Anomalies and paradoxes in George Orwell's 1984, and David James Armsby’s short animated film ‘The Immortal Machine’

Humans are complex, humans are fascinating. Surviving on the small blue marble for around 200,000 years, we incorporate emotions, feelings, behaviour, sentiments and conscience that define us who we are, that define us as the rulers of the marble. We strive to achieve perfection in every aspect of our lives possible. Why? Perfection is a state of complete excellence, to overcome the inadequacies of our lives, to ensure stability in our lives. But perfection comes with a cost that deteriorates the concept of stability that cost is flaws and anomalies. Havelock Ellis once said, ‘The absence of flaw in beauty, is itself a flaw.’ These words reveal the importance of flaws in any form of art. Every flaw is an opportunity to grow and to connect. It brings us together as something we share with every other being on this planet.

Flaws are imperfections, an undesirable quality. Flaws expose the true and complex fabric of human experience. Flaws allow the authors to manufacture realistic and fascinating ideas since flaws ignite desire, a desire to conquer them to achieve perfection and self-satisfaction. Flaws disclose the inner workings of a character exposing their perception of the world. Anomalies and paradoxes in Orwell’s 1984 and James Armsby’s The Immortal Machine are largely associated with the protagonists being the flaws in the community, causing an imbalance in the supposed balanced world. They are able to draw comparisons between the past and the present which empowers them to rebel and revolt. The flaw further permits them to reveal their true workings as they stood up against the party, their mindset allowed them to connect with the people as flaw is the quality that we share with everyone on the planet. Flaws, anomalies and paradoxes ought to be incorporated into the gears of the texts and storytelling in order to magnify the true human nature and to allow for communities to come together as they define us as humans.

George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and David James Armsby’s short animated film ‘The Immortal Machine’, are both constructed around a dystopian society where control and oppression are the masters, depicting the protagonist as the flaw that arises as stability is approached. This control and stability is achieved through language manipulation, brainwashing and conditioning. The protagonists are displayed as being rebellious due to the anomalies and paradoxes that they bear as humans. Where George Orwell characterises Winston as rebellious and against the laws of the community dictated by the Big brother and the Party, David James stages exceptional woman as being unable to recall the past, recall her identity and her family, questioning her existence and resisting the contemporary framework. These two pieces of art, at their core, depict anomalies and paradoxes in order to demonstrate the accurate features of human perception and behaviour and to enhance the fascination around the texts.

So, to what extent these two texts or forms of art are successfully able to portray the importance and relevance of anomalies and paradoxes to capture the complex and complicated human experience?

In 1984, George Orwell depicted a totalitarian government headed by big brother, illustrating the importance that language plays in shaping our thoughts and opinions. Orwell presents a society constantly under surveillance. The personal anomalies and paradoxes recognized in Winston are evident when Winston found himself a part of the Two Minutes hate, a period that focuses all the hatred in society towards a target. The paradox of hating Big Brother while cheering during the two-minute speech is magnified when “[he] found that he was shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the rung of his chair.” The use of verbs highlights the anger that was pumped into him through the means of two-minute hate. The diction of ‘found’ describes the dialectical paradox which denotes that a condition and the opposite of the condition can both be true at the same time and co-exist together. As he ‘found’ himself going against his will, kicking the chair in favour of BB while hating him at the same instance, which magnifies him as a flaw in the community, questioning his actions. Furthermore, the descriptive language “the dark-haired girl behind him. Vivid, beautiful hallucinations flashed through his mind” portrays Winston as observing the people around him, being the outsider in the crowd, not just physical but emotional as well which exhibits the card paradox, which expresses that the previous statement is false and the current statement is true. The juxtaposition of hallucinations is usually seen as horrifying, signs of problems but beautiful contrasts that as appealing expressing Winston’s deviations. The adjective (beautiful) limelights these flaws putting flaws equal to beautiful, while the descriptive language adds on to the flaws and anomalies of Winston. This paradox depicts Winston confining human qualities which provides the reader with a sense of connection and relation through the common quality of flaw. Towards the end of the novel, the flaw is re-captured in order to emphasize the importance of flaws in human nature and experience. Winston is brutally tortured and forced to give up his humanity for the sake of eternal power and stability in Ingsoc, due to his emergence as a rebel. “He had the feeling that O’Brien was his protector, that the pain was something that came from outside, from some other source, and that it was O’Brien who would save him from it.” A clear collective paradox is evident that Winston perceives, similar to one observed during the two-minute hate, Hating the pain he is bearing where O’Brien is the reason behind the pain, and also considering O’Brien as the saviour. Collective due to the fact that society perceives BB in the same manner. The juxtaposition intensifies this paradox as O’Brien is succeeding in altering Winston, whereas Winston is failing to retain his humanity and human qualities of having control over his spirit and will. This late linking of the paradoxical and flawed nature of humanity depicted through Winston, allowed him to stand out of the crowd and see the harsh reality which fabricates interest and fascination amongst the readers. These flaws also allow for readers to relate and connect with the ideas Orwell tried to portray, retaining human qualities, being able to define ourselves as a single community and the extent to which language is crucial in our society as language is able to fabricate dynamic and vivid societies where love pumps the community and also being able to annihilate brotherhood and human qualities, utilising hate to pump the same society.

