On May 1,
2026, two very different films hit the movie screens in West
and elsewhere: ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’, on the one hand, and a new adaptation
of George Orwell's ‘Animal Farm’, on the other. Pause.
What do
they have in common, it would seem? Nothing, at a first glance. One film was
shot live, with live actors, while the other was animated; one is almost
entirely original and independent, while the other is not; one is celebrated
and actively promoted, while the other is being quickly and quietly forgotten;
one is about the modern Western elite, while the other...
Let us
start with this. It has been forgotten for a while now, but the first
"Prada" (2006) was based on a book of the same name, just as the ‘Animal
Farm’ movies are. This, as I wrote
earlier, is already the third adaptation to date – the first came out in the
1950s, the second in the 90s, and this one (set in 2026) is the third, and the
least successful (for now). Why?
Because ‘Animal
Farm’ was entirely political— Orwell, I swear, was a Trotskyist, he had a decidedly
negative attitude toward Stalin and Stalinism, as well as toward English
capitalism, and so ‘Animal Farm’ ends with a fraternization between Stalinists
and capitalists. History showed that Orwell was not entirely right, but he was
not entirely wrong either—but the important thing for us is that Mr. Serkis,
who brought ‘Animal Farm’ to the screen this time, does not have that plot line
at all. His version of ‘Animal Farm’ is completely apolitical, and as a result,
it failed. ‘Animal Farm’ without politics—especially international politics—is
of no particular use to anyone.
Let us
turn to ‘Prada’. Where is the politics there? That is right – nowhere.
What
were the book and the first film about? Contrary to popular belief, the
"devil" in the title is not Miranda; her last name, Priestley,
suggests she's "only" a priestess of the devil. The devil there is
the entire fashion world: rich, glittering, energetic, dynamic... empty.
Miranda, Emily, and Nigel spend their entire lives "running" to stay
current, afloat; there's no time left for family, personal relationships, or
simple human happiness, and that's why Andy/Andrea departs from Miranda quite
rudely (by the standards of the English language and manners anyhow) at the end
of the book and leaves the fashion world. Already in the first film, all of
this was toned down and reduced to the relationship between Miranda and Andy
(Emily and Nigel are a bit different), and now it is completely gone.
What is
there instead?
Let us look.
On the one hand, we have Andy, an accomplished journalist who... was cut (like
her entire department), and needs to reinvent herself. On the other hand, we
have Miranda, who has finally realized she has to be accountable for her words
and who is in trouble, from which Andy and... Emily will help her out, only it
turns out the latter has only a Very Cunning Plan, according to which the ‘Runway’
magazine will end up in her hands, and Miranda will be screwed. However, with
Andy's help, Miranda turns the tables and remains the head of ‘the Runway’;
only the owner changes...
On the
one hand, it all reminds me of the Westeros from Martin's books—there, all
those lords, knights, and other aristocrats actually fighting, warring, and
scheming with each other, while the "third estate"—mostly peasants—is
just somewhere in the background, of no use to anyone...
Except that the aristocrats become less and
less necessary as time goes on—in the books, everything was heading
toward Jon and Dany taking the throne—but the ending of IT turned out pretty
badly, it messed everything up, and now the books of this aspect of the franchise have gone quiet as well. Pause.
Nevertheless,
in "Prada 2," too, everything that happens is a game played by the
elite, the patricians; the world of "Prada 2" is rather limited—it is
all about fashion, from America to Italy, and so on. None of the
"outsiders" care about these games played by Miranda, Andy, and
Emily; Andy, having dealt with Miranda and "the Runway," is ready to
be friends with Emily—and why not? Who knows what the future holds, and Andy no
longer has her old friends (from the first film)...
In
addition, there is no politics either, just as there is not in ‘Animal
Farm-2026’—it is just that ‘Prada 2’ is made several orders of magnitude better
than Mr. Serkis's ‘Animal Farm’, and that is why people like it—many people
want to see beautiful actresses and actors dressed in expensive clothes... and
preoccupied only with themselves. Pause.
So, I
don't really want to talk about politics, especially old politics—more than a
hundred years have passed since the 1917 revolution described in SD—but!
Vladimir Ilyich having enlightened the Russian-Soviet proletariat, turned it Red,
and with their help, his team defeated the Whites, who were patrician elitists
from a political point of view; and for quite a long time, the USSR had
something like a "dictatorship from below," when everything (at least
in words) was for the workers, peasants, and so on. Then everything became "ruined."
Read that same Orwell—he blamed everything on Joseph Stalin; how right he is, I
do not know...
Leo
Trotsky, on the other hand, was for permanent revolution, meaning an ongoing
global (without quotation marks) war, similar to what is already happening
around the world: in Europe – Putin’s Special Military Operation, in the Middle
East – Iran vs. the USA, further east – India and Pakistan, and so on. Perhaps
a shadow world government does exist... and it has composed of Trotskyists?
That would be an interesting scenario for a film... and it will not happen, because
by now the concepts of "politics" and "culture," especially
for the masses, have become somewhat divided.
... The last Sovereign Emperors of the Romanov dynasty, and
their European relatives—aka their uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.—also tried to
keep the "cook's children," etc., out of politics. The outcome is
well known. Read Orwell... and do not be like Mr. Serkis, who released a
useless monster onto the silver screen. ‘Animal Farm-2026’ and ‘Prada-2’ are not
twins, not twins at all, but they are siblings in their apoliticality, and that
is sad.
No
matter how much you remove the people from politics, a new leader will still
appear who will enlighten them, and then you will be hit on the head with the
"Runway".
After
all, the Trotskyists run the world behind the scenes, it seems.
End
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