Big Brother isn’t Watching You
The famous phrase “Big brother is watching you” is from the legendary book “1984” by George Orwell. It’s written in 1949, but yet it’s still magnificent. Many years later in 2011 a famous actor named Russell Brand wrote, “Big brother isn’t watching you”. It’s a commentary published on The Guardian’s webpage, and it’s about the UK riots.

Brand used to live in London, and he is British. He is commenting on the big riots in London. You can also see in the text that Brand is a British lad. He speaks with a British accent, when he uses the words “mate” and so on. But he’s also speaken from his heart, when he uses the words “shit” and “fucking”. He’s a famous actor, but also a comedian. So that could a stunt in the text, that symbolise Brand’s comment is written with a conscious use of a relaxed language – this is a clear tendency throughout the text. For instance he often uses contractions of words – even in the title. Furthermore he uses slang: “…and have a row with the Old Bill.” (L. 69) Brand is, as before mentioned, a comedian and he writes in a serious but also entertaining and relaxed tone: He is able getting through with his message even though he uses irony and swear words as shit and fucking. These words help underlining his opinion and purpose of the commentary, as they seem quite heated. Brand’s profession is reflected in his choice of words.
It would be possible imagining people who would be offended or would have a lack of understanding for his mingling in this case, as he is not even living in the country any longer. But Brand is conscious of these risks, and he uses self-irony to explode them: “But I can’t, from my ivory tower in the Hollywood Hills, compete with the understandable yet futile rhetoric, describing the rioters as mindless.” (Ll. 40-42) Another way Brand accentuates his nationality is mentioning the places he has lived around London: “I’ve lived in Dalston, Hackney, Elephant, Camden and Bethnal Green. I grew up round Dagenham and Romford…” (Ll. 32-33) Brand even uses the appeal form pathos, as he calls him self a Londoner and an Essex boy and claims, he feels proud of this in line 35.
Brand writes in a very varied language. For instance he uses many different words for describing the devastations caused by the riots: Destroyed, tarnished, immolated, desecrated. This variation of words makes the text more interesting and they make it easier for Brand to maintain readers’ attention.
Brand seems very passionate about this case: He is angry with English politicians, and he displays Prime Minister David Cameron in a critical and more or less comical context: “I mean even David Cameron came back from his holiday. Eventually. The Tuscan truffles lost their succulence when the breaking glass became too loud to ignore.” (Ll. 25-27) The reason Brand has written this commentary, and the reason Brand is angry, is the lack of understanding. The missing analysis of exactly why these riots have happened. Brand highlights how the rioters are viewed on as reckless and uneducated and the riots as unacceptable by the politicians, but he also highlights that it is an obvious matter that riots are not the right way of taking action: “Wow! Thanks guys! What a wonderful use of the planet’s fast-depleting oxygen resources.” (Ll. 51-52) The punctuation makes it clear that this is a sarcastic statement.
Brand leads the critical tone even further on, as he criticizes present’s view on status and individuality: “That daily, hourly, incessantly enforces the egregious, deceitful message that you are what you wear, what you drive, what you watch and what you watch it on, in livid, neon pixels.” (Ll. 87-89) People have become too superficial and prefer surface rather than substance.
What Brand wants to achieve by having this commentary published is changing focus – the rioters are angry and rioting for an actual reason. He is particularly critical against society, and he wishes for the politicians to take action: “I remember Cameron saying “hug a hoodie” but I haven’t seen him doing it. Hoodies don’t vote, they’ve realised it’s pointless, that whoever gets elected will just be a different shade of the “we don’t give a toss about you” party.” (Ll. 91-93) This is an essential part of Brand’s commentary. Brand feels that the government does not have an actual interest in the population – the people voting – but a bigger interest in large corporations that play a big part in society. This might be the reason the commentary is called ‘Big Brother isn’t watching you’. The title is a reference to the novel ‘1984’ by George Orwell. ‘1984’ is a story of a dystopian society with a suppressive and supervising state. The title of this commentary – ‘Big Brother isn’t watching you’ – indicates that Brand thinks the state is not attentive enough. This affects especially young people on the extreme wings of society, as society tends to give up on them and they eventually get out casted. This seems to be the dread of Brand: “As we sweep away the mistakes made in the selfish, nocturnal darkness we must ensure that, amidst the broken glass and sadness, we don’t sweep away the youth lost amongst the shards in the shadows cast by the new dawn.” (Ll. 118-120)
Brand has been in a similar situation, as he participated in protests and riots when he was younger. But Brand managed to escape the violent community, as he was privileged with a loving family, an education and enough money. This is a lot harder for the rioters in this case, as many do not have the privileges, which Brand was lucky enough to have. On the basis of his own background Brand makes an effort to understand the situation in detail as well as making it clear that he has empathy for the rioters – contrary to the government. These people are part of the society as every other person, but they feel neglected in society as well as in the political decision-making-progress. Brand calls for a solution and quotes Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” (Ll. 112-113) These young people have screamed for help. They do not have the resources to help themselves, and it is time for politicians and the rest of society to take action.