Many people remember reading George Orwell's "Animal Farm" in high school or college, with its chilling finale in which the farm animals looked back and forth at the tyrannical pigs and the exploitative human farmers but found it "impossible to say which was which."
That ending was altered in the 1955 animated version, which removed the humans, leaving only the nasty pigs. Another example of Hollywood butchering great literature? Yes, but in this case the film's secret producer was the Central Intelligence Agency.
The C.I.A., it seems, was worried that the public might be too influenced by Orwell's pox-on-both-their-houses critique of the capitalist humans and Communist pigs. So after his death in 1950, agents were dispatched (by none other than E. Howard Hunt, later of Watergate fame) to buy the film rights to "Animal Farm" from his widow to make its message more overtly anti-Communist.
U!S!A!
I still haven't read Animal Farm. Suppose I should, tho.
You ought to read the edition of Animal Farm that came out 10 or so years ago w/illustrations by Ralph Steadman. The book itself is great reading for a kid or adolescent but a bit overdetermined (IMO) for an adult. But the illustrations totally transform it and make it worthwhile rereading. That’s awesome to know about the CIA’s role — I have vague impressions of them working with Disney and Hollywood a lot in the Cold War years.
http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=1350
Really? The cartoon movie? It wasn’t that different from the book. Cheesy (happier) ending tho’.
It’ll be easier to get through than The Windup Girl, for sure.
probably aren’t a lot of pointless Thai words in Animal Farm.