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All episodes of Brave New World,
are available now on Sky
Brave New World
the ‘perfect’ society of the future?
“It is better,” according to the philosopher, John Stuart Mill, “to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it’s only because they only know their own side of the question.” These are sentiments to which all of us, surely, must assent: it is deeply engrained in our culture to accept the disquiet brought to us by our active minds, as the necessary byproduct of having those minds at all. To bask in serene happiness is not only morally reprehensible – suggesting an indifference to the fate of others – but evidence of purely animal and sensual contentment.
Wisdom, intelligence – insight: all necessarily entail, we believe, an understanding of the human condition; and when properly comprehended, that condition is pretty grim: living for the most part in the sties-with-windows we call “houses”; following tightly circumscribed daily routines we call “working”, and seeking our pleasures at the trough we call “the dinner table”, followed by – if we’re lucky – the snuffling rut we call “making love”, the average human’s life is at best that of a dissatisfied pig.
For we are cursed with an imagination that makes it possible for us to conceive of doing so much more – our films and television programmes, our songs and stories, portray human lives that are like those of gods. These apparently divine people conquer other lands (and even colonise other planets), make scientific discoveries that are indistinguishable from magic, and create transcendent works of art that will please their descendants until the end of time. The trouble is that they, like us, still end back up in the bemerded straw, grunting. For it doesn’t matter how high our minds soar – our bodies remain hopelessly earthbound, and so vulnerable to all the privations that also afflict the pig: hunger, disease, pain… and death.
However, our lot is in fact worse than that of our porcine comrades – for while they can find utter peace basking in the sun, our cursed imaginations are always anticipating the clouds to come: the puffy little ones of want and privation – and beyond them, the great looming storm cloud of death itself. Theologians and secular moralists concur, that it’s our capacity for freedom that makes us morally responsible for our actions – yet what do we really see around us if not people piggishly doing what they please, the high and the low, and in many (if not most) instances, suffering no consequences at all. Moreover, if it is human morality that will make a Socrates of us all, how can we account for the fact that the actions he found utterly acceptable – such as enslaving other people – are anathema to us?
No: it is far better to be a piggish human, satisfied in the moment, living for that moment, than to trouble ourselves with moral conundrums that have no answer. We all know that it’s in those flow states we associate with the sensual pleasures – whether they are sporting, sexual or otherwise satiating – that we find our true selves in the midst of our abandonment. So, if we have the technology and the resources; the pharmacology and the biology, to engineer humans able to enjoy swinish levels of happiness, what on earth could be wrong with that? And if John Stuart Mill, or Socrates, or even God Almighty Himself, are of a different opinion, it can only be because they don’t know the pig’s – or the soma-snaffling Epsilon’s – side of the question.
Happiness is something many of us centre our lives around. We make life-altering decisions around it, from who we marry to how we shape our careers, and justify the sacrifices we make at its altar. But most of us, I would venture to say, don’t really know what it is. Happiness isn’t attainment or a fixed point; the pursuit of it, ironically, often doesn’t lead to it. Real happiness is actually something far more fleeting and simple, such as closing your eyes and feeling the warmth of the sun on your face.
Human beings love to outwit nature by imposing our own order to fix what we perceive to be its failings. But nature is only ever interested in one thing: balance. It’s why, if given the choice between a utopia where I could be happy all the time, or a real place where I had the freedom to make whatever choices I wanted, I would choose the latter, every time.
When we pin down happiness as a fixed point, and try to knot it through the fabric of our society as a state that must be maintained at all times, terrible things happen. That idea is explored exquisitely in Brave New World, the futuristic story in which an entire society is constructed around societal happiness, and it serves as the perfect depiction for why freedom is so fundamental.
There’s a drug to make you feel happy and relaxed when you might be feeling unhappy. There’s plenty of food and good weather. You can have sex with whomever you want, and anything negative or sad is stripped out of society. Things like art and literature, which are considered to be too risky in terms of upsetting human emotions, are no longer allowed. But this doesn’t create happiness, just the appearance of stability.
At its fundamental core, freedom is about the expression of individuality. Its definition is the state of not being imprisoned, and the right to behave how one wants. Being able to express that in a way that is right for you, is just as important as another person understanding what makes you the person you are. The recognition of who you are is one of the most powerful antidotes to loneliness, which speaks volumes about how the purest part of our nature works. With freedom, there is the possibility of making bad choices, which may cause sadness and despair. But there is also the possibility of making good choices that lead to happiness, and it's the element of choice that is key. When that is taken away from you, it’s impossible to experience happiness in an organic sense.
