Author: Christopher Waugh

Dystopia as a genre has helped to shape the way in which each generation views the world before them. It is a glimpse into the demise they potentially face, throwing issues that they have into a relatable world view. Most dystopias now come from film. Film and TV have become one of the main forms of dystopian media, creating a new visual way for story tellers to bring a dystopia to life. The job of these storytellers is to provide the audience with the means to see how decisions they make on real current issues, prevalent in their own non-fictional worlds, can be played out in a visual or oral performance. A world issue that is found frequently in dystopian film and literature is the concept of restriction of knowledge. How this is approached varies from director, to author, to screenwriter, while remaining an observable feature. To further talk about this, I will be exploring the theme of restriction of knowledge through the texts of George Orwell’s “Nineteen-Eighty-Four,” Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the film “Ex-Machina,” and an episode from the popular dystopian TV series Black Mirrors “Men against fire.” These texts, show the ways in which knowledge can be restricted in our modern lives and in our potential futures; and shows what can happen to the people this knowledge is taken from. “Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it.” – Alan Moore

George Orwell’s ‘Nineteen-Eighty-Four’ is a text written during the post second world war period. Exploring the themes of a totalitarian state, through the eyes of an unorthodox protagonist. Through the text’s protagonist we see how the world in which the text inhabits restricts knowledge to the main characters, and to the audience. By physically taking away access to knowledge, the people lose sense of history and of communication, eventually losing a sense of identity and individuality at the hands of the state, and the restrictions they have imposed. In the world of ‘Nineteen-Eighty-Four’ it is the physical restriction of knowledge by the government, to the general public that causes the population harm. The state issues all forms of media, from literature, to film, even to erotic novels. This distributed media is altered and destroyed on a daily basis in order for its information to fit with the current truth of the regime. “And so it was with every class of recorded fact, great or small. Everything faded away into a shadow-world in which, finally, even the date of the year had become uncertain.”  In this quote we can see how the constant changing of the the “truth” has caused it become meaningless. The public have no idea of their own reality, due to choices made by their government to restrict access to knowledge in order to keep complacency. This restriction of knowledge gives power to the government and away from the people. Examples of this occur in modern life as well. Such as in North Korea, where all media is controlled by the state. Traveling in, out, and around the country is also controlled in order to limit the North Korean people’s exposure to outside views of the world. A common tactic of rebels is dropping hard-drives filled with literature, film, news, and messages from all over the world into the country to be distributed. This is a way of informing the North Korean people that there is a world outside of what they’ve always known; that what the have been told all their lives may have been a lie, and to enlighten them to the truths of the control they face. As we see in the text of ‘Nineteen-Eighty-Four,’ and reflected in the real life North Korean dictatorship, knowledge gives a government power over the people they govern. This lack of knowledge shown in the text, and reflected in some aspects of our own world, is leading newer generations to ignorance in the face of control. Our knowledge and access to information is what gives power back to communities. This text is showing how when knowledge is restricted to the general public, they lose control of their own collective power.

In the text the “The Handmaid’s Tale,” written by Margaret Atwood, we again see how this concept of restriction of knowledge takes power from the people. In this text that theme is explored in relation to women; and when women have lost their rights to basic forms of knowledge such as writing and reading. To give some context, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ takes place in a future America, where a state (renamed Gilead) has been taken over by a theocratic (religious based) government. In this state men hold complete power, while women have become degraded to objects of labour and sex. The protagonist of this story is a women by the name of Offred; a Handmaiden under the government, sent to officials houses to bear children for their families. Women in this text have complete restriction from knowledge in terms of not being allowed to read or write. This regulated stripping of a basic human right, prevents the women from gaining power or seeking help in this text. It becomes blindingly clear to the audience that without this access to literature, women in the text are kept in the dark. Unable to read current news, write to family, or to record their  side of history, as each horrific event takes place. If this future were to come true, history would know of the events recorded by the men. A re-written tale of what actually happened from the perspective of those with access to power. Our own history books reflect this. Showing that our legacy as a human race has been recorded by men of power, and by men with access to education. Due to the power these men of the past held, they have been able to shape how we now view the past; women and their part in history is not written, its as if we already lived the events of the Handmaid’s Tale, but we are unable to see this due to the restriction that women had to recording their own histories. Cleopatra is an example of this. She was a powerful female pharaoh of Egypt, who by almost all records was deemed a promiscuous adulteress, who cared little for her people. However, most records found today of her were recorded by Roman men, who sought to defame her to the Roman public and her own people. As one of the most recognisable women in history, she had become little more than a propaganda slogan, against the ruling women in ancient Europe. Had records from women or even by Egyptians been the ones to find their way int our history books, she could have been the symbol for so much more. “Tell, rather than write, because I have nothing to write with and writing is in any case forbidden. But if it’s a story, even in my head, I must be telling it to someone. You don’t tell a story only to yourself. There’s always someone else.” This quote by Offred shows the power of being able to tell a story, even if to one person. Having access to education and restrictions removed to tell the world of what women in her society face, Offred could change the situation for women in the text. Restriction of physical access to knowledge in this text, is an example of women in our own past who’s lives will forever be remembered by us as the men around them perceived the situation. Had women of the past had access to the education we have now, the history books we read today may have told a very different story to the one we have always known.

