Nineteen Eighty-Four: Great Books explained

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Go to mondly.app/greatbooksexplained to get 96% off lifetime access to 41 languages and start learning today.

[@CrusaReds333]

After watching the video, and knowing what the book is about, the fact that this was temporarily blocked as "unsuitable for advertising" by the website is even more ironic. Loved this book and love the video, James. Thanks!

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Thank you

[@irinaterzieva8735]

Thank you

[@rws531]

Just read this book on a flight back from London to US post-election. Immaculate timing.

[@Captofthisship]

Just got done with it myself. Great read !

[@greatbooksexplained371]

I reread for this video and loved it as much now as when I was 15 and read it.

[@kleerude]

Like many people, this book was assigned reading in my high school English class. Even so, most of this information is new to me. We never learned about Orwell’s life or the context in which he wrote. I have no idea why. It’s so important!

[@sardonicsophisticate3974]

Completely agree!

[@margaretinsydney3856]

This was my experience, too. I am astonished by all this background info!

[@hdysicjegk]

It’s nice we can all rest comfortably knowing that 1984 highlights the irredeemable failings of the people who disagree with me and show without any doubt that those who agree with me are truly on the side of goodness and truth.

[@aaronbegg3827]

Doubleplusgood

[@TimHunold]

Brilliant comment. Not out of sarcasm

[@holitinne]

You should cover Brave New World. Which is basically the exact opposite of 1984.

[@aaronbegg3827]

Agreed, I love the book but I love this kind of analysis even more

[@eddysgaming9868]

Yes, to a Brave New World review.

[@DefenestrateYourself]

Fahrenheit 451 completes the holy trinity of the archetypal dystopian novel

[@kevinmcqueenie7420]

It was meant as a warning and seems to have been turned into a how-to guide.

[@karyne826]

The original one I’d say.

[@0o0ification]

With truth, comes knowledge, if not wisdom.

[@Nozes..]

This channel deserves millions of subscribers. Thank you,James.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Thanks 🙏

[@irinaterzieva8735]

You made me remember when I was little at school during communist regime. When I read the book in my teens I was deeply shocked that we experienced it first hand. It took a very long time to get back on my feet and this was thanks to the art. Art made me believe in people once again

[@lobbbster5]

You might just have the best two channels on KZbin.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Oh thank you 🙏

[@MarkLiversedge]

Totally agree with you on that- his films get watched the second I see they are out

[@zlatan_2197]

Very soon 1984 became tactile reality. It was a warning, but society was already heading in direction impossible to change, which was only sped up by modern technology and internet.

[@marafiasche1542]

James thank you for being able to upload this video. Your review of 1984 as always gives much food for thought especially in this times.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@thaisgregorio2734]

I highly encourage people to also read Orwell's collections of essays, they are brilliant. People often limit themselves to 1984 and Animal Farm, but his works are way more vast than just these 2 books

[@jamesdazell]

Fantastic. Thank you for creating this. The fact that you had to amend it for KZbin just further highlights its relevance. The answer is as practical as it is impractical. To be educated, to find multiple trustworthy sources. But we can't expect everyone to. But if those who do tell three people and those three people tell three people. Then we're closer. Television is a box of propaganda. I never watch it. Present events show both the echo chamber effect of the internet but also the effect of alternative media. The thing I always find most 1984 in society is when conversations are briskly shut down and how people feel they shouldn't talk about things even when they're not told not to. Family, school, work, were taught to listen up, be quiet, and do what you're told. Assertiveness, audacity, and self-empowerment are things we are never taught but are some of the most crucial things for life.

[@eddysgaming9868]

Thank you. Orwell is a timely subject. Well worth the wait.

[@whyamilikethis1998]

I wasn't sure what I wanted for Christmas, but lifetime access to mondly is now looking very tempting - thank you, James!

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Enjoy!

[@oonaamookhao]

I suggested this book, 1984, for my book club. We're preparing ourselves for the next four years to come.

[@oobrocks]

“Donald Trump has frequently referred to an “enemy from within” in his recent speeches and interviews, using the phrase to describe individuals and groups within the U.S. that he views as more dangerous than foreign adversaries. He has linked the term to political opponents, such as Democrats like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi, as well as to broader groups he calls “radical left lunatics,” “Marxists,” and “fascists.” Trump has argued that these individuals pose a greater threat to America than countries like China and Russia” (ChatGTP)

[@acbower4468]

“I wonder if she has a big cock?” -people watching Lia Thomas in 2022 There isn’t a monopoly on this stuff

[@malice4422]

‘We’ by Yevgeny Zamyatin inspired this book. It was banned for a long time in Russia, and was only recently published in the US. Interesting read.

