1984 - Analyzing Radford’S Adaptation Of George Orwell’S 1984
Analyzing Radford’s adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984
What is power? For some it’s money, fame, knowledge, strength, or control. As illustrated through history power is everyone’s desire. In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky demonstrated that power is control over people. With that in mind, George Orwell wrote the famous dystopian novel, 1984, which depicts a totalitarian government. “Power is tearing human minds apart and putting them back together in new shapes of your own choosing” (O’Brien, film). The novel follows Winston Smith, an intellectual worker at the Ministry of Truth, and his degradation when he runs afoul of the totalitarian government of Oceania, the state in which he lives in the year that he presumes is 1984. A film production of the novel was made in 1984. The film was directed by Michael Radford and stars John Hurt, Richard Burton, and Suzanna Hamilton. Radford’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is a powerful adaptation of Orwell’s novel. This comparison will be examined by analyzing different components of the film such as the chronology of events, setting, and characterization.
The chronology of the film is rather different from the novel with some deletion and addition of scenes. For example, the novel describes the weather and state of Oceania for a moment and then goes to the hate week, but the film shows the frightening atmosphere of the Two Minute Hate combined with striking opera music, followed by Big Brother showing up on the telescreen with a comforting melody. This is more effective because it poses a lot of questions about the society behavior right from the start. Another interesting alteration is the deletion of parts. Radford could have chosen to fit the whole novel, but instead he took the main points from each chapter and emphasized them in his film. An example of that are Winston’s dreams that portray more information than the novel. His dreams accomplished this through the use of powerful imagery such as...
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