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Me and the Big Guy is a 1999 short film that satirizes Nineteen Eighty-Four by way of lampooning the fact that Big Brother is watching everyone, even those he'd rather not.

Plot

Directed and written by Matt Nix, this short film follows the life of unnervingly happy-go-lucky Citizen 43275-B (played by Michael Naughton), who despite the oppressive totalitarian regime and Thought Police looks ever forward to returning home and tell 'The Big Guy' (played by Dan Kern) on the telescreen about his work-day.

In much the same manner as an imaginary friend acts, 'The Big Guy' never responds until he finally becomes fed up with Citizen 43275-B and declares that he does not like being called 'The Big Guy' - but this intervention serves only to worsen Big Brother's predicament, as 43275-B enthusiastically hugs the telescreen and goes on to "amuse" him through a variety of ways: sock puppets, Boggle, hide and go seek, one-sided pillow fights, and knock-knock jokes.

As this further frustrates him, Big Brother finally announces the true nature of himself and society by telling 43275-B:

Just after 43275-B tells him how much happier he was after the Revolution came into being, Big Brother shuts off the telescreen in disgust and frustration. After several minutes, Citizen 43275-B realizes that the telescreen is not coming back on. He then retrieves a hidden cache of a notebook, pen and reading glasses, and begins to write his own guide to revolution, which may imply that he was intentionally planning to overthrow Big Brother by irritating him until the telescreen was switched off.

Similarities with other stories

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Besides the obvious telescreen and Big Brother, there are some other references. 43275-B gets chocolate rations, the intercom says the flour ration was lowered by 9% (as the book says the ration was lowered), the thought police are mentioned, the film mentions mass (27) executions while Citizen rejoiced, and he keeps a journal like Winston Smith does.

We

We, the satirical novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin that provided much of the inspiration for Nineteen Eighty-Four features a narrator, "D-503", who through much of the story truly believes in the virtue of his utterly regimented, totalitarian state. Much of the comic tension derives from D-503's horror at his own emerging desire to shatter the order of the "perfect" society which is the only world he has ever known.

Cast

• Citizen 43275-B - Mike Naughton
• Big Brother - Dan Keon
• Stormtrooper #1 - James Jacobus
• Stormtrooper #2 - Sterling Wolfe
• Neighbor - Tom Wheatley
• Voice - Esmé Nix

External links

• Me and the Big Guy at the Internet Movie Database
• Me and the Big Guy on AtomFilms
• Slamdance Film Festival listing