Life Is Not What It Appears
“Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M
Shiny happy people laughing
Meet me in the crowd
People, people
Throw your love around
Love me, love me
Take it into town
Happy, happy
Put it in the ground
Where the flowers grow
Gold and silver shine
Everyone around
Love them, love them
Put it in your hands
Take it, take it
There's no time to cry
Happy, happy
Put it in your heart
Where tomorrow shines
Gold and silver shine
Listening to R.E.M’s lyrics in “Shiny Happy People,” it ‘s hard to believe that everyone is anything but happy and gay and everything is great. The artist paints a perfect picture of a utopia through these lyrics. What would you say if I told you this is not actually the case? In the music video everyone is happy and dancing around while others are working hard in the background. This music video makes you believe that this is not a utopia anymore. In fact it is a dystopia. R.E.M’s song and lyrics portray a strong subliminal message that mocks a utopia, as shown by the unhappy people working hard in the background. The lyrics in and of themselves clearly make fun of a utopia and the world as a shiny happy place. When in fact the real message is that life is hard, not perfect and filled with tragedy on a daily basis.
When analyzing utopian and dystopian writing, it is necessary to define both. A utopia is an ideal community or society where everything is perfect, everyone is happy and nothing could be better. A perfect world is realized by all of its population and everyone lives in harmony. On the other hand, a dystopia is a society characterized by human misery, disease, over crowdedness, unhappiness, and depression. The song “Shiny Happy People” reminded me much of the similar dystopia in the books, Brave New World and 1984. At first when you read these books, you would think that the setting in each is a utopia, but there are certain characters and hints within each book that reveal a different story. For example, in Brave New World, the citizens of this community are pre-destined from birth to a prescribed life and role in the community. This novel opens in the Central London Hatching and Conditioning Center where the director is providing a tour of the operations to some boys. The boys on the tour learn that there is a process developed by Bokanovsky and Podsnap that allows the Hatchery to produce thousands of identical embryos. Through nutritional and environmental manipulation this can create distinct differences between them. There are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon embryos, each destined to be a bit more advanced and sophisticated than the other. Alphas are leaders, while Epsilons are workers. Similarly, 1984, by George Orwell, remains a negative utopia and tries to warn the readers of the abusive nature of totalitarian governments and “big brother” watching a person’s every move in such a society.
Brave New World and 1984 share similar context and theme. Although Huxley portrays a true utopia from the beginning of the novel Orwell’s novel opens with a character, Winston, who is frustrated by the oppression and controls placed upon him which limit his freedom of speech, thought, sex and any expression of individuality, thus giving the reader the image that the utopia is not all it seems. In both 1984 and Brave New World, family relationships are frowned upon and seen as uncivilized, therefore vastly discouraged by society. In Brave New World, society values of community, identity, and stability are maintained by giving the citizens a drug, Soma that keeps the population from revolting by suppressing their emotions. While in 1984, they use secret police, torture, fear and surveillance to maintain a sense of control.
In both books the authors created certain characters that don’t agree or follow the rules of society like everyone else. For example, in 1984 the characters Winston and Julia find forbidden love with each other that is eventually found to be in vain. Winston is skeptical of the Party, the controlling authority in the novel. Through his affair with Julia, Winston is discovered by another character, O’Brien who was originally thought to be a secret member of the Brotherhood (a group thought to be working to overthrow the Party). However, O’Brien turns out to be a Party spy who posed as a member of the Brotherhood to trap Winston. He takes Winston to the Ministry of Love and tortures Winston through his greatest fear, a cage full of rats placed on his head threatening to eat his face. O’Brien succeeds in breaking Winston’s spirit and Winston gives up on Julia. He accepts the Party and learns to love Big brother. Big Brother is the big party leader in 1984 who is a close reflection of the praised leader, Ford, in Brave New World. The author used Ford as their leader because it is very similar to Lord. He compares Ford, Brave New World’s leader to our praised one Lord.
In Brave New World Bernard Marx, an Alpha male, fails to fit in because of his inferior physical stature. Bernard beliefs in sexual relationships, sports, and community events, while he is insecure with his size and status that make him discontented with World State. When Bernard flew to meet his friend Helmholtz Watson, an Alpha lecturer, he meets John Savage, the son of the Director and Linda, a vaccination worker at the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre who is also believes in long exclusive relationships. John tells Bernard about his childhood as the son of Linda whom the villagers recued twenty years earlier. Bernard realizes that Linda is almost certainly the woman mentioned by the Director. He learned that Linda was ostracized because of her willingness to sleep with all the men in the village. As a result John was raised in isolation from the rest of the village. Bernard takes John and Linda back to the village where Lenina, a vaccination worker, becomes obsessed with John. Bernard and John are hopeless and depressed people because of their government’s intolerance to individuality. After John’s mom Linda dies in the hospital from her Soma vaccination, John and Mustapha Mond, the Resident World Controller of Western Europe, debate the value of World State’s policies. John disagrees with Mond, for he believes that stability and happiness are more important than humanity. Mond explains that social stability has required the sacrifice of art, science, and religion. John disagrees and believes that without these things human life is not worth living. John takes off to a lighthouse where World State citizens catch him in the act of whipping himself because he desires a life with real suffering and pain. John reacts violently when Lenina approaches him with her open arms. The intensity of his reactions caused an orgy, which John participates in. When he woke up the next morning overcome with anger and sadness at his submission to World State society, he finally chooses to take his life. John didn’t want to live in a society with instant gratification where there is no meaning for your hard work, and no pain or suffering to reach a goal.
