Animal House
Social commentary is sometimes found at the heart of good art, whether that art form is literature or popular music. The novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, and the rock album, Animals written and performed by Pink Floyd share the same characteristic of scathing social commentary. The artworks also share an animal metaphor that serves to cast a dark light on human social interactions and stratification functions. Conversely, the artworks individually attack the diametrically opposed, socio-economic systems of communism (by Orwell) and capitalism (by Roger Waters). The artworks are individually astounding, but when viewed in tandem, alludes to the idea that socio-economic systems are still evolving and in time the terms capitalism and communism will be thought as ineffective as feudalism. The shared characteristics of social commentary and animal metaphor literally, are what make these particular artworks the amazing examples of their respective genres that they are. The anima
Orwell's novel is an obvious attack against communism. By and large, ours is not a society that practices equality, all the while saying that it does. Ours system is on level ground with communism for providing equality, especially when one views the international exploitation of resources and people by multi-national mega-conglomerates, the very embodiment of capitalism on a global scale. Waters does the same in Animals, depicting the pigs as uncaring, self-involved, and overbearing masters of the masses. The works diverge from one another in which philosophy they individually espouse. Celebrities, athletes, and business magnates are among a few that are capable of getting a slap on the wrist, or complete immunity for actions that would land a "nobody" in the nearest federal penitentiary faster than one could blink an eye. Roger Waters, who wrote most of the music and all of the lyrics of Animals, viciously attacks capitalism and the illusion of equality. In Animal Farm, Orwell puts the pigs as being the leaders, or the exploiters of the masses, depending on your point of view. Neither provides for true equality, and they both exploit their masses, with essentially the same techniques of propaganda. This is the ugly side of our system, and this is the full view that comes into focus when one experiences these artworks side by side, a stereoscopic view of the current, prominent socio-economic systems of this century. It seems that capitalism won the twentieth century, but one never knows which way the masses will change over time. The pig characters of the novel represent the political figures of the early days of the Soviet Union. As with any society, those with power have been and still are tempted to abuse that power for their own individual ends, often at the expense of those that have granted them their power. This is the scathing social commentary that is sometimes found at the foundation of good art, that will stir in some the consideration of the systems and powers of the day, and of the past.
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Acceptance Essays
