| Orwell Rolls in His Grave | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Robert Kane Pappas |
| Produced by | Robert Kane Pappas |
| Starring | Charles Lewis Robert McChesney Mark Crispin Miller Bernie Sanders and Danny Schechter |
| Music by | Chris Jagich |
| Cinematography | J. Alan Hostetter Robert Kane Pappas |
| Editing by | Robert Kane Pappas |
| Release date(s) | October 2003 (East Hampton Film Festival) July 23, 2004 (New York) April 13, 2005 (Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema) in Argentina |
| Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Orwell Rolls in His Grave is a 2003 documentary film written and directed by Robert Kane Pappas. Covered topics include the Telecommunications Act of 1996, concentration of media ownership, political corruption, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the controversy over the US presidential election of 2000 (particularly in Florida with Bush v. Gore), and the October surprise conspiracy theory. The film has previously aired on Free Speech TV, a non-profit TV station based in Denver, Colorado and Link TV.
Contents |
The film examines the current and past relationships between the media, the U.S. government and corporations, analyzing the possible consequences of the concentration of media ownership. Making references to George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the film argues that reality has met and in some ways exceeded Orwell's expectations about a society dominated by thought control, which is made possible by the media. According to the film, the mass media no longer report news, but manage it, deciding what makes the headlines and what is conveniently ignored, thus ultimately defining the framework upon which most other issues are discussed by the society. As an example, it is claimed that since the late 1980s there's been an agenda pursued by the major media corporations regarding the deregulation of the media market, by which news reports sell all its benefits while neglecting its disastrous results.
This documentary is a critical examination of the Fourth Estate, once the bastion of American democracy. Asking whether America has entered an Orwellian world of doublespeak where outright lies can pass for the truth, director Robert Kane Pappas explores what the media doesn't like to talk about: itself. Meticulously tracing the process by which media has distorted and often dismissed actual news events, Pappas presents a riveting and eloquent mix of media professionals and leading intellectual voices on the media. From the very size of the media monopolies and how they got that way to who decides what gets broadcasted and what doesn't, 'Orwell Rolls in His Grave' moves through a troubling list of questions and news stories that go unanswered and unreported in the mainstream media.