Comparatives, superlatives: Big Brother is watching you

 

Big Brother is the worst programme on TV!!!

This morning we were checking our homework when a student said this example of superlative, which led to a discussion dealing with two different TV shows, meaning and literature.

 

When the student was trying to describe what is this reality show -"Big Brother"- about, someone else disagreed and replied that the show is about former waterpolo player , Pedro García Aguado coaching teenagers in serious behavioural trouble.

 

In fact, the English name for Pedro's programme should be "Elder Brother". 

Your elder brother is a brother who is older than you. Your elder brother loves you, so he'll always take care of you and will give you good advice because he's more experienced than you.

Big Brother, on the other hand, is a major character in "1984", a novel by George Orwell.

"1984" is about an totalitarian and oppressive society whose leader is the mysterious Big Brother. Big Brother is watching you. This means that every individual action is under surveillance in search of "crimes": thought crime, sex crime, etc.

Scary!

 

 

Orwell also wrote "Animal Farm". Maybe you've heard about it. The story is about a group of animals on a farm which start a rebellion against humans to fight for their freedom, but they eventually become tyrannical:

 "All animals are equal, but some are more equal tan others".

 

 

 

To sum up:

Big Brother is one of the worst programmes on TV,

but Orwell is one of the best novelists in history.