British author George Orwell warned about the surveillance state and Big Brother in the 1940s but what he didn’t foresee was his own role in manipulating the masses. The CIA quietly acquired the film rights to Animal Farm after Orwell’s death, and reshaped the narrative as part of a sneaky psychological warfare operation to fight communism with culture. You can acquire rare original artwork from the film here.
Cultural Cold Wars
British animators Halas & Batchelor wrestled with turning the novel Animal Farm into a groundbreaking film - a deceptively simple fable made even more complex with the need for nine script rewrites, and debates on Napoleon's portrayal and Orwell's ending. Unbeknownst to the directors, resistance was futile. The CIA was secretly manipulating the outcome behind the scenes.
Animal Farm author George Orwell popularized the term 'Cold War' in a 1945 essay. The CIA subsequently financed the adaptation of Animal Farm as a propaganda film to fight communism at the height of the Cold War.
Fusing art, politics, and espionage, each original artwork from the film comprises a pencil drawing and a hand painted animation ‘cel’ - iconic pieces of cinematic history acquired by SPYSCAPE directly from the filmmakers.
Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm warned of a looming surveillance state and the dangers of totalitarianism. Chillingly, echoes of the author’s dark prophecies can also be found in Orwell’s century-old security files compiled in an era when Britain's Special Branch saw Orwell as a lurking menace cloaked in ‘bohemian’ attire. SPYSCAPE delves into the security vaults.
In our special two-part True Spies series, Daisy Ridley presents a dramatized encounter with E. Howard Hunt Jr, master of PsyOps, future Watergate conspirator, and the CIA officer who helped convince Orwell’s starstruck widow to sell the film rights of her husband’s work to the CIA. Sonia’s price? Cold hard cash and an encounter with Hollywood heart-throb Clark Gable.
Animal Farm emerged as a pioneering feat in 1954, an animated masterpiece targeted at adults. It breathed life into the art form, with each frame meticulously hand-drawn and every illusion of movement crafted with exquisite precision. In a conversation with art conservator Carien van Aubel, SPYSCAPE unraveled the many hidden secrets behind the artistry of animation and propaganda.
Propaganda comes in many disguises including musical lyrics, abstract art, and blockbuster movies. Sometimes the spin is so subtle artists and audiences don’t even know spies are pulling the levers. US and British operatives aren’t the only propaganda artists around, of course. They just happen to be more talented than most. SPYSCAPE gives the agencies their close-ups.
US spies weren’t the only ones circling Orwell’s widow in 1950. Britain pounced as well, securing the rights to produce the Animal Farm comic strip during the Cold War. London distributed propaganda cartoons to international newspapers through its embassies in Cairo, Caracus, and beyond, overseen by its spooky propaganda wing known as the Information Research Department.
At SPY HQ you’ll explore hidden worlds, break codes, run surveillance and spot liars - while a system developed with MI6 experts reveals your personal spy role and profile.
