Anyone ever read Animal Farm

Originally posted by Nygdan
ML, kegs is talking about this:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

(from earlier in this thread)

Jeez, I've always been sorta slow, but I passed over all that stuff.

Pretty interesting, I've never seen any film versions of "AF" but wonder why this would be changed.

just because the book is based on the russian revolution and the subsiquent stalinist regieme, doesn't mean that it cannot equally be applied in other situations, the road to power has be well laid, the same methords are used again and again, every dictator uses the same technique so it's natural that you find parralel's with modern dictatorships and the AF dictatorship.

Originally posted by pieman
just because the book is based on the russian revolution and the subsiquent stalinist regieme, doesn't mean that it cannot equally be applied in other situations, the road to power has be well laid, the same methords are used again and again, every dictator uses the same technique so it's natural that you find parralel's with modern dictatorships and the AF dictatorship.

That is what I was tring to say this whole time. I know that this book is about the Russian Revolution, but I was saying that it is also wierd how the book is similar to what is happening in OUR time.

Originally posted by Nventual
I thought the book was based on the past anyway? Or the current, depending on when it was made.

YES! In 1894, a farm in Lincolncestershire was taken over by the animals and became the real-life model for George Orwell's Animal Farm. He altered the real-life ending though, to make it more like satire. In reality the humans came in and slaughtered all the animals and started again from scratch.

sorry, couldn't resist...

On a more serious note, the parallels between 1984 and today's world are, for anyone who's stayed awake lately, alarming.

The media routinely changes history. In the run-up to the war on Iraq, reporters were routinely saying, for example, that "Saddam kicked out the UN inspectors". Actually, they left because the US said they were going to bomb and couldn't guarantee the inspectors' safety. And I'm sure a latter-day Winston Smith would, if he could, destroy all copies of the Saddam/Rummy handshake photo - or substitute a hate figure like Hilary Clinton or Osama Bin Laden.

The three-minute hate? Well, it's more subtle than that, but I think a lot of shows like the O'Reilly Factor fulfil a similar function.

The surveillance state is certainly kicking into high gear.

Interesting though that Emmanuel Goldstein is not the hate figure. I guess GO didn't realise that Islam would be perceived as such a threat, although he wrote the book before so many of the imperial interventions that radicalised the Muslim world.

But the idea of a permanent war... now THAT was prescient. And written before that speech of Eisenhower's about the military-industrial complex.

And he certainly got the love of torture right, although expressed more forthrightly than its current promoters would.

I am pleased to announce that leading Republicans have read Animal Farm. They think it is a book explaining life on a farm and therefore have no objection to it.
The Baptists think it is a book condemning dancing.
The fundie Moslems don’t know what a book is.
The fundie Catholics think is it confirmation of the pathetically disturbed concept of original sin.
People who actually...READ...understand it to be a very accurate indictment of humanity and how easily we are lead to delude ourselves.
sayswho

Ralph_The_Wonder_Llama, the Animal Farm book is actually an attack on both Communism and Capitalism.

As for other people:
The story is based around a farm. The animals basically become sick of the way the Humans treat them. [Humans: Bourgeoisie . Animals: Proletariat.]
The pigs step up to the plate to lead the assault against the humans in a revolt. [Russian Revolution]
This pig dies. [Lenin]
The animals win and they then begin to create a society based on their 7 Commandments. The most important being; "all animals are equal". However, there are two people inside the farm [animals] who both desire to rule. [Stalin and Trotsky].
The one that reprosents Trotsky, is chased off by Stalin's minions.

In the end, the system actully becomes Capitalism once more. The Pigs are now the humans or the Bourgeoisie. It actually isn't a criticism of Communism in truth, but more an attack on Stalin and his actions by Orwell. It is written about how Society can never get passed divide while people still rule, be it Capitalism or Communism. IT is a shot about how those who rule, will desire to hold onto power. Instead of them sharing it and when those who are removed, the new breed in charge will repeat this.

The whole book, is based around Orwell's own views of Stalin, Communism and Capitalism. If you read the book; "The Road to Serfdom" this can be seen. It is also a known fact, Orwell heavily agreed with the Trotskyist or anarchist view. This is what the book is written about. The whole idea behind anarcy...nobody ruling.

I've found that it bears a remarkable similarity to current events, the humans being the Current administration maybe and the Pigs some elements of the 'Truth Seeker' Movement, namely the ones who seem to love selling lots of products and rolling around in their new found fame.

See things are crap and people arn't happy, sell them a 'better' idea and you've got the same old thing happening all over again, same lemmings - different leaders.

Just a correction, in the film version the links with men aren't removed, the pigs are still shown transforming into men and then back again right before the end.

Originally posted by kegs
Interesting fact: The CIA funded the British made animation of the book.

...and changed the ending.

film.guardian.co.uk...

To meet the CIA's objectives, the ending was changed to show that only the pigs had become totally corrupt. The film ends with other animals mounting a successful revolt against their rulers. There is no mention of the humans in the film's conclusion.

How did you find that out? Who told you?