ShmoopTube

00:04

Animal Farm 1.14 That’s All, Folks… a la Shmoop.

00:09

The last chapter of Animal Farm brings us to a time when many of the original characters [Animal farm characters together]

00:13

have passed on to Sugarcandy Mountain.

00:16

And most of the current characters don't know a thing about the pre-revolution life, when [Clover crying looking at old animal farm characters]

00:20

the pigs were like all the other animals: equal.

00:24

This chapter finalizes the transformation of the pigs into human wannabes. [Pig transforms into a human]

00:28

They’re all wearing clothes, walking on two legs, reading magazines, and getting drunk…

00:34

The rest of the animals can't even tell the pigs apart from the humans anymore.

00:37

Seriously, those pigs are just as hooked on Starbucks as the rest of us… [Man with pig head holding two cups of starbucks]

00:41

So, what has the revolution created? Is it really a communist economic system?

00:46

Is it a capitalist one? Something else entirely?

00:49

Well, you could call it a hybrid.

00:51

But not like the good-for-the-environmet kind. [BMW hybrid car]

00:54

In communism, the state owns the land and the means of production.

00:58

At Animal Farm? Eh…not so much. By the end, the pigs own the title deeds, meaning they

01:03

own the farm. That’s capitalism.

01:06

In communism, the decisions are made by the population. That flew down the lane with Snowball [People holding up a decision box together]

01:12

way back in the early days.

01:14

Now all the decisions are made by Napoleon. That’s totalitarianism.

01:19

In communism, everybody is equal.

01:21

But a quick look at the pigs' Commandments… “Some animals are more equal than others.”? [Animals looking at the 7 commandments]

01:25

Really? Seriously?

01:26

Yeah, if we know anything, it’s that that's definitely not the ideal of communism.

01:31

Is there anything communist about Animal Farm? Well, maybe one thing: a lack of individualism. [Herd of sheep running away]

01:37

The individual takes a back seat to the communal good.

01:40

But the distinction stops there. In communism, the folks are still supposed to have a say,

01:45

to be able to make collective decisions…

01:47

As in, the way it started out at Animal Farm.

01:50

But that participation in self-government was gradually eroded and finally eliminated [Napoleon appears on a farm]

01:55

by Napoleon and his reign of terror.

01:58

Turns out the political/economic system at Animal Farm is just a combo of capitalism

02:02

and totalitarianism with a pinch of communism, all served up on a phony baloney propaganda platter.

02:07

The revolution didn’t create a society of equals, as Old Major and Karl Marx envisioned. [Old Major and Karl Max at sugarcandy mountain]

02:13

It just changed oppressors.

02:15

Ah, the ol’ super-depressing historically-recurring switcheroo. Always a classic.

Full Transcript