Line #87 WMG/AnimalFarm


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2	[[WMG: The Future Effects of Animal Farm]]
3	Although it's not made apparent in the novel, some good came out of Napoleon's relationship with the humans. Over time the farmers told everyone they knew about how efficient Animal Farm was. Word spread throughout the UK, and over time, to the rest of the world. Humans gained an amount of respect for the animals unlike anything that has been seen before. Napoleon and the rest of the pigs eventually die and a second rebellion results in massive changes, most importantly putting an end to the oppressive regime, which results in a farm more accurate to Old Major's vision. Over generations, humans and animals eventually come to view everyone as equals, which resulted in huge amounts of cultural appropriation from both sides. After many decades, or possibly centuries, the result of all this is the world of Animal Crossing.
4	** This theory is a nice dream, but doesn't hold water, due to the hierarchy the pigs have instituted. They're the ones in charge, and they're the only ones who interact with humans, and enjoy the benefits of the other animals' labors. Mr. Pilkington acknowledges this disparity when during his toast, he refers to all the other animals (besides the pigs) as "lower classes", and congratulates Napoleon on how "efficient" Animal Farm is run, meaning the pigs exploiting the other animals and effectively turning them into slaves. If the humans have cultivated respect and/or admiration for anyone, it's for the pigs.
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6	[[WMG: Mr. Jones used to be a pig.]]
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8	The ending of the book is vague, but one interpretation of the strange events taking place then -- one of the more straightforward ones -- is that in the climax of their corruption, as the pigs are making their alliance with the humans and officially make the farm just as it was before, only worse (even re-renaming it back to "Manor Farm"), something wondrous and terrible happens: the pigs turn into men. To quote:
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10	''"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."''
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12	Think about this for a moment. It is quite possible that this is not the ''first'' time it happened.
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14	Mr. Jones, the old owner of the farm, was a pig himself. Just like Napoleon, he served a cruel human owner until one day he took part in a great rebellion. Just like Napoleon, he rose from the ashes as a horrible dictator. Just like Napoleon, he turned into a human in the end as a sort of wicked prize (or a punishment) for his evil.
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16	Manor Farm is cursed. It exists in a cycle of pain that cannot be broken. Every time the human owner grows too cruel, the animals rebel. Every time, one of the animals inevitably becomes an evil dictator. Every time, this animal is transformed into a man, and the cycle begins anew...
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18	Ever wondered why Benjamin the donkey is so bitter and cynical about the whole thing? It's because he is really, really old. He saw the same events happening before, perhaps more than once. The result was clear to him from before the beginning.
19	* That makes a disturbing lot of sense.
20	* Plus, considering that the people from around the district were not as surprised as they should have been, it does fit somewhat good.
21	* This actually fits in with the allegory somewhat. Some historians say that many countries were trapped in an endless cycle like this one; the oppressive ruling class eventually does something that causes the working class to snap and rebel, then the strongest of the working class jump into the power vacuum. Eventually, they become exactly what they fought against, and the original government is re-established (or something very similar to it, at any rate). The cycle then repeats.
22	* This makes perfect sense when you consider ''1984's'' description of the cyclical nature of revolutions and power struggles.
23	* Doesn't fit the allegory, though. Farmer Jones is the Czar, and the Czar always was, well, a Czar.
24	** Well before the Middle Ages the ancestors of the Czars used to be nobodies.
25	* The 1955 animated adaptation somewhat includes the idea of an eternal cycle, as the animals rebel once more against the new humans; and the credits begin as we see the new army of animals, looking disturbingly like the one Snowball commanded that attacked Jones at the beginning. The difference is that the army is led by Benjamin the Donkey now.
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27	[[WMG: The pigs took charge of everything for a specific reason: survival.]]
