The book Animal Farm by George Orwell was read in English classes all over North America. It symbolizes Russia and the Soviet Union under Communist Party rule, but can also be a metaphor for any human society regardless of political allegiances.
The pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, are in charge of the farm after rebelling against their human masters. They are meant to represent the rivalry between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Snowball, representing Trotsky, is thrown out of the revolution by Napoleon (Stalin) after he becomes violent and hungry for power.
The novella takes a shot at equality, pointing out that language can be manipulated into an instrument of control. The pigs keep making speeches to justify their behavior, leaving other animals in the dark. The other animals become unable to oppose the pigs in charge without also opposing the ideas of this rebellion they were originally on board for.
The main principal of the farm is simple: "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." The idea that there are different levels of 'equal' exposed how the pigs were using language to control the other animals on the farm.
The book is no longer taught in some American schools due to the harsh political messages that are sent out through the book.
That's why it was so astounding to find out who paid for the film version of the book, and why they did it.
In 1954, Animal Farm was made into an animated movie, and was the first British animated movie to be released.
In 1950, when George Orwell died, Everette Howard Hunt had been part of the CIA's Psychological Warfare Workshop and "he had been sent to obtain the screen rights to Animal Farm from Orwell's widow Sonia."
It was during the height of the Cold War, and the American government wanted the film to be part of the American cultural offensive during the Cold War, and they also wanted input on how Orwell's ideas were supposed to be presented.
Hunt chose the film's producer, Louis de Rochemont, and the CIA chose to outsource the animation work to England. The company, Halas & Batchelor, had been behind some wartime propaganda films which the CIA found very impressive. The CIA didn't trust the political leanings of a lot of American illustrators, either, so it made sense to bring it to the British, who were all-too-happy to make an anti-Russian film. By bringing the production to England, they were also able to keep the animators in the dark about who was funding the project.
This information wasn't brought to light until 20 years after the film was made, when Hunt released a tell-all book, called Undercover: Memoirs of an American Secret Agent.
George Orwell himself would not have been happy about the government's control over his movie, especially since the CIA approved a new ending to the film. In Orwell's book, the pigs become indistinguishable from their old human masters, basically becoming what they themselves hated. In the CIA's ending, the other animals ask for help from the outside, and they are able to crush the evil Napoleon (Stalin.)
Have you ever read Animal Farm? Or seen the movie?