For my part in our group project, I decided to guide a discussion on 1984 in the world today. I was drawn to this topic after recalling an article I read a while back. The thrust of the article was that the condition of the average man is roughly the same as back in the European feudal era. Sadly, I was unable to locate the original article. I was, however, able to locate a book by Juliet Schor called The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure which dealt in the same topic and had concrete figures on the subject.
I was drawn to a few similarities between 1984 and the movie Office Space next. The main character, Peter Gibbons, is similar to Winston - he is unhappy with his life. Like Winston, Gibbons is trapped (I am reminded of the scene in which he is stuck in mind-numbing traffic, unable to escape: . Both finally achieve free time: to be happy, to experience life, to think. After thinking, both then plan to take action (which worked out better for Gibbons then for Winston).
What I will guide the class in specifically is a discussion on the effect of all this. Why does it matter how much time we spent at our jobs compared to what we used to spend? In my opinion, it matters because if we believe that things are getting better then we will not demand to work less. And when we work more, we think less and we don't act. Just remember election time - how many people do you know who didn't vote because they were tired, or were busy, or didn't have time to research the issues, or just plain forgot?
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