Restriction of knowledge in the previous example texts prohibited a mass of people from education, but this feature of dystopian literature can also apply to a person to person basis, as well as in a new digital age. A text that explores this is the 2015 film ‘Ex-Machina.’ The story of this film is based around three characters. Nathan, a brilliant scientist who lives in total isolation from the world in order to continue work without distraction. Caleb, an office worker for Nathan who “wins” a trip to go out to the reclusive man’s house and meet the genius behind the company. And Ava, an AI (Artificial intelligence) made by Nathan, so realistic you wouldn’t know unless you saw under her skin. Nathan’s aim in the film is to have Caleb come and test Ava, to see if she will pass as a real human, with emotion and a history that’s shaped her. The title Ex-Machina comes from the latin phrase “Deus Ex-Machina” which means “a god from a machine,” the contemporary use of this phrase in literature however, refers to an implausible concept or character brought into the story in order to make the conflict in the story resolve; the character being able to dictate the story as if they were a god.  How knowledge is restricted in this film is through many different aspects and characters. For example, Nathan restricts the world from the amazing advancements in technology he is making, instead keeping it to himself. He also restricts Caleb from really interacting with Ava, never letting on her true potential in order to keep Caleb in the dark. Ava herself is restricted by Nathan, and the containment where she lives; she is cut off from the world, only knowing what Nathan chooses to show her, or to programme her with. Ava in turn restricts Caleb from her true intentions. This film shows how by limiting a person’s access to other people and the world they can become ignorant to the advances that have been made in their place (in the case of Nathan) and how on a person to person basis we can never really know someone unless they tell us (in the case of Ava and Caleb). Knowledge of another person’s inner workings will always be a restricted to us, no matter how empathetic we are. This restriction of knowledge of human intention is one that ultimately leads to the death and suggested death of Nathan and Caleb at the hands of Ava. In our world this lack of understanding or insight to other humans is approached through empathy, but a lack of this has also lead to some of the major wars of our history. Showing how a lack of human understanding can lead to the dystopias we watch and read about. Ex-Machina is a film that displays how restriction to knowledge can be personal, and one that must be overcome through communication in order to leave our dystopian futures behind us.

Lack of human understanding and empathy is a theme that drives the next text, Black Mirrors ‘Men Against Fire.’ The restriction of knowledge in this text allows for a lack of human empathy, leading to the massacre of innocents. In the ‘Men Against Fire’ world we as the audience see that it is a post apocalyptic future U.S.A, viewed through the eyes of a soldier in the army. This army’s job is to track down and hunt “roaches,” mutated humans that are detected through an implant that each soldier receives. Later in the episode, the audience along with the protagonist, learn that the implants actually physically alter the person’s view of the “roaches.” We come to find that they are really just normal humans left homeless and diseased by the apocalyptic landscape; the implant was placed to alter and dehumanise them, making their slaughter easier on the consciousness of the soldiers. In this quote here,” They realised that making the aggressors see their humanity would be the key to breaking them of their will to kill,” shows how the government knew that the way to conscript soldiers was to make their enemy inhuman. A goal achieved through restriction of knowledge via the implant. This filtering of view makes the world the soldiers inhabit, and the horrible crimes they have committed easier to handle. Meaning that the public as well have no idea either of what they are allowing their government to do. This kind of filtering of information happens in a much larger scale, and predominantly in a digital space, in our own world. Through social media, news outlets, and other digital media, misinformation and filtering of knowledge occurs to such a large extent that the “truth” is  often is hidden by an implant of our own making. Such as the political choices we make, what news we choose to follow, who we choose to listen or subscribe to. It is a restriction of knowledge placed on us by our governments and adjust by us, filtering more or less of what we choose to see. Our world view and the horrific events such as war and famine, and mass deportation, are viewed through the lens that is chosen by us, the public. It is done to make it easier on our consciousness too, just like the protagonist soldier, that we are choosing to do nothing in aid of the crimes we filter out from our media feeds. 

