Big Brother as portrayed in the BBC's 1954 production of Nineteen Eighty-Four.

"Big Brother" is a fictional character in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the enigmatic dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state taken to its utmost logical consequence. In the society that Orwell describes, everybody is under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens. The people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase "Big Brother is watching you", which is the core "truth" of the propaganda system in this state. Image File history File links Uploaded to illustrate Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, invariably known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Peter Cushing played Winston Smith while Donald Pleasence played Syme. ... A fictional character is any person who appears in a work of fiction. ... It has been suggested that Eileen OShaughnessy be merged into this article or section. ... Nineteen Eighty-Four (commonly abbreviated to 1984) is a dystopian novel by the English writer George Orwell, and first published by Secker and Warburg in 1949. ... ]] originally limited to a term -commonly of six months or the duration of a military conflict- and lacked power over the public finances. ... Oceania is one of the three super-states in George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, and is the location of the novels version of London, where Winston Smith, the main character, lives. ... Totalitarianism is a typology employed by political scientists, especially those in the field of comparative politics, to describe modern regimes in which the state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavior. ... Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The physical description of "Big Brother" is reminiscent of Joseph Stalin or Lord Kitchener. In the novel, it is not clear if he actually exists as a person, or is an image crafted by the state. However, since Inner Party torturer O'Brien at one point tells Winston Smith that Big Brother can never die, the apparent implication is that Big Brother is the personification of the party. In a book supposedly written by the rebel Emmanuel Goldstein (but later revealed to have a more complex origin) it is stated that "nobody has ever seen Big Brother. He is a face on the hoardings, a voice on the telescreen… Big Brother is the guise in which the Party chooses to exhibit itself to the world. His function is to act as a focusing point for love, fear, and reverence, emotions which are more easily felt towards an individual than towards an organization." (See Goldstein's book) Stalin redirects here. ... Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum (June 24, 1850 - June 5, 1916) was a British Field Marshal and statesman. ... In the world of George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Party which controls Oceania is split into two halves: the Inner Party and the Outer Party. ... Torture is any act by which severe pain, whether physical or psychological, is intentionally inflicted on a person as a means of intimidation, deterrence, revenge, punishment, sadism, or information gathering. ... André Morell as OBrien in the 1954 BBC Television adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... Peter Cushing as Winston Smith in the 1954 BBC Television adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four, with Donald Pleasence as Syme. ... Emmanuel Goldstein is a key character in George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism as featured in the 1984 film Goldsteins book is a fictional book which is an important element in both the plot and the overall theme of George Orwells dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ...

In Party propaganda, however, Big Brother is presented as a real person, who was one of the founders of the Party along with Emmanuel Goldstein. At one point in the year 1984, the protagonist of Orwell's novel tries "to remember in what year he had first heard mention of Big Brother. He thought it must have been at some time in the sixties, but it was impossible to be certain. In the Party histories, of course, Big Brother figured as the leader and guardian of the Revolution since its very earliest days. His exploits had been gradually pushed backwards in time until already they extended into the fabulous world of the forties and the thirties, when the capitalists in their strange cylindrical hats still rode through the streets of London in great gleaming motor-cars or horse carriages with glass sides. There was no knowing how much of this legend was true and how much invented." Emmanuel Goldstein is a key character in George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ...

In the year 1984, Big Brother (as seen on posters and on the telescreen) appears as a ruggedly handsome man of about 45. If so, he could hardly have had an active role in politics already in the 1940s, suggesting that his evolving biography is pure invention. If his image was first introduced in the 1960s, 45 would have been a reasonable age if he had been politically active since the 1940s. But like any (other) character, he apparently stayed the same age indefinitely.

Big Brother's supposed real name is never mentioned. It is not clear from Orwell's novel if it is even publicly known.

Big Brother (on the telescreens) in the 1984 film version.

Image File history File links Telescreen. ... Image File history File links Telescreen. ...

Love of Big Brother

The loyal citizens of Oceania do not fear Big Brother, but in fact love and revere him. They feel he protects them from the evils out there. The purported love is illustrated in the end of the Two Minutes Hate: In George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Two Minutes Hate is a daily period in which Party members of the society of Oceania must watch a film depicting The Partys enemies (notably Emmanuel Goldstein and his followers) and express their hatred for them. ...

At this moment the entire group of people broke into a deep, slow, rhythmic chant of 'B-B! .... B-B! .... B-B!'—over and over again, very slowly, with a long pause between the first 'B' and the second—a heavy mumurous sound, somehow curiously savage, in the background of which one seemed to hear the stamps of naked feet and the throbbing of tom-toms. For perhaps as much as thirty seconds they kept it up. It was a refrain that was often heard in moments of overwhelming emotion. Partly it was a sort of hymn to the wisdom and majesty of Big Brother, but still more it was an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise.[1] Image File history File links Cquote1. ...