Although the government in Brave New World maintained control with the use of technological, nutritional and environmental interventions, a similarly effective sense of control can be seen in 1984 with the use of an overbearing and invasive government. The lyrics in R.E.M’s song, “Shiny Happy People,” best capture the mentality of the government in both books because they want you to feel happy in order to remain part of this utopia. Through drugs and fear a sense of well being at all times is falsely created, thus making both situations dystopias rather than utopias. In both books, the leaders’ intrusive behavior changes what people want, resulting in a loss of dignity, morals, values, and humanity. All in all, 1984 is more of a demonstration of extreme totalitarianism, while Brave New World is a socialist regime.
In my reading and interpretation of both novels, the lyrics of “Shiny Happy People” remain in my mind. Life is truly filled with unexpected circumstances, variety and diversity. People from the same family may indeed be very different from one another. There is no instant gratification, and life requires hard work, trial and error. Emotions are a part of all of our personalities; they define us and help us cope with one another. Community is built on people striving to reach common goals, but government suppression should not try and impose this on its community members. Government should serve as a guide, rather than an absolute authority. After reading these books I have realized that there is no way you can have a society so abundant when there are such rules to follow in order to get exactly what the government requires. There will always be outsiders, as shown in both books, who disagree and go against the government. This will create misery within a sarcastic paradise as shown in the song “Shiny Happy People.”
Shiny happy people laughing
Meet me in the crowd
People, people
Throw your love around
Love me, love me
Take it into town
Happy, happy
Put it in the ground
Where the flowers grow
Gold and silver shine
Everyone around
Love them, love them
Put it in your hands
Take it, take it
There's no time to cry
Happy, happy
Put it in your heart
Where tomorrow shines
Gold and silver shine
Listening to R.E.M’s lyrics in “Shiny Happy People,” it ‘s hard to believe that everyone is anything but happy and gay and everything is great. The artist paints a perfect picture of a utopia through these lyrics. What would you say if I told you this is not actually the case? In the music video everyone is happy and dancing around while others are working hard in the background. This music video makes you believe that this is not a utopia anymore. In fact it is a dystopia. R.E.M’s song and lyrics portray a strong subliminal message that mocks a utopia, as shown by the unhappy people working hard in the background. The lyrics in and of themselves clearly make fun of a utopia and the world as a shiny happy place. When in fact the real message is that life is hard, not perfect and filled with tragedy on a daily basis.
When analyzing utopian and dystopian writing, it is necessary to define both. A utopia is an ideal community or society where everything is perfect, everyone is happy and nothing could be better. A perfect world is realized by all of its population and everyone lives in harmony. On the other hand, a dystopia is a society characterized by human misery, disease, over crowdedness, unhappiness, and depression. The song “Shiny Happy People” reminded me much of the similar dystopia in the books, Brave New World and 1984. At first when you read these books, you would think that the setting in each is a utopia, but there are certain characters and hints within each book that reveal a different story. For example, in Brave New World, the citizens of this community are pre-destined from birth to a prescribed life and role in the community. This novel opens in the Central London Hatching and Conditioning Center where the director is providing a tour of the operations to some boys. The boys on the tour learn that there is a process developed by Bokanovsky and Podsnap that allows the Hatchery to produce thousands of identical embryos. Through nutritional and environmental manipulation this can create distinct differences between them. There are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon embryos, each destined to be a bit more advanced and sophisticated than the other. Alphas are leaders, while Epsilons are workers. Similarly, 1984, by George Orwell, remains a negative utopia and tries to warn the readers of the abusive nature of totalitarian governments and “big brother” watching a person’s every move in such a society.
Brave New World and 1984 share similar context and theme. Although Huxley portrays a true utopia from the beginning of the novel Orwell’s novel opens with a character, Winston, who is frustrated by the oppression and controls placed upon him which limit his freedom of speech, thought, sex and any expression of individuality, thus giving the reader the image that the utopia is not all it seems. In both 1984 and Brave New World, family relationships are frowned upon and seen as uncivilized, therefore vastly discouraged by society. In Brave New World, society values of community, identity, and stability are maintained by giving the citizens a drug, Soma that keeps the population from revolting by suppressing their emotions. While in 1984, they use secret police, torture, fear and surveillance to maintain a sense of control.
