Brave New World

1. Brave New World By Aldous Huxley Introduction Lecture

2. What is utopia? What characteristics does this genre have? • What does a utopia look like to you?

3. Genre: Dystopia Utopia: an ideal society possessing a perfect social and political system (Sir Thomas More) Dystopia: a society where the condition of life is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror • Often futuristic • Often under the guise of being a utopia • Often totalitarian 1

4. Popular Dystopias Earliest Literary Dystopia: Plato’s Republic • Government had a deep suspicion of literature • Viewed educated men as potentially subversive Genre became extremely popular in the 20th century… …WHY? 2

5. Popular Dystopias 20th century popularity Attempts to put utopian ideals into place resulted in real-life dystopias: • Soviet Communism • German Nazism • Western Consumerism • Modernism • Technological mass production 3

6. Western Consumerism • A social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. • People purchasing goods and consuming materials in excess of their basic needs • Characterized by propaganda and advertising everywhere • What is the difference between the two? • “Who owns you?” 3

7. Modernism • A group of movements in the 20th century that sought to break with the past • To eliminate traditions • To live without dependence on the family, the Church, and the community • Only novel and innovative ideas were considered worthy • Technological advancement was worshiped without questioning the possible ill consequences 3

8. Mass Production • Product of the Industrial Revolution • Production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines • Contributed to consumerism • Henry Ford’s Model T was the first Mass produced car. 3

9. Metropolis, the Movie • German silent film, 1927 • Credited as the first dystopian movie. • Depicting a mechanized, rigid society with a mindless, self-indulgent upper class benefiting from the brutal exploitation of the working-class masses. • (Ironically, the screenwriter of this hymn to equality and love, Thea von Harbou, went on to work with the Nazis.) 3

10. 1984 (George Orwell) QUESTION #3 • Orwell portrays the potential effects of Soviet Communism • Totalitarian state, where everyone is watched by Big Brother • TV cameras capture everyone’s movements • No one has any freedoms • Children spy on their parents and turn them in for any kind of political dissent 3

11. 1984 (George orwell) • Parents lose moral authority over their children • Children raised by the state (“It takes a village”) • Doublethink: to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them. • War Is Peace, Ignorance Is Strength, Freedom Is Slavery • Newspeak: the attempt to make certain thoughts inexpressible through the reform of language. • Example: Ethnic Cleansing 3

12. Brave New world • Portrays a society that has been socially engineered for a mindless happiness. • No need for a totalitarian state because everyone is so “amused” and entertained by sex and drugs. • Technology drives the culture and takes away one’s humanity • A critique of consumerism, technology worship, mass media hypnotism 3

13. Brave New world • Human beings are treated like different model cars trundling off the Ford assembly line. • Babies are bred in bottles for designated roles in society comparable • The family is seen as unnecessary and revolting. 3