Animal Farm: Comparing the book to the movie

The novel…no…no…it’s not really a novel, it’s more of a fable. The fable by George Orwell…no…no…George Orwell isn’t his real name. His real name is Eric Blair. He wrote under a pen name to save him and his family embarrassment from earlier books he had written. The fable, by Eric Blair is a cute story how animals take over a farm. Well, actually the farm and the animals are just symbols. The fable by Eric Blair is political satire on the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the events that followed.

The whole story is filled with symbols and irony. All of the characters in the story are symbols of real life people. The pigs as a group represent the Bolsheviks. Old Major represents Karl Marx, the founder of Marxism. Both speak out on how they feel. Napoleon represents Lenin in the beginning of the story, but as he gains more power, he becomes a Joseph Stalin. Snowball represents Leon Trotsky who was also banished from his land. Squealer represents propaganda and is a Party Hawk. Boxer and Benjamin represent the heroic working masses of Russia. They do most of the work but get none of the credit. The dogs represent the KGB, or the secret police. They take orders from Napoleon and do as he says, right or wrong. Moses represents the Orthodox Church as his name alone makes you think of religion. Mr. Jones represents a filthy capitalist. He is only concerned about money for himself. The book goes greater detail than the video. The book explains the characters better and gives more examples of their symbolism.

The point of view in which the story is told in is ironic. The point of view is told from the lowly animals prospective. An example is when Boxer is “treated at a hospital.” Benjamin realizes that the truck is for horse slaughtering but Squealer convices Benjamin and the rest of the animals that hospital just didn’t have time to re-paint the truck. A couple of paragraphs later, the pigs hold a party in honor of Boxer and suddenly have acquired money to buy whiskey. Once again, the book goes into greater detail and has more examples of irony. A The book and movie are surprisingly not that far apart on many levels, although there are some venial differences. The film does have Disney-ish qualities such as cute little ducks and childish humor. The film makes what is good in the story, very good and what is bad, very bad. The music score sounded as if it came from Peter and the Wolf.

In conclusion the book and the movie are nearly equal on all levels. There are only some venial differences. I’m sure George…er…Eric Blair would be proud of the movie. Both formats tell the moral which is “All power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely."