Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Horror of Truth

          The filmed version of Nineteen Eighty-Four displays how minimal cases of extreme horror can be used as a means of oppression. For the characters of Nineteen Eighty-Four, witnessing public executions of thought criminals and prisoners of war is a daily experience that the citizens living in Oceania undergo. The film displays a crowd of thousands gathered around several prisoners blindfolded and awaiting execution. With each gunshot fired, a hysterical cheer erupts from the crowd while the camera focuses on a horrified expression on Winston’s face, a detail not conveyed in the text version. Winston, who has already convicted himself of thought crime, clearly realizes that the message of resist and be shot is being directed towards thinking minds like his own. The oppressive message is ignored in Winston’s case, since he is merely using the crowd as a cover to meet with another thought criminal. Yet the scene still displays how horrifying images can create the mindset required for a ruling class to dominate those below it. The ruthless display of power conveyed by helpless prisoners being executed for even the simplest forms of resistance is a method of conditioning those who disagree with the party into thinking that there is no hope to alter the future.

          Prior to the execution scene in the novel, and before he has met his female thought criminal counterpart, Winston displays the feelings of helplessness that the party desires from individuals in his position: “His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him” (Orwell 37). At this point in the story, Winston seems to believe that he is the only free mind in a sea brainwashed inhabitants. Upon the threat of exposure, and therefore death, Winston is terrified to make his position on the party known. Winston’s fears consequently show how the horror of ridicule followed by execution are used as a means of preventing fellow thinkers from uniting and becoming a formidable force capable of competing with the party. An individual opposing an oppressor such as the INGSOC party will understandably feel hopeless in comparison to its power. Should those who wish to resist the tyranny realize that they have the influence or the numbers to do so, they may very well act out on their desires. The terror of death upon exposure is henceforth used by INGSOC to preserve the individualistic and helpless mindset.