We see what happens when happiness is viewed as a monolith, rather than a unique thumb print. In Brave New World, for every seemingly stable person, there is another who is deeply affected by a system they don’t feel they fit into. That is because what seems like utopia to one person, might not be to another.
And ultimately, it’s the balance of things that creates the circumstances necessary to register and experience what happiness is. If we have a society where we don’t have the freedom to grieve or be sad the way we want, how will we truly be able to know what makes us happy?
Happiness
or freedom?
Which would you choose – a controlled but comfortable existence in New London, or a less privileged, freer life in the Savage Lands?
Team xxxxxxx
Name surname, Job title
Tomorrow’s people
The outsider who starts to
question the status quo
Rescued from the Savage Lands, John’s integration into New London is the catalyst that disrupts the status quo. His presence will stir both romantic feelings in Lenina and unrest in the seeming utopia.
John The Savage
Discover more
While best known for his spirited evocation of a young Han Solo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Los Angeles-born Ehrenreich has emerged as one of the most daring new talents in Hollywood, having already worked with greats like Francis Coppola (Tetro), the Coens (Hail, Caesar!), and Warren Beatty (Rules Don’t Apply).
Alden Ehrenreich
The rational scientist starting to think about what’s beneath the surface
A Beta+ scientist who causes disorder when she begins to explore her own individuality, Lenina is something of an oddity in New London – she yearns for monogamy, but she is drawn to two very different men: Bernard and John.
Discover more
Best recognised as Lady Sybil Crawley in television classic Downton Abbey, former ballet dancer Brown Findlay gave notice of her quality in major fantasy
films Winter’s Tale and Victor Frankenstein. More recently
the Berkshire-born actress
finished three seasons of the period series Harlots.
Jessica Brown Findlay
LENINA CROWNE
The high-ranking counsellor
doubting his status
An Alpha+ counsellor with deep insecurities who is charged with integrating John into New London. Having been content with his privileged station, Bernard finds himself affected by the apparent suicide of an Epsilon.
Discover more
You’ll recall the London-born Lloyd as the manipulative, platinum blonde Viserys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, but he can boast a suitably literary and science-fiction heritage as an actor having appeared in Doctor Who and adaptations David Copperfield and Great Expectations. Then he is the great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens.
Harry Lloyd
BERNARD MARX
The Epsilon slave
defying his betters
As a lowly Epsilon, CJack60 is not supposed to have feelings, or ideas, but John awakens the rebel inside him, empowering him to confront his ‘superiors’ and to rage against the proverbial machine.
CJack60
Discover more
Lenina’s Beta+ best friend, Frannie embraces her conditioning and New London’s social order. Happy with her hedonistic life – and supply of Soma – she struggles to
understand Lenina’s dissatisfaction.
The best friend content
with the status quo
Discover more
The mysterious World Controller striving to maintain order
One of the ten World Controllers and the
most powerful and intelligent proponent of the world state, Mond is concerned by an outbreak of empathy in this ‘ideal’ society and vows to come up with a strategy to deal with it.
Discover more
Mustafa Mond
London-based actress Sosanya has established herself as one of our finest stages actresses, having spent time with the Royal Shakespeare Company. But her long career also features numerous television roles including W1A, Killing Eve, Good Omens and His Dark Materials.
Nina Sosanya
Raised in Wales, Joseph Morgan came to fame with small but distinctive roles in the blockbusting epics Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Alexander. He has since become established as a television star, and sometime director, in hit US fantasy series The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off The Originals, as well as on British screens with The Line of Beauty.
Joseph Morgan
Canadian-American actress Bunbury began as a model before gaining notice in Stephen King adaptation Under the Dome. Following Brave New World, she
has her first lead in the crime series Big Sky.
Kylie Bunbury
Frannie
In blissful New London, the government controls the social status,
relationships and happiness of citizens – but a revolt is stirring…
Meet the perfect citizens of Brave New World
However, perfection is not what it’s cracked up to be.
The benefits of New London have consequences.
This ideal society may in fact be a beautiful prison.
“It seems perfect,” says Jessica Brown Findlay, who plays Lenina Crowne in the series. “But the minute you scratch the surface, you start to discover stuff.” Happiness, it turns out, can’t be faked. There is a vast difference between tranquil and tranquillised. Beneath the pristine exterior of New London, revolution is stirring.
This is the unnerving concept at the heart of the extraordinary new Sky Original adaptation of perhaps the most provocative science fiction novel ever written – Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Originally published in 1932, Huxley’s novel posed a telling question: what do you value more, happiness or freedom? His “ideal” society remains divided by class. Even for Alphas, there are three rules to uphold. No family. No monogamy. No privacy. Intimacy has been outlawed.