Restriction of knowledge is a powerful theme that dictates many, if not all, aspects and characters in these discussed texts. The access to information that is given or taken across the film, TV, and books explored, show how when knowledge is restricted it disenfranchises the overall community; not just those it is taken from. Even those at the top with seemingly all of the access to information and knowledge are left dissatisfied. Such as with Nathan in ‘Ex-Machina.’ He is brilliant but his unwillingness to share this information with others, leads to mistakes an eventually his own death. The soldier in ‘Men Against Fire’ when all restrictions are removed, chooses to give back the information passed to him, as it is too much to bear alone; as he has no power individually to make great change. The state of Gilead in the ‘Handmaid’s Tale,’ is still suffering at the hands of disease and infertility even with all the sacrifices people at the top have made for the “good of all.” Our protagonist from ‘Nineteen-Eighty-Four’ when exposed to the truth comes to find that is actuality it is all a lie. He dies at the hands of the state, believing in a lie until the end, as he never had any real access to knowledge. These dystopian texts are made to hold a mirror up to society. To make the audience see themselves and what they would do in the face of such adversity.  To see if they would too, live comfortably with the lie, or challenge it for the uncomfortable truth. All that prohibits the characters of these texts from changing their situation is access and control of knowledge. There is no difference from the audience and these characters. The texts tell us to take control of the restrictions placed upon us, to challenge what is clearly not right, and to push back against the futures we are presented with. The way to achieve this is by not repeating the faults of the societies in these texts, thereby giving access to education and removing restriction to knowledge to all who wish for it. “The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.”   These texts are a warning how not to become the dystopias that have shaped us, and that this is possible to become the Utopias we dream of. 

“If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it ” -Julius Caesar (original)

Above block 627 circling yellow smog was all that was visible. Dragging with it the crawling smell of rot. It had already taken over most of East Hong Kong; at this rate it would blanket the whole city before third quarter. A warm heavy rain had begun to cascade down the stacks. Causing a swell of rubbish to flow out from Victoria Harbour, and back onto the street platforms from which they had been thrown. Opposite me sat the ‘HUB.’ An imposing structure of slanted glass and uneven geometry. All combined to form a monstrosity of engineering; impenetrable and completely unforgettable. Further up, the rain had blurred the ‘HUB’s’ screens to the point of illegibility, the red neon characters floating across the holo rather than its usual lateral formation. Among these floating characters the face of the Senator flashed up, then began to glitch horribly. Unintentionally mocking the real life tick. The Senator was a gentile looking man with barely any imperfections, and an air of aristocracy about him that couldn’t be placed. He simply exuded a level of importance that could not be taught to common people.

Under the thick smack of rain against the steel, the familiar busy hum of the stacks could be heard. Somewhere an alarm beeped, and a fan whirred to life, people spoke in indiscernible voices, dialects coming from every region, shrill yells from children bustled out of their doors to the Academy. For most of them it was still far too early. Their steps sluggish, little faces sleepy; after each blink their eyelids fell further, leading them back into sleep.  I liked the monsoon season in Hong Kong. It distorted the world for a brief period, like a huge sigh of relief from a city gasping for air. Tipping the umbrella back I allowed the rain to fall every so slightly onto my uncovered Oxfords, tarnishing the leather. Above me the glitching Senator had become stuck on the word “观 (guān).” You would think the Senator would give up and just put the HUB in Cantonese or english, so that his fear mongering could actually be understood. However,  I suppose a man like our almighty Senator must live up to his name-sake.

“Marcus!” The yell although muffled by the rain, was unmistakable. “Marcus would you hurry up! the HUB’s gonna close and we cannot get locked out again this block,” exasperated as ever Cas had suddenly appeared under the umbrella. Soaked to the skin and vaguely smelling of cigarettes, (so much for the imposed ban). Cas or Cassius liu Tsai as he was formally known, fixed me with a famous pointed glare. Like myself, Cas was a 2036 baby. Born during the less than formal removal of authoritative power from Hong kong to Mainland China. To spite our new government, our generation had been named  after roman leaders and generals by our scorned families.  Hence the less than traditional Chinese names of Cassius and Marcus. Under the umbrella I began to apologise, before being abruptly cut off by a booming voice ringing out from the hub,”If you break our law, you cannot seize power: in all cases observe it,” It was the Senator himself. Not in flesh and blood. But somehow, the screen glitch had cleared for long enough for him to finally complete his threat.”Would you calm down Cas, I’m sorry alright,” I snipped back, tearing my eyes away from the holo. Cas’s exasperation was contagious whenever he was partially annoyed; I seemed to have caught it this morning. “No I will not calm down Mr Chen,” he knew I hated being called that. “If we get locked out again this block there will be a report made, and I for one will not show up to the Federation with a report against my name.” Cas had a point, reports did not look great when you were a member of the higher federation. Just then we were interrupted again.

