NEEDS REVIEW BEHIND THE SCENES with Benjamen Walker

You said that 1984 (the year not the book) has been brewing and developing in your mind for a while. Help us trace the inspiration for it... where did you begin?

I was 12 years old in 1984. I wanted to document what was happening, so I kept a diary. Most of my work is about what happens when you put reality and fiction together, and this piece documents how reality + fantasy actually produced me.

In 2006/7 I realized my 1984 story would make an amazing film, and I wanted to pull it off in time for the 25th anniversary in 2009. I did not do this. Then, about a year and a half ago, I started thinking about it again. My goal was to finish the piece by 2014 - the 30th anniversary of 1984.

Last year, when the Snowden leaks broke and everyone started saying that we are now living in 1984, I thought it was important to remind people that we have been living in 1984 since that very year. I think people who mindlessly shout that America is now Orwellian do a disservice to many of the ideas in Orwell's book. It is not just about surveillance; it is about power, the power of language, and the limits of freedom and the human spirit. And most importantly, it's about a disconnect with "Reality" that everyone buys into. This disconnect began in 1984 when America re-elected Ronald Reagan, a man who basically said to everyone 2+2=5 (there is no better formula for Reaganomics).

So much, of course, happens in a year. How did you narrow down the chronology to focus on a few specific events?

Three of the main characters - Ronald Reagan, Steve Jobs, and Michael Jackson - totally defined the world we live in today. Incredibly, all three have stories that played out over the course of 1984: Will Michael Jackson free himself from his family and become his own person in charge of his own destiny? Will Ronald Reagan win reelection? Will Steve Jobs convince America to buy into his vision of computers and sell tons of Macs.

Where did you find the archival audio? What was your process of going through it?

Almost all of it is on YouTube. Some of it I have on cassette tape. Some things I ordered from archives. But we are living in an incredible time when it comes to having access to archival recordings.

YouTube is probably my favorite thing about the internet. I have discovered that all of my favorite people have their own YouTube obsessions. Almost everything I needed, I found there - and I even found new things! And the music on YouTube is a total treasure trove.

Not everyone who hears your piece has a memory of 1984. For those who were too young to remember, or not yet born, what would you like their takeaway from this piece to be?

This piece is actually for the people of today. Orwell wrote, "who controls the past, controls the future." This is my attempt at liberating 1984 for the citizens of the future. While many students still read 1984 , the high school conversation about the book often focuses on Orwell's vision of the future: A boot stamping on a human face forever. Mine is a different vision of the future. I ask: What if in the future, totalitarianism gets stamped out, and the only boot is the one you hear as the face on your screen lights up?

What do you hope this story will gain by remaking it as a film?

In 2014, Big Brother doesn't have to secretly record us because we record everything for him. Today we put it all on the internet - we might as well email it to the NSA. In 1984 this all starts with the video revolution. I think it will be easier to tell this aspect of the story in a film. As to how I'll re-make it as a film... that's a secret.

Did you go into this project thinking that you would reveal as much about yourself to listeners as you did?

I don't think this piece works without my 12 year old self – a middle schooler can better see totalitarianism than the so-called experts. Of course, he is filled with hope whereas I am not. Also that idiot 12 year old didn't even OWN a computer.

And I long ago ditched the anxieties of that 12 year old self. I am sure he would be mortified though.