Essay on Power and the Individual

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An individual can only gain freedom when they challenge the majority. In Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”, Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report” and Michael Radford’s “1984” the protagonists challenge the law in order to gain freedom. The composers of these texts use film and literary devices to effectively create atmosphere to portray dominance and evoke emotion.
Bradbury denotes the concept that an individual’s disempowerment or loss is the cause of their rebellion against the majority. Through the use of the motif of the phoenix, the symbol of the phoenix’s resurrection is comparable to Montag’s disempowerment at the time where his house is burnt down. This ultimately is the catalyst for Montag’s rebellion against the majority. Similarly, in Minority Report Spielberg uses an extreme close-up on the protagonist, John’s face when he is viewing the vision of him committing the murder. The extreme close-up allows viewers to see the disbelief and nervousness on John’s face. At this point viewers can fully comprehend that John has lost his authoritative figure in society and is also the beginning of his rebellion towards the dominant regime to gain his freedom. In conjunction to this, is the lighting used by Radford to portray powerlessness. The dark lighting through the use of a filtered lens creates a dejected atmosphere. This portrays Winston’s disempowered conformist character. However, the use of bright and natural colours such as green display when Winston is rebelling against the regime by being intimate with another person. This is a visual representation of Winston’s feeling of freedom. This further proves the idea that an individual’s disempowerment or loss is the cause of their rebellion. The rebellion of all 3 protagonists’ against their respective regimes is induced by the desire for freedom.
Spielberg utilised the ability to convey dominance through film techniques to give viewers a visual interpretation of control. The low angle shot of John Anderton in his clash with his anti-protagonist (Leo Crowe) emphasises his empowerment. The repetitive designation of “It was a pleasure to burn” from the outset of the book to the scene where Montag burns his house down is a demonstration of Montag’s authority as it depicts Montag as having control once more after his gradual downfall throughout the novel. Radford portrays Winston’s desire to become an individual using a transition of a close-up shot to a long shot in the scene where he is writing in his diary. This displays Winston avoiding the direct line of sight from the telescreens in order to write in his diary. As having your own thoughts is considered a crime in this society, Winston is essentially rebelling to separate himself from the social order. The reason for challenging the majority is the yearning to become an individual, a person who isn’t forced to constantly live in fear of being captured.
The notion that no objective can be achieved without having to
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