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How did the audience and Winston react during the film in 1984?
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During the film in chapter 1 of 1984, the audience reacts with laughter and applause to violent war scenes, including a helicopter gunman killing refugees and a child's severed arm. While Winston does not explicitly describe his feelings, his casual recounting without disgust suggests he is also desensitized, though he does not join in the audience’s celebration of violence.
In chapter 1, Winston writes in his secret journal about going to the movies, where he watched several war films. In one of the more memorable war films, Winston recalls a violent scene that depicts a helicopter gunman shooting at a boat of refugees somewhere in the Mediterranean. Whenever the helicopter gunman brutally kills an unarmed man swimming like a porpoise in the water, the audience erupts into laughter and begins to shout. Winston also writes that the audience applauded a scene when a 20 kg bomb was dropped on a boat holding several defenseless refugees. Winston also recalls the image of a child's severed arm flying through the air, which draws additional applause from the audience, while a prole woman is removed from the crowd for protesting that the scene is too violent and unfit for children. While Winston elaborates on the audience's reaction, he does not describe his...
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own thoughts or feelings regarding the violent films. Winston's casual explanation of the scenes, and the fact that he is not disgusted by the movie, reveals that he is also a callous, insensitive individual. However, Winston does not celebrate the violence like the other Party members, because he does not applaud or cheer.
I assume you are talking about the part in Chapter 1 where Winston writes in his diary about going to the movies (he calls them the "flicks").
In this episode in the story, the movies that are shown are all war movies. Winston mentions one in particular that shows scenes from the war in the Mediterranean. It showed a ship full of refugees being bombed and sunk. When that happened, a fat man was trying to swim to safety when he was machine gunned by a helicopter.
Winston says that everyone was amused by this scene -- they were "shouting with laughter." He doesn't actually tell us how he himself feels about it, but he does talk about the fat man "wallowing like a porpoise" so it doesn't sound like he's too sorry for the man -- it sounds more like he's amused too.