“Huxley,” says showrunner David Wiener, “was very afraid of a world in which people would become so sexually stimulated, so pharmacologically numb, and so distracted by entertainment and media, that they would fail to look within and beyond themselves in uncomfortable ways.”
Embracing all the rich thematic texture of shows such as Black Mirror, Westworld, and The Handmaid’s Tale, and films such as Gattaca and Logan’s Run, Weiner, alongside writers Grant Morrison and Brian Taylor, centres the story on a love triangle in a world where love is meaningless.
Displaying worrying signs of discontent, Bernard and Lenina are swiftly dispatched on a therapeutic trip to the Savage Lands. This is where they meet Alden Ehrenreich’s John the Savage, an emotionally raw prop man at a “monogamy show”, who lives with his trashy, bottle blonde mother Linda (Demi Moore).
A shocking turn of events will thrust John into the lives of Bernard and Lenina, starting a chain reaction that will ultimately shatter the frozen veneer of New London, and answer the question of who or what is behind this strange new world.
Filmed at Dragon Studios in Wales – incorporating 38 individual sets – and on location at Dungeness in England, Brave New World offers both a spectacular and disturbing vision of our future. New London may have been enhanced with brushstrokes of beautiful CGI, but it is still recognisably London.
As well as depicting the shape of sins to come, Brave New World serves as a reflection of contemporary society. “Huxley could never have foreseen the realms of social media and digital technology,” says Wiener, but they are a “natural extension” of what he was warning us about.
“You have adverts in your face, and you can swipe them away,” says Lloyd, “you can change the way you look.” The chilling message is that our future could turn out perfectly.
Think you could cut it in the
Brave New World?
You'll soon find out by taking the quiz
Brave New World: (above) New London, where monogamy is banned and all citizens must live publicly; (right) Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd) has his privileged existence turned upside down
Lenina Crowne (Jessica Brown Findlay) explores the world of the savage lands and John the Savage (Alden Ehrenreich) starts to ask key questions
Culture clash: (above) Demi Moore plays Linda, John the Savage’s mum; (left) Lenina’s concerned best friend Frannie (Kylie Bunbury) is happy with life in New London
Can you imagine a world where everyone can enjoy perpetual happiness? Well, in the paradise of New London, life revolves around pleasure. For the beautiful, young citizens of this Brave New World, with their glowing skin and perpetual happiness is part of everyday life. Yes, really. Better still, their state of bliss is maintained for them by a drug called Soma, ready to dispel any distracting emotions.
Around them is a seamless art deco utopia of purring technology, curvaceous architecture and artificial gardens extending to the sun-kissed horizon. Via biomorphic contact lenses, reality is augmented by an all-seeing artificial intelligence named Indra — there to gently monitor the comfort and health of all levels of society.
The population of New London has been genetically engineered into the ideal structure. At the top are the perfect Alphas such as counsellor Bernard Marx, who ensure the placid status quo is maintained. Then there are the Betas, higher level workers such as embryologist Lenina Crowne. And then come the gammas, and so on. On the lowliest rung can be found the silent, menial Epsilons such as CJack60, safely drugged into obedience.
Alphas and Betas are also able to take educational trips to the Savage Lands. Found in the arid American southwest (no more than an eight-minute rocket flight away), this is essentially a theme park based on a derelict USA. Here amused New Londoners observe unkempt, Soma-less savages enacting the horrors of shotgun weddings at the House of Monogamy and swarming Walmarts for bargains.
Unlike these savages, there is no crime among their stainless citadels, no disease, or any prejudice, jealousy or spite. With reproduction a production line, sex is a communal recreation. Each level must be ready to serve and pleasure the one above. Every night offers orgies of pleasure.
Ian Nathan
Think you could cut it
in the Brave New World?
You'll soon find out by taking the quiz
Will Self
Happiness is
a warm sty
Poorna Bell
No fulfilment without freedom
Living free is a fundamental human need –
and here’s why it cannot be taken away
without consequences
Freedom doesn’t make us happy –
but embracing a kind of animal
contentment will satisfy us all
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Can you imagine a world where everyone can enjoy perpetual happiness? Well, in the paradise of New London, life revolves around pleasure. For the beautiful, young citizens of this Brave New World, with their glowing skin and glazed smiles, perpetual happiness is part of everyday life. Yes, really. Better still, their state of bliss is maintained for them by a drug called Soma, ready to dispel any distracting emotions.
Around them is a seamless art deco utopia of purring technology, curvaceous architecture and artificial gardens extending to the sun-kissed horizon. Via biomorphic contact lenses, reality is augmented by an all-seeing artificial intelligence named Indra — there to gently monitor the comfort and health of all levels of society.
