The TV show "Black Mirror" brought back an once forgotten genre:
the dystopian fictions.
If an utopia is fictional story where reason is used to built an ideal and undogmatic society,
with no myths,
in a dystopia, reason is used to support inequality,
through violence and mass control.
In "Black Mirror" this often happens through technology.
In the current scenario we are living in,
this genre is as important as ever.
Specially the works of three authors.
Today's video is about dystopias.
In 1953, Ray Bradbury published "Fahrenheit 451".
The reason behind its name is that 451 degrees Fahrenheit is
the paper combustion temperature.
One of the key points of this dystopia is the abandonment of reading habits and art.
It'd be forbidden to own books
and if found, they'd be burned.
There'd be interactive TV monitors in every house and it'd take up the owners' entire free time.
According to one of the books characters,
"Any man who can take a TV wall apart and put it back together again,
is happier than any man who tries to slide rule, measure, and equate the universe
which just won't be measured or equated without making man feel bestial and lonely."
The book's main critic is the replacement of art and philosophy by the cultural industry.
The department that burns the books rarely needs to do that
since people decided of their own free will not to ready anymore.
In 1949, George Orwell published his book "1984"
about a hypothetical future for the society he lived in.
Different than "Fahrenheit 451",
"1984" is a totalitarian and repressive regime.
The government controls all the information,
monitors people 24/7
and is even capable of controlling thoughts.
To explain how this is possible,
we have to understand the historical context.
The author's premise is that since Neolithic our society is divided in Inner Party,
Outer Party
and Proletariat.
This is the main structure of society and has never been altered.
The Inner Party aims to stay where they are;
the Outer Party, to switch place with the Inner Party
and the Proletariat generally has no objectives since they are overloaded with work
and rarely have a world view outside of their daily routine.
But when possible,
they aim to abolish the differences between classes
and to create a society where all men are equal.
From times to times.
the Outer Party would get support from the Proletariat
to start a revolution on the pretext of equality and freedom
and also, to remove the Inner Party from power.
They would take the Inner Party place
and would continue exploring the Proletariat
until another revolution starts.
From the Proletariat point of view,
no historical change or revolution would matter most than switching their masters.
The social structure cycle was observed by some intellectuals.
Some concluded that inequality is the unalterable law of life.
But according to George Orwell,
this is not true anymore.
While in the past inequality was the price for the creation of civilization
in a post industrial revolution period with a mechanized production
the real need for inequality ceased to exist.
People don't need to be divided in social classes.
This means that, for the Inner Party,
equality stopped being impossible
and became a risk.
Something to be avoided.
To keep their privilege was necessary to somehow establish a dominance hierarchy.
This is exactly what has being done.
By having money and privilege,
the Party stopped an Outer Party revolution to take their power.
By the Party's logic,
the past only exists in documents and in our memories
so if they destroy or alter documents
and kill or drive to madness those who remembers what happened
the Party controls what happened in the past.
O'Brien: "Photographs about what you've had,
hallucinations
which you believed you held in your hands,
they never existed."
He who controls the past controls the future.
He who controls the present controls the past.
On the other hand,
if the production is mechanized
there will be overproduction.
This overproduction cannot be converted into improving quality life or education.
If this ought to happen,
the masses would have political consciousness
and there would be popular discontent.
The Party's answer for this problem was war.
Orwell: "If you want a picture of the future,
imagine a boot stomping on the human face,
forever."
The essential act of war is destruction,
not necessarily of human lives,
but of the products of human labor.
It's a perfect way to constant deprive the population of resources
at the same time that a lot of manpower is allocated to produce war craft
which probably won't be used.
Besides that,
a war provides a constant sense of nationalism
and irrational hatred towards the enemy.
A war enemy works as a scapegoat to popular indignation.
It's necessary to avoid any contact between the population and the enemy
since this contact would show that they are human beings just like everybody else.
Orwell: "In our world there will be no emotions
except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement."
Last but not least,
the English Aldous Huxley published his classic "Brave New World".
In this reality,
everyone is biologically and psychologically pre-conditioned to live in harmony with society rules.
There are no family ties, romantic love and monogamy.
Thus, strong emotions that may cause pain and suffering wouldn't exist.
In opposition to "1984",
where control is kept by repression and violence,
in Huxley's work the control is kept by the pleasure.
There is no need for torture or information control.
Culture and information are drowned by a sea of superficial entertainment.
Art, philosophy and science are also left behind.
According to its ruler,
"you can’t make flivvers without steel—
and you can’t make tragedies without social instability."
Artistic manifestations like samba,
blues
and hip-hop
are results of pain and inequality.
They wouldn't exist in a society high on pleasure.
Bradbury, Huxley and Orwell somehow predicted the future.
The same way that two plus two can be five,
if the Party says so,
climate change will no longer exist if great world leaders decide so
and the official data about pollution and temperature are manipulated.
The same way,
the population can be conditioned to irrationally hate a minority,
or a different ethnicity.
Or the society can be daily bombarded with useless and superficial information
and become indifferent to philosophy or politics.
Bing: "All we know is fake fodder and buying shit.
That's how we speak to each other,
how we express ourselves is buying shit."
Although very different,
the message that "Black Mirror" and those authors send us
is basically the same.
Orwell: "The moral to be drawn from this dangerous nightmare situation is a simple one:
don't let it happen.
It depends on you."
♪ De Volta Para O Futuro - Fabio Brazza ♪
My name is Otavio
and this is another video from the Quadro em Branco project.
I had to read all three books to produce this video
and they're very good.
So, I recommend them.
Also, check the song playing at the end of this video.
Thank your for watching.
See you next video!