On the other hand, ‘The Immortal Machine’ depicts a supposed utopia where an ‘Exceptional Girl’ discovers the horrific truth and is promptly captured by the mechanical guards known as the handymen. The personal anomalies and paradoxes recognised in Exceptional Girl are evident when the Mayor recites the Autodale forbidden fairytale. Describing the reason to the contemporary community, due to apocalyptic events which led to an inventor saving lives with the help of a goddess. The paradox of trusting the dictator, the Mayor, hiding the truth, while being forced to put faith in him in order to view the full picture is highlighted when The Exceptional Girl anticipates The Mayor’s credibility, “What did he want with you? What did he say? What did he say?”. The rhetorical question highlights the lottery paradox which expresses that though winning a lottery is almost impossible, people still take part in it. Her finding the trust is almost impossible but she is still waiting. It describes her questioning the foundation of such a community where truth is to be kept secret in order to function. This rhetorical question is followed by hesitation to go and understand the true nature of the world. A clear paradox is observed, where ‘Exceptional Girl’ was convicted for causing an imbalance and attempting to understand the hidden reality and was now hesitating the opportunity she was being awarded in order to reveal the reality. This exhibits the personality of humans, as creatures encompassing creativity and curiosity we strive to understand our world. When provided an opportunity for something we desire, we hesitate. This is due to fear of death and insecurities due to the unpredictability of the future. The unpredictability of the opportunity she was offered caused hesitation which portrays her as a human being, allowing the readers to feel connected and sympathetic towards the character. A low angle shot of the mayor conveys power and control whereas a high angle shot of the ‘Exceptional Girl’ depicts inferiority. This emphasises the paradox as she is willing to trust the mayor who is responsible for her inferiority. The flaw of `Exceptional girl’ of perceiving the handymen as enemies due to their mass killing of ‘uglies’ in order to sustain the community is depicted through the descriptive language, “There are no monsters here, sweetie. Dreadful, heavy, meta footsteps with tinny, cheery voices.” The foreshadowing, ‘no monster here’ prioritises the flaw that dwells within the exceptional girl. The POV shot allows the viewers to view robots through the eyes of the exceptional girl which allows the short film to magnify the flaw as she perceived the robots to be cruel and sinners whereas they were a key factor of survival as their mass killings led to the survival of Goddess which in turn ensures safety, protection and continuation of humans as a race and a community. These flaws and paradoxes make the exceptional girl a beguiling character as her curious nature and a desire to know the truth combined with the flaws and paradoxes portray her as a human being, which allows the viewers to connect and associate with the characters. It also allows the directors to ignite ideas and thoughts in the readers to challenge the commonly accepted laws and to revolutionize the community for the welfare of humanity.

In conclusion, ‘1984’ and ‘The immortal machine’ don’t just fabricate tantalizing characters with human-like features and emotions but are able to construct personalities that incorporate human qualities, in order to permit readers to associate with the character’s flaws, something that we share with every human being on the planet. Thus, integrating them is of utmost importance and both texts are successful in portraying the complexity of human experience through a comprehensive presentation of flaws, paradoxes and inconsistencies.