In both books the authors created certain characters that don’t agree or follow the rules of society like everyone else. For example, in 1984 the characters Winston and Julia find forbidden love with each other that is eventually found to be in vain. Winston is skeptical of the Party, the controlling authority in the novel. Through his affair with Julia, Winston is discovered by another character, O’Brien who was originally thought to be a secret member of the Brotherhood (a group thought to be working to overthrow the Party). However, O’Brien turns out to be a Party spy who posed as a member of the Brotherhood to trap Winston. He takes Winston to the Ministry of Love and tortures Winston through his greatest fear, a cage full of rats placed on his head threatening to eat his face. O’Brien succeeds in breaking Winston’s spirit and Winston gives up on Julia. He accepts the Party and learns to love Big brother. Big Brother is the big party leader in 1984 who is a close reflection of the praised leader, Ford, in Brave New World. The author used Ford as their leader because it is very similar to Lord. He compares Ford, Brave New World’s leader to our praised one Lord.
In Brave New World Bernard Marx, an Alpha male, fails to fit in because of his inferior physical stature. Bernard beliefs in sexual relationships, sports, and community events, while he is insecure with his size and status that make him discontented with World State. When Bernard flew to meet his friend Helmholtz Watson, an Alpha lecturer, he meets John Savage, the son of the Director and Linda, a vaccination worker at the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre who is also believes in long exclusive relationships. John tells Bernard about his childhood as the son of Linda whom the villagers recued twenty years earlier. Bernard realizes that Linda is almost certainly the woman mentioned by the Director. He learned that Linda was ostracized because of her willingness to sleep with all the men in the village. As a result John was raised in isolation from the rest of the village. Bernard takes John and Linda back to the village where Lenina, a vaccination worker, becomes obsessed with John. Bernard and John are hopeless and depressed people because of their government’s intolerance to individuality. After John’s mom Linda dies in the hospital from her Soma vaccination, John and Mustapha Mond, the Resident World Controller of Western Europe, debate the value of World State’s policies. John disagrees with Mond, for he believes that stability and happiness are more important than humanity. Mond explains that social stability has required the sacrifice of art, science, and religion. John disagrees and believes that without these things human life is not worth living. John takes off to a lighthouse where World State citizens catch him in the act of whipping himself because he desires a life with real suffering and pain. John reacts violently when Lenina approaches him with her open arms. The intensity of his reactions caused an orgy, which John participates in. When he woke up the next morning overcome with anger and sadness at his submission to World State society, he finally chooses to take his life. John didn’t want to live in a society with instant gratification where there is no meaning for your hard work, and no pain or suffering to reach a goal.
Although the government in Brave New World maintained control with the use of technological, nutritional and environmental interventions, a similarly effective sense of control can be seen in 1984 with the use of an overbearing and invasive government. The lyrics in R.E.M’s song, “Shiny Happy People,” best capture the mentality of the government in both books because they want you to feel happy in order to remain part of this utopia. Through drugs and fear a sense of well being at all times is falsely created, thus making both situations dystopias rather than utopias. In both books, the leaders’ intrusive behavior changes what people want, resulting in a loss of dignity, morals, values, and humanity. All in all, 1984 is more of a demonstration of extreme totalitarianism, while Brave New World is a socialist regime.
In my reading and interpretation of both novels, the lyrics of “Shiny Happy People” remain in my mind. Life is truly filled with unexpected circumstances, variety and diversity. People from the same family may indeed be very different from one another. There is no instant gratification, and life requires hard work, trial and error. Emotions are a part of all of our personalities; they define us and help us cope with one another. Community is built on people striving to reach common goals, but government suppression should not try and impose this on its community members. Government should serve as a guide, rather than an absolute authority. After reading these books I have realized that there is no way you can have a society so abundant when there are such rules to follow in order to get exactly what the government requires. There will always be outsiders, as shown in both books, who disagree and go against the government. This will create misery within a sarcastic paradise as shown in the song “Shiny Happy People.”
Project Reflection
1. In my writing, it found the most piercing, true, and beautiful in the way I tied in the song by R.E.M with comparing both Brave New World and 1984. Also the suicide of John was piercing and true.
2. I struggled the most with the beginning of my project. I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a essay, poem, ect. I wanted to make sure this piece of writing showed my growth in humanities this year while showing the truth and beauty of it. I finally decided I would do a compare and contrast essay on both Brave New World and 1984 with a song I knew that would tie well with my essay to get the reader hooked.
3. This shows my growth in humanities in many ways. First I used T.E.A paragraphs with specific examples and analysis. I used strong vocabulary throughout my essay that shows how descriptive, true and real my essay is. I explained and went in-depth on characters that I mentioned so that it makes sense to the reader even if they have not read the two books. I used concessives, NPA's throughout the essay.
2. I struggled the most with the beginning of my project. I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a essay, poem, ect. I wanted to make sure this piece of writing showed my growth in humanities this year while showing the truth and beauty of it. I finally decided I would do a compare and contrast essay on both Brave New World and 1984 with a song I knew that would tie well with my essay to get the reader hooked.
3. This shows my growth in humanities in many ways. First I used T.E.A paragraphs with specific examples and analysis. I used strong vocabulary throughout my essay that shows how descriptive, true and real my essay is. I explained and went in-depth on characters that I mentioned so that it makes sense to the reader even if they have not read the two books. I used concessives, NPA's throughout the essay.