Big Brother is watching you
Many readers, critics included, would see George Orwell as an overrated writer. They forgot that he once had a crystal ball. The Englishman, who was born in India, was too perceptive to know that history would be repeated until the lesson was learned. Big Brother could come in different shapes and sizes, bad hair included.
There was a sharp increase in the sales of George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" after Donald Trump's inauguration. The title was an inversion of the year that the author penned the draft of the novel, but he wasn't alluding to a particular period. Big Brother didn't want a civilized society. He was rather interested in what you would think of him. It would apply to thin-skinned individuals like Trump. Orwell must be amazed at what Twitter could do. If you don't have anything else to do, then you may have stumbled upon the hateful comments to the Yahoo articles on Trump's first few weeks in the office. The billionaire/reality TV host tested America's staunch allies while he warmed up to traditional foes. Hollywood actors followed Meryl Streep, turning the recent SAG Awards into a political fest. William H. Macy might be a brave fellow, as he was the only one who gave a nod to Trump.
The recent happenings don't mean that the rest of the world must be worried about what was about to happen. The next US elections will be held four years from now. Anything can happen, even many things will happen between now and 2020. But they haven't read Orwell's book carefully. This chilly tale may be a warning against totalitarianism, but it pertained to something else. Thinking could be a dangerous thing, yet it would be an effective weapon.
A tribute to John Hurt
John Hurt was the right actor to play the emaciated Winston Smith in the big-screen adaptation of "Nineteen Eighty-Four". His career spanned six decades, with diverse roles from both sides of the Atlantic. The celluloid version of Orwell's classic may be too bleak for Academy voters, but this was one of the many moments where the native of Chesterfield, Derbyshire had never been more exceptional than his peers. His eyes may be glassy and lifeless in this Michael Radford film, but it won't be the case in his other notable works.
Hurt played High Chancellor Adam Sutler, a (British) dictator), in James McTeigue's "V for Vendetta". DC/Vertigo Comics would approve of the actor's steely appearance, one of those comic treats that examined an alternative world. His fans may saw it as a turnaround, which could be the case. There were endless possibilities in comics, and one would be the fascist flag replacing the Union Jack. It seemed to be a wild idea, but the British monarchy during the later stage of the Middle Age resembled a modern-day dictatorship. Shakespeare knew it, and Hurt might have been a favorite subject of Her Majesty.
The other highlight of Hurt's career was playing Kane, the unfortunate victim in "Alien". It was Ridley Scott's ominous tale of what the human civilization might find in the remote planets in the galaxy, and it happened that the premise was similar to "Planet of the Vampires". Hurt was a distinguished stage actor, also a prolific movie actor. Winston Smith would be identified with him.
