Comparison Of Animal Farm And Gears Of War
Introduction
In this essay I am going to be comparing two pieces of media. These two pieces are going to be the film adaptation of Animal Farm by George Orwell and the game series Gears of War by Epic Games.
Animal Farm has an entirely different audience profile to Gears of War.
Firstly, Animal Farm was published in 17 August 1945 by George Orwell. It was a satirical dramatisation of the Russian Revolution, the Stalin Era and the Soviet Union. Due to him being critical of Stalin and frustrated that the rest of Britain held him in high esteem he wrote a book mocking him and recent Russian history.
Summarising the book: The drunk owner of Manor Farm is kicked out by the animals who then make Seven Commandments that the animals will live by. …show more content…
Being taught to read and write the farm is running without issue. After the new windmill is destroyed, one of the leaders is chased away by his rival.
The new leader, Napoleon declares himself leader of the farm. A new committee of pigs decide new laws and promise the other animals a reward will come soon. Napoleon is now becoming more human-like. After, a farmer attacks the farm and Napoleon sells one of his workers for whisky.
Later, the pigs now walk on two legs, wear clothes, carry whips and the Seven Commandments are replaced with ‘All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others’.
The workers remark that they can’t distinguish between the pigs and the humans anymore.
Using political allegory and satire, Animal Farm is a stark contrast to the game Gears of War.
Secondly, Gears of War was released in 2006 by Epic Games/People Can Fly. It is a third person cover shooter which follows Marcus Fenix, an ex prisoner and soldier fighting a group called The Locust.
Summarising the game: After being imprisoned for four years, Marcus is reinstated back into the military (COG) after trying to save his father and joins Delta Squad. Their mission is to use a device called the ‘Resonator’ to map the locust caves (The Hollow) and later deploy a ‘Lightmass Bomb’ to destroy a number of the enemy. After squad leader Kim is killed (By General RAAM), Marcus is promoted as the new leader.
The Resonator fails to provide enough data, but Delta Squad discover a larger map in Marcus’ family home. After receiving the data they board a train carrying the Lightmass bomb and kill General RAAM and upload the data to the bomb. The bomb is launched into the Hollow and destroys the network of tunnels. The final scene is narrated by a woman (The Locust Queen) who states they will have
revenge.
Briefly, the target audience of Animal Farm was:
Every person in England with every Lifestyle, Age, Psychographic with interest in Politics and England
However the audience that reads it now are:
35+ Gender neutral OWLS/YAKS B/C1/C2/D/E with interest in Politics, Recent History and Books. They are explorers. It appeals to a niche audience.
This contrasts to Gears of Wars target audience which is:
Every 18-30 E/D/C2 male YAKS/EWES with interest in games and third person shooters. They are aspirers. It appeals to mainstreamers.
Age:
Firstly I am going to compare the Age of the TA of Animal Farm and Gears of War.
Animal Farm was published in 1945. However, until the Cold War began it was not successful. Historians are yet to decide a date the Cold War started but the timeframe of 1947-1991 is commonly accepted as a rough duration. At this time the stark contrast of the USSR to Britain as well as other countries involved created a mutual distrust. Orwell had been successful in hitting his TA at the time.
However, it is 70 years later and the audience reading Animal Farm has changed. Now the age of the readers is likely to be 35+ because they are going to have been born in the Cold War and are going to relate more and be more interested in factual events than younger audiences, who will not have been born in the time ANimal Farm achieved success. To further support my claim, younger people are not exactly know for the mass enthusiasm in history. Some 0-25 year olds are likely to not even be aware of George Orwell.
Gears of War is the reverse. Published in 2006 with a rating of 18/M, the earliest players would be 18. 12 years later, they are now 30. We can assume the TA is 18-30. It has since had 3 more games, merchandise and is now even being marketed to children in the same way Halo Megabloks are. It is arguably the most successful cover shooter in recent years with coverage from news, youtube and other video streaming sites. The previous statements mean a far larger number of people know what Gears of War is than Animal Farm.
However, Gears of War is a bloody, gory, violent and frankly morbid game. Taken from the official wikipedia:
'The only known method of Locust reproduction is the mating of a Berserker and a Drone; this is accomplished by tying the female down (to prevent the blind beast from killing her mate) and having the male rape her.'
