George Orwell and Alan Moore are well-known writers who were famous in very different times. Orwell in the 1940's and Moore from the 1980's to present times. This difference in time affected their work, and especially the ones that are relevant for the purpose of this post.
On the one hand, 1984 was written after the horrors of World War II, when the world was starting to get ready for the 'Cold War'. Considering this, we can understand the references to totalitarian governments, and to the strange distribution of the world in the novel. In addition, Orwell presents a dystopian society, in which the system or the government has complete control, and the proles (common people) are manipulated without much trouble, living in constant oppression without even noticing. The hero of the novel is Winston Smith, who works for the ruling party, and is defenseless against the power of the almighty government. The major themes that surround the hero are vulnerability and passivity. At some point in the novel, he realizes that there is nothing that can be done to change their fate, to stop the party or the Big Brother. Therefore, he also realizes that they are all trapped, without any possible exit, and that all the faith that he had in the proles was meaningless because no matter what they do the Big Brother will always be watching, and the party will always have total control of everything. 
On the other hand, V for Vendetta was first published near to the end of 'Cold war', living in a much freer social context, one in which freedom and other ideals were starting to become a reality for the people, after everything the world has been through, trying to leave behind the horrible memories that War produced, with a much empowered society that was not going to accept everything that their leaders say. Here is where Moore introduces a dystopian society, again, with a firm leadership headed by a High Chancellor and its main party, but with a complete opposite hero. The hero, V, is a strong, determined and aggressive character who has decided that people should not accept the government's oppression anymore. To achieve this, he uses the force of the people, along with chaos, anarchy and a lot of gunpowder. There is no place to doubt or passivity here, even though at the beginning of the story he is fighting alone, people take their position beside him as well, encouraged by the hero's image. The ideal that the power should be for the people is emphasized. People rising against the government, that is the right answer, the only possible response to get the power back, and to ensure a future of freedom. 
The Orwells Phase "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act" makes me think on the wason's phrase "En un mundo de hipocritas, los sinceros somos los malos"
ResponderEliminarPeople such as Orwell or the 1984's main character Winston represent the kind of people that the government does not want because they are writers, they tell the truth and the reality. Actually. I would say that, Winston was a reflection of Orwell in the sense that both were writers in a world where that was not allowed but to a certain point.
In the end, when the government succeeded in changing Winston's mind is a little representation of what was happening in that time. Orwell tried to show what the government was capable of. therefore, Orwell was showing the truth to people which, from my point of view, is the revolutionary act that he refers to in that particular phrase.
From my perspective, the revolutionary act that Orwell was making reference to is essentially any little act of rebellion that a human could do to prevent injustice in a particular field or situation. In other words, revolution is within human beings, and we can see it even in the small things that we do, such as discussing with somebody, disobeying your parents' rules or even choosing a career not for the money, but because you like it. In all those little things, we are proving our nature, showing to the world that anarchy is within us. That's exactly what happens, at a bigger scale of course, in V for Vendetta or in 1984. One man starts wondering why should we accept all those rules from the governments, why should we take everything they tell us to do or say... realizing that we can't stand this anymore is the revolutionary act that must be spoken, but the leaders do not want us to.
ResponderEliminarMaybe is because they are afraid of what we could do if we truly had the power to decide what to do with our own lives, without worrying about paying the rent or producing money so that we can feed our families. Orwell was extremely critical in that sense, because he was actually criticizing our way of living, making us understand that we are so confused by what we have been told to do and say, that we are practically the keepers of those commands, calling "revolutionaries" or "anarchists" to those who might be trying to show us what is truly going on around us, like Orwell himself.
Food for thought.