One hell of a book having to learn back in school. “All animals are equals but some are more equal”

Just for an idea of how dark this story is In the original novel, not sure about the film (haven't watched it yet) Boxer (the horse mentioned here) worked so hard for the pigs (the tyrants) that he injured himself so hard he needed early retirement (edit: just remembered from a comment, he was kept working well past his promised retirement by the pigs, so probably more a late retirement). The pigs instead sent him to be killed and turned into glue, to get money to buy some more beer for themselves.

“The animals looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again, but it was already impossible to tell which was which”

Boxer and Benjamin were my fav characters, so I was honestly sad for Benjamin that he had no best friend anymore lol.

“...And they looked from man to pig, and from pig to man, and from man to pig again and could not tell which was which.” (Kinda paraphrased)

This cartoon was actually my first exposure to Orwell.

My history teacher played this in class and im pretty sure 70% percent of the entire class was traumatized

Orwell was himself a socialist, but he was also anti-authoritarian. His issue was mostly with Stalinism and the perversion of communist ideals following the Russian Revolution, rather than being anti-Communist as an ideology.

i read the book in high school, i had no idea they made it into a legitimate animated film

The only part that absolutely terrified me as a kid was the pigs starting to walk. It just felt so wrong and unnatural

It’s very disingenuous to merely call it an anti communism psyop. Animal farm isn’t a criticism of communism, it is a criticism of authoritarianism. If anything, it promotes socialism as its critiques of authoritarianism can be applied to un checked capitalism and corporatism.

Oh my goodness I remember my sister finding this in the kids section of the library when we were in elementary. We were watching it at night before we went to bed, and when Snowball’s death scene started happening, I started screaming and crying so bad. I have no idea how that movie made its way into the kids section, but that thing did not need to go ahead and freak my poor younger self like that.

Regardless of the CIA being involved, it definitely has some awareness towards more than just communism.

Craziest thing about this film is that it came out in 1954, the same year the very first Godzilla film released In Japan.

Bro my class practically begged our English teacher to put this on after we finished reading the book. We basically spent the whole 2 hour period watching it, good times

My mum actually put this on for me to watch for History class last year, and once it finished, I was just sitting there, trying to comprehend what I just witnessed

I remember being 7 and my parents getting this movie for me, thinking it was a kid's cartoon. The scene with the horse traumatized me for years. I don't know how, but my 7 year old self believed that the horse was gonna be sent to be executed, skinned alive and turned into food for the pigs. Maybe a mistranslation in my language's dub made it more gruesome sounding(if it even was dubbed, I may have simply sat down and tried to understand the plot while the movie was in English)

I find hilarious that the cartoon creators felt that the pigs moving into the human's house, walking on two legs and being fully clothed was way too subtle to get the point across; so they had the pigs' faces literally morph into human faces for a moment at the end. XD

Kids in school are really given books like this, and 1984 and still come out thinking communism is a good idea.

I’ve spent an entire semester learning this for ELA, seeing SaberSpark cover this madness would be amazing.

Friendly reminder that Snowball would have been only MILDLY better than Napoleon, according to Orwell himself.

1954? I though it was from the 70's. Even more impressive technically, in that case.

This video is the first time I had ever heard about animal farm, now I have read the entire book, and watched the movie, and I just want to say thanks for introducing me to a great book and even better author l! 😊

The funniest part is that George Orwell was a Social Democrat. A lot of people took the books message further than Orwell hoped, including the movie team.

When I was in high-school they had me watch this in my history class. We were all shocked because we never seen a cartoon this graphic and dark. The history teacher I had was closing his eyes constantly and then started crying in horror. Especially when the dogs kill the farm animals and they had the bloody writing. My teacher said it was just as Fucking dark as the hands in the 1930 all quiet as the western front Edit:he was also constantly apologizing for show this movie to us. Even though we were watching it for educational purposes. 2nd Edit:he actually did swear when we finished it

Fun fact: Disney was scared to make adaptation about it

The book was one of the best books i've ever read, truly enlightening

I remember this book when i read it in school they called their government "animalism" and my friend said it should be called "bestiality"

Read it a few years ago. An excellent book about the dangers of authoritarianism, and how it can evolve out of something good.

I remember reading and researching this book as a project for middle school, it really impacted my perspective of the world after reading it

Me and my dad read this book recently, we liked it and we were wondering if there was a movie about it. I guess that there is! Thank you!

holy dhit he actually covered it my friends are all obsessed with keeping the fandom for it alive im scared blease help

I read the book & watched the movie in high school. It's a really good book & I highly recommend it

you have just re-awakened my childhood memory and trauma of this movie thx, love your vids

I have this book! It's amazing, I can't recommend it enough

Man I remember this book... it was dark but it did its job

I remember talking to my mother about this. She insisted on saying "it's just talking animals" Btw I have read the book. Twice.