In general, older people are not desensitised to the violent actions and themes present in Gears of War. That being said, the game is not wholly mindless shooting; Marcus is struggling because his father died and he couldn't stop it; Dominic lost his two children immediately and then his wife became depressed, unstable and eventually self-exiled herself. These fictitious issues do not convey hidden meaning because the developers know that the young audience is not looking for them. Readers of Animal Farm are looking for allegory, which is the book's point.
Animal Farm appeals to its audience by giving them an easy to understand and yet telling look on the russian political state.
Gears of War appeals to its audience by giving them a game that offers a different story and gameplay perspective than the usual.
Gender:
Secondly I am going to compare the Gender of the TA of these two pieces.
Starting with Animal Farm, given the writers intentions and political views, would have been the general public of England; People whom he wanted to inform about the dangers and logical outcomes of Communism/Socialism, warning them in that even though the USSR was on the same side as the UK during World War II, they weren't necessarily good. However, since the book was published during the war, that wasn't a popular view. During the Cold War, it gained much more success. In short, his Target Audience was gender agnostic.
‘No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?’
The above quote is of Orwell’s attempt to demonstrate the failures and corruption of communism, which is what the USSR used. An uninformed reader i.e not of the Animal Farm audience would interpret it differently than to someone aware of the political allegory being used.
Secondly, Gears of War is marketed for Males. Comparing the 18 Male characters to 5 Female characters, with none being playable it is easy to draw this conclusion. This is not including The Locust characters, where there is only 2 Female characters to the many Male characters (Every enemy excluding the Berserker, which is female). This is a part of the game series, where the men are unrealistically proportioned, very 'macho' and violent.
As you can see in the image above the constructs are broad shouldered, built, tall and obviously brave because why else would you wear an armoured vest when more protective armour is available, including helmets. Interestingly, the series seems to make a point of killing off anyone in full armour e.g Anthony Carmine in Gears of War. The reason the developers made these choices is to appeal to the young male audience who aspire to be manly, muscular etc.
Animal Farm appeals to it’s audience by using satire and allegory to provide different interpretations of the text with each reading.
Gears of War appeals to its aspirers by giving them constructs to model themselves after.
Ethnicity:
In Animal Farm the characters are all english animals, so ethnicity is hard to find. However, we can look at the ethnicities of the readers.
White/Black/Asian-English people will feel 'special' because the book was written by an Englishman, for english people and he was right. They may see it as a cultural claim to fame as it were.
White/Black/Asian-Americans will feel although they were not the TA of the book, they are still interested. America was also part of the alliance with Russia so Orwell's thoughts applied to them too.
White/Black/Asian-Russians may feel offended or worried or interested in the book. Offended due to the depiction of their leaders as pigs. Worried because their own perception of Russia could be misinformed. As the book was banned in the USSR it stands to believe upon discovery of Animal Farm they could be wondering why it was banned. Finally, interested because they'd like an outside perspective.
Every human in gears of war speaks with an american accent. This means Americans are going to be able to immerse themselves the most.
White-Americans are represented by Marcus and Baird. Marcus is the main character, the leader and does violent and risky things without hesitation. Baird is intelligent and his sarcasm is funny. White-Americans should have no complaints.
Black-Americans could have complaints. The only black character is Cole. Cole is an ex 'Thrashball' (Rugby) player who is a stereotypical 'black character'. Some Black-Americans might feel misrepresented or insulted. Some won't care.
Asian-Americans are represented by Kim. Kim is brave and loyal to the COG and fights on the front lines. Not many people will be offended.
Gears of War appeals to its mostly american audience by using people with american accents = e.g John Dimmagio.
Sexual Orientation:
Animal Farm was written in a time where male-male homosexuality was illegal. Orwell's imperialist upbringing likely meant he was anti-gay. The only reference to sexuality in Animal Farm is when two dogs mate and produce 9 pups. Regardless, any sexual orientation can read Animal Farm without offense. If the book featured humans, perhaps a homosexual character would be included (presumably a villain to hate).
