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Animal Farm 1.11: "You Drunk Pig!" 38 Views


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00:04

Animal Farm 1.11 You Drunk Pig!… a la Shmoop.

00:09

Animal Farm has as many themes as the alphabet has letters. We can just hear the ominous

00:14

trailer announcer man:

00:15

“A tale of Lies and Deceit, Foolishness,

00:21

Dashed Dreams, Pride and Violence

00:24

Wrapped in a Cloak of Religion.” Dramatic? Very.

00:28

But when you consider that all that stuff really happened in the human world,

00:31

maybe it isn’t dramatic enough.

00:33

How do these themes compare in the two arenas of Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution?

00:38

Let’s go through the list, shall we?

00:40

Leadership and Corruption…sounds fun, eh?

00:43

Animal Farm was ruled by pigs led by Napoleon;

00:46

the Russian Revolution was ruled by an inner circle led by Stalin.

00:50

Both leaders starved their followers, worked them like slaves, had dealings with the enemy,

00:55

and lived a luxurious life while their followers lived in misery.

00:59

They don’t make corruption worse than this.

01:02

Control Over Intellectual Inferiors…aka what you'll be capable of after watching a

01:07

few Shmoop videos…

01:09

The pigs were such good learners that they quickly realized education equals power.

01:14

Some of the animals learned to read a little, but others never could get the hang of it.

01:18

The animals would never be the intellectual equals of the pigs.

01:21

This allowed the pigs to change rules and the 7 Commandments, re-write history, and

01:26

twist the truth…

01:27

All because the animals didn’t have the mental ability to dispute them.

01:31

Plus, you can never have enough propaganda.

01:33

Feed the illiterate masses a steady diet of posters glorifying the leader and they lap

01:38

it up like mother’s milk.

01:40

Back in the day, Napoleon and Stalin achieved godlike status through propaganda.

01:44

Lies and Deceit…which is basically the main conversation tactic at every Thanksgiving

01:48

dinner we've ever been to…

01:50

We bet Snowball and Trotsky would have a lot to say in their defense…if they were allowed

01:54

to talk or even show their faces.

01:57

Making up horrible stories about them is just one example of Napoleon and Stalin’s use

02:01

of lies and deceit to control the masses and gain ultimate power.

02:05

And, of course, the pigs need milk, beds and creature comforts for their big, piggy brains.

02:11

What a pile of manure.

02:13

Rules and Order….the far less popular spin off of Law and Order…

02:17

You know the phrase, “Do as I say, not as I do”? Yeah, we don’t like it, either.

02:21

It wasn’t just the pigs who lived a double standard. Stalin did, too.

02:24

We don’t see him starving or sacrificing his life for the cause… or industrialization…

02:29

or war… or anything.

02:31

Rules are different for those who make them.

02:34

The founding principal of the revolution that everybody should be treated and paid equally

02:38

was soon distorted in favor of the powerful elite.

02:41

They were obviously more equal in both Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution.

02:45

Foolishness and Folly…basically us thinking anyone at Thanksgiving dinner would be interested

02:50

in the latest episode of Rules and Order.

02:53

But in the context of Animal Farm…of course, the first creature we think of is the fashionista, Mollie.

02:59

But other animals are kind of foolish too. The sheep foolishly bleat…

03:02

…without really knowing why. Even Boxer foolishly declares…

03:06

…when he clearly isn’t.

03:08

And remember the folly of the windmill. The hope that it would change the animals’ lives

03:12

kept them focused and dedicated.

03:14

In Russia, great masses of the population believed Stalin’s propaganda so thoroughly

03:18

that they, too, thought he was always right, despite their own windmill, industrialization.

03:23

Dreams, Hopes, Plans….bet you're hoping we'll stop making silly comparisons for each

03:28

of these topics…keep dreaming.

03:30

Ya gotta have a plan.

03:32

Some kind of roadmap to get you to your goals.

03:34

After Old Major’s rhetoric stirred the animals to revolt… Then what happened?

03:38

There was a big, gaping hole in the revolution. Enter Napoleon.

03:42

In Russia, after Lenin died, Stalin swooped in like a vulture on a pig carcass.

03:47

He had dreams and hopes, but they were for himself, not his country.

03:51

Next up….cunning and cleverness…

03:53

Napoleon was cunning, Squealer was clever. Together, they were a formidable act convoluting

03:58

the truth and stomping all over the intent of the revolution.

04:02

Stalin and his propaganda ministry were a juggernaut in Russia doing the same thing.

04:07

The windmill in Animal Farm and industrialization in Russia were clever promises of a better

04:11

life for the masses that turned out to be empty.

04:14

Up to bat next….violence.

04:17

Fear is a great motivator for compliance. Your followers are less likely to give you

04:21

trouble if they know it might be the last thing they ever do.

04:25

Like Stalin said…"Death solves all problems. No man, no problem."

04:29

He eliminated every possible objector, real or imagined, numbering into the millions.

04:35

Napoleon has a few bloody scenes in Animal Farm that show just how well violence works

04:39

to maintain order. Next up. Pride, but unfortunately, no prejudice.

04:44

Sit this one out, Darcy.

04:46

Some pride is good…unless you’re a megalomaniac.

04:49

Napoleon and Stalin fit right in with Dr. Evil, Caligula, and Lord Voldemort.

04:54

And national pride can be an oppressive tool, too.

04:57

The animals wanted the neighboring farms to believe they were doing well.

05:01

Who wants to be the butt of jokes about a failed revolution?

05:04

That certainly wasn’t on Stalin’s list of favorite things, either.

05:08

So they skewed the numbers, spread false rumors of abundance, and put on a good show of bounty

05:12

in the middle of great lack.

05:14

Next up, religion…

05:16

If life on earth is hell, just give up, put in your time and have a blast in the afterlife.

05:21

Or at least, that’s the message believed by the long-suffering proletariat in both

05:25

Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution.

05:27

There were millions who died. We hope they’re getting their groove on in heaven.

05:31

Except for those megalomaniacs.

05:33

Yep. Animal Farm is an alphabet soup of themes… Be careful of food poisoning.

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