logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2015
1h 5m

Ep 132 - 1984, by George Orwell (Bonus E...

HeadGum
About this episode

There's a reason why words like "Orwellian" and "thoughtcrime" have stuck in the public consciousness for more than 65 years, and that reason is George Orwell's 1984.

A denser, more complex read than Orwell's also-famous Animal Farm, 1984 is a story about systemic government oppression and the dark side of humanity. We lighten up the proceedings a bit with talk about not one but TWO Hank Williams Jr. songs, the wonders of modern technology, and criticism of criticism of criticism.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next
Today
Ep 717 - Bad Summer People, by Emma Rosenblum
As a reader, you cannot get upset if you read a book called "Bad Summer People" and it's filled with terrible people and all the stuff that they do to each other over the course of One Fateful Summer. You are allowed, of course, to get upset if you summered in the same place as t ... Show More
1h 2m
Aug 18
Ep 716 - An Extraordinary Union (Loyal League #1), by Alyssa Cole
The secret Union organization Elle Burns spies for swears by the four Ls: Loyalty. Legacy. Life. Lincoln. But what about…Love? Enter Malcolm MacCall, a brash but lovable Scot posing as a Confederate soldier. And the rest, as they say, is historical fiction. Also it’s a pretty suc ... Show More
1h 21m
Aug 11
Ep 715 - Mrs. Caliban, by Rachel Ingalls
We've all heard this story before—giant fish man escapes secret laboratory, giant fish man takes up with unfulfilled housewife, fish man and housewife have deeply meaningful affair, lots of people die. Tale as old as time! Suffice it to say the characters in Mrs. Caliban have a v ... Show More
56m 1s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2020
1984 Explained | George Orwell
George Orwell depicts what a world could possibly look like under an authoritarian regime in his dystopian novel 1984, coining neologisms such as Big Brother, Thoughtcrime and Doublethink.     Published in 1949, it remains highly influential in popular culture, and you have proba ... Show More
11m 12s
Aug 2019
Nineteen Eighty-Four: Orwell's dystopian classic
The vision of the future evoked in George Orwell’s last novel Nineteen Eighty-Four was so terrifying to its first readers that some claimed to be unable to sleep at night. When the book was adapted by the BBC for the new medium of television after Orwell’s death, millions became ... Show More
39m 46s
Oct 2021
Folge 1/4 von "1984"
Winston Smith arbeitet im 'Ministerium für Wahrheit‘ und ist damit beschäftigt, alte Zeitungsberichte und somit das vergangene Geschichtsbild fortlaufend an die gerade herrschende Parteilinie anzupassen. Doch Winston hegt Zweifel an dem totalitären System und notiert seine verbot ... Show More
1h 2m
Aug 2016
03 – How To Run An Efficient Dystopia – Taylorism and Science Fiction Cities
George & Luke survey three dystopian cities; the glass perfection of Yvegny Zamyatin’s ‘We’, the consumer World State of Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’, and the shattered ruin of George Orwell’s ‘1984’. Competing visions of technological progress gone awry, and the real-world ... Show More
1h 34m
Aug 2023
History of Ideas: George Orwell
This week David discusses George Orwell’s ‘The Lion and the Unicorn’ (1941), his great wartime essay about what it does – and doesn’t – mean to be English. How did the English manage to resist fascism? How are the English going to defeat fascism? These were two different question ... Show More
55m 46s
Mar 2023
Michael and Us: My Orwell Left or Right
George Orwell's popularity is at a new high in the post-Trump era, and he's been claimed by both the left and right. We discuss NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR (1984), Michael Radford's feature-film adaptation of Orwell's most famous novel, and try to rescue a self-described socialist from ... Show More
48m 31s
Aug 2017
George Orwell and Animal Farm
The novel Animal Farm was an allegory about the dangers of Soviet communism and of the communist leader Joseph Stalin. It was first published shortly after the end of World War Two, as the Cold War was just beginning. Louise Hidalgo has been speaking to Orwell's adopted son, Rich ... Show More
9m 3s
Mar 2024
Sandra Newman on her Retelling of 1984
Sandra Newman was given one assignment by the Orwell Estate: Re-write 1984 from the point of view of the character Julia.Julia: A Retelling of George Orwell’s 1984 
26m 8s