1984が70周年

BBCに登場しているDorian LynskeyはTHE MINISTRY OF TRUTHという本で1984の受容の歴史を書いているようです。動画でも語っていますが、1950年代は全体主義国家に注目され、1970年代や80年代は監視技術、今は真実と嘘の扱いに関心を持って読まれているとか。

NONFICTION

The Making of ‘1984,’ George Orwell’s Nightmare Vision of a World Without Truth

A poster for the 1956 movie version of “1984.”

By Lev Mendes June 5, 2019

雑誌Timeも70周年を扱っていましたが、こちらはOrwellというよりも著者のZuboffが唱えるSurveillance Capitalismの解説がメインでした（苦笑）

The Surveillance Threat Is Not What Orwell Imagined

 Orwell's 1984 was published on June 8, 1949.

BY SHOSHANA ZUBOFF JUNE 6, 2019

George Orwell repeatedly delayed crucial medical care to complete 1984, the book still synonymous with our worst fears of a totalitarian future — published 70 years ago this month. Half a year after his novel’s debut, he was dead. Because he believed everything was at stake, he forfeited everything, including a young son, a devoted sister, a wife of three months and a grateful public that canonized his prescient and pressing novel. But today we are haunted by a question: Did George Orwell die in vain?

グーグルなどのGAFA企業はOrwellのBig BrotherならぬBig Otherだそうです。

Democracy slept while surveillance capitalism flourished. As a result, surveillance capitalists now wield a uniquely 21st century quality of power, as unprecedented as totalitarianism was nearly a century ago. I call it instrumentarian power, because it works its will through the ubiquitous architecture of digital instrumentation. Rather than an intimate Big Brother that uses murder and terror to possess each soul from the inside out, these digital networks are a Big Other: impersonal systems trained to monitor and shape our actions remotely, unimpeded by law.

（オックスフォード）

Big Brother

​a leader, a person in authority or a government that tries to control people’s behaviour and thoughts, but pretends to act for their benefit

From George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which the leader of the government, Big Brother, had total control over the people. The slogan ‘Big Brother is watching you’ reminded people that he knew everything they did.

1984は最初Last man in Europeというタイトルでした。シリアのホワイトヘルメットを描いた映画にLast Men in Aleppoがこのタイトルを意識したのかわかりませんが、権威主義体制に対する絶望的な戦いは共通しています。

動画の「希望が見えない。しかし逆に希望を作りたいと思わせる」という言葉は最後の締めコメで使われていました。

Review: ‘Last Men in Aleppo,’ Models of Courage Under Fire

By Glenn Kenny May 2, 2017

This picture doesn’t offer hope; its aim is to compel us to create some.

Yutaとしてはどのように受け止めているかという受容史に興味があるのでDorian LynskeyのTHE MINISTRY OF TRUTHを読み始めました。