Essay - Nineteen Eighty-four: Inspiration for Apple Computers George Orwell's Book, Nineteen...

Nineteen Eighty-Four: Inspiration for Apple Computers

George Orwell's book, Nineteen Eighty-Four, has been the creative and *****matic inspiration for a multitude of spin-*****fs, t*****ke-offs, ***** parodies over the last 50 or more years. Especially in the last 23 years, since 1984, advertisers, authors, TV producers, humorists and filmmakers, among others in the creative arts, have had plenty of material to use. There is a good reason why: ***** dreary depiction ***** a totalitarian society shocks the senses of every democracy-loving individual, and the use ***** images ***** ideas from ***** Eighty-Four tends to get people's attention in an emotional way. That is the point of th***** paper.

Me*****while, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the writing of this book by Orwell, Plume books published a glossy, attractive version. The Foreword (by Thomas Pynchon) takes a trip through time, from the 18th Century ("Mason & Dixon") to the 1940s ("Gravity's Rainbow") and on to the Grateful Dead. Pynchon puts his best narrative style forward in ***** material, pointing out that even after Hitler, the Japanese and the fascist Italian dictator Mussolini were all defeated (the trio of fascists were c*****ed the "Axis") by 1948, when Orwell wrote ***** book, "the will to fascism ***** not gone away."

Pynchon writes - in his ********** ***** why Orwell wrote the novel - that "...far from having seen its day [*****] had perhaps not yet ***** come into its own." And **********, Pynchon continues, "the corruption of spirit, the irresistible human addiction to power, ***** already in place, all well-kn***** aspects of the Third Reich and Stalin's U.S.S.R..."

Who or what was going to prevent fascism ***** come again ***** take control of Britain and the United States, Pynchon wonders - "M*****al superiority? Good intentions? Clean Living?" Pynchon draws a p*****rallel between Orwell's "Oceania's Ministries" and ***** current Department of Defense under the Bush Administration, which has ***** its problems with human rights (in particular, the apparent ***** ***** torture ***** has been well publicized, ***** the authorization of brutally ********** acts to prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Baghdad). ***** h*****ts at the warrant-less spying on citizens through ph*****e tapping ***** the ***** Administr*****ion, too, which ***** similarities with "Big Bro*****r" in the Or***** *****.

*****, one classic example of using a theme in *****well's Nineteen Eighty-Four was the Apple (Mac*****sh) computer commercial in the broadcast ***** the Super Bowl in 1984. The Raiders and Redskins were playing, and ***** Raiders were leading the Redskins at half*****, 21-3. It ***** *****ting to be a one-sided game, and then the Raiders scored on an interception just before the end of the first half. Never previously had Super Bowl commercials had such a huge impact on ***** football-watching fans, but this time it really made a ***** impression.

According ***** an article on CNN.com, it was "...one of those events you're drawn to ***** you're even aware of it" (Leopold, 2006). There was a gr*****y picture on the screen, and then a long row ***** men