1984

One of the points I sometimes make about film and comic adaptations of classic novels is whether they provide a decent crib for students who don’t want to bother reading the book they’re based on. Because let’s face it, that’s what students do. Most of the time these “classics illustrated” are no substitute at all for the original works, but Fido Nesti’s adaptation of George Orwell’s famous dystopian text is an exception.

I’m not saying people can or should pass on Orwell and just read this comic version. I’d never recommend that for any book. But what Nesti gives us here is a remarkably thorough adaptation, including not only the complete text of Goldstein’s book but also “The Principles of Newspeak” appendix. You’re going to do a lot of reading here. Of course you’re not getting the full book, but there are times when you may feel like you are.

And that’s not to put down Nesti’s art. I really like what he’s done here. The generally drab colouring and layouts only make the imaginative moments (like the surveillance technology becoming a snaky network of wires, tubes, and monitors) stand out more. Plus the world of Airstrip One is supposed to be drab, with Winston and Julia just a couple of Claymation potato people with holes for eyes, fishy lips, and lumpy overalls. The lead comes straight from Orwell: “It was curious how that beetle-like type proliferated in the Ministries: little dumpy men, growing stout very early in life, with short legs, swift scuttling movements, and fat inscrutable faces with very small eyes. It was the type that seemed to flourish best under the dominion of the Party.” So if eyes are the windows to the soul it makes sense that O’Brien doesn’t seem to have any, as they’re either hidden behind his glasses or are just dots (in the case of the former there may be a nod here to Orwell’s description of speakers of propaganda in “Politics and the English Language” whose spectacles become “blank discs which seem to have no eyes behind them”). The only time O’Brien seems to come to life is when he’s really laying it on Winston. But soul by this point has leached out of everyone anyway.

I think of a good graphic novel adaptation as being like a band covering a classic song. The artist needs to bring something fresh to the table, some display of talent, imagination, and personality that does justice to the original while adding to it and making it new. I think Nesti does that here and his 1984 is more than a cut above the usual run of these things. Not a substitute for reading Orwell, but a worthy complement to his timeless prophecy.

Graphicalex