Episode 13 - Animal Farm (John Halas & Joy Batchelor, 1954) (with Jez Stewart)

Animal Farm (John Halas and Joy Batchelor, 1954).

Animal Farm (John Halas & Joy Batchelor, 1954).

The Fantasy/Animation podcast takes listeners on a journey through the intersection between fantasy cinema and the medium of animation. Available via Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many of your favourite podcast hosting platforms!

Far from being unlucky, Episode 13 offers listeners a bumper line-up as Chris and Alex are joined by special guest Jez Stewart - curator at the BFI National Archive and expert on British animation history - to talk about Animal Farm (John Halas & Joy Batchelor, 1954). Taking on this celebrated animated adaptation of George Orwell’s popular novel, they discuss the production history of Britain’s first animated feature film and the vital role of archival material, alongside broader questions of cartoonal allegory via the narrative’s heavy politicised visions of anthropomorphic left-wing uprising.

Suggested Readings

  • Benjamin, Walter. 2009. The Origin of German Tragic Drama. London: Verso.

  • Hunter, Lynette. 1989. Modern Allegory and Fantasy: Rhetorical Stances of Contemporary Writing. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Halas, Vivien, and Paul Wells. 2006. Halas and Batchelor Cartoons: An Animated History. London: Southbank Publishing.

  • Halas, Vivien. 2014. A Moving Image: Joy Batchelor 1914-1991: Artist, Writer and Animator. London, Southbank Publishing.

  • Leab, Daniel J. 2007. Orwell Subverted: The CIA and the Filming of Animal Farm. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

  • Orwell, George. 1945. Animal Farm. London: Secker and Warburg.

PODCASTChristopher Holliday and Alexander SergeantADAPTATION, BRITISH, ALLEGORY, FABLE, ANIMATION, FANTASYComment