and that if this does not changes, London will fall into decadence.

After Mr. Finch investigates this broadcasting, three (forced) suicides occur. The persons that die are the ones that once tortured V when he was in a concentration camp for being "undesirable". Lewis Prothero, a bishop, Anthony Lilliman and Delia Surridge, a doctor who writes before dying on a diary that V used to be one of the "patients" she had under experiments. Eric repots his findings to Adam Susan, who is a reclusive government leader and he believes that V is named after the word "Vendetta" for vengance because he used to be an involuntary sufferer of a medical practice run by Dr. Surridge in which he was given injections with a drug called Batch 5. In the camp, V was also known as "The Man from Room 5".

Afterwards, 4 months later, V breaks into Jordan Tower, a broadcasting station, in order to tell every people they must take charge of their own lives. 

The following November 5th, one whole year after the Parliament bombing, The Man from Room 5  destroys the Post Office and Jordan Towers with the intention to shut down the eyes, ears and mouth of the government. Because of the lack of the leader's vigilance there is an enormous increase of violence by street gangs.

The police man Eric Finch, when returning to London, discovers that V's hideout is inside the abandoned Victorian Station. When he gets to enter, he fights with V and the "villian" lets Finch shoot him.

After the shoot, the badly wounded V returns back home and lays in Evey's arms where he finally dies. The lady considers taking V's mask but forgets about it and decides to take one of the costumes V had to wear it. Hammond appears to a crowd telling them she's V, destroys 10 Downing Street and gives V a Viking funeral with an explosive filled train with his body inside.

3. Comparison and Similitudes between Both Works.

Both, novel and comic, are created with a totalitarian regime* society where everything is being ruled, controlled and seen by the government literally. On the one hand, in 1984 written in the years 1947 and 1948 but first published by the year 1949 by George Orwell, has a one of its main themes totalitarianism which is placed in a post WWII Europe Oceania which is ruled by the "Party" and the head Big Brother. On the second hand, V for Vendetta, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd in ten-lenght short comic books, show almost the same things as in the first one, the Big Brother figure named Chancellor Sutler, the secret police and the government's use of slogan and posters in public places.

In the novel, telescreens are everywhere to glance at people's entire life, the Party eliminates the importance of the self, control citizen's wills, rationate food as if they were inside the holocaust.

"Winston's heart stirred. That was the bulletin from the front; instinct told him that it was bad news that was coming (...)" Orwell, G. (1949, p. 236).

"Bad news coming, thought Winston. And sure enough (...) came the announcement that, as from next week, the chocolate ration would be reduced from thirty grammes to twenty" Orwell, G. (1949, p. 21).

In both quotes from the novel, one can perceive the desperation that people who tried to resist the regime felt with the bad news that were comming, there were more bulletins and less food.

 

Quote taken from the movie adaptation made in 2006 of V for Vendetta.

Each author used totalitarianism in a different way,nonetheless both have warnings to show what would happen if the ones who govern us become too powerful as in both stories. Both Parties are trying to dodge or evade any type of rebellion from their people in order not to loose their control and power.

"Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely" Orwell, G. (1949, p. 2).

In this third quote in Orwell's novel, it is shown how does the state restrict "normal" people's lives. Even though Winston tried to turn the transmitor off, he only lowered the volume, there was no way of powering it off.

The Party in both books were anonymous, people know that they are the elite and that they work together to manipulate what it is said and done.

"V (...) goes to assassinate Prothero, the fascist 'Voice of London.' Prothero is watching himself on TV. As V approaches, the televised Prothero is telling his audience the 'moral of the story:' 'Good guys win, bad guys lose and as always, England prevails' (060). Four centuries after the gunpowder Plot, the British state still struggles to maintain its shaky hold on power by defining different sorts of Guys. (...) V invites the citizens of London to don their own Guy Fawkes masks" Call, L. (2008, p. 169 - 170).

In this last quote, one can notice that there is no fear from part of the Party and that they still believe (in any circumstances) that they will always govern and win, no matter what.

