Anyone have any good ideas linking 1984 to modern society that don't deal with America and/or Bus being Bir Bro. (damn classmates)?
Sorry, there's only one super power in 'modern society'.
I think >>2 is right, but perhaps you can be more original than your classmates by focusing on the real power behind history rather than its puppets, ie technology rather than politicians.
For example. animal farm could be the Internet: grown by visionaries and geeks out of traditional centralised communications infrastructure like post, telegraph and radio under the unsuspecting eyes of the US military, then enjoying a brief phase of genuinely collaborative egalitarian communication before being seduced back to the centralised power structures of consumerism.
The political character counterparts in the Wikipedia article could find parallels in the history of the Internet.
If you want to do the essay right, link it to 1948 society.
Orwell was a sage, but not a prophet.
Maybe you could mention that Orwell was unwittingly being watched by Big Brother for most of his writing career.
http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/features/article2924398.ece
All Hail Britannia!
> United Kingdom
Has not been a superpower since the British Empire's collapse over 60 years ago.