Comparative Study: Elysium and Animal Farm

Concept art for the film Elysium

This term I'm teaching Animal Farm to Preliminary Advanced English as part of a comparative study. I had every intention of teaching it alongside V For Vendetta (which is how I've usually seen it paired) but, for a couple of reasons, I changed my mind when I was programming/planning. Here are the reasons:

1. I like V For Vendetta but I hadn't seen it for a long time, so it wasn't all that 'big' in my mind.
2. A recent bit of professional learning with the delightful folks at Into English reminded me that, if I have the option, I should jump on the opportunity to teach a dystopian text of my own choosing. 
3. My choice of text was Elysium - which I feel is much more current and relevant than V For Vendetta.
4. I had recently read Alan Moore's dense and highly literate graphic novel V For Vendetta, which only served to highlight the ways in which the film betrays his vision of post-Thatcherite fascism. I have no actual problem with the film version an an entity of its own, but what I do find problematic is the idea of teaching a text that has a sense of conflicted duality (a film version vs. the original version), especially when I'm already seeking to compare it to another text altogether; Animal Farm. 
5. Elysium, on the other hand, is an original film with a context entirely of its own - it's not an adaptation or an appropriation. It's a film that reflects the now and isn't beholden to a graphic novel. It's that rare thing - a modern sci-fi film that isn't based on another text.
6. I really like Elysium. It's not without its flaws, but few texts are.

The world of Elysium looks very familiar to anyone who's visited or seen images of Latin American slums.

The starting point for looking at Elysium is introducing the students to some of the context. The basis of my comparative study is 'Texts in Time', the comparative module used in the HSC 2009-2014 syllabus. This involves first examining Animal Farm and the political and social context that fuels Orwell's powerfully allegorical satire. The comparison then moves to Elysium, where students are required to recognise the way an entirely different dystopian society reflects a more contemporary context. By the end of the module, students will be assessed on their ability to compose an essay that ties both texts together as reflections of their times. 

The Elysium part is kicked off with a PowerPoint that introduces and familiarises students with the political ideas and events that shaped Neill Blomkamp's Elysium. As the film is incredibly current (filmed in 2013, it was interpreted at the time as a direct partial allegory for the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011), it can be difficult to pull the various influencing threads out of it. Hindsight is, after all, something that can only truly be achieved with some degree of distance. I have therefore done my best to track backwards from the film's release to show a possible line of contextual cause and effect.

The PowerPoint covers the following:

• Neill Blomkamp's South African background and his previous film, the similarly satirical District 9.
• The Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011-2013.
• "We are the 99%" - the idea that influenced the Wall Street protests, and continues to fuel economic and political debate today.
• The Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 that highlighted economic injustice and brought the '99%' debate into sharp focus for most Americans.
• The Arab Spring - not as important as most of the other things here, but still an influential factor for the Occupy Wall Street movement - the term 'Arab Spring' refers to the series of social media-led revolutions that radically changed the political climate of Northern Africa and the Middle East in 2011.
• Obamacare - the Affordable Care Act that made public healthcare an issue of debate in the U.S. from 2010 onward.
• Asylum Seekers - a worldwide issue that has continued to grow from 2001 to the present day, with increasing security in Western countries seeming to contravene the civil rights established by the United Nations.
• 9/11 - the 2001 tragedy that reflected and continues to shape America's strained foreign policy, and links to larger ideas of the West's impact on the Third World (particularly Africa and the Middle East), such as Nigerian bank scams and data theft, African mercenaries and war lords, use of drone technology, international commercial exploitation by large corporations, puppet governments, imperialism, and terrorism.

There's a lot there and I like to make the point to students that they don't need to know all of it. What they do need to know is some of it, and in well enough detail to draw links between the text and the real world, and then again from text to text. 

The PowerPoint ends with a couple of thinking questions on terrorism and how this phenomenon can reflect unequal power relationships, and then a prediction activity where students are asked to imagine how a science fiction film could allegorically represent all these points of context. Ideally, students will have seen Elysium before they work through this PowerPoint and can try and draw links themselves, but the activity should have some merit either way.

A good follow-up activity is to then reinforce student knowledge (or teach it to them for the first time) about the Left and Right wings of politics. This involves getting the students to draw a line and then plotting a series of ideas and events on the line from left to right - things like private healthcare, the Occupy Wall Street movement, drone surveillance, etc. Of course, some of these things are debatable in where they would sit on the spectrum, but then - that's half the fun, right? If you can get your students arguing about this then you've succeeded in engaging them in becoming more aware about politics and political context.

