Orwell Subverted

Film and cinema..

George Orwell (1903–1950) is one of the most influential authors in the English language. His landmark novels Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) have been translated into many foreign languages and inspired numerous stage and film adaptations. His well-known essays “A Hanging” and “Shooting an Elephant” are widely anthologized and often taught in college composition classes. The writer is credited with inventing the terms “Big Brother,” “thought crime,” “unperson” and “double think.” His name itself has become an adjective—“Orwellian.” Seventy years after its publication, Nineteen Eighty-Four remains very popular, its sales surging in an era of enhanced surveillance and media manipulation. This literary companion provides an extensive chronology and more than 175 entries about both his literary works and personal life. Also included are discussion questions and research topics, notable quotations by Orwell and an extensive bibliography of related sources..

A vastly entertaining and unique history of the interaction between spying and showbiz, from the Elizabethan age to the Cold War and beyond. 'A treasure trove of human ingenuity' The Times Written by two experts in their fields, Stars and Spies is the first history of the extraordinary connections between the intelligence services and show business. We travel back to the golden age of theatre and intelligence in the reign of Elizabeth I. We meet the writers, actors and entertainers drawn into espionage in the Restoration, the Ancien Régime and Civil War America. And we witness the entry of spying into mainstream popular culture throughout the twentieth century and beyond - from the adventures of James Bond to the thrillers of John le Carré and long-running TV series such as The Americans. 'Thoroughly entertaining' Spectator 'Perfect...read as you settle into James Bond on Christmas afternoon.' Daily Telegraph.

An introductory guide to the life, work and legacy of George Orwell - one of the most influential literary twentieth-century figures..

George Orwell was an inveterate keeper of diaries. The Orwell Diaries presents eleven of them, covering the period 1931-1949, and follows Orwell from his early years as a writer to his last literary notebook. An entry from 1931 tells of a communal shave in the Trafalgar Square fountains, while notes from his travels through industrial England show the development of the impassioned social commentator. This same acute power of observation is evident in his diaries from Morocco, as well as at home, where his domestic diaries chart the progress of his garden and animals with a keen eye; the wartime diaries, from descriptions of events overseas to the daily violence closer to home, describe astutely his perspective on the politics of both, and provide a new and entirely refreshing insight into Orwell's character and his great works..

Personal as well as political, Orwell's letters offer a fascinating window into the mind of a phenomenal man. We are privy to snatched glimpses of his family life: his son Richard's developing teeth, the death of his wife Eileen, and his own illness. Candid portraits of Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War, his opinions on bayonets, and on the chaining of German prisoners display his magnificent talent as a political writer, and letters to friends and his publisher provide a unique insight into the development and publication of some of the most important novels in the English language. A Life in Letters features previously unpublished material, including letters which shed new light on a love that would haunt him for his whole life, as well as revealing the inspiration for some of his most famous characters. Presented for the first time in a dedicated volume, this selection of Orwell's letters is an indispensible companion to his diaries..

Discusses the characters, plot, and writing of Animal farm by George Orwell. Includes critical essays on the novel and a brief biography of the author..

 British author and essayist George Orwell shot to fame with two iconic novels: the anti–Stalinist satire Animal Farm and the dystopian masterpiece Nineteen Eighty-Four. A few years after his death in 1950, the CIA bankrolled screen adaptations of both novels as Cold War propaganda. Orwell’s depiction of a totalitarian police state captivated the media in the 1980s. Today, mounting anxieties about digital surveillance and globalization have made him a hot property in Hollywood. Drawing on interviews with actors, writers, directors and producers, this book presents the first comprehensive study of Orwell on film and television. Beginning with CBS’s 1953 live production of Nineteen Eighty-Four that mirrored the McCarthy witch hunts, the author covers 20 wide-ranging adaptations, documentaries and biopics, including two lost BBC dramatizations from 1965..

As a young man, Eric Blair, better known as George Orwell, traveled to Spain to fight in that country’s civil war. Although he was a British citizen, he felt the need to fight for the rights of the oppressed in that country. As the writer of the classics Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell used his pen to comment on power and corruption in government and how they affect society. This text takes an in-depth look at Orwell’s novels and essays in the context of his own fascinating life and times. It analyzes his style, themes, and use of language, while also asking readers to consider how this prescient author and his works are still relevant in today’s world..

