You Guys Ever Hear A Character Say Something So Gay You Sitting There Trying To Figure Out How You Were

OP i agree with all of this, but I’d also like to add that the “survival” theme Newman was going for goes against the entire point of the original novel. THE WHOLE POINT of 1984 originally was that through loving each other, Winston and Julia were able to do more than survive, they were able to find scraps of joy and meaning outside of the Party. In fact, that’s a major reason why the Party suppresses interpersonal relationships, because it exists by monopolizing the energies and activities and feelings of it’s citizens, and to do this, it keeps them in a state of mind where there sole focus is survival (via war, economic insecurity, repression, etc). By loving each other, Winston and Julia are able to transcend the survival mindset, until they are captured and tortured, which works because a total focus on survival, and the all-consuming fear that accompanies it, crowds out one’s mental space, leaving no energy for interpersonal love.

by reducing Julia’s motives to survival, Newman is denying what makes the Winston/Julia romance a meaningful form of resistance.

Julia by Sandra Newman is a terrible book and here’s why

“Julia never actually liked Winston Smith, she actually thought he was pretentious and annoying.”

So why does she repeatedly tell him she loves him

“She’s lying.”

But why

“She was a honeytrap by the Thought Police.”

But she acts surprised when the Thought Police come to arrest her

“She’s been told to act surprised.”

So she’s just doing as she’s told for the entire novel and never makes any decisions for herself

“Yes! It’s what she has to do to survive! That’s the point of the book!”

Really because she never once says that when she’s being used as a whore for the Thought Police, if anything it seems like she’s motivated by the prospect of getting a new flat, plus she seems to put actual effort into adopting the party’s ideology, so clearly it’s not just about survival…

“Okay so Julia’s motivations are a little confused, but this book adds so much that Orwell didn’t consider in the original!”

Like what

“The Holodomor.”

Jesus Christ…

“No, but it’s the survival theme again, she sells her mother out in order to escape the famine!”

Okay, and how does she feel about that?

“She doesn’t, she was only a kid, she can’t hold herself responsible.”

Really? Because Winston held himself responsible for the deaths of his mother and sister, and he was only a kid, it’s part of what makes him so complex…

“Well that wouldn’t work here anyway.”

Why not?

“Julia’s mother makes her do it.”

Are you serious? Does Julia make a single decision in the entire story?

“Of course! She runs away at the end.”

What, when she’s seven months pregnant and has been tortured and starved for months? I thought this was supposed to be about providing a woman’s perspective on the original; what woman would choose to go for a cross country run in that physical state?

“Julia’s built different. She doesn’t even get scared when the rats jump onto her face.”

Why would she? It’s never established that she was scared of them in the first place!

“She bites one of their heads off.”

Cringe, then what

“Oh, then they just let her go.”

You cannot be serious

“Of course! They’ve got to use Room 101 at least a hundred times a day, so she just runs out the clock.”

And how does she figure that out

“She doesn’t, someone…”

…tells her to do it, quel surprise

“No but this character is a super cool badass female OC who O’Brien plagiarises because he has no ideas of his own.”

Are you aware of the irony of writing that in a book that wouldn’t exist without Orwell’s original

“Yeah but Orwell’s protagonist is so whiny!”

He’s a victim of a totalitarian regime, what do you expect

“Yeah but he’s so self-important!”

And that’s his downfall, in his hubris he falls into the most obvious trap in the world, O’Brien lures him in with the masculine power fantasy of being a resistance fighter and Smith pays the price by being carted off to the Ministry of Love to be tortured to death.

“The Ministry of Love isn’t that bad, Julia makes it out okay.”

Yes, that’s the problem, Julia survives everything

“She does get a nasty scratch off one of those rats…”

In the original it’s implied she got lobotomised

“That wouldn’t work in this version.”

I shudder to ask, but why not

“Because she needs to live long enough to see the regime fall.”

And how long does that take

“About six hours after the end of the original.”

Are you fucking serious

“And then she meets Big Brother face to face!”

Big Brother isn’t fucking real

“In this version he is.”

So you have a protagonist who survives the horrors of a brutal famine, the Ministry of Love and Room 101 with barely any emotional or physical damage, then after a heavily pregnant hike she gets to meet the final boss of totalitarianism face to face, and you think Winston is self-important?

“Did I mention that she’s queer in this version?”

Is that supported by the text of the original in any way at all

“No.”

Then why. Why to any of this. If you hate Winston so much and you have to change every single aspect of Julia to shoehorn her into your batshit headcanons, why write a book about them, why write a book about 1984, why did this get published, why is this getting good reviews. Why. Why. Why to any of this

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rb if you’ve heard of/read watership down im trying to see something. it was such a big part of my childhood and still lives in my heart

the inherent homoeroticism of two men pointing guns at each other

ahem *the soup feeding scene in Crime and Punishment*

you guys ever hear a character say something so gay you sitting there trying to figure out how you were supposed to interpret that platonically?!

Literally 1984

”pdf file” “unalived” “grape” “corn” what if i killed myself right here right now

Do you guys ever have the worst fucking idea known to mankind?

If your democrat friends start muttering about stolen election conspiracy theories, the time to have a sit down with them and express your concerns is NOW, while you still have a chance to reach them, not 6 months from now when they're fully conspiracy-pilled.

Here's some of the talking points and why they're bullshit:

'10 million votes don't just disappear!' -> Joe Biden's 81 million votes were a statistical outlier, sparked by the recent experience of the Trump presidency. The democrats failed to maintain that sense of urgency, but Harris still got more votes than Hillary Clinton, more than Obama and more than any previous democratic candidate. These numbers are not weird at all.

'The Republicans tried to infiltrate election- and vote counting organizations!' -> yeah, they did, and yet hundreds of independent legal observers didn't see anything go wrong enough to raise any alarms. Independent exit polls are also very consistently similar to the counted votes. Tons of international organizations specialized in this stuff observed the election and didn't see a reason to raise the alarm.

'But I know a dozen democrats whose mail-in votes were not counted!' -> In any election a certain number of votes are registered as invalid because something was wrong with the ballot. In a country the size of the US, that translates to many thousands of votes. The internet allows these people to find each other, creating the false impression that a suspiciously large group of voted was not valid.

'Musk used Star Link to mess with electronic voting!' -> Electronic voting machines are not connected to the internet and dozens of independent media have already debunked this myth. It is absolutely impossible to use Star Link to fake election results.

'There is voter disenfranchisement!' -> This is true. This has always been true, for every election. It's an issue worth talking about but it's not a special secret conspiracy that's unique to this election.

But just as importantly as the facts: sit down with your friend and talk about the anxiety that's behind their conspiracy leanings. Acknowledge their pain and fear. Help them find ways to feel less powerless and regain their sense of agency. Take them to a mutual aid event, involve them in a fundraising event for a marginalized group, invite them to a local community effort. If they spend more time feeling connection and empowerment and less time doom scrolling online, they're far more likely to stay in reality.