Gears of War exclusively has straight characters. This does not affect the story in any way. Any orientation can play the game because it is a shooter and not say a romance game where sexual orientation is a vital part of the game.
Region:
Animal Farm does not provide details on where it is set, but it is somewhere in England, at least.
Gears of War is set on a different planet altogether. The characters have American accents, so americans with similar accents may enjoy the familiarity.
Nationality:
Animal Farm was made to push Orwell's opinion on the English population. That fact means that English people are going to be interested in the book more than other nationalities. White-Britons were his TA because his imperialist upbringing made him racist and anti-semitic. Given that he was in 1945 Britain, his white audience was the majority. Animal Farm is set in England.
Gears of War is more diverse. There are African-Americans (Cole), Asian-Americans (Kim), White-Americans (Marcus, Anya) Mexican-Americans (Dom). This is helped by the fact the developers are not racist. Having a character from each race (White, Black, Asian) and a mixture of nationalities that are half American means the TA (Epic Games is an American company) is included, as well as leaving the game open to be played by other nationalities. Gears of war is set on the planet Sera.
Social class:
Social Class may be where the difference between Animal Farm and Gears of War are easy to see. Continuing from my introduction I stated Animal Farm appeals to B to E while Gears Of War appeals to C2/D/E.
Animal Farm appeals to B/C1/C2/D/E. The reason it does not appeal to A is because the theme of the upper class and wealthy being pigs and tyrants does not appeal to them, as they are upper class and wealthy. It appeals to classes lower than A because they see the class above them in a negative light. E.g E is a student so has not a lot of money and will be jealous of D, who works. D is jealous of C2 because they are paid more and have more responsibility. Classes C2 and below resent classes A to C1 because they are being paid more for less work (in their eyes).
They may compare the higher classes getting luxuries to the pigs in the book buying whisky, sleeping in beds and adding milk to their food while the other animals (working classes) do not receive such benefits. Likewise they may compare the character Boxer who is hard working being sold to a butcher for whisky to employers firing them to cut costs despite years of hard work.
Gears of War appeals to C2/D/E because they are either unemployed, work part time jobs or low responsibility jobs. This means they have the time and money to play games, as well as being the most likely to play games. People from the ages of 18 to 30 fit in these NRS categories. The developers of Gears of War know that C2/D/E are the most likely to play their media so they have appealed to the majority.
Gears of War uses the established scenario of 'Humanity fights hostile invaders despite the odds' which as it is a familiar trope allows the players to experience the game without being confused by the situation. Younger people in C2/D/E have not experienced a wide range of narrative tropes so are unlikely to reject media out if a lack of originality.
Psychographics:
Animal Farm has at least one character that fits into each psychographic.
First there is the Sheep who are Mainstreamers and blindly agree with anything Napoleon says, because they don't want him to stop being a leader, because he is the current leader and that would be change. They have little knowledge of the workings of the farm.
Next there is the Pigs, who are Succeeders. From being aspirers when working for the human, they get themselves to a position of unchallenged power from neither human or animal.
Then there is Boxer who is an Aspirer. He is naive and believes anything can be solved by working harder. This is exploited by the Pig propaganda when he collapses and is sold to a glue boiler.
Old Major is a Reformer. He and his death fuels the rebellion of the animals at the start of the book, thinking that he can make farm life better if he was in charge.
Benjamin is an Explorer. He is described as intelligent, cynical and 'could read as well as any pig'. He sees through the propaganda, schemes and lies of the Pigs and is apathetic. When Boxer is taken away, he grows even more cynical.
Readers of Animal Farm are explorers and will relate to characters that share the same trait (Molly and Clover are also explorers). This is because they are experiencing dramatic irony - they know the pigs motives.
Gears of War also has one of each psychographic, excluding reformer.
Anthony Carmine is an Aspirer. He is in a family of soldiers and hopes to be a war hero. This is clear when asking about Marcus' experience in the Pendulum Wars. He doesn't ask Dom, because Marcus is more of a celebrity. We can assume Anthony looks up to Marcus.
Baird is an Explorer. Sarcastic and resentful of not being promoted; 'Typical. Don't give a smart guy a promotion, no, they give it to the jackass (Marcus) instead'; He stands out from the others due to his differing opinions.