[@jelejacques]

Thanks for your work. Maybe the most important book of all time.

[@MarkLiversedge]

You make such fine choices in your films James. The typewriter sound over the captions is so apt, the censorship message at the start of the film, but oh my, poor old UCL- Senate House will always be the Ministry of Truth :) What Julia represents and how that turns was not covered which I always think is fascinating.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Yes my original script had more about Julia but it didn’t work with the film I wanted to make. Thanks for your continued support Mark!

[@Oli.Miles1]

There's an amazing book i read recently called 'finding george orwell in burma' that follows orwells travels and times in burma that had a significant impact on his thoughts and writings. I would highly reccomend it to anyone interested in a background to some of orwells philosophy.

[@Hellismary]

These videos have greatly influenced my writing and understanding, thank you !

[@greatbooksexplained371]

You're very welcome!

[@DJL78]

Exceptionally well done James. Thank you.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Thank you!

[@fabionunes7081]

funny you post a video about this book. i read it some years back and ive been wanting to read it again. nice video

[@Sweetthang9]

I can't help but feel like this pattern is inevitable....the stakes just become higher and higher.

[@marktodd7397]

Brilliant as ever

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Thank you 🙏

[@disciplineistheroadtofreedom]

another really great documentary thank you so much for your excellent work.

[@0o0ification]

I’m sure this content gets requested a lot. Thank you

[@lehpares]

Excellent piece. Thank you James!

[@margaretinsydney3856]

Thank you so much, James. This is wonderfully informative! I haven't read 1984 for many years, but I think I should have another look at it. It seems just all too relevant these days!

[@roberto1697]

If you're free to read 1984, then you're not in the country described by 1984, but if you read it and think nothing much of it, your country might be going towards a Brave New World.

[@adambooth4011]

Another excellent video.

[@marayues]

Mondly doesn’t allow you to test the app! Thank you for those great video.

[@seriouslywhatever1031]

Still haunted by this book years after reading it

[@DrgnSpawn]

Thank you again for another great video!

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Thanks for watching 🙏

[@Thecuervogold]

Read this book in seventh grade and it completely shifted the level of literature I was consuming into top gear lol

[@rws531]

Title is missing the “y” in “Eighty-Four”

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Thanks - sorted now

[@torealing9992]

The Ministry of Truth was related to the UK’s Ministry of Information. Orwell spoke fondly of his time at the BBC, it was the MoI that was his issue.

[@Wallrod]

After learning more about places like Cyprus, Hong Kong and the Chagos islands, it was an interesting wrinkle to me how Britain being referred to as Airstrip One was meant to horrify the (presumably british or western) reader of the idea of your country being reduced to a resource for the military power projection of a larger empire. It'd be a good tool for empathy, but you'd need empathy in the first place to not just take it as a simple marker of shame for being overpowered.

[@celestenova777]

Two and two make five....and you better believe it. Great book, thanks for upload.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@ludivinedc8505]

Great video, I want to read the book again now !

[@DefenestrateYourself]

I love your channel. Amazing work 🔥

[@westernplantexplorers540]

Awesome video on a timely book!! Loved this one! 🙌

[@rankinsean]

My favourite book. So good

[@mayonaissse]

I read it in secondary school in an attempt to be edgy. I'm still haunted by it after all these years, but more so the fact that it turned out to be extremely prescient for the times that we live in now.

[@falgalhutkinsmarzcal3962]

I wonder what Orwell thought of Ezra Pound and his "usefulness" to Mussolini and other Fascist regimes.

[@clairesstitchingcorner8910]

Great video I was about to start doing a podcast series about 100 books to read before you did this was going to be the first book but after watching this video I don’t think I could come up with anything as good as this.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

I’m sure there is so much more to speak about!

[@MariaVosa]

Read this book in my late teens (which was a long time ago) and no other book has unsettled me so much. It's a very dark book, but also very, very clever. I keep thinking I should read it again, but I fear I would find it even more depressing in today's world. I'm glad Orwell is not alive to witness what is happening.

[@JonniePolyester]

That was excellent! It was almost word for word my undergraduate essay circa 1994 … god if only!! 😂…

[@arrjunerasiah]

Another great episode on one of my favorite books!

[@ronniea.4830]

It's my favorite book of all times, and shockingly enough to many here i am a middle leaning right who had enough with the newspeak, war mongering, and silencing our voices on SM. The legacy media fear induced hysteria gave got the middle finger from all sides left and right.

