Fahrenheit 1984

Filed Under BBT, Soylent Screen, Jef Taylor, Batman, Lord of the Rings, futuristic dystopias, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Equilibrium, Christian Bale, Contraband puppies | 3 Comments

 

 

 BBT critic Jef Taylor reviews Equilibrium (2002).

 

If emotions are outlawed, only outlaws will have emotions.  That’s the simple pitch of Equilibrium, a futuristic dystopia that features Batman and Boromir as a pair of crack stormtroopers in the Thought Police, who are devoted to stamping out feelings as well as the cultural artifacts that might inspire feelings.  They must shoot and/or incinerate loving spouses, books of poetry, recordings of Beethoven, colored glass bottles, patterned wallpaper, and even mirrored disco balls.  "But what about puppies?" I can hear you asking.  Are even cute little puppies incinerated?  I’m here to tell you that puppies are ESPECIALLY incinerated.

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The Deconsctructionist: 198FOX

Filed Under The Deconstructionist, Television, The Simpsons, 1984, FOX News | 5 Comments

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Warning! Spoilers for Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty-Four Follow!

Wikipedia defines Doublethink as ‘an integral concept in George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, and is the act of holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously, fervently believing both.’

For a while now I haven’t been able to think of the Fox networks without the concept of Doubethink coming to mind. The Fox Corporation enjoys two very different reputations simultaneously. On one hand, their news networks are a conservative juggernaut that promotes a decidedly Republican and often Christian viewpoint: anti- abortion, anti gay marriage, ‘Let’s kick out the dumb-o-crats and their smellfare programs,’ — that sort of thing.

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