28	While it doesn't excuse Napoleon's treachery and cruelties, he and his fellow pigs always did have the most to lose under Farmer Jones (or even a [[Literature/CharlottesWeb Homer Zuckerman]]), that is: while other animals did have to sacrifice their eggs, milk, etc, or efforts in pulling, plowing, a pig can ultimately give up only one thing -- its life, for bacon, ham, sausages, soup bones, etc. The pigs actually bury the hams found hanging in the smokehouse. If nothing else, they would obviously support any system that would guarantee they would never be routinely slaughtered again. Pigs are naturally rather intelligent animals, so reading, inventing, etc, would come more naturally to them, and their trotters would be nimble enough for various tasks, so their leadership role would be somewhat natural. The tragedy is that Napoleon just pushed this much too far, at the expense of all the other farm animals, no doubt with the attitude "They've got their lives, what more do they want?" In the end, they simply shut out the sufferings of their fellows in order to survive and thrive, not unlike most men.
29	* And human flesh is said to taste like pork.
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32	[[WMG: Modern day Animal Farm]]
33	It would be back to being run by humans in cohabitation with animals, but there would be nostalgia for the Napoleon-era days of Animal Farm, particular since the leader of the animals would be a dog descended from one of Napoleon's bodyguards, and presumably had probably guarded him or his successor himself before taking over.
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35	Yes, I did just suggest Putin was a dog.
36	* Given that the most recent film adaptation ended with Manor Farm collapsing into ruin due to Napoleon alienating many of the larger animals into fleeing the farm and spending all their income from trade on luxuries for the pigs instead of necessities for the farm, followed by the surviving animals (including some of Napoleon's dogs) swearing to not repeat the mistakes of the past after a new human family buys the land, it's possible.
37	** In the 1955 animated adaptation, after seeing the pigs behaving like humans, make the animals revolt again.
38	* There was a Russian sequel fic retelling the Khruschev era onwards, introducing tons of new animal characters who were caricatures of 1960s-1990s politicians. However, it's so inferior to the original that I don't even see the point of linking it here.
39	* The idea of Putin being a dog [[http://www.themoscowtimes.com/upload/iblock/e43/PutinDog.jpg isn't far-fetched]].
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41	[[WMG: Benjamin the Donkey is a Time Lord.]]
42	* Because every work of fiction has to have at least one, and it would explain his implied longevity.
43	** What is his [=TARDIS=], then?
44	** It was stolen by Snowball during his escape, which is why no one ever found him.
45	* Donkeys live a looooooooooong time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey.
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47	[[WMG: Snowball is Trotsky, Napoleon is Stalin, Benjamin is Soviet Jewry.]]
48	* There, I just solved the mystery for you. You're welcome.
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50	[[WMG: Snowball is America in general]]
51	He is previously thought to be a hero, but later demonized. Sound familliar?
52	* Mr. Pilkington seems a more likely candidate for the role, especially with the [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything card]] [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar feud]] at the end.
53	* Not so much Wild Mass Guessing as Critical Research Failure Guessing: American troops did not take part in the Russian Revolution and if they had, they wouldn't have fought on the side of the Bolsheviks.
54	* Yeah no, it's very clear that Snowball represents Trotsky, right down to his InsufferableGenius personality and banishment. Also from the perspective of Orwell as an author American capitalism being represented positively makes no sense, Orwell was a dissident socialist through and through and his ultimate point with Animal Farm is not so much that socialism is bad as it is that Bolshevism is capitalism with a new coat of paint.
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56	[[WMG: Napoleon became [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Big Brother]]]]
57	After the book ended, Napoleon continued his hunger for power and formed the Ingsoc Party with Mr. Pilkington and others to take over Britain. Napoleon poses as a man known as Big Brother.
58	* Wow, that's the same belief I share.
59	** This makes even more sense because we never actually see Big Brother.
60	* A small sentence in the book states "The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white." That sounds like 'blackwhite' from Newspeak. '''Squealer is one of the original founders of Ingsoc!'''
61	** Certainly adds a new spin to the phrasing 'Proles and animals are free' encountered in 1984. Could he...be deliberately trying to kill humanity off?
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63	[[WMG: [[ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} Dogbert]] is descended from Napoleon's bodyguards.]]
