Charlie Vrancic June 2014

Animal Farm
The animated film Animal Farm is an allegory that represents the Russian Revolution. It is also a
novella, a short story. Animal Farm was written by George Orwell in 1945.
An allegory is a story in which each character and event is a symbol that stands for ideas about
human life and political or historical situations. This means that when Snowball was banished and
killed from the farm it represented something in real life. The film 'Animal Farm' is based on the
Russian Revolution in 1917. Some of the characters in this film represent real people, for
example Old Major represents Karl Marx, the father of communism.
Farmer Jones was a mean ruler of Manor Farm. Farmer Jones was a dictator of the farm and all
the animals. He was a cruel and brutal ruler. Farmer Jones represents Tsar Nicholas II. The Tsar
was the monarch of Russia and his family had held the throne for 3 centuries - like Farmer Jones
who was born into the family that owned that farm for a very long time. Farmer Jones is cruel and
brutal because he is always drinking and finding company that is mean and unforgiving. This
company influenced Farmer Jones to drink more and be extremely cruel to his animals back on
the farm. Farmer Jones is a dictator because he is always making the animals do what he says and
not what anyone else says.
In the film the farm animals were extremely unsatisfied with the way that Farmer Jones ran the
farm. As a result the animals held a meeting to plan how they would overthrow Farmer Jones.
The decided to charge and attack him, especially after Farmer Jones didn't feed them in the
morning. The animals succeeded and Snowball decided to lead the animals. The animals gained
control by scaring off Farmer Jones by advancing on him as a group. This also shows that
working together the animals could run the farm successfully and happily. In the film the animals
refused to work and obey him. As a result of this Farmer Jones refused to feed them. The animals
couldn't resist so they gathered together and overthrew Farmer Jones.
When the animals overthrew Farmer Jones they decided that Snowball was to be their new leader.
Snowball began a new system of 'Ideal Communism'. This system is where everyone is equal and
where all animals are sharing everything and no one has more than anyone else. On Animal Farm,
'ideal communism' is displayed when the animals are working, eating, playing. The animals were
very happy with Snowballs idea of 'ideal communism' but some animals like Boxer wanted to
work more and was allowed to if he wanted. The animals all had the same opportunities to do all
Charlie Vrancic June 2014

they wanted. The animals could also retire when Snowball was leader but not when Farmer Jones
was in charge.
When Snowball was about to share his new idea about energy with the animals, Napoleon had
had enough and decided to banish him. After that Napoleon stole Snowballs idea and claimed it
as his own while taking over the farm. Napoleon was a dictator of the farm and wouldn't let
anyone have their say in what happened. He also gave the pigs more food and credit even though
the other animals worked just as hard. Napoleon disobeyed all of Snowballs reasonable rules and
ruled the farm like Farmer Jones did. He was mean to the animals and was like a military dictator.
For instance, during another war with Farmer Jones's friends, Napoleon awarded himself a medal.
He also sold Boxer to the humans for whisky.
In the film after the first fight with Farmer Jones's friends the dog died after having puppies.
While no one was watching Napoleon snuck the puppies away into an abandoned shed to train
them to be his army. When Snowball was about to show his idea Napoleon had waited enough
and set the secret army of dogs on him and they chased him out of the farm and then killed him.
From then on the dogs were loyal to Napoleon and guarded him and his fellow pigs from the
other animals rebelling against him. The dogs guarded Napoleon at night, during the day and in
the morning. The dogs demonstrate how Snowballs 'Ideal Communism' fell apart because
Napoleon didn't approve of it and was too power-hungry. At the end of the film the dogs had
drunk too much alcohol and failed to stop the rebellion of the other animals.
When Napoleon was in charge of ' Animal Farm' he became a communist dictator. The elite
members of the communist party were the pigs and the dogs were his private army. The behavior
of the pigs included: breaking the rules, changing the rules, disrespecting the other animals,
turning into humans and disobeying the rule 'Two legs bad, four legs good' written by Snowball.
The elite members of the communist party also drank lots of alcohol, wore suits and lived in
houses. The other animals lived in barns, didn't drink alcohol and worked harder than the elite
members. The elite members, at the end of the film, changed the most important rule, 'Two legs
bad, four legs good'. They did this by starting to walk on two legs instead of four legs. At the end
of the film the pigs were mean, cruel and didn't care about anyone but themselves. The pigs were
a disgrace to the farm and at the end of the film were killed and overtaken by the other animals
just like Farmer Jones had been overthrown.
The quote "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" means that when someone has great power they
are likely to abuse it and use it to hurt others and get what they want. This quote is shown in the
Charlie Vrancic June 2014

film when Napoleon takes over but uses his power only to get what he wants no matter how badly
it hurts the other animals. The other phase in the film is "Four legs good, two legs bad". This
phrase describes how the animals should never walk on two legs and always on four. Also it
means that no animals should act like a human because humans are bad. This is shown in the film
because Snowball wrote it as one of the rules on the side of a shed. In the film Napoleon and all
the pigs disobeyed this rule by turning into humans. They turned into humans because they
started wearing clothes, drinking wine, typing onto typewriters and walking on two legs.
In my opinion societies do need to be governed. Otherwise the community would turn into a state
of anarchy which would cause destruction and civil war. The countries with a government are
always better off than the countries without a government because there is at least some order and
rules to keep the country in order. A fair system of government is where, in my opinion, everyone
gets to have a say, everyone gets a reasonable pay for the amount of work they are doing, and
everyone is healthy and has good opportunities. It is also when people earn their role in
government and are not forced into government or born into charge. It is also where everyone is
equal.
Animal Farm was written to warn and tell people how a specific type of government can result in
a bad country, and it also has broad themes of oppression, suffering and injustice. Now many
readers see Orwell's book and film as an attack on all corrupt forms of government that result in
injustice to the people.