Enemy of the people

This is just a quick blog post to note down an idea I have for my transmedia narratives module.

The Concept

As the brief for this project specifies that the final product should be targeted towards fifteen and sixteen-year-olds, I've decided that instead of just creating a narrative I would create a learning tool. My idea is to create a podcast where the hosts would discuss the book, Animal Farm and stripe away the context. Instead of just stripping away the context for no apparent reason, we would instead use that context and discuss the very real story of the Russian Revolution in 1917. The point of this is to not just educate the audience about the events of Lenin's Revolution, but also to offer a different perspective. Although I think it is important to note that I do not want to justify many of the hostile actions taken during the revolution and in its aftermath. Instead, I would want to simply explain the events and how Stalin was allowed to take power and become known as a 'traitor to the revolution'.

Enemy of the People

I've settled on 'Enemy of the People' for the name of my project. This term originally came from the stage play, 'An Enemy of the People' (1882) which was written by the Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen. The reason I want to use this as my title is that it links in with the theme and idea of my project. The term was used by Vladimir Lenin, shortly after he had secured power in Russian after unseating the Czar Nicholas II. To add further context to this, the main reason I think this should be used as a title/ subtitle is that I think it fits very well with my concept. As my concept is centered around educating young people on the Russian Revolution, I think it is appropriate to use this as the title as Stalin is known as a traitor to Marxists. Not only this, but Stalin has also been known as 'the red Tsar'. This is due to his authoritarian rule that the character Napoleon mimics very well.

Sources

Animal Farm. (1954). [film] Directed by J. Batchelor. Halas & Batchelor.