Kim is a Mainstreamer. He is a 'by the book' officer who does things orderly and dislikes Marcus being in his squad because he sees Marcus as a traitor and unable to follow orders. Kim and Marcus contrast on their perspective of the COG.
Marcus is a Succeeder. He is looked up to and respected. He becomes a leader, kills the locust general, completes his mission.
The lack of reformers is ironic given that the world is in need of reform from the constant wars. In later games there are reformers.
Lifestyle:
Animal Farm is read by YAKS and OWLS.
YAKS read the book because they are Young, they have no debt, Adventurous, they are looking for new things, Keen, they are interested and Single, they have time. Animal Farm has a cult following.
OWLS read the book because they are Older, they have time and interest and Less Stressed, they have less worries so more time to pursue hobbies.
BATS and CLAMS are preoccupied with children and/or heavy debt.
MICE are still busy at the peak of their careers.
Gears of War is played by YAKS and EWES
YAKS can work part time/have their parents pay for them to supply a X360, the game, a monitor, etc.
EWES work full time and can afford gaming as a hobby though they have less time to.
BATS, CLAMS, MICE are unable to play games because they have no time and/or money because of children, high workload, married life etc.
Mainstream vs Niche
Animal Farm was written specifically so the people of Britain couldn't relate to the story, to the characters, to the ideals and to the lifestyle. Orwell could have wanted to alienate the readers to promote his agenda for writing it, which would have worked to his favour. Expanding on this, the vast majority of today's audience is unable to relate to the warnings Orwell Is given (The USSR is not existent) and without research will think it is an odd story if nothing more. The book has developed a cult following because of it's supposed parallels to modern society.
To summarise; Due to its target audience being dissimilar to today's audience, it's irrelevant political agendas and the fact it is a book, one that is 70 years old means it has a niche appeal, despite his TA being mainstream.
Gears of War is for the mainstream audience. Third Person Shooters aren't as popular as First Person Shooters but are still a successful market (Uncharted, Tomb Raider, Mass Effect). However, the TPS genre has become relatively niche due to the rise of big FPS franchises.
In spite of this Gears of War has sold 22 million units and has action figures, shirts, jewellery, books and is rumoured to be having a film.
To expand on this; The main character Marcus is a stereotypical white strong male with a steely exterior but hidden struggles and a hard past. As you go through the game, you learn he was dishonorably discharged and imprisoned because he abandoned his post to save his father, and failed; Dominic lost his children and is obsessed with finding his wife; Anthony comes from a family of soldiers, with most of them dying.
Simply, it has tropes the male player can relate/or think they can relate to: Father-Son bonds, protecting your family, being reserved, being strong etc.
In this essay I am going to be comparing two pieces of media. These two pieces are going to be the film adaptation of Animal Farm by George Orwell and the game series Gears of War by Epic Games.
Animal Farm has an entirely different audience profile to Gears of War.
Firstly, Animal Farm was published in 17 August 1945 by George Orwell. It was a satirical dramatisation of the Russian Revolution, the Stalin Era and the Soviet Union. Due to him being critical of Stalin and frustrated that the rest of Britain held him in high esteem he wrote a book mocking him and recent Russian history.
Summarising the book: The drunk owner of Manor Farm is kicked out by the animals who then make Seven Commandments that the animals will live by. …show more content…
Being taught to read and write the farm is running without issue. After the new windmill is destroyed, one of the leaders is chased away by his rival.
The new leader, Napoleon declares himself leader of the farm. A new committee of pigs decide new laws and promise the other animals a reward will come soon. Napoleon is now becoming more human-like. After, a farmer attacks the farm and Napoleon sells one of his workers for whisky.
Later, the pigs now walk on two legs, wear clothes, carry whips and the Seven Commandments are replaced with ‘All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others’.
The workers remark that they can’t distinguish between the pigs and the humans anymore.
Using political allegory and satire, Animal Farm is a stark contrast to the game Gears of War.
Secondly, Gears of War was released in 2006 by Epic Games/People Can Fly. It is a third person cover shooter which follows Marcus Fenix, an ex prisoner and soldier fighting a group called The Locust.
