I forced myself to watch the new Animal Farm trailer and I think I’ve lost my faith in the arts. I read the book when I was twelve, for my own enjoyment in my free time (always had to be on that gifted kid grind, y’know) and I actually really enjoyed it. I still do, I love George Orwell’s writing and how he portrays the rise of fascism through the farm animals. With that being said… I really don’t think that a cgi children’s movie where the animals are funny and voiced by celebrities is what the world needs right now, especially considering Donald Trump’s presidency. Plus, why is there a random CEO boss lady villain? Is that supposed to be empowering for women or intended as a slight? And why are we making the pigs comic relief villains? They’re supposed to be threatening, they’re supposed to parallel real men until the game of cards at the end where they’re indistinguishable from their greedy business partners. If a human villain must be involved, make it one of the rival farmers from the book who eventually work with the pigs to make profit from the other animals’ labour. Also, we do not need sympathetic pig characters, we have the other animals for that. I’m just genuinely so upset, for many children this will be their first introduction to Animal Farm, media literacy is dying and Hollywood has killed it.
