W10 #4: Going Back in Time

Speaking of movie versions of 1984 (see W10, #3), I'm curious what you think of the way Hollywood advertised the original film version of the novel back in the year 1956.

Certainly an interesting visual way to attract people to watch the film.

Challenge: In 5+ sentences, analyze this film poster.

Does it work?

Does it surprise you?

Why do you think this is the way they tried to advertise the film back in 1956, only 7 years after the novel was first published?

Comments

[Student #1]

I think this film poster works pretty well. They did a good job of showing that the future would be different. They first draw your attention to the woman and the man kissing. Soon after that your eyes catches the slogan on the man’s shirt saying “anti-sex league”. Automatically you’re confused and know right there there is a main idea of the story line, and your getting somewhat interested. “Will ecstasy be a crime” at the top of the poster just gives you a question to think about while glancing over the poster but right then you notice that they stay “in the terrifying world of the future?” How they made that a question is interesting to me. It’s as if they are asking you the question that no one can answer and people around this time were frightened and were scared of the future so this gives the viewer another reason to want to see the movie. They want to know what the future might be like, yes they know that this is all make believe but they still want to know the possibilities and this is one of the best ways at the time I think personally for someone to want to come see the movie. I think they made this poster the way it was so catch the eye of people and to make them wonder even more what the future was going to be like. They designed it in a way for people to ask many questions about the future and other things.

[Student #2]

My preference to this poster is that I like it, and it’s surprising. However, I do not believe that the creator of this poster served the actual novel justice. Even though, as a class, we pointed out the most dangerous crime one can commit in the novel is love, many of the readers won’t realize that. Even though it is the worst crime one can commit, the poster should not be centralized on the topic of “forbidden love”. Why I think this is the way “they” or Hollywood, tried to advertise the film is that it sort of fit in with the time period or the romanticism in that period. What I would have like to have seen is Big brother, of course, on the top of the poster looking down on his utopia and Winston having an expression on his face that can be distinguished from thousands.

[Student #3]

I think that this poster greatly describes the film and book. You first see Winston and Julia kissing. You can see a man watching them on a telescreen. Right away, you know somethings up. You can see the anti-sex league band on his arm. This points out that what there doing is wrong, and obviously a crime. When you see "Will ecstasy be a crime in the terrifying world of the future?" You can see that there are a lot of rules in this society. It draws you in, and makes you want to find out what the "terrifying world" is. I think they advertised the film like this because they want people to wonder what this "terrifying world" is. People want to know what the future is going to be like, and they want to know what the "future gone wrong" is.

[Student #4]

I think the poster works pretty good for the original movie. The poster pretty much shows what the movie is about is a few drawings and phrases. It shows two people kissing with a man watching them on screen. It also shows the in this version of the film they have the anti-sex league just as they do in the book. It then has phrases making people wonder what the future will be like. It does surprise me though that they didn’t put anything about BB on the poster or any of the slogans or propagandas from the book onto the poster. I think the way they advertised was the best way of advertising the movie in 1956 when know one knew what the year 1984 would really be like.

[Student #5]

I think overall, this is a great way to "sell" the film. It obviously displays the classic 1950's technology and cartoonish sketching which really reminds me of Scooby Doo...HAHA! I like the idea of the man with an Anti-Sex League sash and the telescreen, but I wonder why they portrayed a love scene on the telesceen rather than something related to their controlled society. I would maybe think about playing off the Macintosh commercial and the "robots". However, for those who are familiar with the book, it displays obvious key elements that unlock the rest of the story, essentially hinting at the story without giving too much away. I'll bet it drew in a lot of people.

[Student #6]

I think this is a good way to "sell" the film. Since the year the film came out was at 1956. I think it that time, people don't talk about sex as casual like now. So I think this poster attracted lots of people in that time.Also I think people would very interested about how's 1984 looked like.

I also think it did really tell what would the story about and gave people and basic idea. As you see in the poster, the man and woman were kissing, and there was a "Anti-sex League" was watching them.

[Student #7]

I think that Hollywood did an awesome job making this poster to advertise the film. The first thing you see when you look at it is the man and woman in the middle. I think its interesting that it shows him watching the couple through a telescreen with an anti-sex league band around his arm. The title "WILL ECSTASY BE A CRIME" written at the top of the poster really describes the man and woman kissing in the middle of the poster and shows people what the film will be about.

[Student #8]

I think the poster work pretty well for the original film. The first thing we see on the poster is the Winston and Julia kissing. And have one man was watching them on the telescreen. Also you can see the band said: "anti-sex league" on his arm. It's not surprise me but the way they try to advertise the film back really interesting. They make us curious by the unfinished sentence: "...In the terrifying world of the future?"

[Student #9]

The time, I would guess, a person would spend on their first glance at this poster would be around one to two seconds. Therefore, the poster must be made to catch someone's attention, providing reason for a second look. This movie poster, therefore, was made to be eye catching over being made to accurately summarize the movies plot, like all advertisement. I believe that this was a success, because the people of 1956 would be interested in what the future may hold, such as the telescreens, space-age looking men, and little flying spacecraft (not even in the book), depicted in this poster, and would be attracted to it.

[Student #10]

The way that the poster portrays the book is very different in my opinion. There are similarities, but the minor things just catch my eyes. I know that some of the people going to watch this movie will never know the mistakes, but the few people who read the book, I think would be a little disappointed. For example, the anti-sex league sashes were not worn on the arm, and also the people to watch over the telescreens were not the members of the anti-sex league. For the people who actually read the book and remembers most of the story will know that this was wrong. In this case, the objective was to sell the movie, and that’s what the poster was made to do, so i guess it worked.

[Student #11]

I think the poster does a great job of showing there was a type of love that was going on in the movie. I like how they make the date 1984 stand out with the color choice the illustrator uses. Having the anti sex league patch on the mans arm and also having two people in the front describing love is really cool I think, because it is showing that is one thing the society is against. If there was something I think they should add it would be something to do with BB. Maybe a poster of his to let the person walking by that BB is in control.

[Student #13]

I would say that the later movie was more of what I had pictured. But considering the different styles of the 50's and the 80's it seems to work for that day and age. But I think that people could this poster doesn’t really even give anyone a clue what the movie is about unless of course one had read the book.