Animation Behind the Iron Curtain is a journey of discovery into the world of Soviet era animation from Eastern Bloc countries. From Jerzy Kucia's brutally exquisite Reflections in Poland to the sci-fi adventure of Ott in Space by Estonian puppet master Elbert Tuganov to the endearing Gopo's little man by Ion Popescu-Gopo in Romania, this excursion into Soviet era animation brings to light magnificent art, ruminations on the human condition, and celebrations of innocence and joy. As art reveals the spirit of the times, animation art of Eastern Europe during the Cold War, funded by the Soviet states, allowed artists to create works illuminating to their experiences, hopes, and fears. The political ideology of the time ironically supported these artists while simultaneously suppressing more direct critiques of Soviet life. Politics shaped the world of these artists who then fashioned their realities into amazing works of animation. Their art is integral to the circumstances in which they lived, which is why this book combines the unlikely combination of world politics and animated cartoons. The phenomenal animated films shared in this book offer a glimpse into the culture and hearts of Soviet citizens who grew up with characters as familiar and beloved to them as Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny are to Americans. This book lays out the basic political dynamics of the Cold War and how those political tensions affected the animation industry in both the US and in the Eastern Bloc. And, for animation novices and enthusiasts alike, Animation Behind the Iron Curtain also offers breakout sections to explain many of the techniques and aesthetic considerations that go into this fascinating art form. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Cold War era and really cool animated films!.

A major literary event—the long-awaited publication of George Orwell's diaries, chronicling the events that inspired his greatest works. This groundbreaking volume, never before published in the United States, at last introduces the interior life of George Orwell, the writer who defined twentieth-century political thought. Written as individual books throughout his career, the eleven surviving diaries collected here record Orwell’s youthful travels among miners and itinerant laborers, the fearsome rise of totalitarianism, the horrific drama of World War II, and the feverish composition of his great masterpieces Animal Farm and 1984 (which have now sold more copies than any two books by any other twentieth-century author). Personal entries cover the tragic death of his first wife and Orwell’s own decline as he battled tuberculosis. Exhibiting great brilliance of prose and composition, these treasured dispatches, edited by the world’s leading Orwell scholar, exhibit “the seeds of famous passages to come” (New Statesman) and amount to a volume as penetrating as the autobiography he would never write..

The year 1955 was a watershed one for New York’s film industry: Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront took home eight Oscars, and, more quietly, Stanley Kubrick released the low-budget classic Killer’s Kiss. A wave of films that changed how American movies were made soon followed, led by directors such as Sidney Lumet, William Friedkin, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese. Yet this resurgence could not have occurred without a deeply rooted tradition of local film production. Richard Koszarski chronicles the compelling and often surprising origins of New York’s postwar film renaissance, looking beyond such classics as Naked City, Kiss of Death, and Portrait of Jennie. He examines the social, cultural, and economic forces that shaped New York filmmaking, from city politics to union regulations, and shows how decades of low-budget independent production taught local filmmakers how to capture the city’s grit, liveliness, and allure. He reveals the importance of “race films”—all-Black productions intended for segregated African American audiences—that not only helped keep the film business afloat but also nurtured a core group of writers, directors, designers, and technicians. Detailed production histories of On the Waterfront and Killer’s Kiss—films that appear here in a completely new light—illustrate the distinctive characteristics of New York cinema. Drawing on a vast array of research—including studio libraries, censorship records, union archives, and interviews with participants—“Keep ’Em in the East” rewrites a crucial chapter in the history of American cinema..

'This selection is a ceaseless delight ... there is a treat on almost every page' Daily Telegraph George Orwell wrote, in his words, from 'a desire to see things as they are'. This new collection of his journalism and other writings, including articles, essays, broadcasts, poems, book and film reviews from across his career, shows his unmatched genius for observing the world. Whether discussing Polish immigration or Scottish independence, railing against racism, defending the English language or holding an imaginary conversation with Jonathan Swift, these pieces reveal a clear-eyed, entertaining and eternally relevant chronicler of his age. Edited with an introduction by Peter Davison 'Orwell's luminous gift was for seeing things, for noticing what others missed, took for granted or simply found uninteresting, for discovering meaning and wonder in the familiarity of the everyday... Nothing escaped or seemed beneath his notice, which was what made him such a good reporter... Seeing Things As They Are is intended to be a collection first and foremost of his journalism, with preference given to lesser-known pieces and reviews as well as some of the poems he wrote. It is full of interest and curiosities' Jason Cowley, Financial Times 'Peter Davison gives us a feast of [Orwell's] shorter writings, showing how from such hesitant beginnings he evolved into the writer of enduring importance we know, committed to decency, equality and political honesty, who could nevertheless wax lyrical over the first signs of spring or an imaginary English pub' Gordon Bowker, Independent.

