Two Minutes Hate
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In George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the Two Minutes Hate (alternatively two minute hate) is a daily period in which Party members of the society of Oceania must watch a film depicting The Party's enemies (notably Emmanuel Goldstein and his followers) and express their hatred for them and the principles of democracy.
The film and its accompanying auditory and visual cues (which include a grinding noise that Orwell describes as "of some monstrous machine running without oil") are a form of brainwashing to Party members, attempting to whip them into a frenzy of hatred and loathing for Emmanuel Goldstein and the current enemy superstate. Apparently, it is not unknown for those caught up in the hate to physically assault the telescreen, as Julia does during the scene. The film, as it progresses becomes more surreal, with Goldstein's face morphing into a sheep as enemy soldiers advance on the viewers, before one such soldier charges at the screen, machine gun blazing. He morphs, finally, into the face of Big Brother at the end of the two minutes. At the end, the mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted viewers chant "BB" over and over again, ritualistically.
Orwell's obvious reference in the sequence is to the utter demonization of an enemy during a time of war and the exultation of the cult of personality of the leaders of totalitarian states. Parallels (in form, if not content) to the Two Minutes Hate can be seen in real-world propaganda films from World War II.
In one such Two Minutes Hate, the audience is introduced to Inner Party member and key character O'Brien.
Orwell did not invent the term; it was in common use in the First World War. Then, British satirists noted the German campaign of hatred against England and all things English and imagined a Prussian family sitting around the kitchen table having its "daily hate."[1] In addition, short daily artillery bombardments by either side aimed at disrupting enemy routines were known as the "two minutes' hate."
The famous 1984 Apple Computer commercial presumably takes place at a Two Minute Hate.
Hate week is an extrapolation of this period into an annual weeklong festival.
[edit] References
- ^ Mr. Punch's History of the Great War, located at Project Gutenberg.
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