64	He's a humanoid dog with rather intense levels of cruelty, perhaps his first act of evil was the takeover of Manor Farm...but he sold or destroyed it after he got bored and gained an eye for world conquest.
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66	[[WMG: John "Bluto" Blutarsky is descended from Napoleon (or one of his cronies)]]
67	At last, the link between Literature/AnimalFarm and Film/AnimalHouse!
68	In keeping with the above, men and pigs do seem to blur together at the end of the book, including all the vices of alcohol, gambling, so it's not unlikely that...
69	The Delta frat house is a definite pig sty, and Bluto is certainly rude, fat and disgusting, but at the same time he's not willing to back down from any challenge or give in to the authorities, plus he knows how to manipulate people to his best advantage. It's noted that after college he goes into politics.
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71	[[WMG: Benjamin raised Boxer]]
72	Boxer was sold from a different farm when he was very young. Benjamin, (when he was not so bitter) felt sorry for him, and took him under his wing. This could explain why he's so devoted to him. He sees him as his son.
73	* If you think about this allegorically, Benjamin is the elderly wise fathers of the young naive workers, aka Boxer.
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75	[[WMG: Minimus's poem is satirical.]]
76	It's written in an absurdly inflated style and alternates between high and low rhetoric, with lines like "lord of the swill-bucket" seeming to undermine Napoleon's dignity. The line "My soul is on fire/When I gaze at thy calm and commanding eye" is his way of saying that Napoleon's regime is hell for the other animals, while noting that all Napoleon has to offer- "full belly twice a day, clean straw to roll upon" isn't that much. Knowing the consequences of publicly defying Napoleon, Minimus used the poem as a subtle way of criticizing him, knowing Napoleon would miss the irony.
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78	[[WMG: In [[Film/AnimalFarm1999 the 1999 film]], Napoleon, Squealer, and the rest of the pigs were eaten by the dogs of the Animal Guard]]
79	It was implied that Napoleon had died at the end and we don't see any other pigs, so we can assume that they followed. We do see Jessie's puppies, though, and all things considered, they don't look half-bad. We can put two and two together. As the farm continued to deteriorate and Napoleon provided less food for his personal guard as a result, they did what any pack of predators would normally do: eat the easy prey that's available. And there's nothing easier than a bunch of pigs who had grown fat, lazy, and drunk on whiskey over the years.
80	* With a bit of extrapolation, one might say this is how [[WesternAnimation/AnimalFarm1954 the 1954 animated adaptation]] ended. Napoleon looked suitably terrified when his "followers" stormed the house, and killing him and feeding the remains to his dogs would be both ironic and efficient. Of course once they had eliminated the pigs and consumed all the spoils left behind in their hoard, the animals would [[EvilPowerVacuum see a power vacuum open up]], to say nothing of [[BittersweetEnding encroaching starvation and another harsh winter just around the corner]].
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82	[[WMG: ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' is actually a StealthSequel to ''Literature/CharlottesWeb''. Old Major is actually Wilbur.]]
83	After falling on hard times and/or possible major illness, Homer Zuckerman decides to sell his prized show pig to farmer Jones. Being safe from harm thanks to Charlotte's influence, Wilbur grows to become a respected and venerated leader in the farmyard community. However, Wilbur is understandably upset with the current status quo, and his tutelage under Charlotte has taught him that the fates humans have for animals are not inevitable. Inspired by her cunning, he passes the torch of revolution to the rest of his barnyard kin.
84	* He would also be troubled by Jones' drunkenness and abuse, remembering the Zuckermans' kinder treatment of his animals, and fear for his companions.
85	* The act of being sold may have left him somewhat disillusioned about humans; having to leave a good home for more squalid surroundings made him wonder if the best thing for animals was to be on their own, not dependent on human whims.
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87	[[WMG: As well as creating a cautionary fable about Stalinist Russia, Orwell was also taking a sly dig at the French Revolution.]]
