The Impact of New Media1984 vs The Circle

Presented by: Saad SalimValparaiso University, Indiana

Introduction: The Circle: “SECRETS ARE LIES,

SHARING IS CARING, PRIVACY IS THEFT” (Eggers 305).

1984: “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell 6).

Thesis Statement: comparison in terms of narrative, cautionary message, and the role of technology.

1984 Passive society Political point of view: (power structure:

top-down).

THE CIRCLE Active society Social point of view: (power structure:

flat).

Narrative:

State/Government

Individual/Society

State/G

overnment

Indi

vidu

al/

Soci

ety

Cautionary Message:

1984 Warning about the

danger of totalitarian government.

Political message.

THE CIRCLE Warning about

excessive use of technology.

Social message.

Role of Technology:

One-way function: (oppression).

Oppression

Ex. “Telescreen”

1984 THE CIRCLE Mutual function:

(good or bad).

Ex. “SeeChange” camera

Technology of State

Individual/Society

TechnologyGoo

dBad

Conclusion: Emergence of social media:

1- Shifts narrative from political critical narrative to social critical narrative.

2- Shifts focus from political warning message to social warning message.

3- Shifts function of technology from one-way task to dual purpose.

Works CitedBagchi, Barnita. The Politics of the (im)possible: Utopia and Dystopia

Reconsidered . New Delhi: SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd, 2012. Pdf.Carr, Nicholas. The shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains. WW

Norton & Company, 2011. Print. Dorfman, Ariel. “Repression by Any Other Name,” Guernica (February 3,

2014). Web. 10 April 2015. Eggers, Dave. The Circle: A Novel. San Francisco; New York: Alfred A. Knopf,

2013. Print.Giroux, Henry A. "Totalitarian Paranoia in the Post-Orwellian Surveillance

State." Cultural Studies 29.2 (2015): 108-140. Web. 10 Apr 2015. Hammond, J. R. A George Orwell Companion – A Guide to the Novels,

Documents, and Essays. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982. Print. Matus, Hannah. Reflections on Terror from Aldous Huxley to Margaret Atwood:

Dystopic Fiction as Politically Symbolic. Thesis. Ohio State University, 2009. Web. 24 April 2015.

Orwell, George. Orwell's Nineteen eighty-four: text, sources, criticism. Ed. Irving Howe. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982.Print.

Resch, Robert Paul. “Utopia, Dystopia, and the Middle Class in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Boundary 2 24.1 (1997): 137-176. Web. 14 April 2015.

Schafran, Alex. “Discourse and Dystopia, American Style.” City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action 17.2 (2013): 130-148. Web. 24 April 2015.