The Mary Sue: George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 has just hit the bestseller lists this week, probably because it’s about a totalitarian regime that discourages any possible dissent in a multitude of terrifying ways. Sales of the book in Britain and Australia have also risen 20 percent compared to a year ago.
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In the post election state of Trump's United States, I find that more than ever artists from many different carrying communities are coming forth too not only express themselves, but to fight for and expose their beliefs through a visual medium that can simply be seen in order to be heard. It's interesting to see the ways the performing arts are handling this creative wave of resilience, a surge of inspiration and strength that I see being implemented into the productions in development here at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. I can see the ways we fight for equality, stability, and representation in not only the season, but in the way we approach the texts of these shows as well. This resurgence in popularity for George Orwell's 1984 is not surprising to me, and it's story being relayed through a play will be a further way of expressing these feeling of fear through a text that feels fitting to our situation in current events.
I agree with Taylor that the post election wave of both political critique and expression in the arts is overwhelming in the best of ways. Theatre artists all over the country and and abroad are taking the struggles and pains inflicted on us by a now Trump presidency, and using those emotions and fears to bring new life and nuances to shows and other performance pieces that hit home now even more than ever before. Though I fear a Trump presidency I feel as if the election of such a nasty character has allowed and hope and inspiration into artists all over. I only wish the cost for such reinvention could come at less of a price for those marginalized by the politicians crazy claims and laws. Orwell's play 1984 hitting Broadway only reflects how the theatre world feels about current issues, but it also shows that we are not alone in thinking this. The public want to see this work and want to reflect on current issues through the arts.
Though many plays are relevant to today despite having been written a while ago, I do think 1984 is particularly pertinent. Which is rather frightening. I think a big part of why it is relevant is the idea of reality being manipulatable. That a country can be at war with one country one day and another the next, and just act like it has always been that way. That people can be written into and out of history just by making everyone believe it. Alternative facts. Because of that, I think performing 1984 now is an important way to get people to think about the ideas of free thought and objective reality. Theater can make people think about and question the world around them. That is very important right now, and I think 1984, as well as a variety of other plays about relevant topics given our current political climate, can lead to people asking the questions they need to be asking themselves.
It seems particularly fitting that 1984 is the book that people are turning to because of our current political climate. It seems particularly fitting because instead of ruling through brute force like other fictional and nonfictional dictatorships, the regime in 1984 keeps their power by normalizing whatever they do. War, peace, whatever the trend of the moment is, it has always been that way. Once you gain control in this way, whatever version of reality suits your current needs becomes absolute fact. I have struggled to try to have conversations with those who support Donald Trump because you cannot debate with them. They will deny or shift their interpretation of what Mr. Trump has said and done, even if you provide undeniable proof of your point. Back during the election campaign John Oliver did a piece on how, at the RNC, the Republican party seemed to focus on feelings rather than facts. One of their speakers disagreed with a reporter about President Obama being a Muslim, despite the reporter explaining that Obama wasn’t a Muslim the speaker said it didn’t matter because he felt like he was. This war on facts is going to be one of the Trump administration's most dangerous weapons over the next four years and shining a light on the narrative of 1984 will hopefully remind them that this manipulation of reality is a lot scarier than all the jokes and memes about Sean Spicer and alternative facts might suggestion.
I am excited to see this comeback both as a novel and on the theatrical scene. I feel that the book is more relevant than ever. After the Snowden revelations the world discovered that the US and other major governments where spying on their own citizens. Starting out with mere metadata allowing this to be legalized opens the door for further censorship and spying. In Britain the government has passed internet censorship bills as well as legislation with MAJOR privacy violations on its own citizens. In this current sate of affairs it is easy to compare yourself to Orwells distopian society. I feel that a theatrical experience like this may aid in opening peoples eyes to what a near future may look like for us as a people. Its about privacy and how we as a people will be sub servant to an oppressive government. Hopefully this will change some peoples minds on the sate of the union.
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