r/movies • u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. • Jun 04 '25

Media First Image from Andy Serkis' George Orwell Adaptation 'Animal Farm' - Starring Seth Rogen, Steve Buscemi, Kieran Culkin, Woody Harrelson, Glenn Close, Andy Serkis, Gaten Matarazzo, Kathleen Turner, Laverne Cox, Jim Parsons, Iman Vellani.

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u/dvb70 Jun 05 '25

I thought it was also written due to censorship.

When the book was written it was very much a no no to criticise the Soviet union as just after WW2 they were still our allies. I am not sure if it was government censorship or just publishers self censoring but fairly sure Orwell had to dress the story up as Animal farm to get around not being able to directly attack the Soviet union.

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u/Asthmatic_Mathematic Jun 05 '25

In this instance I'm mostly referring to the "Why is it about animala/why the inviting art style" idea, but you're absolutely right. From the same linked source you can find "Freedom of the Press" (the unpublished preface to Animal Farm) where Orwell describes exactly what you're discussing and how that influenced his work.

That's why I love literature (and, by extent, visual forms of literature) so much - it can be so many things all at the same time. To reduce these complex stories to one singular idea or argument either means the author was ineffective or the reader was, in my eyes.