Resources:
1. Elysium - Context (PowerPoint)
2. Spectrum Plotting (Activity sheet)

Matching Russian Timeline to Animal Farm

How great is Animal Farm? That's a rhetorical question, of course, but feel free to let me know how great you think it is anyway. 

I've just finished putting together all my resources for an Animal Farm/Elysium comparative study. I'm doing this with my Preliminary Advanced class for Term 2, and I'm looking forward to teaching it and discussing it and doing all those teacherly things.

A lot of the comparative study is context-driven, which means talking about Orwell, class divisions, allegory, fables, etc. Perhaps the most significant contextual element when it comes to Animal Farm is 20th Century Russian history; it would certainly be very difficult indeed to teach the allegorical function of Orwell's modern 'fairy story' without drawing comparisons between it and the Russian Revolution. 

The resource below pulls together a series of characters and plot points from Animal Farm and comparable events/people from Russian history. Students read through the sheet and must decide for themselves which elements from Russia fit with Orwell's text. 

Animal Farm and Russian History - Mix and Match Activity

Here are the answers for teacher-reference.

A. Karl Marx formulates the theory of Communism matches with Old Major comes up with the philosophy of Animalism.

B. Tsar Nicholas II's poor leadership leads to famine and food shortages matches with Mr Jones rules over the farm and forgets to feed his livestock. 

C. The aristocracy (upper class) exploits the peasants and workers matches with Man does not produce anything, and instead lives off the work of the animals.

D. Stalin makes a deal with Hitler, who then invades Russia. England does not help because they see Stalin as evil matches with Napoleon makes a deal with his enemy, Frederick. The farmer then betrays him. Meanwhile, the other farmer, Pilkington refuses to help after being treated poorly by Animal Farm in the past.

E. Stalin encourages a 'cult of personality' wherein he is worshipped by the Russian people matches with Napoleon is worshiped as the 'Father of All Animals'.

F. Stalin pushes the Russian people to complete his 'Five Year Plans' so that Russia can become more modern matches with The animals are put to work with the extremely difficult goal of building a windmill. 

G. The Tsar is kicked off the throne after the Russian Revolution matches with The animals take over the farm and chase Mr Jones out. 

H. Marxism teaches that labour should be divided equally by all people matches with The animals decide that all work should be shared by all. 

I. Stalin is not a particularly popular leader but he excels at playing people off against each other matches with Napoleon is not charismatic but is able to use certain other animals to his advantage.

J. The Russian peasants and workers (the proletariat) live in very poor conditions matches with The animals' lives are "miserable, laborious and short".

K. Stalin forces his enemies to confess in public 'show trials' before executing them. This is known as 'The Purges' matches with Animals are forced to confess to false crimes before being executed.

L. Stalin makes use of the NKVD (Russian secret police) to punish his enemies matches with Napoleon trains the pups to be his loyal and vicious servants. 

M. Other countries and former allies of the Tsar attack the communists in the Russian Civil War matches with The other farmers attack Animal Farm to try and take it back from the animals.

N. The Communist leader Trotsky wants to spread Marxism throughout the world matches with Snowball wants to spread Animalism to other farms.

O. Stalin wants to concentrate on preserving Communism in Russia and doesn't care about spreading Marxism to other countries matches with Napoleon wants to concentrate on protecting and defending Animalism in just Animal Farm. 

P. Communist Russia becomes a totalitarian regime matches with Animal Farm becomes the thing it rebelled again.

Q. There is a power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky, ending with Trotsky being exiled from Russia matches with There is a power struggle between Napoleon and Snowball ending with Snowball's expulsion from Animal Farm.

R. The Five Year Plans fail after being interrupted by WWII matches with The windmill remains unbuilt after so much effort.

S. The perfect worker Stakhanov is used in propaganda to inspire other Russian workers matches with Boxer's motto of 'I will work harder' inspires the other animals.

T. The Communist Party uses propaganda and censorship to influence the Russian people matches with Squealer feeds the animal misinformation in order to manipulate them.

U. Stalin decides to start trading with the rest of Europe matches with Napoleon decides to start trading with the farmers.

V. Stalin blame Trotsky for all of Russia's problems matches with The absent Snowball is blamed for the destruction of the windmill. 

W. Eastern Orthodox priests pacify the Russian people with tales of Heaven and Jesus, and have close ties with the Tsar of Russia matches with Moses tells the animals stories of 'Sugarcandy Mountain', a paradise that animals go to after they die, and is looked after by Mr Jones. 

X. Lenin's body is displayed in Moscow for the Russian people to pay their respects to matches with Old Major's skull is displayed in a central location for all the animals to see.