The Greatest Piece of Communist Art: Chicken Run

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ธ.ค. 2021
  • It's finally here, the definitive examination of perhaps the most accomplished piece of radical art in history: Chicken Run.
    This is just a fun wee shitpost for Christmas time (though I do think some of the stuff in here is slightly useful) and we will return to our regular grim content after Christmas so enjoy it while you can!
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  • @marxmeesterlijk
    @marxmeesterlijk 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3716

    Interesting to note here is that Aardman Studios, who produced this have become a worker owned business.

    • @stalfithrildi5366
      @stalfithrildi5366 2 ปีที่แล้ว +149

      Peter Lord and David Sproxton really did give All Power To The Workers Council

    • @iankirven2711
      @iankirven2711 2 ปีที่แล้ว +111

      That's awesome, I had no idea

    • @RaunienTheFirst
      @RaunienTheFirst 2 ปีที่แล้ว +53

      Really? I had no idea

    • @Notveryimpressed
      @Notveryimpressed 2 ปีที่แล้ว +50

      That's excellent.

    • @starpasta
      @starpasta 2 ปีที่แล้ว +42

      Omg, that makes me so happy!

  • @redactedredacted6656
    @redactedredacted6656 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2947

    I think Rocky's gender and nationality also signifies him as a metaphor for people who aren't directly affected by a systemic injustice and only help fight against it when it's convenient for them.

    • @DublinsJoyce1920
      @DublinsJoyce1920 2 ปีที่แล้ว +232

      You could also examine his role through a lens of Disabilities Studies, because he is the only young, able-bodied male. He is in a much less vulnerable position than everyone else because of his privilege.

    • @infidelheretic923
      @infidelheretic923 2 ปีที่แล้ว +26

      Well most roosters are slaughtered before they’re a day old. The few they keep though get a lot of hens

    • @DublinsJoyce1920
      @DublinsJoyce1920 2 ปีที่แล้ว +167

      @@infidelheretic923 most roosters don't talk either. I was speaking about the function of roosters in the film not on actual farms..

    • @THEFIZZIEST
      @THEFIZZIEST 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Reformist libs :)

    • @unholylemonpledge9730
      @unholylemonpledge9730 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Cringe

  • @masonturner0
    @masonturner0 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1622

    I think the most horrifying thing about Chicken Run is the idea of having to live in Britain

    • @MyKeyMoonShine
      @MyKeyMoonShine 2 ปีที่แล้ว +105

      Didn't have to kick us while we were down :(

    • @stalfithrildi5366
      @stalfithrildi5366 2 ปีที่แล้ว +40

      Worse, the film is clearly set in The Red Wall, which is a thing that definitely exists

    • @daniel6678
      @daniel6678 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      oh my god

    • @dodoking4
      @dodoking4 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      Truly hell.

    • @jmurray1110
      @jmurray1110 2 ปีที่แล้ว +54

      Well how else do you slip in thatcher parallels without being so obvious about it

  • @NyleGames
    @NyleGames 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1200

    "Ginger could write Discipline and Punish, but Foucault couldn't write Chicken Run." JohntheDuncan

    • @ProletariatPrince
      @ProletariatPrince 2 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      Foucault could NEVER

    • @facelessdrone
      @facelessdrone 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@ja3424 rigid structural dogma of communism?? Wtf?? Do you even know what communism is? Like, at all?

    • @yahyaehsan1164
      @yahyaehsan1164 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      @@ja3424 r/iamverysmart

    • @Ajsopranosrubberdux
      @Ajsopranosrubberdux 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      @@ja3424 tell us how communism is a rigid dogma LOL... this should be good

    • @Ajsopranosrubberdux
      @Ajsopranosrubberdux 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@ja3424 you've edited your original comment... poor form

  • @jdprettynails
    @jdprettynails 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1117

    If you wanted to go for a feminist critique, it's interesting how with Rocky also being a male he has less of a stake in the fight. As we see with Fowler, the only elderly chicken, his life isn't on the line like the ladies' are. So Rocky isn't as invested in their struggle from a male perspective also.
    Edit: Also Mrs. Tweedy is basically Thatcher.

    • @thecrimsonender
      @thecrimsonender 2 ปีที่แล้ว +53

      The male chickens have plenty at stake. Whenever a male chicken is born, he is almost certainly immediately sent to slaughter. There is a reason there is only one male rooster on the farm: they just need the one to serve for reproduction purposes. So there is actually a bit of reversal here. Male chickens can't produce any labour of value to the farmers outside of sexual reproduction. Necropolitics comes into play again. When they become free, gender equality becomes possible because Fowler's labour as an educator and caretaker holds value despite these not producing material profit.

    • @jdprettynails
      @jdprettynails 2 ปีที่แล้ว +80

      @@thecrimsonender While that certainly does explain Fowler's stake in the revolution. He's probably seen several boys gets taken away over the years, but I'm talking specifically about Rocky as an outsider. He's from the circus, he doesn't fully understand how important it is for them to escape, which is why he doesn't take his job all that seriously (at first).

    • @antonioscendrategattico2302
      @antonioscendrategattico2302 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@jdprettynails That's true. But then, wouldn't this disconnect be more a matter of class and "nationality" than gender, then?

    • @jdprettynails
      @jdprettynails 2 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      @@antonioscendrategattico2302 Not saying that gender is the sole reason, just that it could also be a contributing factor.