4. What is a Totalitarian Regime or Totalitarianism?*

The first thing we need to keep in mind is that to compare and talk about the topic of this entry we need to contextualize and define the main theme, this is totalitarianism or a totalitarian regime.

According to Hannah Arendt, she "(...) conceives totalitarianism as a specific political regime. (...) the western tradition of political philosophy has brought forth nothing but different types of government that are only concerned with subjecting human action and thus the contingency of human affairs. Thereby, the philosophical tradition understands human affairs qua work and in doing so hinders and obstructs the deployment of human plurality. (...) Arendt crystallized both in the Nazi Germany and in the USSR" Londoño, M. (2013).

According to the Cambridge Dictionary Online, Totalitarianism is: "the ​belief that a ​government should have ​total ​power over ​its ​citizens".

Having these two definitions, we may find out that one of the main intentions this type of regime has is to dominate and remain powerful to common people, this ones can me citizens, workers or even children (it depends on the context).

5. Are There Any Pros and/or Cons to Be Governed under The Totalitarianism?

Personally, I thought after reading the novel and graphic novel that there were no pros regarding Totalitarianism, but after thinking it more than twice, I got into this:

Advantages:

1. It establishes a powerful and firm government. There are no critics or oppositions from the people and all energies are directed to the achievement of these.

2. It does not believe in discussions or debates. 

3. Aspirations of The State are accomplished in short time, for instance The USSR and Germany.

Disadvantages:

1. The individual has no rights. He is supposed to sacrifice everything for the sake of the state.

2. This system demands complete obedience and no opposition or disagreement is allowed, it is based on force and violence.

3. Initiative among people disappears and makes them indifferent. The people become sheep like.

4. It encourages and spreads war, aggression, hatred, between others. The WWII is a clear result of Fascist regime.

As an ending, I found more negative things than positive ones, these are shown, as said before, in both works, the one by Orwell and the other one by Moore. It is worthy mentionable that the advantages are more or less the same one and another.

6. Is There Any Country under Totalitarism? Is It Still "Alive"?

One of the countries that still is governed by a totalitarian regime is North Korea. This country has been ruled by the same old family that bases everything on the idea of self-reliance since 1948. However, serious economic problems have helped "the people" to struggle and question their regime.

According to Scobell, A. (2006), "the North Korean political system most closely approximates totalitarianism. It possesses the sic characteristics of totalitarianism identified by Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski half a century ago. The DPRK has an absolute dictator and mass party, an elaborate ideology, its people live in a condition of terror under the thumb of an extremely repressive coercive apparatus with a centralized economy, and the regime exerts almost total control over the mediums of mass communication".

7. Conclusion.

As a conclusion, as a personal way of seeing and understanding things, I have always thought that to be near perfection, one must not fall into one side or another. In other words, I cannot choose between white and black, I must stay in the middle (in this case Gray) in order to see both points of view and be as objective as possible. I do not see totalitarianism as something bad or good but extreme sides can be dangerous at it is demonstrated in both novels mentioned before.

"Ideas Are Bulletproof..."

8. References.

Arendt, H. (1958). The origins of totalitarism. Cleveland: Meridian Books.

Call, L. (2008). A Is for Anarchy, V Is for Vendetta: Images of Guy Fawkes and the Creation of Postmodern Anarchism. Anarchist Studies, Volume 16, Issue 2.

Friedrich, C. and Brzezinski, Z. (1956). Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Pres.

Moore, A. (1982 - 1988). V for Vendetta. Vertigo Comics.

Londoño, M. (2013). The Totalitarian Horizon: Immanentism and our Tradition of Political Philosophy in Hannah Arendt. Universidad de Los Lagos. Departamento de Humanidades y Arte.

Orwell, G. (1949). 1984 - Nineteen Eighty Four. A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook.

Scobell, A. (2006). Kim Jong II and North Korea: The Leader and The System. Published as A Work of The United States Government as Defined in Title 17, United States Code, section 101.


Totalitarianism [Def. 1]. (n.d.). In Cambridge Dictionary Online, Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/pt/dicionario/ingles/totalitarianism