Though Oceania's three other ministries are considered to have names with meanings inverse of the organization's purpose, the Ministry of Love is perhaps the closest to the truth in that it works to restore a prisoner's love towards Big Brother. Image File history File links Cquote2. ... The Ministry of Truth (or Minitrue, in Newspeak) was one of the four ministries that govern Airstrip One, Oceania in George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... The Ministry of Plenty (in Newspeak, Miniplenty) is one of the ministries from George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four that governs Oceania. ... The Ministry of Peace (Newspeak: Minipax) is one of four ministries in George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ... The Ministry of Love (or Miniluv in Newspeak) is one of the four ministries that govern Airstrip One, Oceania in George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ...

Purported origins of Big Brother

In the essay section of his novel 1985, Anthony Burgess states that Orwell got the idea for Big Brother from advertising hoardings current during WWII for educational correspondence courses run by a company called Bennett's. 1985 is a novel written by English writer Anthony Burgess and published in 1978. ... Anthony Burgess (February 25, 1917 – November 22, 1993) was an English novelist and critic. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... An old-fashioned form of distance learning, a correspondence course is a course in which the student studies at home, receiving his/her work by mail and sending it back to the instructor in the same fashion. ...

The original posters are claimed to have shown Bennett himself - a kindly looking old man offering guidance and support to would-be students, with the slogan "Let me be your father."

When Bennett died, his company was inherited by his son, whose rather aggressive-looking face appeared on the posters instead, accompanied by the unappealing slogan: "Let me be your big brother".

The ideological basis for Big Brother likely comes from Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace, particularly the discussion of the science of history in part two of that book's epilogue. Napoleon Bonaparte and various other military and political figures traditionally revered as geniuses, are presented in the theory of history Tolstoy opposes as the cause of the movement of humanity and nations. Orwell appears to call upon this previous work by his invention of just such a patriarchal figure. Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: , Lev Nikolaevič Tolstoj), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) was a Russian novelist, philosopher, Christian anarchist, pacifist, educational reformer, vegetarian, moral thinker and an influential member of the Tolstoy... War and Peace (Russian: Война и мир, Vojna i mir; in original orthography: Война и миръ, Vojna i mir) is an epic novel by Leo Tolstoy, first published from 1865 to 1869, which tells the story of Russian society during the Napoleonic Era. ... Napoleon I Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from...

The historical background during which Orwell wrote his work included several national leaders who had held considerable power, including British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Soviet premier Joseph Stalin. Stalin, among other leaders, is often cited to have developed a cult of personality around himself. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is in practice the most important political office in the UK. He acts as the head of Her Majestys Government and like other Prime Ministers in Westminster Systems is (along with his Cabinet) the de facto... This article is becoming very long. ... United States is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... FDR redirects here. ... Motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Russian: Workers of the world, unite!) Anthem(s): The Internationale (1922-1944) Hymn of the Soviet Union (1944-1991) Capital Moscow Largest city Moscow Official language(s) None; Russian de facto Government Federation of Soviet Republics  - Last President Mikhail Gorbachev  - Last Premier Ivan Silayev... Premier of the Soviet Union is the commonly used English term for the offices of Chairman of the Council of Peoples Commissars of the USSR (Председатель Совета Народных Комиссаров СССР; Predsedatel Soveta Narodnykh Komissarov SSSR) (1923-1946) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Председатель Совета Министров СССР; Predsedatel Soveta Ministrov SSSR) (1946-1991), who... Stalin redirects here. ... Billboard of Joseph Stalin. ...

Response to Big Brother today

Since the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the phrase "Big Brother" has entered general usage, to describe any overly-inquisitive or overly-controlling authority figure or attempts by government to increase surveillance. The reality TV program Big Brother takes its name from Nineteen Eighty-Four and a similarly named figure is big mama — the informal name for the Internet censor on web boards in the People's Republic of China. Reality television is a genre of television programming which presents unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and features ordinary people over professional actors. ... The original Big Brother logo Big Brother is a popular reality television format, where for around three months, a number of contestants (normally fewer than fifteen at any one time) try to avoid periodic publicly-voted evictions from a communal house and hence win a cash prize. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The magazine Book ranked Big Brother #59 on its 100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900 list.

In October of 2006 USA Today listed Big Brother as #2 on their list of Imaginary Luminaries: the 101 most influential people who never lived.[1] USA Today is a national American newspaper published by the Gannett Corporation. ...

References

1. ^ Orwell, George (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four.

See also

• Cult of personality
• Mass surveillance