By: Anthony Montalbano
3rd hour 2-15-01
The movie Animal Farm portrays the dictatorship that can appear in a newly
formed government. As in this film the pigs eventually take over the power amongst the
other animals on the farm. Dictatorship can be achieved in many ways and one of these
ways is to use a type of bribery. The head pig, Old Major, causes corruption with the
animals’ current leader, Snowball, by telling them that he was leading the group with bad
intentions. This led to the current takeover of the animal population. Old Major used
Snowball’s ideas and took credit for them. He told the animals what they had to do to
becoming a prospering nation where every animal would be equally free.
Now that Old Major has become the animals’ leader, he starts to turn on other
animals by changing their current historical constitution. Like a dictatorship the leader
informs his citizens that there is a definite hope for the future. But really he’s creating
popularity among his people in hope that he will have absolute power over them. Telling
the animals that if they work harder the more they will get, such as food and protection.
In actuality Old Major is using his animals to get what he wants and it doesn’t matter
what extents it might take him to. For example when the pigs joined hands with the
outside world they made a deal to pay with chicken eggs, but the chickens refused to be
put against their will and were executed without trial by jury. This is a perfect scenario
on how a dictator will abuse his power to override the laws that the people believe is their
rights. The animals have no real rights. Old Major imposes equal rights to the animals
but he will make any decision he wants. This is used in almost every type of dictated
form of government.
As the film progresses Old Major’s power become greatly abused, the constitution
rights of the animals become altered, animals lose their lives in order to keep Old Major
pleased, and the pigs become a minority amongst the rest of the animals on Animal Farm.
By now the government on Animal Farm is a complete dictatorship. Old Major has
broken almost every law defined. This portrays the type of power and ignorance Old
Major has. He makes contact with the outside world, which eventually leads to a war
with their enemies, the humans. But to defend himself Old Major establishes an army of
animals and uses them in the war. Many animals were lost and Old Major had no
remorse for what he done. The animals have had enough with Old Major’s power and
revolt. This is one of the reasons why it’s hard for a dictatorship to stay in control
throughout many years. The people of the land will eventually revolt with very strong
actions breaking up the power that controls them.
Many lessons are learned from a dictatorship. Over time the people of the leader
will revolt to their miniscule rights. A communist form of government will not last
because with out the people’s consent in their production of power there is bound to be
hatred to their leader. For a while they might follow the guidelines forced upon them, but
working against their will won’t be able to hold out. Also allowing certain groups of
people to have more power than other just because who they are can as well cause
problems. A communist group wouldn’t be able to survive long with such grudges held
against them.
In conclusion a dictatorship can be introduced to the people as a great way of
power and control, but over time they will soon see what their dictator had in mind about
all people are equal. Bribing your people with hope for the future when false can cause
an outrage amongst them. Once in power breaking the rules set forth will make it hard to
control the people, especially if it’s not the first time committed. So concluding these
thoughts a dictatorship isn’t the right way to control a population because with too much
power things can get out of control creating a revolution among those people. A
dictatorship has to many problems and isn’t an equal way of control.