Sunday, January 03, 2010

ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE



Orwell Rolls in His Grave is a 2003 documentary film written and directed by Robert Kane Pappas. It examines the current and past relationships between the media, the US 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.

The film features discussions from, amongst others, Bernie Sanders, Charles Lewis, Michael Moore, Danny Schechter, Robert W. McChesney, Mark Crispin Miller, Mark Lloyd, Greg Palast, Aurora Wallace and Vincent Bugliosi. Covered topics include political corruption, the controversy over the US presidential election of 2000 and the October Surprise Conspiracy.

The film has previously aired on Free Speech TV.

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