The population of New London has been genetically engineered into the ideal structure. At the top are the perfect Alphas such as counsellor Bernard Marx, who ensure the placid status quo is maintained. Then there are the Betas, higher level workers such as embryologist Lenina Crowne. And then come the gammas, and so on. On the lowliest rung can be found the silent, menial Epsilons such as CJack60, safely drugged into obedience.
Alphas and Betas are also able to take educational trips to the Savage Lands. Found in the arid American southwest (no more than an eight-minute rocket flight away), this is essentially a theme park based on a derelict USA. Here amused New Londoners observe unkempt, Soma-less savages enacting the horrors of shotgun weddings at the House of Monogamy and swarming Walmarts for bargains.
Unlike these savages, there is no crime among their stainless citadels, no disease, or any prejudice, jealousy or spite. With reproduction a production line, sex is a communal recreation. Each level must be ready to serve and pleasure the one above. Every night offers orgies of pleasure.
“Huxley,” says showrunner David Wiener, “was very afraid of a world in which people would become so sexually stimulated, so pharmacologically numb, and so distracted by entertainment and media, that they would fail to look within and beyond themselves in uncomfortable ways.”
Embracing all the rich thematic texture of shows such as Black Mirror, Westworld, and The Handmaid’s Tale, and films such as Gattaca and Logan’s Run, Weiner, alongside writers Grant Morrison and Brian Taylor, centres the story on a love triangle in a world where love is meaningless.
Displaying worrying signs of discontent, Bernard and Lenina are swiftly dispatched on a therapeutic trip to the Savage Lands. This is where they meet Alden Ehrenreich’s John the Savage, an emotionally raw prop man at a “monogamy show”, who lives with his trashy, bottle blonde mother Linda (Demi Moore).
The high-ranking counsellor doubting his status
An Alpha+ counsellor with deep insecurities who is charged with integrating John into New London. Having been content with his privileged station, Bernard finds himself affected by the apparent suicide of an Epsilon.
Discover more
bERNARD MARK
You’ll recall the London-born Lloyd as the manipulative, platinum blonde Viserys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, but he can boast a suitably literary and science fiction heritage as an actor, having appeared in Doctor Who and adaptations David Copperfield and Great Expectations. But then, he is the great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens.
Harry Lloyd
The rational scientist starting to think about what’s beneath the surface
A Beta+ scientist who causes disorder when she begins to explore her own individuality, Lenina is something of an oddity in New London – she yearns for monogamy, but she is drawn to two very different men: Bernard and John.
Discover more
Lenina Crowne
Best recognised as Lady Sybil Crawley in television classic Downton Abbey, former ballet dancer Brown Findlay gave notice of her quality in major fantasy
films Winter’s Tale and Victor Frankenstein. More recently
the Berkshire-born actress
finished three seasons of the period series Harlots.
Jessica Brown Findlay
The mysterious World Controller striving to maintain order
One of the ten World Controllers and the most powerful and intelligent proponent of the world state, Mond is concerned by an outbreak of empathy in this ‘ideal’ society and vows to come up with a strategy to deal with it.
Discover more
Mustafa Mond
Sosanya has established herself as one of our finest stages actresses, having spent time with the Royal Shakespeare Company. But her long career also features numerous television roles including W1A, Killing Eve, Good Omens and His Dark Materials.
Nina Sosanya
The best friend content
with the status quo
Lenina’s Beta+ best friend, Frannie embraces her conditioning and New London’s social order. Happy with her hedonistic life – and supply
of Soma – she struggles to understand Lenina’s dissatisfaction.
Discover more
Frannie
Canadian-American actress Bunbury began as a model before gaining notice in Stephen King adaptation Under the Dome. Following Brave New World, she has her first lead in the crime series Big Sky.
Kylie Bunbury
The Epsilon slave
defying his betters
As a lowly Epsilon, CJack60 is not supposed
to have feelings, or ideas, but John awakens
the rebel inside him, empowering him to confront his ‘superiors’ and to rage against the proverbial machine.
Discover more
CJack60
Raised in Wales, Joseph Morgan came to fame with small but distinctive roles in the blockbusting epics Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Alexander. He has since become established as a television star, and sometime director, in hit US fantasy series The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off The Originals, as well as on British screens with The Line of Beauty.
Joseph Morgan
As a lowly Epsilon, CJack60 is not supposed to have feelings, or ideas, but John awakens the rebel inside him, empowering him to confront his ‘superiors’ and to rage against the proverbial machine.