[@steviebudden3397]

Good stuff as always.

[@miriamportugal4703]

Excellent video, as always.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

I appreciate that

[@Elaine-db1jq]

Superb!

[@mariateixeira7363]

beautiful video!

[@irinaweber9526]

Thank you 🙏

[@Dessienewshoes]

Excellent 😊

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Thanks 😊

[@anglerfish4161]

Good video as always, but I wish you'd mentioned how the Soviet-backed communists were specifically sabotaging the Anarchists Orwell joined forces with, as it would make it much clearer *why* they opposed each other rather than vague allusions to power struggle. The Anarchists were radically anti-authoritarian, sometimes even to extreme degrees (there are amusing stories in Homage to Catalonia where they actually had to convince soldiers to act a certain way rather than follow orders from command and be punished otherwise). The Soviets couldn't abide their model of society to take root as a leftist alternative to their own and that's extremely important to realize.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

I understand but I feel that there’s only so much i can say without being overly didactic. I feel I put in enough information to pique people’s interest that they will investigate further. I do see your point though - thanks for the comment!

[@anglerfish4161]

​@@greatbooksexplained371 I guess my concern is that people are preempted to have certain ideas about political alignment based on US hegemony and are likely to jump into wrong conclusions if they are told in a vacuum that communists sabotaged the republican effort, as if it's a "commies destroying western liberal democracy" situation. While in truth, what happened was that Soviet-aligned communists pulled the rug out of every other leftist force trying to construct socialism in Catalonia, particularly the most anti-authoritarian groups, for the sake of keeping the support from Moscow, which by the end left them largely to their own devices. Of course, you can't and shouldn't have to explain all of that, but I think name-dropping or even vaguely mentioning the kinds of groups they opposed would have been a short but valuable addition.

[@generalkrudler]

‘ucking ‘ell, was clapping for NHS workers Orwellian? Shit, James has me doubting everything now

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Oh I missed that.

[@54032Zepol]

This is my favorite book vecause in the end the bad guys win, the government wins and its such a pleasure to the reader because it diminish the act of rebellion

[@perniciouspete4986]

My red baseball cap says, "MAKE 1984 FICTION AGAIN."

[@jeff__w]

First off, congratulations, *James,* on getting that determination reversed. 🎉🍾It’s really too bad that you have to jump through such hoops in the first place. Being a creator is hard enough. 19:29 “If you are free in your country to read _1984,_ then it is not the country described in _1984.”_ George Orwell’s novel has been freely available to the public in Chinese translation in China since 1988. (It had been available as an “internal reference,” that is, as a publication accessible only to party cadres and “politically reliable” intellectuals, since 1979.) You can find it in bookstores in Shenzhen and Shanghai. There are a few theories as to why: the general public might not make any connection of the book to China-they might view it just as a critique the Soviet Union; the Party might not be as concerned about a book by a foreign writer and one that is close to 80 years old at that. My own theory is actually a version of that statement above: the censors are saying, in effect, “If you’re able to freely read this book, China is _not_ like that country described in _1984” or maybe “China is so dissimilar from the place described in the novel that there really isn’t any reason to ban it” (whether it, in fact, is or isn’t). I was never a big fan of _1984._ We had to read it in high school and it was taught as a cautionary tale of “the other” (i.e., the Soviet Union). It wasn’t like I was all that favorably disposed to the USSR-I knew, for example, how when Lavrenti Beria, the head of Josef Stalin’s secret police, had fallen out of favor with authorities in the early 1950s, all the owners of the _Great Soviet Encyclopedia_ were instructed to cut the entry about him out of the “Б” volume of the encyclopedia and paste in an article about the Bering Strait-in effect, all enlisted to be Winston Smiths. It was more that the novel was an unrelenting compendium of everything totalitarian-there was nothing subtle about it. Sure, there is something grimly fascinating reading about the chocolate ration being reduced from 30g to 20g after the Party makes a “categorical pledge” months before that there would be no reduction of the chocolate ration during 1984-with Smith rewriting the promise as a warning that it would probably be necessary to _reduce_ the ration at some time in April-and _then_ we learn of demonstrations of people thanking Big Brother for _raising_ the ration to 20g, but I think, even at that time, I viewed the book as almost a kind of dystopia porn. But, these days, I tend to see the book as being more about the use of language to present something other than the truth, which is pretty close to your “defense of Truth” view. There are, obviously, zillions of examples of people in power saying the opposite of what reality is-that’s not just in government but in the world of corporations, too. (I’m thinking, for example, of how a company might spin the shift from a perpetual software license model to a subscription model as being “cheaper” for its users.) It’s a credit to George Orwell that we can say “We've always been at war with East Asia” and just about everyone knows what we’re talking about.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Im afraid it wasn’t reversed - the video is still demonetised and I am still appealing to KZbin - it is a lengthy and time consuming process unfortunately. Thanks so much for your considered (as always) comment. You raise some really interesting points. This was such a hard film to work on as I was really trying to have a balanced viewpoint, and the misuse of language to control the masses and attack political enemies (woke, Marxist etc) is something that I find fascinating and disturbing. So I decided to I focus on that more. I must say I reread it (last time I read it I was 14!) and found it really does hold up as a great novel.