    • @thecrimsonender
      @thecrimsonender 2 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      @@jdprettynails he's a circus animal, so I do think class and nationality is more of a factor here. He wouldn't be expected to lay eggs even if he was a hen. I'd also like to point out that the eggs aren't intended to be a symbol of reproduction in Chicken Run, but a symbol of labour. Hens don't need to have sex to produce eggs. They produce them anyway.

  • @Lily-yb8ou
    @Lily-yb8ou 2 ปีที่แล้ว +618

    The best part of this video was you repeatedly calling Mrs Tweedy a Neo-liberal feminist girl-boss. Iconic

    • @sizor3ds
      @sizor3ds ปีที่แล้ว +38

      She’s Thatcher

    • @deeznoots6241
      @deeznoots6241 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +12

      @@sizor3dsThatcher is the original girlboss

  • @samuelwilkin5
    @samuelwilkin5 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1799

    If I had a nickel for every animated kids movie starring animals that critiques capitalism, whose plot involves building a giant mechanical bird - I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it is weird that it happened twice.

    • @Dontreadthis0
      @Dontreadthis0 2 ปีที่แล้ว +48

      wait whats the other one?

    • @samuelwilkin5
      @samuelwilkin5 2 ปีที่แล้ว +347

      @@Dontreadthis0 A bug's life

    • @gracebm9581
      @gracebm9581 2 ปีที่แล้ว +156

      @@samuelwilkin5 I always thought they were basically the same film. Right down to the circus performers who are supposed to be the ones to save everyone.

    • @Theo_is_door
      @Theo_is_door 2 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      @@samuelwilkin5 i thought you were referring to Robots

    • @ahumanbeingfromtheearth1502
      @ahumanbeingfromtheearth1502 2 ปีที่แล้ว +34

      @@ja3424 it's not anti capitalism by any means, but that's a bit of a stretch.

  • @marxmeesterlijk
    @marxmeesterlijk 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1833

    I think its great that you acknowledged your human privilege and reached out to the chicken community for their thoughts.

    • @dontgointothecloset0-05
      @dontgointothecloset0-05 2 ปีที่แล้ว +41

      As a member of the chicken community I believe this is a very essential discussion that needs to be had

    • @rafaelantunespadilha3486
      @rafaelantunespadilha3486 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +14

      All joking aside, I use this film in my "Ethics and the Right to the City" courses to teach intersectional approaches to workers' struggles and animal liberation.

  • @greengreysolarpunk4036
    @greengreysolarpunk4036 ปีที่แล้ว +363

    The beauty of Rocky being a “Lone Free Ranger” not only for the pun but the underlying implication of him being a “free range” chicken. Free range chickens are still exploited under capitalism, so this shows how despite his physical freedom he is still serving capital’s interests nonetheless. He can’t be free just as a lone free ranger.

    • @subtlesraf
      @subtlesraf ปีที่แล้ว +34

      that and 'free range' doesn't even have a determined amount of space per chicken or even outdoor time. it's a label the animal ag industry made up because they knew people would take it on without question and feel better about the animals they consume

    • @ComradeRagdoll
      @ComradeRagdoll 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

      That’s the Illusion of Freedom.

  • @dustind4694
    @dustind4694 2 ปีที่แล้ว +487

    Waitaminute did Chicken Run manage to present productive and reproductive labor as part of the same class in a way that is easily processed by even a child, and limit attempts to argue for some hierarchy of the two as liberal bullshit? ...Mother of god.

    • @ale--
      @ale-- 2 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      That needs to be stated again, but louder. MOTHER OF GOD....

    • @petitefraise7385
      @petitefraise7385 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      THIS THIS THIS🤯😍

    • @dustind4694
      @dustind4694 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @Chaim Mendel Revolution at Point Zero is a great deep dive on this, yeah.

  • @kzisnbkosplay3346
    @kzisnbkosplay3346 2 ปีที่แล้ว +175

    Also interesting how Mrs. Tweedy never considers the future far enough to think about what happens after all the chickens that have are dead

    • @serversurfer6169
      @serversurfer6169 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +30

      I thought about that too. The egg business was less profitable, but more sustainable. 🤓

    • @McHobotheBobo
      @McHobotheBobo 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +16

      The drive for capital accumulation

    • @joanjones6882
      @joanjones6882 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +33

      Possibly on purpose, to display how short sighted capitalism is. You can't have a continuously growing economy with finite resources.

    • @Claptain_Planet
      @Claptain_Planet 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Um breed more? Or buy more? You think they only can use those chickens?

    • @JOCoStudio1
      @JOCoStudio1 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@Claptain_Planet And bang goes that magical sought after profit margin

  • @mishapurser4439
    @mishapurser4439 2 ปีที่แล้ว +126

    "I'm sick and tired of making miniscule profits" is one of the most quotable lines in the film. I love using it when doing my mocking impression of a capitalist.

  • @Randoplants
    @Randoplants 2 ปีที่แล้ว +131

    I think Fowler represents three groups that get neglected and simultaneously used by capitalism for various ends: elderly, disabled, and veterans. These groups are political footballs that people in power can use to manipulate the populace, but then conveniently ignored.

