Download Brave New World Intro

BRAVE NEW WORLD
By Aldous Huxley
Introduction Lecture
What
is utopia? What
characteristics does this
genre have?
What does a utopia look
like to you?
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

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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?
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POPULAR DYSTOPIAS
20th century popularity
Attempts to put utopian
ideals into place resulted in
real-life dystopias:
IDEOLOGIES

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
Soviet Communism
German Nazism
Western Consumerism
Modernism
Technological mass
production
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IDEOLOGY
(BELIEF SYSTEM)
“the imaginary relation to the real conditions of
existence.” - Althusser
“The body of ideas reflecting the social needs and
aspirations of an individual, a group, a class, or a
culture. A system of beliefs or theories, usually
political, held by an individual or a group.” –OED
Ideologies are all around us, and usually we don’t
recognize them.
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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?”
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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

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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
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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
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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.
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ALDOUS HUXLEY
1894-1963
 Born to intellectual, wealthy
family
 Christian worldview
 Pacifist
 Experimentation with drugs,
especially hallucinogens
 Loss of eyesight, frequent
illness

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.)

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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 3
any kind of political dissent
1984 (GEORGE ORWELL)


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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
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