Summarising the game: After being imprisoned for four years, Marcus is reinstated back into the military (COG) after trying to save his father and joins Delta Squad. Their mission is to use a device called the ‘Resonator’ to map the locust caves (The Hollow) and later deploy a ‘Lightmass Bomb’ to destroy a number of the enemy. After squad leader Kim is killed (By General RAAM), Marcus is promoted as the new leader.
The Resonator fails to provide enough data, but Delta Squad discover a larger map in Marcus’ family home. After receiving the data they board a train carrying the Lightmass bomb and kill General RAAM and upload the data to the bomb. The bomb is launched into the Hollow and destroys the network of tunnels. The final scene is narrated by a woman (The Locust Queen) who states they will have
revenge.
Briefly, the target audience of Animal Farm was:
Every person in England with every Lifestyle, Age, Psychographic with interest in Politics and England
However the audience that reads it now are:
35+ Gender neutral OWLS/YAKS B/C1/C2/D/E with interest in Politics, Recent History and Books. They are explorers. It appeals to a niche audience.
This contrasts to Gears of Wars target audience which is:
Every 18-30 E/D/C2 male YAKS/EWES with interest in games and third person shooters. They are aspirers. It appeals to mainstreamers.
Age:
Firstly I am going to compare the Age of the TA of Animal Farm and Gears of War.
Animal Farm was published in 1945. However, until the Cold War began it was not successful. Historians are yet to decide a date the Cold War started but the timeframe of 1947-1991 is commonly accepted as a rough duration. At this time the stark contrast of the USSR to Britain as well as other countries involved created a mutual distrust. Orwell had been successful in hitting his TA at the time.
However, it is 70 years later and the audience reading Animal Farm has changed. Now the age of the readers is likely to be 35+ because they are going to have been born in the Cold War and are going to relate more and be more interested in factual events than younger audiences, who will not have been born in the time ANimal Farm achieved success. To further support my claim, younger people are not exactly know for the mass enthusiasm in history. Some 0-25 year olds are likely to not even be aware of George Orwell.
Gears of War is the reverse. Published in 2006 with a rating of 18/M, the earliest players would be 18. 12 years later, they are now 30. We can assume the TA is 18-30. It has since had 3 more games, merchandise and is now even being marketed to children in the same way Halo Megabloks are. It is arguably the most successful cover shooter in recent years with coverage from news, youtube and other video streaming sites. The previous statements mean a far larger number of people know what Gears of War is than Animal Farm.
However, Gears of War is a bloody, gory, violent and frankly morbid game. Taken from the official wikipedia:
'The only known method of Locust reproduction is the mating of a Berserker and a Drone; this is accomplished by tying the female down (to prevent the blind beast from killing her mate) and having the male rape her.'
In general, older people are not desensitised to the violent actions and themes present in Gears of War. That being said, the game is not wholly mindless shooting; Marcus is struggling because his father died and he couldn't stop it; Dominic lost his two children immediately and then his wife became depressed, unstable and eventually self-exiled herself. These fictitious issues do not convey hidden meaning because the developers know that the young audience is not looking for them. Readers of Animal Farm are looking for allegory, which is the book's point.
Animal Farm appeals to its audience by giving them an easy to understand and yet telling look on the russian political state.
Gears of War appeals to its audience by giving them a game that offers a different story and gameplay perspective than the usual.
Gender:
Secondly I am going to compare the Gender of the TA of these two pieces.
Starting with Animal Farm, given the writers intentions and political views, would have been the general public of England; People whom he wanted to inform about the dangers and logical outcomes of Communism/Socialism, warning them in that even though the USSR was on the same side as the UK during World War II, they weren't necessarily good. However, since the book was published during the war, that wasn't a popular view. During the Cold War, it gained much more success. In short, his Target Audience was gender agnostic.
‘No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?’
The above quote is of Orwell’s attempt to demonstrate the failures and corruption of communism, which is what the USSR used. An uninformed reader i.e not of the Animal Farm audience would interpret it differently than to someone aware of the political allegory being used.
Secondly, Gears of War is marketed for Males. Comparing the 18 Male characters to 5 Female characters, with none being playable it is easy to draw this conclusion. This is not including The Locust characters, where there is only 2 Female characters to the many Male characters (Every enemy excluding the Berserker, which is female). This is a part of the game series, where the men are unrealistically proportioned, very 'macho' and violent.
As you can see in the image above the constructs are broad shouldered, built, tall and obviously brave because why else would you wear an armoured vest when more protective armour is available, including helmets. Interestingly, the series seems to make a point of killing off anyone in full armour e.g Anthony Carmine in Gears of War. The reason the developers made these choices is to appeal to the young male audience who aspire to be manly, muscular etc.
Animal Farm appeals to it’s audience by using satire and allegory to provide different interpretations of the text with each reading.
Gears of War appeals to its aspirers by giving them constructs to model themselves after.
Ethnicity:
In Animal Farm the characters are all english animals, so ethnicity is hard to find. However, we can look at the ethnicities of the readers.
White/Black/Asian-English people will feel 'special' because the book was written by an Englishman, for english people and he was right. They may see it as a cultural claim to fame as it were.
White/Black/Asian-Americans will feel although they were not the TA of the book, they are still interested. America was also part of the alliance with Russia so Orwell's thoughts applied to them too.
White/Black/Asian-Russians may feel offended or worried or interested in the book. Offended due to the depiction of their leaders as pigs. Worried because their own perception of Russia could be misinformed. As the book was banned in the USSR it stands to believe upon discovery of Animal Farm they could be wondering why it was banned. Finally, interested because they'd like an outside perspective.
Every human in gears of war speaks with an american accent. This means Americans are going to be able to immerse themselves the most.
White-Americans are represented by Marcus and Baird. Marcus is the main character, the leader and does violent and risky things without hesitation. Baird is intelligent and his sarcasm is funny. White-Americans should have no complaints.
Black-Americans could have complaints. The only black character is Cole. Cole is an ex 'Thrashball' (Rugby) player who is a stereotypical 'black character'. Some Black-Americans might feel misrepresented or insulted. Some won't care.
Asian-Americans are represented by Kim. Kim is brave and loyal to the COG and fights on the front lines. Not many people will be offended.
Gears of War appeals to its mostly american audience by using people with american accents = e.g John Dimmagio.
Sexual Orientation:
Animal Farm was written in a time where male-male homosexuality was illegal. Orwell's imperialist upbringing likely meant he was anti-gay. The only reference to sexuality in Animal Farm is when two dogs mate and produce 9 pups. Regardless, any sexual orientation can read Animal Farm without offense. If the book featured humans, perhaps a homosexual character would be included (presumably a villain to hate).
Gears of War exclusively has straight characters. This does not affect the story in any way. Any orientation can play the game because it is a shooter and not say a romance game where sexual orientation is a vital part of the game.
Region:
Animal Farm does not provide details on where it is set, but it is somewhere in England, at least.
Gears of War is set on a different planet altogether. The characters have American accents, so americans with similar accents may enjoy the familiarity.
Nationality:
Animal Farm was made to push Orwell's opinion on the English population. That fact means that English people are going to be interested in the book more than other nationalities. White-Britons were his TA because his imperialist upbringing made him racist and anti-semitic. Given that he was in 1945 Britain, his white audience was the majority. Animal Farm is set in England.
Gears of War is more diverse. There are African-Americans (Cole), Asian-Americans (Kim), White-Americans (Marcus, Anya) Mexican-Americans (Dom). This is helped by the fact the developers are not racist. Having a character from each race (White, Black, Asian) and a mixture of nationalities that are half American means the TA (Epic Games is an American company) is included, as well as leaving the game open to be played by other nationalities. Gears of war is set on the planet Sera.
Social class:
Social Class may be where the difference between Animal Farm and Gears of War are easy to see. Continuing from my introduction I stated Animal Farm appeals to B to E while Gears Of War appeals to C2/D/E.
Animal Farm appeals to B/C1/C2/D/E. The reason it does not appeal to A is because the theme of the upper class and wealthy being pigs and tyrants does not appeal to them, as they are upper class and wealthy. It appeals to classes lower than A because they see the class above them in a negative light. E.g E is a student so has not a lot of money and will be jealous of D, who works. D is jealous of C2 because they are paid more and have more responsibility. Classes C2 and below resent classes A to C1 because they are being paid more for less work (in their eyes).