Can't believe this was so popular George Orwell made a book about it

Bro this was such a good book. It took me a while to get through, but the ending was such a shock. Totally worth the time though. I honestly don't think I would have read this if I was in public school growing up. This is one reason I'm really glad I was homeschooled.

Our 3rd grade teacher showed us this movie in class,she said it was a FUN HAPPY MOVIE WITH WHOLESOME MESSAGES!The next parent teacher meeting was chaos 😂

I read this book in middle school and we were shown a live action movie (though it had a different ending) I feel like it would’ve been more effective if we as middle schoolers knew about the rise of the communism and Russia and the Soviet Union but it wasn’t really well taught other than “USA good ussr bad”. All I know is that scene of them tricking the horse into thinking he was going to a hospital instead of a glue factory will forever haunt me…

Honestly the story had legs regardless of the CIAs involvement.

I have seen this movie for a school project since we have read the Animal Farm book, definetly surprised me, and was not was I was expecting, especially with the different ending

Let’s go- I’m reading the book currently in my school right now and it’s really cool in my opinion. I think we might see this after reading this. I’m so excited

I remember reading Animal Farm after learning about the Russian Revolution in my history class. The irony of me reading the book in English class right after learning that. Anyways, I watched your review about the movie and everything seems pretty accurate to the book strangely…Except for the ending. I guess they wanted to give it a “good” ending despite the ending of the book being dark and bleak, trying to send a message rather than a clear conclusion.

This movie and book are awesome I have to say 1984 is the GOAT of Orwell but this is a really good quick read

as someone who read the book then watched the movie in 5th grade at school i can say it’s all a fever dream of red scare

You know its shocking that I watched this movie at 6 and cant remembered anything but vivid scene and now you reminded of it completely

The book Animal Farm lives rent-free in my head. And I haven't read that book since high school.

My dad played this for me and my brothers when we were kids. My six year old brain was so traumatized lol

George Orwells Animal Farm Book was one hell of a Book "All Animals are equal but some are more equal"

in the original novel, the book ends with napoleon becoming like mr jones and its just very depressing, meanwhile in the 1955 movie, benjamin upstarts a rebellion and successfully kill napoleon with a happier ending i guess 🤷‍♂️

This movie is honestly so wild to watch because the tone flips so abruptly. Like, one second the animals are in a goofy fight with the farmers, knocking them on their buts with silly sound effects. The next, several dead animals are bleeding out on the ground under an ominous, grey sky. It's like the movie can't decide whether it's for kids or not.

Watched this movie many times as a kid. May seem a bit much for a child but it was very insightful and educational. Human nature is scary... easier to grapple with using cartoon animals

There's also an album based on the book called Animals by Pink Floyd. The songs are titled Pigs on The Wing (Part 1), Dogs, Pigs (3 Different Ones), Sheep, and Pigs on The Wing (Part 2)

This movie single handedly got me through 8th grade language arts when we started reading and learning about it

Fun fact, the book is NOT anti communist (or Marxist). it’s core ideals are manly anti-authoritarian, and show the dangers of allowing a group complete control over a nation.

Just to be clear, animal farm was an amazing book and so is the movie

I had this book in 8th grade of primary school (In Poland btw) As I was and still am a huge history fan I kinda liked it and the movie in it self is well animated. Although my classmates couldn't agree less...

"anti-communist agenda of the cia" well that's rather insulting to Orwell

This was such a good movie and the scene where the horse was sent away was so heart-wrenching. That donkey’s tearful brays were also very sad to listen to. I’m also not a hater of the ending despite its “happier” fate.

I love the book for it's anti-authoritarian message and advocacy for education, but i hate how it's used as anti communist propaganda. The problem with some of the "communist" revolutions was that they weren't actually communist, they used a term that more people were comfortable with to hide the fact they were actually starting more dictatorial regimes, and instead of the US pointing out the lies, they just villainized communism as well.

My history teacher in my old school showed this to us for one term, absolutely insane

I remember watching Steve review's review about it when I was a kid, scared the hell out of me.

When this movie released it must have been a... Party in the CIA

Animal farm doesn't actually have an anti leftist rhetoric Its just anti Stalin Snowball is often portrayed as being the more moral one than napoleon Snowball is also representing Trotsky, who was a very very radical communist, it's simply Orwell romanticizing Trotsky and calling Stalin a tyrant and a traitor for betraying the initial values of the Russian revolution, as set about by Lenin, or old major in the book/film

Ngl this soundtrack like one of my waky ass dreams

I saw this movie as a very young child. It happened to come on after a movie I was watching, and since it was another cartoon, I watched it. Most of it went over my little head of course as I was 4 or 5 or so at the time, but I remember enough that the thumbnail alone told me what movie this was. I remember that scene.

as someone who actually read the book i can say its a great read and everyone should read it

The book isn’t about communism and I really wish more people would finally realize this. Orwell even stated it’s not about communism.

