For me the 1984 connection is particularly interesting because of John Hurt. Hurt, who plays Adam Sutler, was protagonist Winston Smith in Michael Radford’s adaptation of 1984. I love that.

Also, Valerie’s autobiogragphy mentions the word “rendition”. That to me seems a definite reference to the extraordinary rendition policy.

And the statement “A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having” made me think of something I’ve often seen attributed to Emma Goldman (but which I think is actually a popular paraphrasing of something she wrote): “If I can’t dance, I want no part of your revolution.”