Power_Play

Power play is the use of tactics intending to increase a person’s physical or psychological power. One tactic is the use of language. Language can be used by those in power to control the thoughts and actions of individuals. This control can be seen in George Orwell’s novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’, ‘Tank Girl’ directed by Rachel Talalay and Anita Heiss’ poem ‘What is The Spirit of Australia'’ All three texts illustrate the various ways that language can be used to manipulate the thoughts and actions of others. George Orwell’s novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ is strongly based around the media of Oceania. This is because the media is one method the Inner-Party uses to control the members of its society. One technique of the media is intimidation. This can be seen on page four of the novel when the reader is being introduced to the city of Oceania. “The black-moustachio’d face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house-front immediately opposite. Big Brother is Watching You, the caption said, while dark eyes looked deep into Winston’s own.” This example shows how the media intimidated residents into submission. This can be seen through the use of the adjective ‘dark’ when describing Big brothers eyes and the description of the text on the poster, ‘Big Brother is Watching You’. Both of these are intimidating features of the poster which insure that residents know that nothing they do will go unnoticed. This example shows the strong influence language has on the individual. Another example of the Party’s use of the media is through their slogan. This slogan tells the people of Oceania to believe in contradictions. Although it does not make sense they have been told to trust it so they do. This slogan can be found on page 6 of the novel, ‘War is Peace Freedom is Slavery Ignorance is Strength’. The use of the oxymoron throughout this slogan forces the residents of Oceania to accept these contradictions. This also makes them accept that the way they live, although it is hard, is how their leaders have told them to live so is the right way. This use of language keeps individuals subdued and stops them from questioning the Party’s decisions which means the Party has power to do what they want and not have to consider the rest of the people in their community. Both of these examples show how language can be used in different ways but still finish with the same result: the control of a whole city. Another technique used in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ by Orwell is the destruction of words in the English language to create a new spoken language. This new language is called newspeak and is the Inner-Party’s greatest weapon in controlling the thoughts of individuals. The aim of newspeak is to narrow the range of thought which will leave peoples’ minds easier to control. An explanation of this can be seen on page 55 when Winston is talking to Syme about it. “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought' In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because here will be no words in which to express it.” The use of the rhetorical question in this example makes the reader think about what the actual aim of Newspeak is. The immediate answer after it then shows the reader that again this is for complete control over the population of Oceania. As the reader reads further into the book it is revealed that not only will the Party have ultimate control but the Revolution will be complete. The reader learns this when Syme says, “The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect.”(p.g.55). The use of the adjective ‘perfect’ in this example gives this destruction of a language good connotations and shows how even the intelligent people of the community do not think for themselves and believe that everything the Party does is in the best interest of the people. This shows how much control the Party already has over the individual and gives insight into how much more control they would gain if they were to ‘perfect’ the language. These examples clearly show the Party’s intention of using language to control every thought and action of the individuals of Oceania. The movie ‘Tank Girl’ directed by Rachel Talalay (1995), shows the influence language can have on individuals in a different way. Like ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ ‘Tank Girl’ uses intimidation. In a world that has not experienced rain for eleven years, water is the most precious commodity. Kesslee, the owner of Water and Power, who owns almost all the water in the world, uses intimidation extensively throughout the film. One example is when Kesslee murders one of the men who work for him in front of his colleagues and then hands the dead man’s job to Sergeant Small. “Sergeant Small, it’s your show now. Please…try not to let me down.” The use of the pause creates suspense which adds to the intimidation. In this example the use of violence also contributes to the impact of the intimidation used by Kesslee. The language alone in this scene would not have been enough to give the full impact of the intimidation, so the violence before hand was necessary. Another example of Kesslee using intimidation is at the end of the film when he and Rebecca are fighting and he corners her and says, “I won and you know it. Come on say it, say it, just say I won.” This example shows how much Kesslee needs power and control and also how unstable he really is. When he says this, Rebecca mocks him and refuses to submit to him and this obviously frustrates him when he repeats his demand. The use of the repetition of the words ‘say it’ reinforces Kesslee’s need for power and control with Rebecca being one of the only things he can’t. Both of these examples show how intimidating the spoken word can be when accompanied with violence. They also