Films like this is why I get kind of upset over the argument "if you like anthro characters you have to be a furry". No. They're fantastic for storytelling.

Wow, what a coincidence for this to show up! My class just got done with animal farm recently!

Read the book for school when I was a teenager - I was so depressed over what happened to Boxer and just the book as a whole that I could never bring myself to watch the film (even if it does have a happier ending)

I didn’t realize this ever got an animated movie. Interesting, the book is very good so maybe I’ll check this out.

How long have I gone for, not knowing that one of my favourite classics had a film to go with it?

I feel like all the old books we read in school were weird, like to kill a mockingbird and grapes of wrath. But my two favorites I genuinely like and own to this day were animal farm and lord of the flies (grapes of wrath had some good parts but I didn’t care for most of it). As a teen I actually liked how dark and chaotic these books were, especially with the deeper meanings they were trying to show about humanity

Animal Farm actually shows what leads to 1984-middle class + lower class yeet the upper class but the middles just turn into the new tyrant uppers while the lowers get the shaft, then the cycle repeats every couple generations

animal farm is so good i actually cant express enough how much i love it

My aunt got this for me and my siblings when we were not even double digits…. Scarred us

Currently learning about this in school and this definitely seems like something you'd cover on your channel. I was right

Fun fact: this movie was actually the first animated film to be released in Britain

Something that i find very curious about the original book, is that some see it as anticapitalist, while others see it as anticommunist

You also get my half-assed summer assignment I did in the latter half of band camp for freshman year.

Something interesting worth noting: animal farm is specifically a critique of the Soviets, not socialism as a whole. George Orwell himself was a Democratic socialist who aligned himself with the Spanish anarchists in the Spanish civil war. The book is more a critique of the Soviets from the perspective of a different branch of socialist ideology, rather than a critique of socialism in general. Make of that what you will, but I think it makes the analysis of the story much more interesting when you realize it's not just generic anti-communism, but specifically and ideological dispute between two different branches of socialist ideology (especially when Spanish anarchists were putting a lot of tension with the Soviets during the civil war. If I remember correctly the Soviet Union basically pulled out and abandoned them). It's also worth noting that the ending of the film is different. The book has a much more pessimistic end where the pigs are seen as indistinguishable from their former human Masters (an allegory for, what in the mind of an anarchist would be a centralized State replacing another centralized state rather than any sort of meaningful change). In the film, Napoleon is overthrown with the outside help of humans who buy the farm. If you take the humans at the beginning of the film as an allegory for tsarist Russia, then humans returning to overthrow Napoleon can be seen as a different system (presumably American capitalism) replacing the Soviet Union with what the American audience would have seen as be more positive alternative. Of course, since the humans were the initial bad guys that Napoleon replaced, you can also read this as a cyclical revolution of a status quo that changes, but always sucks for the people living under it (which is probably not the intended message). Honestly, it's a very interesting story when you know the history behind it. It often gets boiled down to generic anti-communism, especially by Americans heavily influenced by the Red scare, so once you learn the history of its author you realize how much more nuanced it actually is.

One of the few books we read in School that I genuinely enjoyed reading

I would like to add, provided you're going to go over Animal Farm, that Orwell was critiquing Leninism and Stalinism in Animal Farm, and not communism broadly. It was meant to be about Authoritarians hijacking a workers revolution because the workers never had a chance to be educated. Orwell himself was actually anti-capitalist. It just so happens that the US Government saw it as a convenient piece to claim was critiquing communism in general, when that was never the point of it.

I read Animal Farm after reading 1984, both are really good!

I used to watch this movie all the time as a kid lol. It always made me cry, but I liked it

Furry Fandom be like:

In high school we were forced to watch this while reading the actual book and I am still disturbed by the horse going to the glue factory scene. I think about that every once in a while.

Oh my I have this movie as a DVD and when I first saw it as a kid it honestly traumatized me

my uncle recommended me this book when I was 13, it is a literal masterpiece! its simple yet not quite writing with subtle changes in the animals thinking is really believable would recommend :D

Honestly an Animal Farm movie sounds kinda badass

I remember reading this in secondary Forgot what year but tbh Loved it ^^

I just had this as my assigned reading book for English class haha. Thank GOD i'm done with it.

Having finished the book for school last week I have to say, while the book was better it’s allegorical to the Russian revolution to such an extent that having any allegories, it’s pointless

'Don't put politics into kids films' Also them:

I was an active Communist sympathizer in Middle School, until I read 1984 and Animal Farm. After that I became a hardline Conservative

I haven't seen this movie, but something really funny to me is that a ranking channel described the scene where the cows stomp the pigs to death scene as "when the cows do not look like nice cows" 🤣🤣

When I was like 8 and a total bookworm I saw the book translated to my language on the shelf at home and I thought it was a really long children's book and had nothing else to read I read it, it was surprisingly easy for an 8 year old to understand most of the ideas it was communicating.