From Tom Perrotta's "The Cosmic Significance of Britney Spears, " Perrotta draws on the fact that he is writing about a famous teenage after 9/11, a time of crisis in America. However, at the same time, he is mocking America's fascination with celebrities, while George Orwell argues in his own essay, "Politics and the English Language, " that political leaders are to blame for the problems in society. .
In Perrotta's essay, which was featured in the December 2001 edition of GQ, he discusses the phenomena of Britney Spears. He compares Britney to other global pop figures: Elvis, Madonna, Kurt Cobain, and Michael Jackson. Perrotta focuses on the texts in themselves as social norms in America: religious habits, societal norms, race, sexuality, communities, and struggles and trauma. However, he also drops on the irony that he is writing a piece on teen sensation Britney Spears after the devastation of 9/11. In "The Cosmic Significance of Britney Spears, " Tom Perrotta looks at America's obsession with Britney Spears. He compares her to other major pop icons: Elvis, Madonna, Kurt Cobain, and Michael Jackson to examine why she actually is important to American culture. He writes this piece only soon after 9/11, which makes his piece seem insignificant, yet people read it anyway. .
Whereas, George Orwell wrote his essay many years before in 1946, shortly after World War II. His article takes a different focus. In "Politics and the English Language, " George Orwell argues that the English language is essentially falling apart, and that the political language is to be blamed. He blames politics because leaders twist words and make them vague to sound more intelligent and to make events sound better than they are. Both pieces are extremely different in terms of topics, but they both point out the flaws in politics. Orwell condemns the written English of the time and proceeds to point out the political degradation of language.