  • @KitOfTheWeirdWoods
    @KitOfTheWeirdWoods ปีที่แล้ว +49

    The fact that at @14:31 Bunty, the one who lays the most eggs and is therefore the most secure in the current system, is the one who suggests not trying to escape, just keeping on in the current system. This video is eye opening.

  • @curlybrace314
    @curlybrace314 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1145

    You may call this a joke or a shitpost, but you've convinced me that this movie is a communist masterpiece

    • @younggamer7218
      @younggamer7218 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Cool profile pic

    • @uhmwhat2895
      @uhmwhat2895 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      cave story.

    • @flumpymaster
      @flumpymaster 2 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      I don't think it was at all meant to be a joke

    • @uhmwhat2895
      @uhmwhat2895 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@flumpymaster I really hope it is.

    • @Conman9310
      @Conman9310 ปีที่แล้ว

      CURLY BRAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!

  • @DrAnarchy69
    @DrAnarchy69 2 ปีที่แล้ว +259

    The Yoke of Oppression had me literally LOL

    • @JohntheDuncan
      @JohntheDuncan  2 ปีที่แล้ว +35

      Yes! Thank you first person to mention that

  • @mel0dymak3r
    @mel0dymak3r 2 ปีที่แล้ว +105

    god this explains why this movie was so haunting to me as a child in a way that i couldn't really express at the time. what a masterpiece

    • @ShesquatchPiney
      @ShesquatchPiney 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      For realsies, it's just delicious. I adore the chicky babes and jammin' triumphant musical score.

  • @ChrisSmith-st8xy
    @ChrisSmith-st8xy 2 ปีที่แล้ว +106

    I think the sequel should be about how, in order to keep their freedom, they must work with other chickens in other farms to achieve world revolution. Otherwise what’s stopping the Tweedies or other farmers/hunters attacking their paradise?

    • @JohntheDuncan
      @JohntheDuncan  2 ปีที่แล้ว +37

      YES

    • @Oliver_Klozoff69
      @Oliver_Klozoff69 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Damn, the fact that a sequel just came out recently made this comment age well

  • @TheSaltyLibrarian
    @TheSaltyLibrarian 2 ปีที่แล้ว +185

    The only way it could be more on the nose if this exchange happened
    Mr. Tweedy: "But I think the chickens are organizing, forming a society even."
    Mrs. Tweedy: "There's no such thing as society!"

    • @terpsidance.
      @terpsidance. 2 ปีที่แล้ว +23

      Rocky, a clown, or joker if you will: "We live in a society..."

  • @ladyhoratia1709
    @ladyhoratia1709 2 ปีที่แล้ว +341

    don't lower yourself. this is not a shitpost. this is probably one of the best video essays of the year

  • @geo-fry6372
    @geo-fry6372 2 ปีที่แล้ว +417

    I also think it’s worth mentioning how the imagery of the farm brings to mind n@zi concentration camps, implying a connection between capitalism and fascism

    • @SunflowerLilypad
      @SunflowerLilypad 2 ปีที่แล้ว +85

      This was how the movie was presented to us in my class. (In California). But just as a representation of the Nazi regime. Completely skipping over capitalism.

    • @Jaggedknife11
      @Jaggedknife11 2 ปีที่แล้ว +42

      @@SunflowerLilypad interesting how you can easily bend the meaning of a film about capitalism into a film about N@zism......very interesting......

    • @MohamedRamadan-qi4hl
      @MohamedRamadan-qi4hl ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@SunflowerLilypad it has nothing to do with capitalism

    • @passionate_possum_pal
      @passionate_possum_pal 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +25

      ​@@MohamedRamadan-qi4hlthe main drive for the antagonist is profit. Literally taking the production of the working class for their own, and destroying the working class in the process. That has nothing to do with capitalism?

    • @MohamedRamadan-qi4hl
      @MohamedRamadan-qi4hl 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@passionate_possum_pal you do realize that the profit is thousands of years older than capitalism right?

  • @Goblin4Coin
    @Goblin4Coin 2 ปีที่แล้ว +186

    Mrs Tweedy being boiled by the gravy, even though she didn't die, was always horrific to me as a kid

    • @renaissancewoman3770
      @renaissancewoman3770 2 ปีที่แล้ว +31

      My sister will tell you with the evidence of several screenshots that Mr tweedy actually pushed a barn door on Mrs tweedy and she dies. I'm not sure still and I think she's the only kid that's ever noticed.

    • @saragabblegoose1075
      @saragabblegoose1075 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      i never saw the actual scene because i looked away right after she fell down, but my mind creating its own imaginary by hearing he noises, and it have haunted me too. Really happy he didn't show that scene

    • @anarchistangel2314
      @anarchistangel2314 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      @@renaissancewoman3770 i always interpreted it that way as a kid too, and i think especially in light of a broadly communist reading of the movie it does a great job of illustrating that when capitalists actually manage to lose their own death game, even their most loyal goons will turn on them once the paychecks and kickbacks stop coming (see for example how cops stop protecting the rich the few times that some owner class tyrant has genuinely fallen from grace, and therefore stopped being a profitable charge to protect)

  • @cool_sword
    @cool_sword 2 ปีที่แล้ว +760

    You celebrate the liberation of the film's chickens, yet you seem to own chickens yourself.......... very curious. ........

