A clever Beast Fable satirizing the evolving Russian communism by George Orwell, as well as a book with two adaptations you should never, ever show your children. They may start revolting. If they weren't revolting enough already.Orwell tells, allegorically, how the Russian Revolution would go if its participants were animals, and if you reduced Russia to the area of a typical England country farm. When you get what the point of the book is — being a satire of Communism written during World War II — it's not hard to guess where the plot is going. It was strictly outlawed by Joseph Stalin as it technically depicted Stalin and other Soviet leaders as evil pigs (Old Major as Vladimir Lenin, Napoleon as Stalin, Snowball as Leon Trotsky and Squealer as Vyacheslav Molotov).The inspiration for this book came about when Orwell saw a boy leading a cart horse, whipping it all the while. Orwell thought that if animals realized just how strong they are, they can defeat the human race and end up running the world.In 1954, the British animation studio Halas & Batchelor produced an Animated Adaptation, which was widely heralded as a milestone of British animation *
it was the first British animated feature to achieve worldwide release
, though it came under heavy criticism for its Lighter and Softer approach to Orwell's fable, including a (somewhat) Happy Ending in which the farm animals rise up against their new overlords. (It appears that the United States' CIA had a hand in providing funding for the film, though it seems uncertain whether the film's writers and directors were aware of the fact.)It also inspired Pink Floyd's Concept AlbumAnimals, though it criticizes capitalism instead of communism. Snowball's Chance also rips on both capitalism and Animal Farm itself, portraying Snowball returning and becoming a George W. BushExpy.A live action version, starring Patrick Stewart as the voice of Napoleon and Kelsey Grammer as Snowball, was produced in 1999. A stage adaptation, drawing heavily from another Orwell classic, Homage to Catalonia, was first produced in 2008.Do not confuse with Animal House.
Tropes in Animal Farm:
Adaptation Expansion: The new endings of both film versions. Plus the focus shift to Jessie in the live action version, in place of Clover, who is absent.
Always Chaotic Evil: The pigs tend to be Selfish Evil, especially Napolean, who believe themselves themselves to be the leaders of the farm. Subverted with Snowball and Old Major who were Reasonable Authority Figure leaders that actually cared for the other animals.
And Then John Was a Zombie: The pigs end up adopting human ways to the point where in the end, the other animals find it impossible to tell the pigs from the humans.
Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: One of the original Seven Commandments forbade animals to kill animals, conveniently discarded when Napoleon became convinced there were potential or actual Pro-Snowball traitors in his midst.
Artistic License - Economics: In the 1999 version, Napoleon spends all the farm's income on luxuries for the pigs instead of necessities for the farm. However, the film clearly shows that this kind of behavior doesn't work in the long run, as the farm eventually falls into ruin as a direct result.
The Caligula: Napoleon, especially in the 1999 film where we actually see his empire ultimately just collapse from his despotic incompetence.
Can't Hold His Liquor: Squealer and Napoleon, when waking up the next morning after ending up completely plastered while rewriting the amendment that forbade alcohol to forbade drinking to excess (ironically) in the 1990s film, end up with an intense hangover with Napoleon and Squealer remarking that they're dying, showing the reason why animals shouldn't drink alcohol, and thus leading to the paranoia of Napoleon later on.*
This is a Truth in Television, as pigs really can't hold their liquor or any alcohol for that matter, as demonstrated in this video.
Chekhov's Skill: Benjamin is the only non-pig on the farm who can read just like a human. Guess who finds out that Boxer's being sent to the knacker's instead of the vet.
And at the end of the book, it's "four legs good, two legs better!"
Cyanide Pill: One gander confesses to working for Snowball and eats some nightshade berries, which are deadly to ganders, to kill himself
Deadpan Snarker: Benjamin the donkey. When asked by the other animals whether or not he feels life has improved after the revolution, he says "Donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey."
Dirty Coward: Napoleon and Squealer never take part in any of the actual battles, openly voice their fear of getting killed, and ultimately hide while the other animals do all the fighting.
Disneyfication: Both the animated adaptation and the live action adaptation changed the ending to be more uplifting. The live action version was made after the Soviet Union collapsed, making it one of the more justified uses.
The Dog Bites Back: In the climax of the 1954 film. In the 1999 film, the animals just escape and leave the pigs to their fate.
Dumb Muscle: Boxer, while incredibly strong, isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the box.
Dying Like Animals: Each particular type of animal is supposed to represent a particular "class" or group of people and their behavior in reaction to the revolution and the aftermath. The pigs, for instance, are the upper Party "aristocracy" (and no points for guessing who the sheep are supposed to be...).
