I don't suppose George Orwell had any idea when he wrote his book "1984" the term Big Brother would be used commonly in a TV show. Which reminds me I must put in an order on Amazon and re-read it again. Georgie was a great writer. The concept of the TV program is in part close to the notion of 1984 but on a minute scale. Rather than an entire world it takes place in a house. In real life today travelling through London you image will be recorded on multiple cameras, perhaps even in the hundreds. This may sound at first to be an exaggeration, but it really is not. In every form of public transport there will be multiple cameras. Buses have three or four, trains now have cameras in every car and as for taking the tube there is not a single foot step from one tube to the next which is not recorded on a camera. Walking in or past a shop may result in being recorded, and you can guarantee your mug is picked up at every ATM used. London is said to have more security cameras than any other capital, so there's another set of images. Then to consider your image would be recorded twice, once going through London and once coming back. It's therefore unavoidable. So it stands to reason every time you step foot outside make sure you combe your hair.
As I watch the contestants in the Big Brother game show, I get to know their faces and behaviours. They become familiar. While groups are created as small cliches prefer each other's company it's possible to see how they then perceive those who are not part of the in group. Although it would be easy to say their perceptions are flawed they are not. What they experience is real whether on camera or not. You can not act up to a camera every minute of every day so the true you, whoever the you happens to be will leak out. What we all like to see though for our own pleasure is the bitchiness, lets not beat about the bush. Yet bitchiness is one person giving their honest perception of another person, or perhaps false perception because they are playing the game and want other's to see they are not as bad or are as bad as they are. However, of all things I can't help think being in the Big Brother house is in many respects a trial of self understanding. One which can be very hard to do. For there is no escape, you can not always hide from people you don't like. In the real world yes, in the fictional Big Brother no. A true test of character is to see how each individual copes and particularly those individuals who had built up strong relationships with other persons only for that other person to be evicted from the household. It teaches one thing, no matter how much friendships can be mutually supported there is always a time when they do not exist and at such a time personal strength will mark the individual.
George Orwell's book was written in 1948, he reversed the last two numbers for the title of his book. But it was not submitted to the publishers until 1949. All is never as it seems. George Orwell is also a pseudonym, real name Eric Blair. He wasn't a posh writer, one who lived in a nice house and sat in a room to write in comfort. Eric dived into the world of poverty and wrote essays on what life was like for the working classes of Britain. Funny even in his book 1984 there is poverty and cohesion of what keeps people together. Whilst in a TV program life is someone laid back and certainly not poverty stricken. Particularly when remembering the winner will walk away with £100,000 quite a nice sum. Not including any TV endorsements they make, shows or other spin off from the celebrity-ism of sitting in a house and actually not doing anything productive to society. A bit like the bankers of today in some respects.or the wives of footballers. Which is what Big Brother does, it gives temporary stardom to people for not doing a thing. Maybe it makes me just as bad as I sit glued to the box each evening watching how they interact, or it could just be I am an observer of human behaviour, or maybe I just like to be a fly on the wall to a good bitching session. Lets just hope there's no sticky paper about.
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