Dictatorships

Russian Revolution

 The Russian Revolution has strongly influenced the writings of Orwell and some believe that the character of Big Brother is a direct reference to Stalin and Emmanuel Goldstein is Trotsky . 

Image found :http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/thumb/1/18/Trotsky_Portrait.jpg/220px-Trotsky_Portrait.jpg
Leon Trotsky 187-1940

Involved in the underground movements in his teenage years ,Trotsky was exiled from Ukraine
( then part of Russia). In Siberia , Trotsky joined the Social Democratic Party . Trotsky developed a theory of 'Permanent revolution' . Returning to Russia he joined Lenin in the Bolsheviks, which was a major role in the communist take over , keeping the regime alive. When Lenin died, Stalin took over and through Trotsky out . 13 years later Stalin sent an assassin to kill Trotsky , he was stabbed with an ice pick in 1940 .

                                                    

                                                                           Joseph Stalin 1879- 1953
                                                                         Image found : http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2
                                                                    007/09_03/stalinDM2109_468x551.jpg

An active member from a young age of the revolution against the Russian Monarchy,Stalin was also exiled to Siberia. Once in the Bolsheviks Stalin was able to overthrow his rivals and become leader after Lenin's death . Stalin forced collectivism of agriculture costing millions of lives . Rapid industrialisation brought the Soviet Union into economic wealth during the 1930's in the Great Terror . Stalin purged enemies of the party , resulting in many people being exiled to slave labour camps and some even executed . This reduced the size of the army however Stalin managed to fight off the Nazi party in 1941 but died in 1953 of a stroke .

  

This gives an overview of the height of Stalin's reign as dictator , the horrendous actions have definitely influenced the writing of Orwell's 1984 . Big Brother will make any member of Oceania disappear if they have thoughts against the party even if they are in the inner party .

Gulag 

Image found: http://24.media.tumb
lr.com/tumblr_m0i2yetHpY1r1g8zro1_500.jpg

NKVD  

Were the police for Stalin anyone who would criticise the views of the
would be arrested and tortured. If they would not give in to the interrogation
they would threaten to hurt there families. They were not isolated from the
purges of Stalin , many died . This is similar to the Thought Police in Orwell's
1984, the Thought Police arrest the community of Oceania . I believe they
would be very regimented . 

                                                




                                                  












                                                                  World War Two

Gulag were Stalin's disgusting slave labour camps where civilianswould be sent if they had views against the party. 

This is depicted in 1984 with the forced-labour camp and the Ministry of Love . Where they wold torture prisoners until they admitted to crimes that they hadn't even committed .

Image found : http://www.biography.com/imported/images/Biography/Images/Profiles/H/Adolf-Hitler-9340144-2-402.jpg

Adolf Hitler 1889- 1945

When fighting in World War One Adolf blamed the Jews and the Bolsheviks for the war, Adolf was not alone with these thoughts . In 1921 Hitler became leader of the Nazi party after a stint in prison in 1923, mass communication and violence was used to project his ideology. Hitler gathered many followers in times of economic depression and political uproar .In 1933 ,Hitler was Chancellor of the coalition Government . This is when World War Two began , Anti Jew Laws were put in place , the Jewish population of countries were rounded up and killed . Many of them were sent to concentration camps and worked to death much like in the dictatorship of Stalin . Hitler committed suicide in 1945 . 

Concentration camps 

Concentration camps  used  by Hitler   to imprison Jews , criminals, homosexuals and anyone  who went  against the party views . Deliberate starvation caused malnutrition and killed some prisoners , some were executed and in 1941 gas was used to kill prisoners on mass , which is when thousands died .    







Gestapo
Were  the secret Police of the Nazi  party, there job was to round up the Jews and  any one else who opposed the beliefs of the Nazi party. They built up a strong reputation for intense interrogations  in order to retrieve confessions from the offenders . 

 In the book 1984 it is left to the reader to interpret the torture of Julia or if she even got torture at all. However there is a graphic description of  Winston's interrogation . This is not a section of the book that I would like to interpret ,  but I think it is useful to get an understanding of where Orwell had gained his idea's . This will there  fore  help in the gathering of research for styling , props and locations . 

World War two began late 1939 and did not end until 1945. 

      This brief video condenses the start of the war ,

it tells of the reason for war and the environment such as materials used , styling and facial expression are helpful. 

Video found : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiW_yYOm2e8

This video shows the strength of the city during the Blitz , it shows houses, people and transport . The tones of the black and white video is something I would like to capture .

1940 - The Blitz major bombings in 16 cities in England by Germans for 267 days .

London and its inhabitants were not going to be defeated during the war . An image of 1940's London has been reflected in 1984 , the streets bombed and the grey tones of the city.

Image found : http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sbsmcTLNmOQ/S89L41gRH5I
/AAAAAAAAAbs/EiQw1FwFvBs/s1600/london+(23).jpg

Chapter VIII Pg 97.
"There was a pile of plaster lying

 on the pavement ahead of him"

I believe that this is a similar image to what was happening in the Proles quarters of Oceania. Orwell had references from the wars in England and abroad which he had experienced . The smell , taste , touch of a city filled with smoke and dust was something that had become normal to Orwell .

As Oceania is at war with both Eastasia and Eurasia throughout the book , the city of London is constantly grey and dust filled . This needs to be reflected in the images I produce they must reflect the pollution in the air as well as in the minds .

Chapter VIII Pg97 

"A black plume of smoke hung

Image found:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia
/en/thumb/b/b2/Stpaulsblitz.jpg/300px-Stpaulsblitz.jpg

 in the sky and below it a cloud of plaster dust."
I would like to reflect this heavy air in my images . This could be achieve by lighting and props. I feel Orwell was reflecting not just the physical state of the city but also the emotion feeling of the community . The proles were the only ones left who were able to have human emotion and this was slowly being wiped out . The black plume and plaster dust shows that the history of the city is quickly decaying and vanishing into smoke. Soon there will be nothing historic left for anyone to remember how life was before Big Brother.