Spoiler warning for George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
In many of our high school English classes, students are required to read a classic novel. Whether that is Lord of the Flies, Fahrenheit 451, 1984, or Animal Farm, these books almost always have an overarching theme relating to both the goodness and evil in the world. As students grow older, they begin to see similarities between these books and the real world, whether it’s in the present or in history.
After I saw the trailer of the new Animal Farm movie in the theatre, and saw the animated pigs on the screen, my face fell flat as I asked my best friend, “Is this Animal Farm?” As an English major myself, I immediately knew this was going to cause outrage in the literature community.
To keep it brief, Animal Farm is a book about the imbalance of politics, except every character is an animal on a farm (shocker!), and they are working together to revolt against the human who handles them. The book has tyrannical allegories that tie back to philosophy and genuine human events, such as the Russian Revolution. The animals create their own type of government called Animalism that promotes equality for all, but takes a turn at the end of the novel.
The main leaders of the book are pigs named Snowball and Napoleon. After gaining control of the farm, the animals continue their success by forming a democratic-like government, convening weekly to talk about the harvest and running the farm in general. They even create seven commandments for the animals to follow. Napoleon, however, becomes power-hungry and begins using another pig, Squealer, to convince many of the other farm animals that the pigs are always morally correct and just.
After battles between handlers and animals, the farm animals continue winning under Snowball’s tactics. But Napoleon is growing more and more corrupt as the book goes on. He starts killing innocent animals by feeding them to dogs after forcing false confessions out of them. After that, the pigs as a whole start becoming more corrupt, as they decided to drink one night and changed the wording of a commandment from “No animals shall drink alcohol” to “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.”
The pigs, inevitably, start to resemble the humans they originally revolted against in the first place. The last scene of the book showcases the other farm animals looking through a window at the pigs and humans playing a card game, where they cannot tell the difference between the pigs and the humans.
With the uprising of equality and revolution against the descent of totalitarianism and inequality, it’s hard to imagine this book geared toward anyone younger than 10. However, a swift look at the new movie trailer could prove otherwise to some.
Already, this adaptation is rated low on Letterboxd, and it hasn’t even hit the big screen yet. At a whopping 2.5 stars, users are commenting on the excessive use of fart jokes and the film’s childlike quality. With 355 half-star reviews and counting, people are certainly upset with the release of the film.
However, this movie may surprise viewers. Director Andy Serkis said in an interview, “Orwell’s Animal Farm has never felt more relevant… In an age where power, propaganda, and inequality shape our societies, it’s vital that we remember his cautionary tale.”
Now, I am very excited to sit in the theater and see this film in real time. With the movie releasing on May 1, only time will tell if ratings stay low or if the movie will prove them wrong.