References to George Orwell's 1949 dystopian political novel Nineteen Eighty-Four themes, concepts and plot elements are also frequent in other works, particularly popular music and video entertainment.

A successful new adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four (by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan), which twice toured the UK and played an extended run in London's West End at the Almeida Theatre and Headlong, have been staged. More recently, a Broadway presentation of the stage adaptation is scheduled to open on 22 June 2017 at the Hudson Theatre.^[1]

• Near the end of Bedazzled (1967), when Stanley, the character played by Dudley Moore, who has been transformed into a nun, is shown his private room at the convent, he sees a poster above his bed. On the poster is a photograph of Peter Cook, also dressed as a nun, under which reads the caption, "Big Sister Is Watching You."
• George Lucas's THX 1138 is loosely inspired by 1984, with an underground civilization under heavily surveillance and by containing any form of emotion, including, but not limited to, love.
• Terry Gilliam's Brazil draws heavily from 1984, adding large amounts of dark humour and visual metaphors.
• In Hackers (1995), the character Emmanuel Goldstein says, "1984? Yeah right, man. That's a typo. Orwell is here now. He's living large. We have no names, man, no names. We are nameless..."
• Me and the Big Guy (1999) is a comedic short film that satires the relationship between Winston and Big Brother by portraying its main character, Citizen 43275-B, entirely grateful of the Revolution and treating his telescreen as if it were his own best friend.
• Equilibrium (2002) portray a futuristic totalitarian dystopian society like we seen in Nineteen Eighty-Four, the structure of these governments (1984 and Equilibrium) is exceedingly similar, with strict social classes and an omnipresent figurehead, known as the “Big Brother” in 1984 and “Father” in Equilibrium.
• In Eagle Eye (2008), in the beginning of the movie, the quote "Big Brother Is Watching" is used by a reporter in reference to not only 1984, but also to the central theme of the movie: the government being able to tap in and listen to anyone, at any given time.
• In Icarus (2017), a documentary about Russia's athletic doping scandal, Grigory Rodchenkov quotes 1984 on several occasions. Rodchenkov compares his situation to that of Winston Smith's and he discusses the concept of "Doublethink."^[2]

• In 1955, an episode of BBC's The Goon Show, 1985, was broadcast, written by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes and based on Nigel Kneale's television adaptation. It was re-recorded about a month later with the same script but a slightly different cast.^[3] 1985 parodies many of the main scenes in Orwell's novel.
• "1984", an Apple Macintosh commercial depicting an Orwellian dystopia, with the image of Big Brother dominating the screen, directed by Ridley Scott.
• Good Morning, Mr. Orwell, a made-for-TV art film by Korean American video artist Naim June Paik, is themed after the novel and alludes to it in its name. The project was broadcast on New Year's Day, 1984.
• An episode of Doctor Who, called "The God Complex", depicts an alien ship disguised as a hotel containing Room 101-like spaces, and also, like the novel, quotes the nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons".^[4]
• The two part episode Chain of Command on Star Trek: The Next Generation bears some resemblances to the novel.^[5]
• In Are You Being Served? episode "Coffee Morning," the staff are made to fill out a book whenever they have a coffee break or go to the toilet. After they are made aware of the book, Miss Brahms says "Nineteen Eighty-Four: Big Brother Is Watching You," and Mrs. Slocombe replies, "They won't be watching as well will they?"
• Reality show Big Brother takes its name from the novel,^[6] as does British programme Room 101.
• Countdown with Keith Olbermann, a news program on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann often quotes from the novel. These are usually presented in the "Special Comment" editorial section of the show in reference to current American political debate. Olbermann often refers to the Fox News Channel as the "Ministry of Truth".
• An Important Things with Demetri Martin episode contains a sketch, which parodies the experience of Winston Smith in Room 101
• The second episode of the fourth season of 30 Rock, "Into the Crevasse", features a reference to Big Brother. Kenneth Parcell, in addition to working at NBC claims to give his time to several charitable organizations, among them Big Brother. Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon believes him to mean the male half of Big Brothers Big Sisters, but he corrects her saying, "It's an organization that secretly watches people and makes sure they're behaving properly."
• The video for Ready, Set, Go! by Tokio Hotel, mostly inspired by the Apple commercial.
• In SCTV's "1984:Big Brother" episode, the fictional local TV channel turns into "Telescreen" at the stroke of midnight, January 1, 1984, and its programming (including game shows, children's shows and televangelists) becomes Orwellian; it's revealed to be a nightmare experienced by station manager Edith Prickley.
• In episode four of the Greg Davies series Man Down, the pin number shouted by the community police officer is 6079; Winston Smith's citizen number.
• In a television pitch reel for children's television program "Sesame Street", Scoop (the light blue puppet) came up with the title "The Two and Two are Five Show" when Grump (the vermillion-colored puppet) replied: "Are you crazy? This is supposed to be an educational show, two plus two don't make five!" Then Scoop changed the name to "The Two and Two Aren't Five Show". This is a reference to "doublethink".

• "1985", an episode from the fifth season of The Goon Show where 846 Winston Seagoon is a worker for the Big Brother Corporation (a play on the acronym of the British Broadcasting Corporation). Several times during the episode Eccles exclaims "It's good to be alive, in 1985!", and Room 101 becomes the BBC Listening Room, using recordings such as Mrs Dale's Diary for torture.
• Nineteen Ninety-Four and the sequel series Nineteen Ninety-Eight, written by William Osborne and Richard Turner, is set in the Environment, the country previously known as Britain where 'The Difficulties' of the Nineteen Eighties resulted in the creation of the Department of the Environment (a merger of all government departments and private corporations) and a society built around consumerism, unlimited credit, leisure and 'lifestyle packages'. Edward Wilson, the main character, applies for work at the department in 1994 (being constantly promoted and then ultimately used as a guinea pig in an experiment to see if mega-markets could replace the Department) and attempts to rouse the population of the Environment against the Am-Jap Corporation in 1998 (his failure to do so resulting in the use of the Environment's population for electricity generation and Wilson becoming a living doll as a present for the CEO's children).

• Anthony Burgess wrote a novel called 1985 that was inspired by 1984 and included essays on Orwell's work.
• György Dalos wrote the novel 1985 that was intended as a direct sequel to Orwell's work.
• Joss Sheldon's second novel, Occupied, was described as "Darker than George Orwell's 1984" by AXS.^[7] Sheldon himself has said he was inspired by Orwell when he wrote Occupied.
• In The Areas of My Expertise, in the section on US states, the entry on Indiana mimics Oceania, with the state government being renamed Unigov, Indianapolis being renamed "Speedway One", and the state mottos being phrased in Newspeak.
• In The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands, Susannah Dean uses Orwell and doublethink to describe the wartime actions of the Old Ones of Lud. One of the inhabitants of Lud is also named Winston.
• In Inventing Elliot by Graham Gardner, the main theme of the book is heavily influenced by 1984, and the key villain of Inventing Elliot models himself on O'Brien, the agent of Big Brother who entraps the hero of 1984.
• The title of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother is a reference to Nineteen Eighty-Four's Big Brother. The novel's main character has the nickname w1n5t0n, a reference to Winston Smith.
• In The Complete Patriot's Guide To Oligarchical Collectivism: Its Theory And Practice, Ethan explores allegories and metaphors of 1984 in nonfiction, and presents examples of real oligarchical institutions.
• The author of The Butterfly and the Flame Dana De Young, references that 1984 as an influence on her writings. In addition to being dystopian literature, The Butterfly and the Flame features several subtle homages to Orwell's work. One of the main characters, Julia La Rouche, was named after Julia in 1984. Aaron and Emily La Rouche stay in a hotel room in Lewis Bend, which is Room 101. Finally, the dedication page features the well known quote, "We'll meet again in a place where there is no darkness."^[8][9]
• In Matthew Reilly's 2011 book Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves the antagonist, Marius Calderon, references the rat torture used to threaten Winston in 1984.
• Japanese author Haruki Murakami's book 1Q84 depicts the world of Japan in the year 1984 through the eyes of two main characters: a reporter and an aspiring writer.
• Margaret Atwood began writing the dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale in the year 1984.
• Lucy Hawking's 2019 children book George and the Ship and the Ship of Time portray a futuristic totalitarian dystopian society like we seen in Nineteen Eighty-Four, the structure of these governments (in both novels) is exceedingly similar, with strict social classes and an omnipresent figurehead, known as the “Big Brother” in 1984 and “Trellis Dump” in George and the Ship and the Ship of Time. Both novels also featured giant broadcasting screens that show the face of the tyrant dictator, omnipresent secret police, and similar fictional concepts: The Revolution, perpetual war between Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia, an enigmatic underground resistance movement known as the Brotherhood in Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Great Disruption, perpetual war between Eden and The Other Side, an enigmatic underground resistance movement known as n-ah Alba in George and the Ship and the Ship of Time.

