The Enduring Relevance of George Orwell’s Animal Farm
If you read George Orwell’s classic political satire, Animal Farm, in seventh grade, you probably remember the basic contours of the plot: Tired of human domination, a group of well-meaning barnyard animals have created their own egalitarian society, with disastrous results. Published in 1945, Animal Farm has a timeless (and certainly timely) message: it tells how the impulse to retain power will always come at the expense of our basic morality.
A New Adaptation Sparks Controversy
This message, however, seems to have been lost on most of the MAGA influencers who were assigned the book in middle school (if they even read it). After failing to cancel Barbie or the Wicked films, conservatives moved on to a new film adaptation of Animal Farm. (The animated film, directed by Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis, comes out May 1).
The problem, however, is that they have failed to reach a consensus on the true message of Animal Farm.
The Right-Wing Reaction
The cycle of right-wing outrage over a movie featuring Seth Rogen making fart jokes appears to have been sparked by influencers like Emily Saves America and Riley Gaines, who recently released the film’s trailer. In an April 28 X-rated article, Gaines tweeted that the film was “incredibly well done. They do a perfect job of reminding viewers that Marxism has always failed and will always fail.” She hashtagged her tweet #AnimalFarmPartner, leading people to assume the post was the result of a paid partnership between her and Angel Studios, the Utah-based entertainment company distributing the film, which was also behind the faith-based blockbusters Sound of Freedom and The King of Kings.
A Misinterpretation of Orwell’s Message?
Many on the left and right found Gaines’ tweet bizarre, in part because while Animal Farm is certainly a critique of Stalinism, it’s also clearly not an unqualified endorsement of capitalist ideals. The human owner of the farm is a capitalist, and after his overthrow, the power-hungry pigs imitate his behaviors, adopting human clothing and profiting from the labor of the other animals on the farm. The book is ultimately less a condemnation of specific systems of governance than a critique of humanity’s lust for power and blind adherence to ideology.
Andy Serkis’ Adaptation and its Reception
In the latest adaptation, Serkis also tweaked the plot by adding a greedy human character (voiced by Glenn Close) who wants to buy the farm, calling the film in USA Today “about authoritarianism and the corruption of power and our response to it” — a message that, in theory at least, would certainly resonate with 2026 audiences.
However, this clearly did not resonate with many of Gaines’ ideological companions, who pounced on her for being a fellow Marxist. “Promoting communism is the new gay money,” tweeted right-wing podcaster Tim Pool. Earlier this month, he announced that he had turned down an offer from Angel Studios to promote the film because he was “pro-communism and anti-capitalism.” Influencer Peachy Keenan also criticized the film, calling it “retarded socialist propaganda.”
The Broader Implications
The inability to reach consensus on the actual message of the new Animal Farm film could very well be a reflection of its artistic merits, or lack thereof. (Indeed, the film currently has a 23 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.) But it also reflects, generally speaking, how little media literacy exists in our current information landscape—a problem that, in fairness, is far from specific to the right. Unless the moral message of a work of fiction is clearly and consistently conveyed, there seems to be a complete inability to accept ambiguity or contradiction, or to recognize that multiple ideas can be right or wrong at the same time.
Conclusion: A Lesson from Middle School
Although middle schoolers may be able to immediately understand the takeaways from Animal Farm, it says something that high-level political commentators cannot understand. In fairness, Orwell himself, who was claimed by both the right and the left during his lifetime and beyond, would probably have appreciated the confusion caused by his novel, although he might not have appreciated Seth Rogen’s fart jokes.
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