1984 Rebooted as Romance, and No, I'm Not Kidding

George Orwell's dystopian tale of the ultimate in Big Government, 1984, is apparently receiving a reboot.  Currently called Equals, this movie is set to star Nicholas Hoult (a/k/a Marcus from About A Boy, a/k/a Jennifer Lawrence's main squeeze) as Winston Smith and the perpetually grim Kristen Stewart as Julia.And it will be a romance.A ROMANCE."I'm terrified of it," says Kristen Stewart and I've gotta say, K-Stew...that makes two of us.  Because here's the thing:NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.   ///big gulp of air/// NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.I mean...yes, there is sex in the book between Winston and Julia, and it's a pivotal part of the plot, for sure.  But even in my most jaded times, I've never confused dingy, bleak, anti-Big-Brother-fueled hate-fucks, that lead to the ultimate in betrayals, as "romance".  Sure, maybe they have moments of feeling tender toward one another, but when Big Brother finally catches on to their trysting, they both start checking bus schedules to figure out which one they're throwing the other under.I imagine it's going to be like this:

*sigh*

See, the thing is, there are plenty of dystopian novels that focus on unlikely romances to work with, and that's fine, I'm not saying it can't or wouldn't ever happen, and I don't object to it as a storyline.  But the authors of these other works didn't call them: 1984 2.0 or 1984: Reckoning or Winston (hearts) Julia: A Tale of Light in the Darkness.  No.  Because that's not Winston and Julia's story.  These other authors created their own stories.  They didn't co-opt someone else's under the guise of a "reboot".  Because that?  Is cheating.

So I, of course, expect it to be dreadful, and I admit I'm clearly already prejudiced against it.  Though I will say this: I'm tickled by the idea of legions of Twilight fans downloading 1984 into their Kindles so they can get ready for K-Stew's new movie.  Because in the real 1984, there's not one sparkle to be found.

Bonus! A game of #romantic1984 started on Twitter once this was announced.  Thus far, here is my favorite Tweet.

https://twitter.com/lavietidhar/status/423393806885867520And that, friends, is the problem with the romance of 1984, in a nutshell.I can't wait for the musical.