There’s genetic engineering, to plugging in to a mainframe and, of course, mind-numbing ‘drugs’ which keep the show’s utopian society’s inhabitants in a state of euphoria. The story mirrors much of the source material, which is in itself problematic, as much of the novel’s future advancements are already upon us. Instead of a TV movie epic, viewers are given a nine-part series, with episodes helmed by TV veterans and up-and-coming filmmakers such as Owen Harris ( Black Mirror), Andrij Parekh ( Succession, Watchmen) and Aoife McArdle ( Kissing Candice).
This latest adaptation, developed by David Wiener ( Fear the Walking Dead) and distributed through NBCUniversal, has now it our screens on Sky. There’s been two television films, one in 1980 which is underwhelming and at times confusing and a second in 1998 which fared even less successfully. This is not the first time Brave New World has been adapted. While the two are novels everyone should read at some point, the question remains – should they only remain as novels? Despite the key difference, the two influential works of sci-fi are about control, surveillance and commercialism – themes which feel incredibly timely to modern society. Whereas Orwell took the stance that the people of the future would be controlled by fear, and under constant surveillance by the government, Huxley’s vision is centred around pleasure, and even lust as the primary source of control.
Brave New World holds many of the values of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, except for one factor. It is a book that became highly influential, even on the other stalwart of dystopia George Orwell. The 1932 novel by Aldous Huxley was revolutionary for its time.
The latest classic piece of literature to hit our screens is in the form of a TV series courtesy of Sky, and that early, 20th-century masterpiece is Brave New World. Sometimes they fail miserably, case in point Robert Warren’s excellent novel All the King’s Men, brought to life horrendously in 2006. Sometimes they work, such as the epic treatment of J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings. Screen adaptations of classic novels can be uneven affairs.
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