Eats Babies: The hens when Napoleon steals their eggs.
Eunuchs Are Evil: Squealer is a porker, and serves as the mouthpiece for the rest of the pigs.
Even Evil Has Standards: Mr. Frederick criticizes Pilkington for opening up trade with Napoleon while the other animals on the farm are starving in the 1999 film.
The crow that had watched Snowball's death at the hands of the dogs, is horrified enough to turn his head away the dogs kill the other animals.
Face Heel Turn: Napoleon, as well as most of the other pigs.
It could be argued that Napoleon was never a good guy to begin with. He begins raising his army of dogs only a chapter after the revolution. This could indicate that he was planning to betray the revolution all along.
Fat Bastard: Squealer, who grows impossibly fat near the end of the novel.
Full-Circle Revolution: Most of the pigs stage one of the best known examples of the trope in western literature. It's the core theme of the novel.
Fun with Acronyms: One of Orwell's suggested titles for its French translation was Union des républiques socialistes animales, which roughly acronyms as URSA — Latin for "bear", the symbol of Russia (not no mention referencing Union des républiques socialistes soviétiques, acronymed as URSS, which is the French equivalent to USSR).
Glad I Thought of It: Napoleon appropriates Snowball's windmill idea after the latter's exile.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: The film opens in Jones' bedroom, with the bed shaking and a female voice going "Ohhh...Mr. J...".
In contrast with the humans, the animals are generally portrayed positively in the book. After the revolution, the animals all work together 'according to their capacity' and no animal steals 'so much as a mouthful'. Napoleon and the pigs who go along with him (after he exiles Snowball and does away with any form of democracy on the farm) are an exception, since they represent the emerging ruling class of Russia (which Orwell despised). Another exception is Mollie who represents the middle class.
Hypocrite: The pigs but especially Napoleon who hoards sugar for himself, not even sharing it with the other pigs, because it will make them fat.
I Am A Humanitarian: Jessie averts this in the film when she refuses to eat her comrade Major's meat being offered by Jones.
Internal Retcon: The real truth of the revolution keeps getting this treatment until no one really remembers the original facts except those smart enough to keep their mouth shut.
Kangaroo Court: One after another, many animals "admit" to helping Snowball sabotage the farm and get immediately killed. (This being a reference to Stalin's purges and show trials of the late 1930s).
Karma Houdini: One of the most egregious examples ever.
Not so much in the animated movie.
Large Ham: Snowball and Squealer (fitting, because they're both pigs).
This makes sense, because they were based on Trotsky and Molotov, respectively, both of whom were grandiose
Made of Iron: In the animated adaptation, notably animals snapping barbed wire like strings, and a bull snapping a chain attached to his nose-ring by yanking on it.
Meaningful Name: Snowball (as in the snowball effect), Napoleon (as in the dictator), and Moses (as in the one talking about Sugarcane Mountain, a "promise land").
More specifically he seems to imply that fascism leads to tyranny (Mr. Frederick/Nazi Germany), liberal democratic capitalism leads to waste (Mr. Pilkington/Britain and the West), and none of the politicians on all sides cared about anyone but themselves.
The ending seems to imply that the pigs and humans are essentially the same, meaning metaphorically the Stalinism is essentially just another form of conservative capitalism, keeping down the working classes (or the other animals). Which explains why they had to change it for the movie, of course.
Mood Whiplash: What was supposed to be a tragic moment in the film, as old Major dies before his cause is fulfilled, becomes a "Funny Aneurysm" Moment when he falls off the roof of the barn, does a triple backflip, and crashes dead in a haystack.
So the animals are now happy and cheerful, then they enter the farmhouse and find Major's butchered carcass in the kitchen (along with his severed head in a meat rack.)
The 1954 movie's first half was cheerful and somewhat comical, which makes Napolean's regime all the more jarring.
A Nazi by Any Other Name: Mr. Frederick. He blatantly resembles Hitler in the 1999 film. Ironically, he's more sympathetic there than he was in the novel.
Not So Different: More or less the moral; the final line of the book sees the animals look from their pig rulers to the humans they are meeting with and being no longer able to tell the difference.
Oh Crap: In the 1954 film, when the animals rebel, the pigs seem to know very well what's coming to them, especially Napoleon.
Mr. Jones in the same film, when he sees the red eyes of the animals and realizes they're much more organized than he thought before.
Odd Friendship: Boxer is immensely strong, but rather stupid. Benjamin is highly intelligent, extremely cynical, and rather cranky. They are best friends, and indeed it's implied that Boxer is the only animal Benjamin considers a friend.
