Editing Ridley Scott (section)

====''1984'' Apple Macintosh commercial====
{{Main|1984 (advertisement)}}
In 1984, Scott directed a big-budget ($900,000) television commercial, "[[1984 (advertisement)|1984]]", to launch [[Apple Computer]]'s [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] computer.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=http://tedfriedman.com/electric-dreams/chapter-5-apples-1984/ |title=Electric Dreams: Computers in American Culture |chapter=Chapter 5: 1984 |access-date=6 October 2011 |last=Friedman |first=Ted |year=2005 |publisher=[[New York University Press]] |isbn=0-8147-2740-9 |archive-date=9 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190109061041/https://tedfriedman.com/electric-dreams/chapter-5-apples-1984/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Scott filmed the advertisement in England for about $370,000;<ref>{{cite news | title= The Computer, the Consumer and Privacy | url= https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/04/weekinreview/the-computer-the-consumer-and-privacy.html | date= 4 March 1984 | first= David | last= Burnham | location= Washington DC | newspaper= The New York Times | access-date= 24 January 2014 | archive-date= 3 April 2015 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150403144334/http://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/04/weekinreview/the-computer-the-consumer-and-privacy.html | url-status= live }}</ref> which was given a showcase airing in the US on 22 January 1984, during [[Super Bowl XVIII]], alongside screenings in cinemas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.duke.edu/~tlove/mac.htm |title=Apple's 1984: The Introduction of the Macintosh in the Cultural History of Personal Computers |publisher=Duke.edu |access-date=6 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991005015117/http://www.duke.edu/~tlove/mac.htm |archive-date= 5 October 1999}}</ref> Some consider this advertisement a "watershed event" in advertising<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kevinmaney/2004-01-28-maney_x.htm |title=Apple's '1984' Super Bowl commercial still stands as watershed event |work=USA Today |date=28 January 2004 |access-date=6 March 2010 |archive-date=10 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410035437/http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kevinmaney/2004-01-28-maney_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and a "masterpiece".<ref name=masterpiece>{{cite news
|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/02/02/eye.ent.commercials/
|title=Why 2006 isn't like '1984'
|access-date=10 May 2008
|last=Leopold
|first=Todd
|date=3 February 2006
|work=CNN
|archive-date=5 April 2014
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140405133016/http://edition.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/02/02/eye.ent.commercials
|url-status=live
}}</ref> ''[[Advertising Age]]'' placed it top of its list of the 50 greatest commercials.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE5D61138F937A25750C0A963958260|title=The Media Business: Advertising; A new ranking of the '50 best' television commercials ever made|first=Stuart|last=Elliott|work=The New York Times|date=14 March 1995|access-date=22 January 2014|quote=The choice for the greatest commercial ever was the spectacular spot by Chiat/Day, evocative of the George Orwell novel ''1984'', that introduced the Apple Macintosh computer during Super Bowl XVIII in 1984.|archive-date=19 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219204227/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE5D61138F937A25750C0A963958260|url-status=live}}</ref>

Set in a dystopian future modelled after [[George Orwell]]'s ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', Scott's advertisement used its hero (portrayed by English athlete [[Anya Major]]) to represent the coming of the Macintosh (indicated by her white [[Sleeveless shirt|tank top]] adorned with a picture of the Apple Macintosh computer) as a means of saving humanity from "conformity" ([[Big Brother (1984)|Big Brother]]), an allusion to [[IBM]], at that time the dominant force in computing.<ref name=cellini>{{cite web
|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb197/is_200401/ai_n5556112
|archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090628133757/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb197/is_200401/ai_n5556112
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=28 June 2009
|title= The Story Behind Apple's '1984' TV commercial: Big Brother at 20
|access-date=9 May 2008
|last=Cellini
|first=Adelia
|date=January 2004
|work=[[MacWorld]] 21.1, page 18
}}</ref>