THE OPPRESSIVE SURVEILLANCE OF TELE SCREENS IN “1984” BY GEORGE ORWELL

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to analyze how the works of George Orwell (1903-50) are presented with as their main focus the unrestricted concern with individual freedoms hard won over the centuries; often denouncing the innards of the domination mechanisms used by political totalitarianism, whatever its ideological bias. Imbued, therefore, with a privileged critical vision, Orwell tried to characterize technology in his fiction as a crucial tool in this sense. Thus, it can be seen how the so-called “new technologies” have contributed to scrutinizing the lives of citizens in general in terms of technological devices added to data generation; not only governments, but so-called bigtechs have been unilaterally using their users' databases for unconventional purposes. In the light, therefore, of theorists such as Bauman (2013), Foucault (1987), La Boétie (1999) and Marx (1964), we will seek to analyze some of these problematized issues strongly addressed in “1984”, published in 1949, specifically when the technological use of the so-called “telescreens”, one of the most efficient devices of “Big Brother” surveillance and domination.

Keywords: George Orwell, oppression, technology, literature.