ABSTRACT

This article focuses on two film adaptations of George Orwell’s 1945 novel Animal Farm, exploring what they tell us about the Cultural Cold War and the post-Cold War period, as well as about the interplay between adaptation and political purpose. The article situates the 1945 animated version in the context of the Cultural Cold War, touching on the now well-established CIA involvement of this version, and investigating how that film’s ending especially reflects specific propaganda agendas. The less-considered 1999 animatronics version is read in terms of its substantial refocusing of narrative and point-of-view to foreground the situation of refugees and dissidents in the post-Cold War world in which it first appeared. The article argues that this adaptation ignores Orwell’s powerful and ambiguous ending in ways that are different from the 1945 version but equally problematic. While accepting that no adaptation is required to observe fidelity to an originary text, the article suggests that both these cinematic takes reconfigure the novel for political ends fundamentally at odds with those in Orwell’s Animal Farm.

摘要

本文重点介绍乔治·奥威尔 (George Orwell) 1945 年小说《动物农场》( Animal Farm) 的两部改编电影，探索他们告诉我们关于文化冷战和后冷战时期的内容，以及适应和政治目的之间的相互作用。这篇文章将 1945 年的动画版置于文化冷战的背景下，触及现在已经确立的 CIA 参与该版本，并调查该电影的结局如何特别反映特定的宣传议程。较少考虑的 1999 年电子动画版本是根据其对叙述和观点的实质性重新聚焦，以突出其首次出现的后冷战世界中难民和持不同政见者的情况。文章认为，这种改编以不同于 1945 年版本但同样有问题的方式忽略了奥威尔强大而模棱两可的结局。动物农场。