• An issue of The Mighty World of Marvel featured a variant of Captain Britain from the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four (Earth-744). This version was named Captain Airstrip One (real name George Smith, a combination of George Orwell and Winston Smith) and was a member of the Thought Police.
• In Superman: Red Son, Superman (in this setting the ruler of the Soviet Union) is compared to Big Brother. Additionally, the cover of the third issue was designed in the manner of a poster depicting Superman's head with the caption, "He's watching you".
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier is set in Britain after the fall of the Big Brother government. In this version it came to power in 1945 (Orwell had wanted to set 1984 in the present day but was asked not to by his publisher), and fell in 1956. This version does not appear to have been as effective as the novel since only two years later Britain has reverted (for the most part) to its pre-Big Brother state. In this version it is explicitly stated that Big Brother was General Harold Wharton, and that Oceania/ Airstrip One was only in control of Britain and lying about controlling anywhere else. O'Brien replaced BB in 1952 and seems to have remained in power until forced into an election by the revived Conservative party in 1956. Miniluv being actually MI5.
• In 1984 Eric Schreurs and Wim Hanssen made the graphic novel 1984: Het Gelijk van George Orwell?, which features two short story comics inspired by the novel and how much of Orwell's predictions have come true? In Schreurs' story Orwell actually comes back from the dead to witness the horrors of modern-day society.^[10][11]
• Justice Machine takes place on the planet "Georwell" which is later revealed to be Earth in the future after having been taken over by a totalitarian government.
• A Peanuts comic strip references 1984, saying that Snoopy is dreading the year 1984 to come because of the jokes that would come along with it.^[12]
• A Calvin and Hobbes comic strip makes a reference to Thinkpol. Calvin is sitting in class when he shouts that this is "a big, fat waste of my time!" In the fourth panel he is seen trying to run out of the classroom as hands reach out for him and he yells "Help! It's the Thought Police!"