The HUB’s doors had slowly begun to swing open. They were the most magnificent thing about the monster, giving the whole building the appearance of stepping into an afterlife. Standing three stories high and made of thick semi opaque glass, the lighting from the interior gave the impressions of a clean white fog extending outwards. Once the doors closed again only the fuzzy black outline of passing figures could be seen; the doors had been aptly nicknamed ‘Heaven’s gates’. “CALL FOR THE HIGHER PARTIES. FEDERATION WILL BEGIN IN SESSION.” The HUB’s tone rolled out of the opening doors and across the mid city. The voice of god, in actuality the Senator, came steadily through the them. Looking away from Cas towards the announcement, I couldn’t help but feel a shiver running down my spine and my grip tighten on the umbrella. Cas took a step back. The rain further soaking his suit. “Lets just go okay,” He looked a little defeated, but that could have just been the fact that his thick hair was matted to his forehead, water droplets slowly rolling tear-like down his face . Reluctant, I turned to face the HUB. “Alright, lets just make it through today’s session then we can go meet Anthony for Char Siu” At the mention of food Cas looked slightly more hopeful. He turned and trudged across the drag, pausing only briefly to raise a hand and beckon me, and my umbrella, to follow him into the rain.

The world  inside the novel of Nineteen-eighty-four was created in the late 1950’s by it’s author George Orwell. It’s bleak view of the future of humanity was used as a launch pad during its popularity, into discussions of the dark themes that were explored in the text. Themes such as control through fear and intimidation, how surveillance effects a society, and what happens when there are no real truths, only acceptable lies. These are all ideas and themes explored through the text of Nineteen-eighty-four, however a major fault may lie in how these are presented to a wider and a more modern audience. An overbearingly noticeable trend appears within the novels’ characters; all minor and major characters noteworthy of a name are male, expect a single women.

A theme explored in depth by Nineteen-eighty-four is control through fear. An important aspect, which most of the fictitious society of Nineteen-eighty-four is based upon.  Although while doing so one key trait seems to be ignored, or purposefully left out; the perspective of women in the story. The way for an audience to empathise and to understand a text is to find a relatable feature. This novel leaves out this option for a lot of women, as when there is a mention of women it is usually in a sexual and or violent context. Such as in the quote by our lead male protagonist Winston, “He would ravish her and cut her throat at the moment of climax.“ This quote is said only moments after the recipient female character is presented to the audience, she is also one of Winston’s first interactions with women in the novel, setting up female treatment in the novel from the very start. George Orwell’s idea of control through fear was meant to be a warning to the future of our whole society,  but his portrayal of women in this future is one that many women would find more far more dangerous than their male counterparts. In the 1950’s and carrying into the present day of 2018 a way in which women are often controlled is  through a sexual context. Whether its women’s rights for sexual health, the laws which govern women’s attire, or even how women choose to give birth. These regulations towards women are largely based on control,  they put women in lower position of society by creating fear in making and limiting women’s choices. These fears for women exist in places that they do not for men. This can be seen clearly in the text in the quote,”With those children, he thought, that wretched woman must lead a life of terror.”  The woman in question here is in fear of her own children, due to the society in which the novel inhabits. The same fear does not appear to exist for the women’s husband who has no responsibility for his children, and no fear of them. An example of a real life situation in which women are controlled through fear, is in abortion rights. Through scare tactics and  hordes of people protesting outside clinics, women are pushed into an uncomfortable situation with their own pregnancy. Some countries such as Ireland and the U.S.A have such strict laws surrounding abortion that they do not allow for any form of a safe abortion. Leading women to carry an unwanted pregnancy to full term, even if they cannot support the child, it would be detrimental to their own health, or even if the baby itself would not live after the birth. Much like the woman from the quote above, women experiencing this tend to become terrified of and even resentful to  their own pregnancy. Situations like this occur due to lack of sexual education, which in some countries, much like in the novel Nineteen-eighty-four, only preach abstinence rather than providing safe means of protection. These steps taken towards women’s rights, by governments mainly run by men can control women in their day to day lives. It allows societies to place blame and the sole future responsibility back onto women, controlling their futures before they have even begun. In Nineteen-eighty-four the government has created an anti-sex league as well as imposing an unspoken ban for real loving relationships, in order to create a division between men and women in their further understanding  of one another and each others issues. The addition of female perspective in this novel would have created a better telling, and would have been able to relate to a wider audience allowing for larger discussion to progress and further understanding of all that George Orwell wanted to convey. When relaying the message of how control through fear can effect a  populous, it is an aspect of our societies history that women have faced repeatedly, and showing this through a women’s perspective in the novel would have communicated the idea to a future audience much clearer.  

