Parallel universe or double vision?

Anniversary…

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Tengo: You know, a year ago it was, I had an operation.

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Komatsu: I know.

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Tengo: Even now, I’m not sure whether I died on the operating table, and that I’m now just imagining I’m alive in this Murakami-like parallel universe.

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Komatsu: 1Q84?

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Tengo: Precisely. I mean, I even LIVE in Murakami’s suburb, Koenji.

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Two moons, or one?

Komatsu: But there’s a simple test. Are there two moons in your sky? There were in Murakami’s.

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Tengo: Yes. There ARE two moons in my sky. Have been ever since I woke up from the operation a year ago.

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Komatsu: So who are the REAL inhabitants of your parallel universe? Am I alive or dead?

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Voice-over

Komatsu should worry indeed that he might not be alive. But it could be merely that Tengo has double vision that he sees two moons and therefore thinks he lives in a parallel universe. However, novels are rarely THAT simple, and you can be sure that Murakami never intended such a plain explanation.

...

IQ84 symbolism

Two moons of a parallel world

After a long read…

Tengo: Finally finished it.

Aomame: Took you a while.

Tengo: Yes. Three years, in fact.

Aomame: What held you up?

Tengo: It was a trilogy, and there were other books, shorter books. IQ84 ran to 925 pages, after all. Not a bad read though. Checked most boxes: suspenseful story, descriptive detail, psychological insight. And full of symbols.

Aomame: Symbols?

Tengo: Two moons signifying parallel universes. There were little people and air chrysalises but Murakami didn’t exactly suggest what these meant.

Aomame: Hmm. What are we to make of it?

_________

Voice-over

Was this tale of colliding realism and magic convincing? Reviews were mostly good, some doubters. Baxter liked it. Maslin didn’t. Dipping into it over three years puts Tengo in the middle it seems.
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Apple Ad 1984

Apple ad 1984

Employees are discussing making a video to present their company

Emp1: Remember that Apple ad? 1984?

Emp2: Heard about it. Never seen it.

Emp1: Iconic. Opens in Dystopia where rows of drones are listening to a televised speech from a Big Brother face. A female athlete runs in, pursued by police in riot gear. She runs up to the screen and hurls a hammer at it, destroying it.

Emp2: OK. So you have a heroine striking a blow against an enemy. Message?

Emp1: David and Goliath? Apple and IBM? The struggle of creativity against conformity?

Emp2: OK. But what happened to the girl?

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Voice-over

Commercial designed by Chiat/Day. Ridley Scott (Blade Runner) directed it. Plot is classic mythology.Character development? Not a lot you can do in 60 seconds. But a great CM.

See the ad replayed here.

Orwell's Dystopia, Huxley's Dystopia

George and Aldous discuss their visions of the future:

George: Big Brother will ban books.

Aldous: There’ll be too many books to read.

George: Big Brother will deprive us of information.

Aldous: We’ll be fed so much information we’ll be paralyzed.

George: Big Brother will spy on us with cameras and microphones.

Aldous: Computers will spy on our trivial shopping lists and suggest alternatives.

George: Big Brother will control us by inflicting pain.

Aldous: People will be controlled by indulging in pleasure.

___________

Voice-over

Conversation adapted from an Orwell-Huxley infographic created by Column Five for Akom Entertainment. In Orwell's dystopia, we have no choice to escape. In Huxley's dystopia, it is also hard... to escape from pleasure.

FaceBook + Google = 1984 False analogy?

f.b + g = 1984

A darkened room, whispering…

Julia: It’s getting like 1984.

Winston: What is?

Julia: FaceBook collecting all your private data and putting it online.

Winston: False analogy. You volunteer your private information to FaceBook. Orwell’s Big Brother was watching you.

Julia: Well how about Google then? It watches where you go and collects that information without asking.

Winston: False analogy again. Orwell’s Big Brother used the data to control the citizens. Google sells your information.

Julia: It still feels like 1984 with all the spying going on.

Winston: I will say this though. FaceBook and Google add up to something like 1984. It’s a partial analogy.

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Voice-over

An analogy compares A with B and finds that they share features.

A false analogy is one where A and B may superficially share features but underneath there is little relevance or only a few shared features.

Hillary Clinton commented at the UN on the recent civil unrest in Syria, that to compare Syria to Libya was a “false analogy.”

Valid analogies may range from strong through partial to weak. Winston’s reasoning that two false analogies add up to a partial analogy is intriguing. It has an instinctive validity.

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