Telescreen
Telescreens are devices that operate simultaneously as televisions, security cameras, and microphones. They are featured in George Orwell's dystopian 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four as well as all film adaptations of the novel. In the novel and its adaptations, telescreens are used by the ruling Party in the totalitarian fictional State of Oceania to keep its subjects under constant surveillance, thus eliminating the chance of secret conspiracies against Oceania.
All members of the Inner Party (upper-class) and Outer Party (middle-class) have telescreens in their homes, but the proles (lower-class) are not typically monitored as they are unimportant to the Party. As later explained in Emmanuel Goldstein's book of which Winston Smith reads some excerpts, the Party does not feel threatened by the Proles, assuming that they would never rebel on their own, and therefore does not find a need to monitor their daily lives. Telescreens are also located throughout the workplaces of Party members, and more are positioned in busy public areas of London. It is unclear whether they can be used anywhere in Airstrip One (Britain) other than London; the novel at one point suggests technical limitations, forcing the Party to use hidden microphones and patrols for surveillance purposes in the countryside.
The character O'Brien claims that he, as a member of the Inner Party, can turn off his telescreen (although etiquette dictates only for half an hour at a time). While the programmes could no longer be seen or heard, the screen still functioned as a surveillance device, as after Winston is taken into the Ministry of Love, the audio of his meeting with O'Brien with the telescreen "off" is played back to Winston. Winston, a member of the Outer Party, can only turn the volume on his telescreen down.
The screens are monitored by the Thought Police. However, it is not clear how many screens are monitored at once, or what the precise criteria (if any) for monitoring a given screen are (although it is seen that during an exercise programme that Winston takes part in every morning, the instructor can see him). As the book notes:
| “ | There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live--did live, from habit that became instinct--in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized. | ” |
Telescreen cameras do not have night vision technology, thus, they cannot monitor in the dark. This is compensated by the fact that their microphones are extremely sensitive, and they are said to pick up a heartbeat.
In addition to being surveillance devices, telescreens are also televisions. They broadcast propaganda about Oceania's military victories, economic production figures, spirited renditions of the national anthem to heighten patriotism, and Two Minutes Hate, which is a two-minute film of Emmanuel Goldstein's wishes for freedom of speech and press, which the citizens have been trained to disagree with through doublethink.
There is a reference to the situation that the telescreen, though a powerful means at the disposal of the regime, does not come free; people must pay to have it installed in their homes, as with television sets in contemporary society. Presumably, Party members have no choice about this; having to pay to have the telescreen in your home is one of the indispensable duties involved in Party membership.
Though rationally aware that the telescreen is just the means by which a human being can see them or talk to them, the psychological effect of them is such that Orwell's characters often tend to personify the telescreen and think in terms of the telesceen speaking to them or watching them, rather than any of the individuals using it. Moreover, the telescreen's omnipresence in private and public life significantly affects the behaviour of the characters. Winston, for example, makes a regular effort to not arouse suspicion from anyone who may be watching him through the telescreen. The novel describes his setting "his features into the expression of quiet optimism which it was advisable to wear when facing the telescreen," and notes that when Winston turns his back to it, "...as he well knew, even a back can be revealing."[1]
The word "telescreen" appears occasionally in the early Science Fiction novels of Robert Heinlein, published in the late 1940's - roughly concurrently with Orwell's book. As used by Heinlein, "telescreen" denoted simply what is now called "television", with none of the Orwellian sinister connotations. By the 1950's, the wide publicity of Orwell's book precluded further such usage.
See also
References
- ↑ Orwell, George (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four : A Novel (First ed.). London: Secker & Warbur. p. 4. ISBN 9780436350078. Search this book on
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