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89	This is based on the fact there's a pig called Napoleon, who ends up seizing power following a revolution that's supposed to promise equality and justice for all. DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything
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91	A long shot, of course, and perhaps unfair given that Napoleon made many reforms which today would be seen as positive, but it vaguely makes sense: not only is it showing how revolutionary idealism was subverted in Soviet Russia, but in ''all'' revolutions.
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93	* Interesting thing this made me think about: Animal Farm before Napoleon takes over is somewhat similar to the immediate situation of France after the storming of the Bastille, where you could argue that they're in a similarly bad situation, but the citizens have belief that their sacrifice now will create a better nation later. The animals expelling Mr. Jones but him (in a way, via Napoleon) eventually returning is also similar to France: The Congress of Vienna ended up putting the French Monarchy back onto the throne.
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95	[[WMG: Animal Farm was a prophecy of modern Argentina]]
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97	The old major is Juan Perón. Farmer Jones is Carlos Menem / Fernando de la Rúa. The revolution is the 2001 riot. Snowball is Eduardo Duhalde. Napoleon is Kirchner. Squealer is Guillermo Moreno. And the end of the animated film is the "8N".
98	* ...And a short time after I wrote this WMG, the newspaper Clarín [[http://www.clarin.com/opinion/Rebelion-granja_0_1055894467.html stole the idea]]
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100	[[WMG: Whymper is a Nazi]]
101	It's mentioned that the money Napoleon received from the wood was fake. However, Operation Bernhard was current at the time the book was written. Operation Bernhard was a Nazi operation to ruin the British economy by distributing huge amounts of counterfeit banknotes. These counterfeits are known for being some of the most accurate in existence, which could mean Fredrick had no idea they were fake. However, Whymper could tell the difference, suggesting he knew about counterfeits beforehand.
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103	[[WMG: The cat, after dying, was reincarnated, and spread among other fictional works, and its fictional soul hasn't ever stopped since.]]
104	* It makes no sense, yes. But this is WMG, damnit, EpilepticTrees reeks here.
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106	[[WMG: If anyone adapted Animal Farm today, he would create a pig based on Yeltsin]]
107	* Most people have [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell mixed feelings about the end of the Cold War]]. A lot of people think the death of Communism in Eastern Europe is a good thing, but Orwell would have imagined that one elite was simply being replaced by another. In Russia, communism was replaced by the Russian oligarchs, many of whom were former Russian bureaucrats. Boris Yeltsin's reign over Russia, in particular, was defined by its staggering economic mismanagement and incompetence. It wouldn't be hard to write a pig based on Yeltsin: alcohol is what drove Napoleon further down the rabbit hole, and Yeltsin was a notorious drinker. So if Napoleon's regime were to collapse, it would be replaced by a pig who acted completely drunk, and while it would be less brutal than Napoleon, he would anger the animals by destroying machinery with his incompetence.
108	** What would a pig version of Putin be like?
109	** See "Modern day Animal Farm" above. Putin will be most likely a dog.
110	** Helping an ass with a comb-over take over a farm in America.
111	*** Obviously a rooster. Has the comb on top, the wattle underneath, strutting about and crowing about how great he is.
112	** Then invading another farm on pretenses they somehow pose a threat while hanging out with people doing the exact same thing[[note]]Need a good metaphor for the Wagner Group HELP ME[[/note]] and causing the true collapse of Animal Farm as everyone sanctions it. Also a farm run by a [[Franchise/WinnieThePooh bear]] is involved.
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114	[[WMG: Napoleon made an alliance with Doctor Moreau]]
115	That's why he and the pigs were indistinguishable from humans. Moreau was performing surgery on them. For the animals the whole thing is a battle for the fate of their farm, but for Moreau, it's just an experiment.
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117	[[WMG: The cat was murdered by the dogs, moments before the trial]]
118	The text even says it loud and clear: "Everyone indeed, except the cat, who had suddenly disappeared just before Napoleon ordered the animals to assemble". Think about it for a moment. She was disappeared and never mentioned again just before a mass execution committed by dogs. If nothing else, these dogs were both cruel and petty.
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Context WMG / AnimalFarm