An in-depth study of the CIA’s collaboration with Hollywood since the mid-1990s, and the important and troubling questions it creates. What’s your impression of the CIA? A bumbling agency that can’t protect its own spies? A rogue organization prone to covert operations and assassinations? Or a dedicated public service that advances the interests of the United States? Astute TV and movie viewers may have noticed that the CIA’s image in popular media has spanned this entire range, with a decided shift to more positive portrayals in recent years. But what very few people know is that the Central Intelligence Agency has been actively engaged in shaping the content of film and television, especially since it established an entertainment industry liaison program in the mid-1990s. The CIA in Hollywood offers the first full-scale investigation of the relationship between the Agency and the film and television industries. Tricia Jenkins draws on numerous interviews with the CIA’s public affairs staff, operations officers, and historians, as well as with Hollywood technical consultants, producers, and screenwriters who have worked with the Agency, to uncover the nature of the CIA’s role in Hollywood. In particular, she delves into the Agency’s and its officers’ involvement in the production of The Agency, In the Company of Spies, Alias, The Recruit, The Sum of All Fears, Enemy of the State, Syriana, The Good Shepherd, and more. Her research reveals the significant influence that the CIA now wields in Hollywood and raises important and troubling questions about the ethics and legality of a government agency using popular media to manipulate its public image. “Fascinating, highly readable . . . Overall, Jenkins’s work is fresh and original, and demonstrates sound scholarship. The author has a passion for the topic that translates to vibrant writing. It is also a concise as well as entertaining look at an aspect of the CIA—its media relations with Hollywood—of which little is known. Enthusiastically written and incorporating effective, illustrative case studies, The CIA in Hollywood is definitely recommended to students of film, media relations, the CIA, and U.S. interagency relations.” —H-War.

This book analyses the principle of equality from three perspectives: public international law, private international law and EU law. It is the first book in English providing a comprehensive overview of this principle in these areas of law and showing the current trends and issues concerning its application. Its main goal is to understand whether and to what extent the principle of equality has been affirmed in public and private international law, as well as EU law, and what – if any – the common core of this principle is. The analysis carried out in this contributed volume starts from general analyses of the principle of equality in the areas of the law covered by the book and then discusses the principle in more specific areas, such as human rights law, international adjudication (including investment law) and the law of international organizations. The book is intended to become a benchmark for academics dealing with matters of equality in public international law, private international law and EU law. It will be a useful tool for practitioners too, the collected chapters being based on the relevant case law dealing with the principle of equality. Daniele Amoroso is Professor of International Law in the Department of Law of the University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy. Loris Marotti is Assistant Professor of International Law in the Department of Law at the Federico II University of Naples, Italy. Pierfrancesco Rossi is Postdoctoral Fellow in International Law in the Department of Law of Luiss University, Rome, Italy. Andrea Spagnolo is Professor of International Law in the Department of Law of the University of Turin, Turin, Italy. Giovanni Zarra is Professor of International Law and International Litigation in the Department of Law at the Federico II University of Naples, Italy..

How cross-species companionship is figured across a variety of media--and why it matters..

Film Criticism, the Cold War, and the Blacklist examines the long-term reception of several key American films released during the postwar period, focusing on the two main critical lenses used in the interpretation of these films: propaganda and allegory. Produced in response to the hearings held by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) that resulted in the Hollywood blacklist, these films’ ideological message and rhetorical effectiveness was often muddled by the inherent difficulties in dramatizing villains defined by their thoughts and belief systems rather than their actions. Whereas anti-Communist propaganda films offered explicit political exhortation, allegory was the preferred vehicle for veiled or hidden political comment in many police procedurals, historical films, Westerns, and science fiction films. Jeff Smith examines the way that particular heuristics, such as the mental availability of exemplars and the effects of framing, have encouraged critics to match filmic elements to contemporaneous historical events, persons, and policies. In charting the development of these particular readings, Film Criticism, the Cold War, and the Blacklist features case studies of many canonical Cold War titles, including The Red Menace, On the Waterfront, The Robe, High Noon, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers..