In
,goes to see a war film characterized by graphic violence. He writes about
it in his journal in great detail. In one scene, a ship of refugees is being bombed and a fat
man, trying to escape, is chased by a helicopter and shot "full of holes," while the
sea around him turns pink. Winston records the audience "shouting with laugher" as the
man sinks.
Winston then recounts a scene in which a mother on the same refuge
ship under attack tries to protect her screaming three-year-old boy from the helicopter. The
helicopter bombs her and the child, and Winston describes "a wonderful shot of a child's
arm going right up in the air." Winston notes that in the Party member section of the
theater, many people cheer at this sight, but that a female prole has to be dragged out for
protesting that they shouldn't show such a scene in front of children.
Winston's journal account of the film shows how callous and dehumanized people,
especially Party members, have become, taught to applaud graphic violence and to channel their
aggressions into watching innocent people suffer.
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