Plagiarism In Fiction: Snowball comes up with the idea to build a windmill. Napoleon steals it. What's worse, he makes things seem as though Snowball was the one who stole the idea, and before having Snowball exiled, he expresses displeasure in the concept, at one point he even goes so far as to urinate on the plans.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Mollie runs away and gets a new job as a carriage horse. Smarter than she looks, all right!
Shout Out: "I will work harder," Boxer's motto, was found in the mouth of Jurgis Rudkus from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle.
Sinister Minister: Moses, Farmer Jones' pet raven, who fled the farm when Jones was overthrown and returned years later to tell the animals about Sugarcandy Mountain. His position is kind of analogous to that of religion; his claims are officially denied by the pigs but they keep him around to keep the animals in line.
Keep in mind that this was very similar to how the Soviet Union usually dealt with religion. Actually, if anything, Animal Farm downplayed it. In the real life Soviet Union, while the case can be argued that the Soviet Union used the Russian Orthodox Church to keep their people in line even though they never actually believed it, the truth is that that was only if the religious people were actually lucky. Most of the time, the Soviets were attempting to eliminate religion outright, and even had the KGB try to investigate locations of churches, sometimes even tricking people to help them locate a church so they could arrest the occupants for practicing religion, and the penalty was either execution or being placed in a work camp.
Moses' reinvigorated status under the pigs' rule might have been inspired by the fact that after Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, Joseph Stalin revived the Russian Orthodox Church to intensify patriotic support for the war effort.
Sliding Scale of Animal Communication: The animals can talk to each other, but only the pigs seem able to talk to humans, and then again only after they take over the farm.
Smug Snake: Squealer, especially in the 1999 movie. He really loves to rub the pigs' superiority in the other animals' faces, even while he's actively deceiving them.
Spell My Name with an S: Is it Mollie or Molly? The book itself tends to use the first, while some other references (including us) use the second.
Made especially ironic in the 1999 version, as when Squealer changes one of the laws from 'Animals shall not drink' to 'Animals shall not drink to excess', he's still in violation of the law, as he's completely wasted at the time he's adding the extra words.
This was implied in the novel as well, since the animals hear a loud crash and run out in time to see Squealer stumbling around near the barn with a ladder and pot of white paint, but they're too dumb to realize what he was doing.
Surprisingly Sudden Death: Old Major in the animated film. "Squeeee! Oink oink oink, squee oink oi-GASP!" *dies*
Talking to Himself: In the animated version, all the onscreen characters were voiced by Maurice Denham.
Totalitarian Utilitarian: The pigs start out like this. As the story progresses, some pigs are lost, while others are corrupted by their power unless they were really Straw Hypocrites all along. By the end of the story, the remaining pigs have become what they once rebelled against.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: No one seems to think it's weird that animals are running a farm by themselves, something that would most likely draw large crowds in real life. People even think the animals will just starve to death by themselves.
Verbal Tic: "Four legs good, two legs bad!" And later "Four legs good, two legs better!"
Villain with Good Publicity: Napoleon in Chapter 8 of the novel (it was hard to come across an animal without hearing how Napoleon's way of running things has improved his/her life). Not so much in the film adaptations, though...
What Could Have Been: Animal Farm was originally going to be a direct exposé on the various atrocities committed by Stalin and his regime in the Soviet Union. However, the British press at the time would not publish it because the British Parliament at the time needed Stalin's support during World War II against Nazi Germany. His making it an allegory with talking animals was the only way he could get his message across in such a way that didn't interfere with the war effort.
What Happened to the Cat?: In the book she just stops appearing after the first few chapters, and later isn't mentioned in the list of animals who've died, whilst only Snowball and Molly are ever acknowledged to have left the farm. The animated adaptation doesn't even keep her around for the original revolution.
It's mentioned that she didn't show up to the meeting where Napoleon killed a bunch of the animals, so she probably ran away into the wild. Cat owners will tell you, cats are smart.
Also, what happened to Snowball in the novel and the live-action film adaptation. In the animated film, he's killed by the dogs, but in the other versions, it's open to interpretation because he never actually got killed by the dogs and managed to escape from the farm.
Don't be fooled by the "fairy story." This is no fairy tale.
also rips on both capitalism and Animal Farm itself, portraying Snowball returning and becoming a George W. Bush Expy.A live action version, starring Patrick Stewart as the voice of Napoleon and Kelsey Grammer as Snowball, was produced in 1999. A stage adaptation, drawing heavily from another Orwell classic, Homage to Catalonia, was first produced in 2008.Do not confuse with Animal House.
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