In the text there seems to be mention of less than ten women in total, with only two of them having any dialogue, and one having a semblance of character; this character being a young woman named Julia. Julia does not help to further the plot or the theme of control though fear within the novel, but rather in a real world context. To provide some background to this idea we need to look into the ‘Manic pixie dream girl’ trope that often appears in modern texts. This trope was first coined in 2007 by film critic Nathan Rabin, and is described as “A female character that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.” The characters that take on these ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ roles are ones that have no substance to build a real character from, and if left out of the text would not change the plot all that much. These character exists only for the benefit of a male character, and often the protagonist. Nineteen-eighty-four’s Julia takes on these tropes multiple times in the text. An example of this is when she confesses her love for the protagonist Winston, even though they had had no previous encounters and only talked at the time of this sudden confession. This incident occurs when Winston needs one final push to begin his personal rebellion. Julia’s own irrelevance to this rebellion is shown when she at one point disappears entirely from the text, only to reappear to play housewife in a ‘meaningful’ relationship with Winston. This relationship is based solely off of encounters with Winston sporadically over a couple of months, to show ‘rebellion’ by engaging in sexual intercourse. For Winston this is seen as a form  of rebellion, while for Julia the act has no deeper meaning. “I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don’t want any virtue to exist anywhere…you like doing this? I don’t simply mean me: I mean the thing itself? [Winston]…’ I adore it [Julia].” This quote from both Winston and Julia illustrates how Julia’s character is simply there to fulfil a selfish wish in the protagonist’s journey.  To take from the previous quote about the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ Julia teaches the brooding Winston to embrace life and all its infinite mysteries in order to begin his rebellion. As well as this, a relationship of this type would only exist in the fevered imagination of a lonely author, George Orwell wrote this novel at much the same age as our protagonist Winston. Julia’s want for sex is seen as personal and flippant, with the author even going as far to mention her many other sexual partners, “Hundreds of times-well, scores of times, anyway.” Julia’s character is shown as charming, pretty, she rebells for those who need her to, her sexuality and apparent want for classic house wife tropes of the 1950’s, seen in the quote, “Yes, dear, scent too. And you know what I’m going to do next? I’m going to get hold of a real woman’s frock…I’ll wear silk stockings and high-heeled shoes!” are used as tools to further Winston’s plot, ideals, and journey. Julia however, fades into obscurity once her role is filled; she ceases to be relevant and therefore ceases from the plot. The tragedy of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope is that their characters could be so much more, but that they cannot exist without a man. Once a man has no need for the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ whether its the protagonist or the author, they are tossed aside, killed off or just never mentioned again. This trope and Julia’s character all relate to a broader real world context, showing how this trope has bled into modern day society. Sayings such as “Behind every great man is a great woman” are the example of how women are not becoming the front runners of our societies, but the ones guiding men to take the lead. This itself is control through fear. A warning, unintentional no doubt, that when the women of our real life societies step back in roles, and allow major officials to control certain rights; it will cause women to be left out of the narrative. Much like our fictional Julia’s and Manic Pixie Dream Girls, when women are no longer considered needed in our societies, whether its through control and through the fear women have given over, women will cease to be apart of the  narrative.

George Orwell wrote from what he knew, and also catered to the prominent audience of his time. For George Orwell this was the middle aged, white, middle class male. This perspective however, limits its readers, and it demonstrates one of the very themes he wrote about; even if not necessarily in the context it was originally intend for. Part of this is effected by the leaving out of an entire genders perspective in the novel. This act says more about the author and the times in which the novel was written, than it does about the novel. It also allows the modern readers to see what was the focus of society in the 1950’s. However, the novels continued reverence in our modern society without mentioning the mishandling of female characters such as Julia, and the effects that tropes perpetuated by her in this revered novel have, is a fault in the relaying of one of the most important messages of Nineteen-eighty-four. The message being control through fear. This should be an accessible warning, but Nineteen-eighty-four’s lack of varied perspective leaves it a warning left unheeded. Modern readers of the novel in 2018 see the appearance of control through fear, especially towards women in real life, and not the push back of this control that the novel could have preached. Ultimately the very idea that George Orwell sought to change has become a reality, in some form or another, for the people he chose to leave out of the plot, and for the people he unwittingly choose to not warn.