Lesson 29: Animal Farm, Chapters I–X, Comparing the Film to the Novel, Part 1

Students consider how movies based on books can be different from the books.

Think-Pair-Share

Say these Directions: Discuss the following questions with your partner:

• Ask: Have you ever seen a movie that was based on a book? How was the movie different or the same?

  • (Student responses may vary.) Yes. The Lord of the Rings movies are not exactly like the books. The main characters, places, and the overall plot are mostly the same. However, the movies contain fewer plot elements than the books do and tell the story in a faster, more condensed way.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: It is always interesting to watch a film adaptation of something you have just read. When you do, you can look for similarities and differences. There are many reasons why filmmakers would make changes to the story they are adapting into a movie. Today, we will be comparing the movie Animal Farm to the book to see how faithful the movie is to Orwell’s original work.

Continue to engage students in the discussion that started in the Launch. Ask students for examples from their Think-Pair-Share of movies adapted from books.

• Ask: In what ways was the movie different? In what ways was it similar?

  • Movies generally follow the same plot as the books they are based on, which is a similarity. However, movies are shorter, so they cut scenes and edit the book’s content for running time.

• Say: Sometimes a movie version of a book changes the story. Actors may make different choices in how they portray a character, scenes may be rewritten, and dialogue might change. Some examples of why filmmakers make these changes are:

  • They have to remove scenes or shorten them because movies are usually around 90 to 120 minutes long.

  • Books can show thoughts and feelings of a character directly through narration, but in movies, emotions are generally shown through facial or bodily expressions or dialogue.

  • They want to update the original story to help the audience understand the meaning in a modern context.

Say these Directions: Turn to your partner and discuss the following question:

• In what other ways might movies have to change an event or character from a book?

  • A movie might combine two characters into one or change a setting to make it easier to film.

• Say: When we watch the Animal Farm movie today, and in the following lesson, we are looking for ways that it is different from the book. This might be dialogue that is different, missing or replaced characters, changed settings, or events that happen in the movie but not in the book. When you see these differences, ask yourself, “Why did the movie makers change this? And how do the changes impact the message of Animal Farm?”

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, we will use our understanding of the text to determine how the film stays true to the story, how it differs, and how this impacts the overall meaning of the novel.

Learning in Action: Comparing the Film to the Novel (RL.8.7) (30 minutes)

Start the film analysis work by showing students the revolution scene from the movie where the animals drive Mr. Jones away. It is the scene where the animals first run off Mr. Jones and seize control of the farm from Chapter II in the book. After showing the revolution scene, transition students into partners to discuss.

• Say: We are going to watch the scene where the animals drive Mr. Jones away and begin their revolution and then compare the film scene to the same scene in the book.

Screen the scene in the movie where the animals drive Jones away in the first act of their revolution.

Turn and Talk

Say these Directions: Talk with your partner to compare the movie scene to Chapter II. Use the questions below to guide your discussion:

• How does this movie scene stay true to the novel?

  • In Chapter II, after the animals drive out Mr. Jones, they destroy ribbons, nose rings, whips, and other objects that represent human control. The movie also shows the animals celebrating their freedom and singing “Beasts of England,” which is important in the novel because the song represents their shared revolutionary hope. In both versions, the animals are united in rejecting human rule and celebrating Animalism.

• How does this movie scene depart from the original novel?

  • In the book, the animals throw the human objects into a “rubbish fire” and gather around it while singing “Beasts of England.” In the movie, the song is heard during the scene, but we do not see them sitting around a fire or throwing items into it. This changes the way the symbolism is shown because the novel clearly connects the burning of the objects to rejecting human control.

• What choices did the director or filmmakers make?

  • The filmmakers had to decide how the animals would act during the burning, how long the scene would last, and which characters would be shown reacting. The director chose to keep the song “Beasts of England” to show the animals’ unity and motives but changed how the celebration looked on screen as compared to how it was described in the novel.

• Ask: How do the filmmakers’ choices benefit or take away from the scene in the novel?

  • The lantern breaking in the movie shows that the fire was a result of the chaotic nature of the animals expelling Mr. Jones rather than a fire that was started by Mr. Jones as part of the regular maintenance of the farm. Keeping “Beasts of England” helps the movie stay faithful to the novel’s idea of revolutionary hope because the song shows the animals’ shared dream. But leaving out the rubbish fire and the burning of ribbons and whips can weaken the symbolism because, in the book, those objects clearly represent human control that the animals are rejecting.

Instruct a few student volunteers to share ideas for each question during a whole-class discussion.

Next, transition the students into viewing another scene from the Animal Farm movie.

Show the opening scene through Old Major’s speech from the Animal Farm movie (1999) to the class. Be sure to pause after the scene and engage the students in discussion using the same analysis questions posed previously, comparing the film scenes to the same events in the novel.

• Ask: How does this movie scene stay true to the novel?

  • All the animals gather in the barn to have a meeting. Old Major does have a dream, and he does share it with the animals in a speech. The speech in the movie is similar to the one in the novel.

• Ask: How does this movie scene depart from the original novel?

  • The movie opens after Napoleon has already taken power, and there is a big storm. Then, the movie transitions into the time before Old Major’s speech. The movie is being narrated by one of the animals, which is different than the book because the book is narrated from a third-person point of view. Additionally, before Old Major’s speech, the Pilkington family is seen driving around in a cart in which the little boys shoot rocks at the sheep. Also, Jones accidentally kills Old Major after his speech, which is different from the novel, in which he dies peacefully in his sleep.

• Ask: What choices did the director or filmmakers make?

  • The filmmaker chose to show the humans, like the Pilkingtons, treating the animals horribly before Old Major’s speech in order to create tension and empathy for why the animals revolt. For example, Jones is shown overworking Boxer in the field, which is different than the novel but could have been added in order to elicit empathy for the animals. Additionally, the movie transitions from Old Major’s speech to the humans drinking in Jones’s home to show that Jones is having financial issues, again, highlighting how mismanaged the farm is and how the animals take the brunt of that mismanagement.

• Ask: How do the filmmakers’ choices benefit or take away from the scene in the novel?

  • The filmmaker's choices benefit the scene because, instead of the novel starting with the speech right away, the movie shows how horribly humans treat the animals, which better positions Old Major’s speech. However, the opening scenes could also be said to take away from the novel because they don’t focus enough on the animals, and the scenes with the humans are a little disjointed and not important. However, the filmmaker’s choice to have Jones accidentally kill Old Major creates more tension and more reason for the revolution than Old Major peacefully dying in the novel.

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Turn and Talk

Students reflect on the scenes from the film version and the novel that they analyzed today.

Say these Directions: Discuss the following questions with a partner:

• Ask: If you were a filmmaker creating a movie of Animal Farm, how would you film Old Major’s speech? What would you keep the same, and what would you change, and why would you make those choices?

  • (Student responses may vary.) I would make sure that Old Major took up most of the frame to show how important he is to the other animals. I would have him up on a platform like in the book, so that he is up higher than the other animals, and use a camera angle that makes it look like the viewer is sitting down with the animals and looking up at Old Major, similar to how the movie is currently filmed. I would keep most of the animals in the same positions they take in the book to show relationships like the pigs being right up front and Clover taking care of the ducklings. I would put the cat in a different spot to show that she did not really care about what was going on.

Students read their independent reading book for 20 minutes and complete a reading log entry.

Read your independent reading book for 20 minutes. In your reading log, record the date and pages you read, write 1–2 sentences about what happened or what you learned, and respond to this week’s prompt using evidence from the text.