    • @stalfithrildi5366
      @stalfithrildi5366 2 ปีที่แล้ว +74

      How do you eggspect him to maintain the Egg Monopoly for the whole of the Normal Island?

    • @jthadcast
      @jthadcast 2 ปีที่แล้ว +102

      the chickens must take their freedom, it cannot be given, for the prison is in the mind.

    • @augustporosenok766
      @augustporosenok766 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      im obsessed w this comment

    • @AnnaCatherineB
      @AnnaCatherineB 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      😮

    • @landis9767
      @landis9767 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      this but unironically 🌱

  • @binoodle511
    @binoodle511 2 ปีที่แล้ว +67

    I love the consistent cuts to Rocky getting slapped after each well deserved verbal jabs you take at him. It's truly beautiful.

  • @Calpsotoma
    @Calpsotoma 2 ปีที่แล้ว +104

    Chicken Run and A Bug's Life are pretty similar. Both are movies where an underclass fights against a ruling class, not by individualistic self realization, but by collective effort.

    • @DZrache
      @DZrache 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      And as someone else mentioned, they both involve frauds that work at a circus, and mechanical flying machines. Interesting coinkydinky

    • @4nn4h
      @4nn4h 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      AntZ, too

    • @bwolff7364
      @bwolff7364 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Also robots 2005

    • @sarascarpati887
      @sarascarpati887 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@4nn4hI LOVED that movie! I used to watch it All the time because I really related to Z

  • @mann_man8556
    @mann_man8556 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

    I’m glad to see you doing an interview with chickens in order to get their perspective on the film

    • @JohntheDuncan
      @JohntheDuncan  11 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

      They're essential stakeholders

  • @AM-tl1xi
    @AM-tl1xi 2 ปีที่แล้ว +172

    I’ve only watched the European Portuguese dubbed version and when Rocky says he comes from the land of liberty, he gets asked if it’s Grândola. The song most associated with the coup that overthrew the fascist regime and which was banned and is called Grândola Vila Morena, played as one of the signals for the revolutionary troops.

    • @ironicdivinemandatestan4262
      @ironicdivinemandatestan4262 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Ah, the Carnation Revolution, that time a fascist dictator was overthrown by the power of fucking Eurovision.

  • @Andrewism
    @Andrewism 2 ปีที่แล้ว +340

    This was fucking brilliant. Great work!

  • @ane3sha
    @ane3sha 2 ปีที่แล้ว +58

    i was horrified by aardman's art style growing up, particularly the eyes and teeth. i would see wallace and gromit and have a fucking panic attack. i can't believe that fear led to me missing out on this anticapitalist masterpiece smh

  • @hq4287
    @hq4287 2 ปีที่แล้ว +429

    Very glad that the most eloquently anti-fascist movie in history ("there are no others what you talking about?") is getting the coverage it deserves.

  • @rusted_ursa
    @rusted_ursa 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    "LIfe can't get better." Yeah. That's what haunted me most about Edwina's death. I mean, just the line "She didn't tell me. She didn't tell anyone!" The others would have covered for her, *but she didn't tell anyone!* She fell into the belief that dying was her only way out.

  • @kobaltkween
    @kobaltkween 2 ปีที่แล้ว +108

    The point about how "worthless" the farm has been before automation is especially poignant when made by stop-motion animators. Aardman's 3D work is just as awesome, IMHO, but that argument between the Tweedys firmly makes the point that using your hands to work and create has more meaning than money alone can define.

  • @lyricbot8513
    @lyricbot8513 2 ปีที่แล้ว +44

    The cutaways to interview the chickens were simultaneously touching and hilarious.

  • @UltraVioletPod
    @UltraVioletPod 2 ปีที่แล้ว +336

    Which soul shattering scene in a children's film is more emblematic of capitalisms calloused subjectification & destruction of the gentle worker: Edwina being eaten once she can no longer produce, or that helpless shoe in Who Framed Roger Rabbit getting melted just to prove a point to someone trying to stop the bulldozing of a marginalized community to put up a freeway?

    • @blede8649
      @blede8649 2 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      Nice catch ! Now we need John's analysis of that too. Pretty please ???

    • @thelegalsystem
      @thelegalsystem 2 ปีที่แล้ว +33

      The cars in A Brave Little Toaster that are being crushed into scrap because they are outdated and "worthless".

    • @LostLifetimes
      @LostLifetimes 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Or any of the chop shop scenes in Robots

    • @supersaiandemon
      @supersaiandemon 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      It's the shoe for me. The way it screamed in pain and the eyes of plea still shatters me to this day.

    • @UltraVioletPod
      @UltraVioletPod 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      It haunts me to this very day

  • @WilcoWes
    @WilcoWes 2 ปีที่แล้ว +214

    Chicken Run 2 will be a Trotskyism inspired film in which the freed chickens will attempt to liberate other farms. There will be many failed attempts and several hen leaders will be executed. Great video.

    • @kennethferland5579
      @kennethferland5579 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      And their leader will be Chicken Guvara.

    • @Canadish
      @Canadish 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      I assume you were jesting, but thats the actual plot summary we've since had.

    • @nicholascharles9625
      @nicholascharles9625 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@kennethferland5579che was heavily inspired by stalin.