[@jeff__w]

@@greatbooksexplained371 “Im afraid it wasn’t reversed.” Oh, I’m very sorry to hear that. I hope the appeal winds up in your favor. I think the misuse of language was _exactly_ the right emphasis because, although Oceana is a “socialist” regime (and, yes, modeled on the USSR), it could just as easily have been a fascist one (let’s remember who employed the phrase _Arbeit Macht Frei,_ as inverted as any phrase is in the novel). In other words, it’s _language_ that runs through the novel as a theme, not particularly ideology. It’s really hard for me to evaluate _1984_ as a novel because it’s so obviously a didactic work about power, the misuse of language and all that but I might revisit it. (I _will_ say-I forgot to mention it in my earlier comment-that I _do_ think “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen” is one of the all-time great opening lines in literature.)

[@madalincraciun982]

Briliant

[@jrgrimm6091]

The Two Minute Hate is a lot longer these days

[@wrathofgrothendieck]

Good timing lol

[@outaspaceman]

This has bothered me no end..🤔 In any universe ever, I’d be considered a “prole..” Ill educated, low skilled, manual labour/cannon fodder with little to no expectation of social mobility or improvement.. My thoughts, feelings, goals, and aspirations are of no consequence.. No one’s going to let peeps like me join, “The Party..” and The Party provide a whole world of Porn, Alcohol, and (probably) Soccer tailored just for me..! 😃👍 Why do I care what happens to “Whining” Winston Smith.?

[@ricardokowalski1579]

19:30 "if you are free in your country to read 1984 then it is not the country described in 1984 " completely misses the point of 15:30 " you never know where you are with 1984 who is real and who is not real and who is on your side and who is the enemy" The very fact that the governments "allows" you to read 1984 is proof you ARE INSIDE 1984 The fact that you are, a priori, thankful that 1984 has not been taken away, concedes the government the power and the purview to do so. 1984 is not new, it never left us, is ever present around us.

[@binkwillans5138]

Agreed. Power lies not in censorship, but in control.

[@eddysgaming9868]

Your observations, I agree with. We are currently living inside that system.

[@annette1388]

There are states in the world where the idealogical agenda is firmly entrenched. The US is only at the beginning of entering this 'New World Order', generations of believing in personal freedom of choice has primed the citizens for the manipulation to come. Orwell's vision seems of children vs parents is not so different from the Gen Z/Millenials vs Boomers - a natural enough progression for generations, which is now being magnified for distraction/division purposes. It is important to understand that this book is a warning for the future and we will not know whether we are 'in' it until we come out the other side - truth is being redefined before our eyes!

[@steveworth5757]

Great video. Read a lot of Orwell books but never realised he worked at the BBC before writing 1984. Guess he saw the propaganda machine first hand. He would be surprised how much worse it has got if he visited now. One criticism of your video was it was too short.

[@vt5625]

algo

[@rjmf765]

For improved engagement.

[@WhiteBloggerBlackSpecs]

I can't tell you how fast I clicked on

[@janelleg597]

All lies entail a debt to the truth..

[@greytoeimp]

now do huxley@!

[@beritscott1655]

How do we discover and honor truth online?

[@janelleg597]

Start by not saying things that you know are untrue

[@crystalclear6864]

Viewing! Just thumb sign not lighting up.

[@JJONNYREPP]

Nineteen Eight-Four: Great Books explained 1400pm 17.11.24 it's conscious deception by the techno fascist machine... the horse is a cow and the pig a man... maybe tell me where this narrator is going wrong with his notions regards 1984.

