Eyes

In high school, I repeatedly read George Orwell's 1984, feeling relieved that such a dystopian future had never come to pass. However, as we all know, since Xi Jinping came to power, China's surveillance and censorship have intensified significantly. At the end of 2018, I learned about a new app called Xuexi Qiangguo with a mandatory daily "study check-in" system. That moment struck me—it felt as if the 1984 I thought belonged to a distant past had always been a part of our reality. Smartphones had become the "telescreens" of Orwell's vision. Ironically, the company that popularized smartphones, Apple, had released an ad in 1984 proclaiming, "And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984.'" Through this animation, I aim to illustrate the bitter truth that, in many ways, we are already living in 1984.