    • @nicholascharles9625
      @nicholascharles9625 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Trotsky's ideas flip flopped and he betrayed the working class even Lenin thought he was a dickhead

  • @christopherhill2237
    @christopherhill2237 2 ปีที่แล้ว +90

    At 12:45, the idea of imprisonment under capitalism as an escape from daily exploitation, this brought back a quote I remember reading years ago. It took some digging but I found it. In the biographical notes added to the 1918 English translation of Trotsky's "Our revolution":
    "In 1900 we find him already in solitary confinement in the prisons of Odessa, devouring book after book to satisfy his mental hunger. No true revolutionist was ever made downhearted by prison, least of all Trotzky, who knew it was a brief interval of enforced idleness between periods of activity. After two and a half years of prison “vacation” (as the confinement was called in revolutionary jargon) Trotzky was exiled to Eastern Siberia, to Ust-Kut, on the Lena River, where he arrived early in 1902, only to seize the first opportunity to escape"
    Comrade Babs, a true revolutionary.

  • @lunaleonem3378
    @lunaleonem3378 2 ปีที่แล้ว +213

    I don't know if this is high effort shitposting or serious film analysis. Either way, this is impressive, so I can only subscribe.

    • @Karin-fj3eu
      @Karin-fj3eu 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      Both.

    • @mightymeatymech
      @mightymeatymech 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@Karin-fj3eu (I'm late but) that's what makes it so beautiful to behold

  • @AnarchoPurp
    @AnarchoPurp 2 ปีที่แล้ว +69

    Well, I’m sold. I’m not going to chicken walk, but chicken run to my nearest purveyor of fine films to buy this on blu-ray!

  • @StepBackHistory
    @StepBackHistory 2 ปีที่แล้ว +103

    I knew I liked this movie as a kid for a reason. I remember even watching the DVD extras

    • @JohntheDuncan
      @JohntheDuncan  2 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      It was always one of my favourites too, obviously, but we just had it on VHS and never got the pleasure of dvd extras

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@JohntheDuncan my copy was taped off of BBC 2 one Christmas.
      Though we had a couple of store-bought VHS tapes which contained what were probably also DVD special features, after the credits: the 10 Wallace and Gromit shorts (automated fancy dinner, the cheese retrieval robot, etc) which spent more of the actual footage of tape on the special features (mostly a 30 minute documentary on Wallace and Gromit); the other being a Toy Story VHS which had a 15-20 minute segment about its production and history.

  • @MiriamClairify
    @MiriamClairify 2 ปีที่แล้ว +83

    I never do this but I genuinely paused halfway through and actually watched the movie

  • @BrittleMastodon
    @BrittleMastodon 2 ปีที่แล้ว +209

    Will be showing this to a friend the next time she asks why I think liberal individualism is poison.

  • @jazzboots8893
    @jazzboots8893 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    As someone who grew up in the North of England- Fowler is everything you said he is, but he's also definitely a real person that lived a few doors down from literally everyone in the North. He grows almost only onions in his garden, and is superb.

  • @JadeHarleyCoffeeMug
    @JadeHarleyCoffeeMug 2 ปีที่แล้ว +247

    let's also appreciate the beautiful pun in "Lone Free Ranger". FREE RANGE CHICKEN!!

    • @Personal_Chizo
      @Personal_Chizo 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Could you please explain it to this poor non-native English speaker? 😔

    • @gingganggoolie
      @gingganggoolie 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      @@Personal_Chizo The Lone Ranger is a cowboy hero from old American tv/films. Chicken meat and eggs which come from supposedly ethical farms are called Free Range, because they have more freedom than battery farmed chickens
      I hope that was helpful

    • @Personal_Chizo
      @Personal_Chizo 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@gingganggoolie Thank you! Yeah, I remember TLR, but "Free Range" was only a song by The Fall until today for me lol.

  • @Ellifire
    @Ellifire 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    My parents wonder how I ended up like this like I didn’t watch Chicken Run twice a week my entire childhood

  • @THarSul
    @THarSul 2 ปีที่แล้ว +24

    Let us not forget the final moments of Mrs.Tweedy, where Mr.Tweedy pushes down the door of the barn, presumably killing her, symbolic of how the members of the middle-class who manage the systems of oppression must also reject the upper classes who profit from that system for the world to be truly free from capitalism.

  • @Lincoln_Bio
    @Lincoln_Bio 2 ปีที่แล้ว +59

    Well, that was weirdly salient. Glorious work, comrade.

    • @JohntheDuncan
      @JohntheDuncan  2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      You know, weirdly salient is the best review

  • @ianwills1755
    @ianwills1755 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    I appreciate the journalistic integrity in interviewing hens irl😂 I remember these similar themes throughout childhood films and yet elders are suprised by youngers views

  • @RomanBearProductions
    @RomanBearProductions 2 ปีที่แล้ว +65

    Me and my fiance quote the"...like a fish" line constantly.

    • @gingealex99999
      @gingealex99999 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      We constantly quote ‘i don’t wanna be a pie.... I don’t like gravy’ 😅

    • @miunya
      @miunya 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I like "my life flashed before my eyes...... it was really boorin"

    • @FabbrizioPlays
      @FabbrizioPlays 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      My life has been a never ending sequence of "I told you they was organized!"

