“It’s time for Physical Jerks”
As a daily part of the job you must participate in what’s known as a physical jerk. These jerks are a short stretching routine to keep you active in limber whilst sitting at a cubicle all day. They are about 5-10 minutes of exercises shouted out live by an instructor, everyone under 45 should be able to touch their toes, and you must stay in shape for the possibility of being drafted for war. However, whilst some of what Orwell’s physical jerks is similar to the 1980’s it isn’t completely accurate.
Before, the 1980’s gyms were largely for body builders or any
professional athletes. Slowly exercising became a more mainstream activity with
live aerobic classes becoming very popular. The motto was “self-improvement” we
weren’t working to get stronger but to improve ourselves. The downside of these
live aerobic classes is people became scared of messing up in front of the
class. Thus, home aerobic videos were put on the market, paving the way for
this was Jane Fonda. After Jane Fonda released her aerobic videos everyone wanted
to hop on the trend.
These physical
jerks are much like the at home aerobic videos but seem to be a little less
high energy. We can see that the aspect of self-consciousness is still present as
Winston gets called out for not touching his toes and seems embarrassed. This
does push him to reach his toes and immediately he feels satisfied. These
physical jerks main purpose is to keep you comfortable during the day, to give
you a set period to stretch. Do you think we should have these in our education
or workplace? If so, what grades would it help the most and what other “physical
jerks” could be done?
They should definitely pick a better name than physical jerks! That sounded horribly painful. :)
ReplyDeleteFirst things first: I love Jane Fonda! I kind of liked the physical jerks section of the book, because it actually seemed like a pretty good idea. A lot of people feel better when they start their days with exercise. I think at Uni, PE is a good substitute for physical jerks since it is so intensive. However, in the workplace I don't know if everyone would feel comfortable with a forced workout session, and it's pretty unaccommodating if people are sick, injured, or otherwise unable to participate. So basically, I think the principle is good but the execution is poor. Also it's creepy that the instructor called out Winston.
ReplyDeleteMandatory exercise is an idea familiar to every Uni student. But as we moved online, instruction shifted from actual workouts to fitness education. Most people downgrade the value of stretching or doing "physical jerk-esque" exercises, but I think our online classes really turned around. Stretching can be very satisfying, as depicted in 1984. I am personally grateful that Uni shifted to a more holistic view of fitness during the pandemic, and am amused by the similarities between "physical jerks" and zoom P.E.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Curtis said up there^ I definitely think that fitness education and exercise should be encouraged but I also think it's one of those things that people use to rejuvenate themselves mentally, encourage creative expression, and participate in as a stress reliever-- making these things uniform would suck all of the individuality out of those things but if it were just uniform stretching implemented, I would definitely encourage it.
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