show how people will surrender and be controlled by a greater power when they are frightened. One other way the thoughts and actions are controlled on ‘Tank Girl’ is through written rules. Unlike Orwell’s novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ were there are no written rules in ‘Tank Girl’ there are many. These rules restrict the actions of individuals. One example of these rules being enforced is when there is scene with prisoners being herded into their cells by armed guards and the audience hears a loud speaker says, ‘End of Shift, all prisoners return to cells’. The combination of the robotic voice of the speaker and the armed guards tells the audience that these prisoners have no choice but to do what they are told. This also shows how people in fear will submit to the controller and not fight back. The dialogue in this scene is said in a short sentence in a cold robotic voice which helps to give the picture that these prisoners are trapped and have no hope. This shows that to make a person feel they have no hope will make them easily trapped in the situation they are in. Another example of rules controlling the actions of individuals is when the audience sees a close-up shot of a wall which slowly pans out to see that the wall is actually covered with rules. One example of these rules is, “Hoarding water rations is a violation”. The use if short sentences in this example and words such as ‘rations’ show how restricted these peoples lives are. Both these examples demonstrate how even the simplest forms of language can control peoples thoughts and actions. Anita Heiss, an Aboriginal poet, uses the poem ‘What is the Spirit of Australia'’ to show a different side of people in power using language to control the thoughts and actions of individuals. Heiss shows how the Australian government pushes the Australian spirit onto its citizens so that people don’t look below the surface at Australia’s history. Heiss shows that the government ensures that the ‘Australian Spirit’ is commercialized and ‘sugar coated’ so that the general public takes pride in this false reality. One example of this in the poem is, “…or an image of young Australians-in choir outfits strategically positioned at the base of Uluru singing ‘I Still Call Australia Home’'” When the reader reads this they know that a choir would not be happily singing at Uluru because in reality the desert is hot, dusty and dirty and not a comfortable place to be but Heiss is trying to show that government wants the Australian nation to just see the choir singing ‘I Still Call Australia Home’ and take pride in that, not think about the reality. The use of the adverb ‘strategically’ lets the reader know that Heiss dose not take pride in this and can see through it. This example shows how the government uses language and media to commercialize the Australian Spirit. Another example of this false reality created by the media and government is in the second stanza, “Is it basking in Winter Olympic glory when an Aussie wins gold because everyone else in the race falls over'” This example uses humor to create a slap stick mental image. Heiss has done this to keep her poem lighthearted to lift its satirical undertone. This too shows how the Australian Spirit has been commercialized through language. Both these examples show how the Australian government manipulates the thoughts of Australians through the language of the media. Anita Heiss also shows how the government exploits the mysteriousness of the ‘Spirit of Australia’ and uses it as a major marketing scheme. Heiss is making a statement that although the Australian Spirit is meant to be indefinable the government can still make money out of it. This is shown in the last stanza, “But, it seems the ‘Spirit of Australia’ is an indefinable essence of Aussie-Dom which can apparently be bought, marketed, logoed, animalized, idolized, bastardized and accessorized.” Heiss uses irony in this example because although the public are told that the ‘Spirit of Australia’ is mysterious and indescribable it is still possible for it to be bought, marketed and completely commercialized. This again shows how influential language can be when used correctly by those in power. The fact that the ‘Spirit of Australia’ is so mysterious and is advertised this way it makes people want a piece of it even more. Heiss also explores the advertisement of the Australian Spirit. This can be seen the sixth stanza “Is it to be found on the ‘Capture the Spirit of Australia’ website owned by a US-based company'” She again uses irony in this example but in this she uses it to create humor. This example also reinforces how commercial the ‘Spirit of Australia’ has become. Both these examples show how the government can manipulate the image of the Australian Spirit and just present this to the public, who accept it because it is what is being fed to them through the media. This use of the media to persuade people to think in a certain way is similar to that of ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’. This is just one way language can manipulate the thoughts and actions of the individual. When looking at language in relation to power play it is possible too see that it is a powerful tool for those in power. Language can be used to increase a person’s physical or psychological power by controlling the thoughts and actions of individuals. George Orwell’s novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’, ‘Tank Girl’ directed by Rachel Talalay and Anita Heiss’ poem ‘What is The Spirit of Australia'’ all recognize the use of language to control the thoughts and actions of individuals. All three texts use this control in a slightly different way but all three texts use it for the same reason and that is to gain control of a certain group or population. Without the use of language this control could not be gained. Zoë Hunt