  • @not.applicable.
    @not.applicable. 2 ปีที่แล้ว +31

    As an American, I'd like to assert that your characterization of Rocky as a liberal individualist is.... accurate. Lol

    • @nicholascharles9625
      @nicholascharles9625 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I mean of course. Rocky is American it's kinda just assumed

  • @theoneandonlymichaelmccormick
    @theoneandonlymichaelmccormick 2 ปีที่แล้ว +125

    A long-standing childhood favorite of mine. I’m sure it had a tremendous impact on my ideological development as well, in addition to just being a real fun movie.

  • @kierangorman3052
    @kierangorman3052 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    The perfect mix between sincerity and satire is what makes this hilarious.

  • @RosiYYAP
    @RosiYYAP 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    This movie surpasses all other films about revolution and oppression by totally upending the status quo and entirely dismantling the system that enabled their oppression. So many movies, esp for kids, portray these issues as problems with individual people within the system, while this film actually acknowledges the systemic nature of oppression and how far revolution must go to overthrow it

  • @estheromoyele3321
    @estheromoyele3321 2 ปีที่แล้ว +43

    I never realised how intense the themes of revolution are present in this movie-amazing analysis 💀✨

  • @NotThatKate
    @NotThatKate 2 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    This came out on video when I worked at Blockbuster - I ended up giving a promotional standee of Ginger to my now husband for Christmas.
    This is one of the best films ever made.

  • @georgiaq6125
    @georgiaq6125 2 ปีที่แล้ว +46

    this is amazing analysis. i know you did this partly as a joke, but jack halberstam has this to say on chicken run:
    'In this film an anarchist's utopia is actually realised as a stateless place without a farmer, an unfenced territory with no owners, a diverse (sort of, they are mostly female) collective motivated by survival, pleasure, and the control of one's own labour. [...] They find their way there by eschewing a 'natural' solution to their imprisonment (flying out of the coop using their wings) and engineering an ideological one (they must all pull together to power the plane they build). Chicken Run also rejects the individualistic solution offered by Rocky the Rooster (voiced by Mel Gibson) in favour of group logics'.
    - Jack Halberstam, The Queer Art of Failure

  • @radiationshepherd
    @radiationshepherd 2 ปีที่แล้ว +65

    I watched that movie so many times as a kid. The pie machine was particularly horrific

  • @RaineEmberAshes
    @RaineEmberAshes 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    My parents wonder how I ended up a leftist… but they let me have this on repeat as a child

  • @JohntheDuncan
    @JohntheDuncan  2 ปีที่แล้ว +215

    This was way too much work for what is essentially a 40 minute shitpost (small segment at 5:05 had to be trimmed for copyright)
    Edit: it still got copyright blocked in some places and demonetised so dropping my Patreon, kofi and PayPal here too Support me on Patreon: www.patreon.com/johntheduncan
    Or a one of payment on Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/johntheduncan​​​
    Or a tip via Paypal paypal.me/johntheduncan?count...

    • @danielludwig647
      @danielludwig647 2 ปีที่แล้ว +68

      What is a shitpost, anyway? All I watched was a heartfelt critique of a great piece of art. No notes. 10/10

    • @stalfithrildi5366
      @stalfithrildi5366 2 ปีที่แล้ว +35

      This is not a shitpost, my man.

    • @LukasMukasPukas1
      @LukasMukasPukas1 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      Mfer said shitpose

    • @RoamingAdhocrat
      @RoamingAdhocrat 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      this is very serious material john

    • @sazhaxeramezha449
      @sazhaxeramezha449 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      you seem so casual and conversational, and yet, the presentation is completely organized, with no instances of "um, er, and uh..."

  • @heebeejeebeez25
    @heebeejeebeez25 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    This is what we should be discussing in English instead of Animal Farm

  • @yabanc_8357
    @yabanc_8357 2 ปีที่แล้ว +107

    i confused the movie names i thought from the times you mentioned this idea you somehow wanted to find leftist themes in Chicken Little (2005) 😭 .... this makes a LOT more sense lmao

  • @classicalellie
    @classicalellie 2 ปีที่แล้ว +173

    chicken run turned me vegetarian. if i wasn't already, this takedown would have turned me socialist.

    • @twodimensional6887
      @twodimensional6887 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      love your entrapta pfp!

    • @odddraft
      @odddraft 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      Cool! Why vegetarian and not vegan?

    • @alexbennet4195
      @alexbennet4195 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      @@odddraft Because vegans naturally can't get all the nutrients the body needs (namely B-12) and it's reasonable that some people don't want to take supplements (or don't want to eat much processed food, which may be fortified with B-12). But even in principle, buying, like, free-range eggs from a decent farm isn't inflicting harm on the animals? Buying honey certainly isn't.

    • @odddraft
      @odddraft 2 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      @@alexbennet4195 thanks for sharing your thoughts!
      By a movie analysis perspective: the first conflict of the movie was the protagonist's life and exploitment in the egg production facility. The arch of the movie was to get out of the system, not to stay in the initial one. So, if anything - it would make one go vegan.
      I was curious to see a link between the movie and this diet switch, given the information.
      In real life egg production implies other practices as culling, and the slaughter of the hens at the end of their peak egg production cycle.
      It's a common misconception to think that animal products are not fortified. Animal feed is usually fortified with B-12, and the animals function as a bioaccumulator (=you're still taking a supplement, just inside the meat). In places like Canada they also add vitamin D to cow's milk because the average quantity is not sufficient.
      B-12 supplements are advertised to people with all diets (especially

    • @lilliansamuels3976
      @lilliansamuels3976 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@alexbennet4195 free range is irrelevant - male chicks will not produce eggs and are therefore an unavoidable waste product. They’re sexed at a day old and the males macerated or gassed, as they are not a suitable breed to be grown into broilers (meat chickens).
      Everyone could do with a b-12 supplement due to the state of soil and modern agriculture, not just vegans.