• In Capcom's Strider series the titular protagonist fights against a totalitarian regime in a dystopian setting. The term Eurasia is used in referring to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.^[20]
• In the Sanctuary Woods CD-ROM game "Victor Vector & Yondo: The Cyberplasm Formula", there are references to "Victory Cola" and "Victory Coffee". 1984-themed graffiti can be found in several scenes including "2+2=5" and "doubleplusgood". In addition, one scene features a door marked "101", next to which is the graffiti, "The worst thing in the world". If the player clicks on the doorbell next to the door, it falls off and a rat can be heard squeaking.
• In the PC game SimCity Societies, the Authoritarian society is slightly based on Nineteen Eighty-Four, with a Ministry of Truth, Justice Palace, and, among other items, gigantic television screens displaying a bald man who has an uncanny resemblance to the Big Brother of the movie based on the novel.
• The world of Half-Life 2 is similar to that of the novel, featuring giant broadcasting screens that show the face of the tyrant dictator who controls the world in which they live, and omnipresent police. The living quarters are similar to the Victory Mansions where Winston lives, and there are small hovering cameras that are used for watching residents in these apartments. A torture room named "Room 101" is also seen at the beginning of the game. Also, citizens are forced to wear blue denim overalls, just like in Nineteen Eighty Four. In 2010, when Valve announced that Steam was available to Mac users, they recreated the 1984 Mac advertisement, using characters from Half-Life 2.
• Ken Levine, creator of the highly acclaimed FPS BioShock, said that 1984 along with Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged was an influence on the game's storyline. The "little sisters" are also a direct reference to "Big Brother." In Bioshock 2 in several places you can find written on the walls, "Big Sister is watching you."
• In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, there is a challenge that requires you to call in 3 UAV surveillance drones in a single match. Completion of this challenge will earn the "Big Brother" title, a reference to Big Brother and the Party's constant surveillance of the people.
• In Fallout 3, the protagonist's supposed place of origin, Vault 101, draws many references from 1984, such as a cult of personality surrounding the director of the vault, the overseer. The Vault's name itself is in reference to the torture room '101' as well as a good portion of the security personnel being brutish and corrupt. In the Overseer's office you find files detailing most of the individuals in the Vault.
• Batman: Arkham City has many interesting references to 1984. An example are the signs that force authority in the prison. One of the signs even has Hugo Strange look similar to Big Brother. Also, if you turn the Arkham City's symbol upside down, it looks remarkably similar to Ingsoc's symbol.^[21]
• In The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind within the city of Vivec there's a 'Ministry of Truth' a direct reference to the place Winston forges history for the Party as well as the questions you are asked initially when creating a character with question four; There is a lot of heated discussion at the local tavern over a grouped of people called 'Telepaths'. They have been hired by certain City-State kings. Rumor has it these Telepaths read a person's mind and tell their lord whether a follower is telling the truth or not. With the answers: This is a terrible practice. A person's thoughts are his own and no one, not even a king, has the right to make such an invasion into another human's mind. Loyal followers to the king have nothing to fear from a Telepath. It is important to have a method of finding assassins and spies before it is too late. In these times, it is a necessary evil. Although you do not necessarily like the idea, a Telepath could have certain advantages during a time of war or in finding someone innocent of a crime. It should also be noted that the buildings in Vivec are pyramid shaped a very notable feature of the 1984 Ministries.
• In the Ubisoft game; Anno 2070 for the corporate faction the 'Tycoons' their information need is met by building large towers known as a 'Ministry of Truth' channels over time become available by unlocking new levels of society and population status these channels include: 'Global Trust – We look after you', 'Job TV', 'Success Stories', 'Neighborhood Watch' and 'Immo TV – Your Property' similar to the propaganda described in 1984 with their own icons and video loops.
• In the U.K independent Chucklefish game Starbound, the race known as the Apex takes part of their culture from the 1984 book as referenced here in the trivia as "Apex lore is riddled with references to the dystopian classic 1984 by George Orwell. Features such as MiniKnog and "Big Ape" are obvious allusions to the Ministries of Ingsoc (Ministry of Truth being Minitrue, Ministry of Love being Miniluv, etc.), and Big Brother being a considerable presence in 1984." There are also interrogation tables one can find in Apex bases, televisions that watch you, and posters and guards that state "Big Ape is watching you"
• The Konami game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is heavily influenced by 1984, Moby-Dick and Lord of the Flies. Ocelot and Big Boss refer to the concepts of "doublethink" and "2+2=5" after discussing the act of self-hypnosis, realizing the year (ingame) is 1984. Torture and interrogations are conducted in "Room 101". Skull Face, the game's main antagonist, proclaims "This War is Peace." After the conclusion of Chapter 1, posters declaring "Big Boss is Watching You" appear throughout the Diamond Dogs Motherbase.
• The Ubisoft game Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege The GIGN operator Lion has a gadget called the EE-ONE-D, a drone present at all times above the map, when activated it scans the area for a short period, if a defender moves their position is compromised. when activating this he can say the voice line "big brother incoming" or "big brother coming in for overwatch" in reference to its omnipresence and suppressive ability
• The Epic Games game Fortnite had a pre-game introduction which was a parody of Apple's 1984 Macintosh computer advertisement called "Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite".^[22] This was made in response to Apple removing Fortnite from their App Store which Epic Games later called "anti-competitive restrictions" on September 10, 2020.^[23] Epic games would also later file a lawsuit against Apple due to these practices.
• Upon Minecraft releasing a controversial moderation feature in update version 1.19.1, in which players could report other players for in-game chat messages, players dubbed the update "1.19.84".^[24]
• The 2016 game Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You drew a lot of inspiration from Nineteen Eighty-Four. The game takes place in a fictional European country known as The Nation, and the game's plot follows the player using experimental government surveillance software, code-named "Orwell," to track a protest group known as Thought. There are many references to the book throughout.
• The 2022 game Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered contains a self-aware comment that references 1984.