W11, #2: Did Hollywood Get It Right?

Now that we're reading Goldstein's secret book -- The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism -- let's take a look at how Hollywood tries to explain this part of the novel (including when O'Brien gives him the book):

Challenge:

• Do you think that this part of the film is an accurate portrayal of the book as your mind is picturing it?
• Did they explain enough of Goldstein's book (and ideas) to help a person watching the film (who has never read the book) understand what you now know?
• What should they have added?  What should they have left out?

Here's the clip (about 10 minutes long):

Comments

[Student #1]

I think that this scene was close to what I had Imagined. The only things that I had problems with were the fact that Julia was not there. Also O'Brien lived in the same place he worked and you could not tell that from this scene. But overall it was quite good.

[Student #2]

I believe this scene was decently accurate to what happened in the book. If I were to add something though, it would be more content from the book O'brien gave to Winston. Rather than read the whole thing(which couldnt practially be done without takeing up too much time, and boreing the audience) he read only a few sentences, it wouldnt have hurt to add more content. The fact that they met in O'briens office was somewhat off, but in all, clever when the book was disguised as a dictionary. In all, it was a pretty good portrayal of what Orwell was trying to say

[Student #3]

I believe this video des an ok job of portraying this part of the book. The one part I would change is when Winston is getting the book from Obrien. In the book Julia is there with Winston, but in the movie she isn’t. I think they needed to have Julia be there so it showed they joined the brotherhood together. The movie makes it look like Winston only went to join the brotherhood when really they both did so this would be confusing for someone who never read the book. Other than that, I think they did a good job in making the movie like the book.

[Student #4]

I think that the audience could become confused about the setting of the meeting. We are unsure weither the setting is O'Briens office or his house. There is also one big difference. During the meeting in the book, Julia is present. However, in the movie scene, Julia is no where to be found!

[Student #5]

I thought that they did a good job on this scene. It was pretty much how i had imagined it. I do agree with other two I personally would have put a lot more about O'brien in the film. In this scene he is almost a nobody, when we clearly know this is not true. If i were to add somethings i would have added a little more about this history though. It did bring out some good points but overall i thought it could use a little more.

[Student #6]

One of the first things that I noticed was, "Where's Julia?" Despite the fact that she is gone, I believe that this change caused less confusion, which is good. Also the fact that they only choose the necessary parts made it 1. Less boring. 2. Less confusing. Also, the fact that they met inside O'Brian's office threw me off, but then I realized that that made sense. I also found it cool and kind of interesting how O'Brian could turn off his telescreen.

[Student #7]

I agree that part of the movie was accurate what I had imagined. But I think that should be add some more explains to help the people who never read that book understands more clearly. I think the only things they need to add should be details about Goldstein book. Because in this video, they just let us watch Winston read the few page of a book. The only detail we can know clearly is the dictionary of newspeak actually was the book of Goldstein. That will make a people who never read a book get confuse about the important things they need to know in the content.

[Student #8]

I think that this scene was very close to how the bok explains it, however I think that Winston should have read a little more from O'brien's book. Not much because it would take up alot of time and really bore the audience. I also think that they should have showed O'brien give the book to Winston somwhere else and not in his office.

[Student #9]

This file is like what I think in my mind. But the big different is Julia was not in the scene. Also they didn't focus a lot what did happen when Winston was in O'Briens' room. It just barely go over, it didn't ever go over what is it about in the Goldstein's book, but I think it was cool that Winston looked like got a Newspeak dictionary form O'Brien, but actually it was double page, and Goldstein's secret book is just behind that page.

[Student #10]

Yes i think that the movie was an accurate portrayal of the book and is fairly close to the way i pictured it. Although i dont think it showed enough to inform someone who has never read the book. They could have made winston say something along the lines to show the seriousness of the turning off of the telescreen. I also believe that they showed a good amount of the signifigance of goldstein's book but a little more could of been added so that the viewer could get the point all the way.

[Student #11]

Yes, I believe that Hollywood got this part of the film right with a couple of minor details. First, I think that for the people who have never read the book would not understand the whole book taking part. Also the house didn’t look much like a house, but more like a business area. But for the most part, everything was how I pictured it in my head while I was reading. the part I think Hollywood should have left out was the part where all the soldiers were marching with there arms up in the air. This would have been inaccurate because people would have never seen the soldiers. One of the main dilemmas was whether or not there was really a war and people never knew if there were soldiers or actual wars going on.

[Student #12]

I think that hollywood did a very good and accurate depiction of this scene in movie compared to the book. The detail of o'brien giving the book to winston was very good but could be improved. The emotion in the characters was dull and the secrecy part of the novel and hidding from the thought police was simply absent and was almost as if there were no punishment for having this book at all. I do think that hollywood did a good job in getting characters that fit there parts o'brien was very fitting to the role and wintston seemed to be a perfect match to what i would have pictured him in the novel.

[Student #13]

This clip is absolutely dead-on from the novel. Hollywood seemed to get the scene right but however I must mention something that seems odd to me.I have noticed that the scene where Winston and the man carrying the briefcase exchanging the book. That was the part i was really looking forward to but overally hollywood got it right. This scene seemed really boring to me, but that is how it exactly is in the book. Lastly I think the idea of goldsteins book being hidden within the dictionary is interesting