  • @ems9616
    @ems9616 2 ปีที่แล้ว +61

    Legitimately love this- i think it can be easy to write off 'kids movies' , especially comedies, as shallow and without themes. But theyre not! A lot of what we see as common sense is built for us in childhood, and funny shit sticks with you just as well as tragic and profound shit. As a dyed in the wool grumpy pretencious bastard, i second your motion and hereby propose that chocken run is the greatest peice of socialist media of all time.

  • @sethtrain7331
    @sethtrain7331 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    POV: Your tinder date brought you to his bedroom but only wanted to talk about a kid's movie.

  • @LoL12kricki
    @LoL12kricki 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    The Gramsci hoodie, the accent, the vivid marxist analysis of this stop motion chicken movie. I love you

  • @Rosencreutzzz
    @Rosencreutzzz 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    "I told you they was organized" is I think one of the most succinct and solid points in favor of your argument that the video is about collective action more than just a Hogan's Heroes-esque war camp teamwork movie.

  • @tortoiseboy2331
    @tortoiseboy2331 2 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    I was always told it was a metaphor for the soviet workcamps.
    This makes much more sense tho

    • @oldsnake9520
      @oldsnake9520 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      The Soviet Union was essentially capitalism of the state. There was nothing really socialist let alone communist about it. Either one works.

    • @tortoiseboy2331
      @tortoiseboy2331 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      @@oldsnake9520 lmao what the hell are you talking about

    • @FabbrizioPlays
      @FabbrizioPlays 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      ​@@tortoiseboy2331the fact that people think the soviet union was communist, means that Lenin is still to this day pulling the wool over the eyes of the working class.
      Reading literally any of the formative communist literature - Marx, Engels, Kropotkin, frankly any will do - will erode any notion that The Soviet Union had created a communist state.

    • @Rose_Harmonic
      @Rose_Harmonic 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      ​@@tortoiseboy2331socialism is the social ownership of the means of production. The Soviet government engaged in state ownership, and the people most certainly did not control the state. Even in a perfect democracy, it still may not qualify as social ownership. Worker co-ops on the other hand...

  • @LogicGated
    @LogicGated 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    The image of rocky being slapped will forever be with me.

  • @pennycheshire5608
    @pennycheshire5608 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Congrats on cracking 100k views on this! Officially your Chicken Run era 🎂🍾 🎉

  • @m4rkist
    @m4rkist 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Id fight my classmates over control over the computer in my Primary 1 class so that I could play the Chicken Run game. I'm a clucked Marxist now and I feel like this correlation is the only reason for my tankie ways.

  • @ProfessorFlowers
    @ProfessorFlowers 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    IT'S HERE!

  • @squigeyjoe823
    @squigeyjoe823 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Fowler takes a managerial role in the escape by steering the machine, but he only has that role with the consent of the workers. Similar to how workers choose and replace their managers within a worker co-op, the power dynamic is still bottom up.

  • @matthewmcneany
    @matthewmcneany 2 ปีที่แล้ว +72

    Imagine trying to anayse _Chicken Run_ without having read Hegel. Pfft.

    • @g.j.2950
      @g.j.2950 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Nerd

    • @Canadish
      @Canadish 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      He said dialectics a lot though, does that not count?

  • @ughitstravis9243
    @ughitstravis9243 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    How could I not LOVE THIS. I cannot tell you how incredible this breakdown of the movie is. Particularly the ideas behind the "rugged" individualism of Rocky and how clever and sneaky those ideas come to us and warm us to capital.... Appreciate the post. Getting deeper into the ideology and really needed the ideas here.

  • @stalfithrildi5366
    @stalfithrildi5366 2 ปีที่แล้ว +19

    Chicken Run Main Theme (arr. for brass) as anthem of the revolutionary Northern Republic

  • @foodforfaeries
    @foodforfaeries 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I also really love the parallel that can be drawn between the shortsighted plan to turn all your chickens into pies for immediate profit without regards for what comes after you run out of chickens (I know they can probably buy more chickens but still)- to the way that modern capitalism churns through resources in order to sustain this notion of infinite growth, a system that inevitably will collapse under it's own weight.

  • @AliceOfSherwood
    @AliceOfSherwood 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Mrs Tweedy's maiden name was Nestle

  • @AdamHHI
    @AdamHHI 2 ปีที่แล้ว +23

    I love this so much, and I also was traumatized by that one scene. Chicken Run radicalized me.

  • @cassidybuenz750
    @cassidybuenz750 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Truly never expected a chicken run video essay but I guess that’s the point we’re at

    • @JohntheDuncan
      @JohntheDuncan  2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      A point wee reached way too late imo

  • @Boggythefroggy
    @Boggythefroggy 2 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    This was one of my favourites as a kid and honestly it’s not surprising I’m as radical as I am today lmao

  • @DeoMachina
    @DeoMachina 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    Always had a feeling Aardman were possibly fellow travelers, some of their earlier work is animations based on recordings of a prison, a dole office and an interview with somebody who had been in the prison system. All people and places many studios wouldn't want to acknowledge.

