In contrast to Animal Farm, a political satire on history as it was, Nineteen Eighty-Four is satire of political speculation. Set in London, England, Orwell's final novel is a anti-Utopian (dystopic) novel, describing a totalitarian society of the future, where basic freedoms are forbidden and everyone are under the constant vigilance of Big Brother.

This cautionary tale is a portrayal of the past and  the present, whose role is to make the audience recognize the possible dangers that may arise as a result of previous and current political thought.

Read Nineteen Eighty-Four online!!!

Click here for more novels of futuristic society

This book examines the lives of children in the wake of the Russian (Bolshevik) Revolution. Twelve-year-old Alex, the main character of this book, is orphaned when the Russian secret police, also known as the GPU, abduct his family away from his home. Alex leaves his home to seek safety for himself in Moscow, only to find himself meeting a band of "bezprizoni" or "the wild children". These children are also homeless victims of the Russian Revolution.

Through the boys' experience in the novel, historical events of the Russian Revolution and its impact are communicated clearly in an explicit matter. Often used as an introduction to the study of Orwell's Animal Farm, The Wild Children provides insight and historical background at face value and in terms of  actual experiences of the Revolution.

At first glance, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World may appear to be the story of a scientifically-enhanced utopia. However, it is the exact opposite. This piece is not a work of scientific prophesy, but a satire of the ideal society of the future and a critique of Communist and Capitalist attempts of an ideal society in the past. Happiness in the "brave new world" is derived from mass-produced goods, conformity, promiscuous sex and the use of the pleasure-drug, soma.

With this false utopia in mind, Huxley uses his novel to warn of a scientific state of utopia and goodness that we may be attempting to achieve.

Read Brave New World online!!!

The Handmaid's Tale describes the fate of a woman who is forced to become a Handmaid under the rule of a new religious dictatorship in the Republic of Gilead, once known as the United States of America. Men, known as Commanders, hold the positions of authority in the new  totalitarian government. Women are valued as child-bearing objects in this society with an obligation to bear children for the Commanders in the government. In this forced state of being,  women are forbidden to engage in many all aspects of normal life, such as family, employment, money and acquisition of knowledge.  They are subject to a less-than-ideal way of life, a world of dystopia.

The courageous plight of this woman acts as a warning to women, as well as a medium for examining totalitarian societies similar to the totalitarian society portrayed in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. 

Produced by John Stephenson II in 1999, this is the first "made-for-tv" version of Animal Farm. It makes use of "animatronic" animals and effects created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Actors such as Kelsey Grammer and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss are part of the vocal cast.

Click on the following links to read critics' reviews of this film:
Jeffrey Wachs of reel.com
Joshua Klein of theonionavclub.com