Animal Farm by George Orwell is an metaphor that closely examines the effects of communism on a society. In the novel the animals of Manor Farm dream of a life without humans lording over them. They rebel against their master, Mr. Jones. They run him and his wife off the farm and then take over. The pigs assume the leadership role and lead the other animals of the farm. The pigs slowly begin to lord over the other animals. As the plot progresses the pigs become more and more like the humans they ran off many years before. .
In the film the words "Beasts of England" to "Beasts of the World." A reason for this could be that the director wanted to generalize the effect of communism to the entire world, not just a certain country. Molly never ran away, she stayed at the farm. Her care about material things was completely left out. The character of Clover was left out, but some of the characteristic qualities of her were reflected in Molly. The executions of the animals that are rebelling against the pigs are hanging, not having their throats ripped out by the dogs.
These minor changes were not detrimental to the translation of the book into the film. Some of the more significant changes are a little harder to understand. A prime example is the death of Old Major. In the book he dies in his sleep during the night. In the film after he teaches "The Beasts of England (the World)" to the animals he is accidentally shot by Jones, who has slipped in the mud. .
In the movie the point of view was changed from an objective narrative point of view to the point of view of Jessie, a dog and a minor character. In the novel, dogs were feared and worked closely with the pigs. In the film, all the dogs but Jessie were working with the pigs. In the film there was much more emphasis on the humans and how they deal with the rebellion of the animals. Pinkerton replaced the character of Wymper. The pigs used television as a form of distraction when the animals were questioning a decision the pigs had made that affected the animals in a negative way.
