So a trailer for an “adaptation” of George Orwell’s Animal Farm directed by Andy Serkis and starring Seth Rogen as Napoleon the Pig has been released, with predictable reception.

So the main antagonist, judging by the trailer and gossip, goes from being Pig Stalin himself to a human named…. Pilkington. Using that name makes it all look even worse. Because first off, in the book Mr. Pilkington and his Pinchfield Farm represent the West in general (and Churchill’s Britain more specifically). But even beyond that, the name is obscure, meaning that yes, you’d needed to look at the book and not just grab the rights like what seemingly happened with Starship Troopers.

It gets even worse as one realizes the name is extra-unsuitable given that here Animalism apparently works perfectly until Napoleon is tempted by an Evil Capitalist human. Because in the book, Napoleon actually is tempted with his “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact” by agreeing to sell timber to Mr. Frederick of Foxwood, who naturally stiffs him and invades anyway.

Yes, Glenn Close’s villainess being named “Pilkington” instead of “Frederick” means that the filmmakers looked at someone who was literally based on Hitler and said “let’s use the stand-in for the west instead because Evil Capitalist Elon Musk Cybertruck Lol.”