Big Brother Is Watching You

Submission 385

Part of a series on Nineteen Eighty-Four / 1984. [View Related Entries]

About

Big Brother Is Watching You refers to a series of memes using an illustration by Jonathan Burton of a man looking out his window at buildings covered in posters reading "Big Brother is watching you," a reference to the novel 1984 by George Orwell. The artwork was drawn by Burton in late 2014 and became the subject of memes in late 2024, particularly on TikTok, in which the illustration, along with several others, are used to react to something that is restrictive in nature, ironically comparing the subject to 1984. The meme is typically set to the Papers, Please theme song and is similar to the "living in 1984" format.

Origin

On December 17th, 2014, artist Jonathan Burton shared a print based on 1984 to his Instagram^[1] page, jonathanburtondraws, garnering around 25 likes in 10 years. The artwork is part of a series of 1984-inspired art by Burton, which later made the 2015 World Illustration Awards shortlist.^[2]

On October 29th, 2024, TikToker^[3] @theonewithmemes posted a meme set to the Papers, Please theme song in which an illustration of a man wandering by a wall full of "Big Brother is watching you" posters is attached to an image of a sign reading, "please no pooping in the urinal," garnering over 160,000 views in a month. This is the earliest known instance of the meme, but is not confirmed to be the true original iteration.

On November 12th, TikToker^[4] @jeremyc15_ posted a similar meme in which the Jonathan Burton artwork showing the man looking out his window to see the posters is placed after a photo of a sign asking people not to use their phones in the bathroom, garnering over 13.9 million views in a week.

Spread

The format garnered viral spread over the following days. On November 14th, 2024, TikToker^[5] @z3qulx posted the meme alongside a photo of a sign asking people not to wash their balls in Baja Blast, garnering over 1.8 million views in a week. On November 15th, TikToker^[6] @mrs.toosigma posted a version of the meme in which the Burton art is attached to a sign asking employees not to pleasure themselves while on the clock, garnering over 1.6 million views in a similar span of time.

The meme also started to garner viral spread on sites like X^[7] and Reddit^[8] that month, although no known examples garnered a significant number of interactions.

On November 22nd, TikToker^[9] @midnighttmarvel posted a version of the meme in which the Burton art is attached to a poster asking moviegoers not to cheer when Maria dies during Sonic the Hedgehog 3, garnering over 6.5 million views in three days.

Various Examples

Living In 1984

Living in 1984 refers to a comic by political cartoonist Gary Varvel depicting a man hearing about Donald Trump's Twitter account getting suspended and Parler being removed from app stores while turning his calendar and discovering the year is 1984. This is a reference to George Orwell's 1984, which has become a common reference among conservatives while discussing what they believe is censorship. However, the reference has been mocked as ill-fitting by observers, resulting in the Wow, This Is Just Like 1984 meme. Varvel's comic has been used as an exploitable online with users replacing the wife's text.