♦️𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌♦️

🔹(𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐈𝐍 “𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐍𝐃”)🔹


“... 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒'𝑠 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛. 𝐼𝑇 𝑊𝐴𝑆 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑆𝐸𝐶𝑂𝑁𝐷 𝑂𝐹 𝑀𝐴𝑌. 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑠. ...“
(George Orwell, “1984“)

Photo credit: Book cover, Screenshots from the movie, screenshot from the music clip, edit by Silke

These lines are the literary origin of what we celebrate today. The beginning of “International Placebo Day“ dates back to 8th of June 1949, the release date of 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘖𝘳𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭 “1984“ (also known as “Nineteen Eighty-Four“).
If you want to know more about what exactly happened on the 2nd of May and where this lead to please continue reading this post.

As most of you know the Placebo song “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘥“ 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 in its lyrics. Now we will have a closer look at them and reveal all the hidden meanings in the text.
When you think of the song, can you name some of those references? (Obviously “The 2nd of May“ is out of competition.) Quite difficult, isn't it?
Except you know the storyline of “1984“. This is necessary to find and understand the clues in the lyrics. Those of you who aren't familiar with it can click the link below and read the summary. It leads to a page where you cannot only find a plot overview, but also summaries and analyses of every chapter, a list and description of the characters, quotes, key facts and much more. To understand the references in “The bitter end“ you only need to read the plot overview.
Or, if you're not a fan of reading, just watch the movie.

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆:
👉 https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/summary/

Photo credit: Scarlet Page

Ok, soulmates, now that the basic work is done it's time to get serious. Important questions will be anwered. 😉

Where or what is the “comfort zone“?
Who's “running out of alibis“ and why?
And what happened on that “fateful day“?
Let's get started and discover those secrets!

📜 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗘𝗡𝗗
𝙎𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙
𝙄𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙯𝙤𝙣𝙚
➡ In “1984“ most people are kept sedated with alcohol, lottery and pornography (feeling so anesthetized) but they are also brainwashed and so used to it, that they are satisfied with this state (the comfort zone).

𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚
𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚
➡ Julia follows Winston home twice. The second time he almost kills her, because he thinks she is a spy of the Thought Police.

𝙒𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙨
𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙖𝙮
➡ It's the day Julia and Winston have their first secret date.They fall in love with each other and have sex for the first time. Relationships or sex between Party Members are strictly forbidden by Big Brother. Winston and Julia are aware from the start (from the 2nd of May) that they will be captured and that there's no justification for their love affair (they are running out of alibis).

𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚
𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙮
➡ This refers to the final chapter where Winston and Julia accidentally meet one last time on a cold day in March. “Summer time“ stands for the affair they had the year before.

𝙎𝙚𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙙
𝙎𝙚𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙙
➡ “The bitter end“ means the last time Julia and Winston meet after the tortures had killed their feelings for one another.

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥 𝙬𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙨𝙮𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙
𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙤𝙣𝙚
➡ No one dares to be individual or different from the rest in “1984“ (they all “take synchronized steps“).
“Every broken bone“ is a reference to the tortures both Julia and Winston go through at the Ministry of Love before they betray each other.

𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚
𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚

𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙡𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙚𝙨
𝘼𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮
➡ A lullaby titled “Oranges and Lemons“ is a frequently used motif throughout the novel until the point where Julia and Winston are captured by the Thought Police.

𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚
𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙙𝙖𝙮
➡ The fateful day is 2nd of May again. From that moment on Julia and Winston know that they will be killed or their spirits will be broken by the Party (it's killing time).

𝙎𝙚𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙙
𝙎𝙚𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙙

Screenshot from the official video

Some of you may wonder why the text stops here. Here's a quote by Brian that helps to understand:

“... That does happen at the very end of "The bitter end" as well. The backing vocal that comes in at the very, very end which starts out with a line that says "every time we're intersected/it feels love like suicide" and then the last line is "to miss your eyes and lips" and in between I don't know what I am saying“ (The Sentimentalist 2003).

Post by Silke