[@---l---]

The more thing chage

[@emmaunderbluesky7511]

´If you are free in your country to read 1984, then it’s not the country described in 1984’ Sounds like the BBC newspeak Orwell was calling out in 1984. He created a caricatural in-your-face setup but it doesn’t have to be irl. I love your videos but I think this one lacked the needed depth to analyse such a book. No parallels drawn between the treatment of Tuberculosis patients then and other patients more recently. No words about the individual struggle, something Orwell excelled at, portraying the different stages the main character went through from indifference, to hope, to resistance, to apathy after time and torture… How Orwell emphasized so much on rewriting history and alliances post war, that you can only wonder what did they twist about WWII.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

Thanks for your comment and I’m sorry it didn’t live up to what you expected - I take your criticism on board.

[@Beryllahawk]

As an American right now this is horrifying to think about. Especially his telling people, back then - don't let it happen. That there are people in my country right now who WANT this book to become reality frightens me. And I think the novel IS banned here (in schools at least), but that's not a surprise at all. In the region where I am, it wouldn't surprise me to find the state lawmakers trying to ban every book that isn't the Protestant Bible.

[@TF-vb9us]

And yet, those on the right doing it tell their flock that it’s those insidious wokeys who are trying to censor them. While they suppress anything that criticizes or exposes them. We’re walking right into it because higher education and critical thinking are seen as bad progressive agendas. And there’s a lot of vulnerably illiterate people in our country who as it turns out, are ripe for the picking.

[@JJONNYREPP]

Nineteen Eight-Four: Great Books explained 17.11.24 1354pm it's a crazy piece of paranoia. my copy was stolen as was my dvd as was my annie lennox single... they all seemed to go walkabout. weird world. i hope, if they're that eager to indulge with Orwellian misery, then they get to deal with such oppressive regimes and sorrow... good luck, thief!!

[@imacg5]

So spreading TB should be viewed as carrying out freedom?

[@greatbooksexplained371]

I’m not sure how you got that idea!

[@99prince84]

modi

[@bobcowley9370]

The EU, the climate change scam, wokery, the covid restrictions and the democrats all remind me of 1984.

[@iainmc9859]

Yeah, all of those things should be banned ! Everyone should conform to your beliefs, it makes for a more cohesive and safer society. All States in the USA should ban the book from schools. Remember 'War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength'.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

As I said it’s a book that has been co-opted by both the right and the left, and reducing Language to simplistic words like “woke” is designed to divide us.

[@bobcowley9370]

@@greatbooksexplained371 It's not the word 'woke' that is meant to divide us, it's the lefties who push wokeness that is meant to divide us. Also, what has the rest of your comment got to do with my comment?

[@bobcowley9370]

@@iainmc9859 I never said anything should be banned. In fact if you look at the people who want to ban things it's almost always the lefties who want to do it. Your comment makes no sense!

[@user-lr8pk7un1x]

Just from the fact you cannot articulate what the "climate change scam" is or detail what "wokery" actually is or what Democrats are "trying to do" proves you're the very victim of the authoritarianism present in 1984. Which is terrifying to think about as 1984 shows its warnings are very real in the U.S right now. Hell, republicans have been distorting language to suit their agendas and beliefs since the 60s. When "communist" was the word they used to witch hunt anyone who opposed them. Just know, you'd never be allowed to sit at the table of The Party, regardless of how much you'd blindly serve them.

[@river8142]

👁️‍🗨️👁️‍🗨️👁️‍🗨️

[@-dq5nx]

You could have covered this without including your political opinion, I am disappointed. It is not prominent but it is there, and I believe it does not add, but rather subtracts value.

[@greatbooksexplained371]

I am going to have to disagree with you. I gave an even handed coverage including examples from all political viewpoints. This video is an attack on post-truth - not a particular party.

[@DaveM86]

@@greatbooksexplained371to be fair, while I think it was largely balanced, your modern examples in the background focused on conservatives (Kellyanne Conway, JD Vance), despite most dis/misinformation being disseminated by the left at this time. You needn’t look any further than the extreme online reactions among Harris voters - they’ve been convinced by the incessant “literally Hitler” narrative to the point that they’re convinced Trump is going to start rounding them up and putting them in concentration camps.

[@Stjerneklang528]

I identify as he, she, they, non-binary, banana and the universe.

[@wrathofgrothendieck]

Whatever gets it up for ya Jack

[@janelleg597]

So brave 😂

[@wenigergottquatsch183]

2 minutes of hate: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b56rhIdqhpmeirc

[@smiller-i9x]

Beware when his only examples are "TV cable news, talk radio, and online echo chambers."

[@janelleg597]

The biggest media outlets...yes they count

[@greatbooksexplained371]

There’s plenty more in there.