  • @Guimhj
    @Guimhj 2 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    "This is about all of us"
    So much power in such a simple sentence

  • @HardDaysNight222
    @HardDaysNight222 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    along with cinematic masterpiece cats and dogs, six year old me thought this movie was peak comedy. thank u for this analysis

  • @watcher314159
    @watcher314159 2 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    Man, I haven't seen this since the VHS days. Watched it a bunch as a kid though.

  • @kas6223
    @kas6223 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Persuaded my family to watch Chicken Run on Christmas because of this :)

  • @WallebyDamned
    @WallebyDamned 2 ปีที่แล้ว +29

    What I want to know is had all the interviewed chickens seen the film on their own, or did you host a viewing?

  • @spacepotatosam
    @spacepotatosam 2 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    ahhh I absolutely love Chicken Run so much. I actually saw it in theaters when I was 11, and it totally blew my mind. Thank you sooo much for this analysis. I need to go find a copy of the movie to watch, now. omg...
    as a side note: I'm autistic, and I'm pretty sure I stopped eating chicken after seeing Chicken Run as a show of solidarity. I went full vegetarian for over a decade just to get people to stop trying to make me eat my feathered comrades... xD

  • @xxShemoXpreshnSxx
    @xxShemoXpreshnSxx 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I love this video the way you love Chicken Run
    my mom and I have repeated “I don’t want to be a pie!… I don’t like gravy” since the movie came out lol

  • @MainelyMandy
    @MainelyMandy 2 ปีที่แล้ว +38

    Thank you for making this vitally important content

    • @JohntheDuncan
      @JohntheDuncan  2 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      It's my most important work, Mandy

  • @andersonneil2293
    @andersonneil2293 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I'm now a marxist-gingerist

  • @frogwithknives3749
    @frogwithknives3749 2 ปีที่แล้ว +86

    Chicken run and robots were a couple of my favourite movies as a kid. Makes sense im a commie.
    Also when youre doing your chicken interview bits you look like crowley from good omens

    • @JohntheDuncan
      @JohntheDuncan  2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      What a vibe!

    • @daniel6678
      @daniel6678 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      these and a bug's life

    • @GeahkBurchill
      @GeahkBurchill 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      Robots had such a horrible third act turn to being pro-Capitalism propaganda. I never forgave BlueSky for that.

    • @Wimikk
      @Wimikk 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@daniel6678 bugs life is an absolute masterpiece

    • @overbeb
      @overbeb 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@Wimikk Antz is even better.

  • @carolinehays5119
    @carolinehays5119 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    "And meanwhile, the chickens are getting organized.", thank you, I had a laugh at that at.

  • @AyaneAklko
    @AyaneAklko 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I have watched this more than five times. It's great 🥰🥰🥰

  • @hoepiesmile1764
    @hoepiesmile1764 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Hen-gemony

  • @igoriouspitchpuckington1594
    @igoriouspitchpuckington1594 2 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    I just came across this, and I'm only 20 minutes in, but you already have me as a new subscriber. Incredibly well made and it's really engaging! It's kind of amazing that the only music you've put in are for clips, most other youtubers have to keep you listening with lo-fi beats in the background but this by itself is just enthralling

    • @JohntheDuncan
      @JohntheDuncan  2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Thank you that's incredibly kind I usually do have lofi beats I just got lazy this time lol

  • @pimscrypt
    @pimscrypt ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I FINALLY got around to watching this, and I was not disappointed!

  • @robhogg68
    @robhogg68 2 ปีที่แล้ว +30

    Certainly a better film, from a political point-of-view than Babe. The latter perpetuates the liberal myth of equal opportunities and individual advancement within capitalism, with Babe the worker who escapes his class position.
    Although he uses his familiarity with the shop floor to manage in a softer (albeit more manipulative) way than previously, the workforce are still going to be fleeced. The only character who tells the truth in the entire film is Ferdinand the Duck.

  • @Tinfoilpain
    @Tinfoilpain 2 ปีที่แล้ว +64

    I wish the great escape also ended with he prisoners blowing up the Nazis while flying out on a homemade flapping airplane.
    Also should we address that Rocky is voiced by Mel Gibson? Actually nevermind...

    • @JohntheDuncan
      @JohntheDuncan  2 ปีที่แล้ว +35

      You know, I mentioned why it's important he's american and I could talk about how it's Mel Gibson but fuck that's a whole rabbit hole

    • @levig6238
      @levig6238 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@JohntheDuncan y’all so filled with hate. Lol

  • @chickenpants
    @chickenpants 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Thank you for this. This film has been a favourite mine for years. TH-cam's evilness hid this from me when you originally posted it. Love your analysis. Thanks for another great essay calling us to action.

  • @bumbleshack6243
    @bumbleshack6243 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I always revisit this essay because it's genuinely so fun and insightful. This is honestly a top-tier video essay. Kudos!!

  • @nairsheasterling9457
    @nairsheasterling9457 2 ปีที่แล้ว +21

    Honestly, you got me engrossed in a half-hour video essay on Chicken Run and made me realize how I was always a communist. That deserves a subscription from me to you, I believe!