What Are The Similarities Between The Matrix And 1984

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The 1999 film The Matrix and George Orwell's novel 1984 share similarities. Both cinematic and literacy masterpieces illustrate how people are tyrannized in a dystopian society, show how centralized authority controls people and demonstrate the key role of resistance.
In the film The Matrix and in the novel 1984 the population is oppressed in a dystopian world. In both cases, the people are mislead into believing an entirely false reality. As George Orwell describes in 1984, people are led to believe that everything that Big Brother says is truthful and absolute. Winston, the protagonist in 1984 works for the Ministry of Truth. His occupation at this ministry is to construct lies that fit with the government's current interpretation of reality. As stated by Winston on page 78, "The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth." This authenticates the statement that people are mislead into believing a false reality as history is altered and erased. Likewise, in the film The Matrix, the robots create a …show more content…

The centralized authority which the people are controlled by is the government. For instance, in 1984 the people are controlled by Big Brother and in The Matrix the people are controlled by the robots. Both of these parties acting as a form of dictatorship are able to control individuals by mental and physical means. For example in 1984, Big Brother uses the Thought Police to find out what is on everyones mind and thereby know their thoughts. He also use microphones and telescreens to spy and listen to any individual at any given time. Similarly in The Matrix, the robots are in control of the humans. From birth, humans are plugged in, controlled and are used as a source of electricity to run the robots. In both works, the theme of using centralized authority and power to control individuals is

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