Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Megan James- 1984



The Story:

1984 is a 1949 novel that reflects a dystopia by George Orwell about an oligarchical, collectivist, oligarchical society. Life in the Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control. The individual is always subordinated to the state, and it is in part this philosophy which allows the Party to manipulate and control humanity. In the Ministry of Truth, protagonist Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating the Party's propaganda by revising historical records to render the Party omniscient and always correct, yet his meagre existence disillusions him to the point of seeking rebellion against Big Brother, eventually leading to his arrest, torture, and reconversion.


Thumbs:


Thumbs 1,2 & 3 are all type based. The lines would be type. I thought this would be appropriate for this story because of all the chaos that the main character constantly feels. The words would be jumbled and overlapped as well as different sizes and weights. The words would be emotions and words that are important to the story. I was thinking to have the background a close up picture of a motherboard or something along those lines. But faint, not too distracting.


4) For this one, I was thinking to use the concept of the telescreens that play an important role in the novel. I thought it'd be cool to make it look more collage-like and dated.


5) Room 101 contains everyones worst fear and the main character is sent there as punishment. I thought it'd be interesting to just play with the name and make it look like an apartment number and put the old doorknob on the cover. In the room, there are wire cages and that could add an interesting texture in the background.


6) In the room, the main character is strapped to a chair. I'd stage a picture and just crop in on that tension. This thumb is a little farther away than I want, but it was hard to sketch. I really want to just crop in on the hands strapped to the chair and whatever has to show behind it.


In all of these, I think I'll probably do a poster on the other side. It will just say Big Brother is Watching with an eye or something.



2 comments:

  1. I like the idea of number six, keeping the tension to the one person. Specially if you only see the hands, leaves more to the imagination, also puts one in their shoes. Could see the straps really tight though, like digging into the skin, slightly bleeding. Sounds like the govt would go to any length to silence.

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  2. How does the protagonist alter history? Does he alter books? If so then I think a type solution is the way to go. Have you considered using a block of type that has been censored or whited-out? The falling, overlapping text in #3 is really nice because it's kind of confusing and maybe hides words.

    #4 is creepy as hell but I really love it. You really get the "big brother" vibe. However, if you're planning on putting eyes on the backside as a poster, I think that eyes on the front would be overkill.

    #6 is also really interesting and would make me curious enough to pick the book off a shelf.

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