Telescreen

File:Telescreen.png

Big Brother's face looms on giant telescreens in Victory Square in Michael Radford's 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Telescreens are most prominently featured in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, although notably they have an earlier appearance in the 1936 Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times. They are television and security camera-like devices used by the ruling Party in 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, but the proles (lower-class) are not typically monitored as they are unimportant to the Party. In Smith's conversation with the shop keeper Charrington, it is mentioned that "Telescreens are too expensive" and Proles can't afford them (presumably, for Party Members purchasing them is obligatory, though this is not explicitly stated).

O'Brien claims that he, as a member of the Inner Party, can turn off the telescreen (although etiquette dictates only for half an hour at a time). It is possible that this was false and the screen still functioned as a surveillance device, as after Winston and Julia are taken into the Ministry of Love, their conversation with the telescreen "off" is played back to Winston. The screens are monitored by the Thought Police. However, it is never made explicitly clear how many screens are monitored at once, or what the precise criteria (if any) for monitoring a given screen are (although we do see that during an exercise program that Winston takes part in every morning, the instructor can see him, meaning telescreens are possibly a variant of video phones); Telescreens do not have night vision technology, thus, they cannot surveille in the dark; this is compensated by the fact that telescreens are incredibly sensitive, and can pick up a heartbeat. As Winston describes, "...even a back can be revealing..."^[1]

Telescreens, in addition to being surveillance devices, are also the equivalent of televisions (hence the name), regularly broadcasting false news reports 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. Much of the telescreen programs are given in Newspeak.

The word "Telescreen" also appears in Robert Heinlein's "Space Cadet", written at the same time as Orwell's book - where it simply refers to an instrument similar to a big television, with none of Orwell's sinister connotations.

References

^ Nineteen Eighty-Four

[1] Nineteen Eighty-Four

[1]

See also

References