They may compare the higher classes getting luxuries to the pigs in the book buying whisky, sleeping in beds and adding milk to their food while the other animals (working classes) do not receive such benefits. Likewise they may compare the character Boxer who is hard working being sold to a butcher for whisky to employers firing them to cut costs despite years of hard work.
Gears of War appeals to C2/D/E because they are either unemployed, work part time jobs or low responsibility jobs. This means they have the time and money to play games, as well as being the most likely to play games. People from the ages of 18 to 30 fit in these NRS categories. The developers of Gears of War know that C2/D/E are the most likely to play their media so they have appealed to the majority.
Gears of War uses the established scenario of 'Humanity fights hostile invaders despite the odds' which as it is a familiar trope allows the players to experience the game without being confused by the situation. Younger people in C2/D/E have not experienced a wide range of narrative tropes so are unlikely to reject media out if a lack of originality.
Psychographics:
Animal Farm has at least one character that fits into each psychographic.
First there is the Sheep who are Mainstreamers and blindly agree with anything Napoleon says, because they don't want him to stop being a leader, because he is the current leader and that would be change. They have little knowledge of the workings of the farm.
Next there is the Pigs, who are Succeeders. From being aspirers when working for the human, they get themselves to a position of unchallenged power from neither human or animal.
Then there is Boxer who is an Aspirer. He is naive and believes anything can be solved by working harder. This is exploited by the Pig propaganda when he collapses and is sold to a glue boiler.
Old Major is a Reformer. He and his death fuels the rebellion of the animals at the start of the book, thinking that he can make farm life better if he was in charge.
Benjamin is an Explorer. He is described as intelligent, cynical and 'could read as well as any pig'. He sees through the propaganda, schemes and lies of the Pigs and is apathetic. When Boxer is taken away, he grows even more cynical.
Readers of Animal Farm are explorers and will relate to characters that share the same trait (Molly and Clover are also explorers). This is because they are experiencing dramatic irony - they know the pigs motives.
Gears of War also has one of each psychographic, excluding reformer.
Anthony Carmine is an Aspirer. He is in a family of soldiers and hopes to be a war hero. This is clear when asking about Marcus' experience in the Pendulum Wars. He doesn't ask Dom, because Marcus is more of a celebrity. We can assume Anthony looks up to Marcus.
Baird is an Explorer. Sarcastic and resentful of not being promoted; 'Typical. Don't give a smart guy a promotion, no, they give it to the jackass (Marcus) instead'; He stands out from the others due to his differing opinions.
Kim is a Mainstreamer. He is a 'by the book' officer who does things orderly and dislikes Marcus being in his squad because he sees Marcus as a traitor and unable to follow orders. Kim and Marcus contrast on their perspective of the COG.
Marcus is a Succeeder. He is looked up to and respected. He becomes a leader, kills the locust general, completes his mission.
The lack of reformers is ironic given that the world is in need of reform from the constant wars. In later games there are reformers.
Lifestyle:
Animal Farm is read by YAKS and OWLS.
YAKS read the book because they are Young, they have no debt, Adventurous, they are looking for new things, Keen, they are interested and Single, they have time. Animal Farm has a cult following.
OWLS read the book because they are Older, they have time and interest and Less Stressed, they have less worries so more time to pursue hobbies.
BATS and CLAMS are preoccupied with children and/or heavy debt.
MICE are still busy at the peak of their careers.
Gears of War is played by YAKS and EWES
YAKS can work part time/have their parents pay for them to supply a X360, the game, a monitor, etc.
EWES work full time and can afford gaming as a hobby though they have less time to.
BATS, CLAMS, MICE are unable to play games because they have no time and/or money because of children, high workload, married life etc.
Mainstream vs Niche
Animal Farm was written specifically so the people of Britain couldn't relate to the story, to the characters, to the ideals and to the lifestyle. Orwell could have wanted to alienate the readers to promote his agenda for writing it, which would have worked to his favour. Expanding on this, the vast majority of today's audience is unable to relate to the warnings Orwell Is given (The USSR is not existent) and without research will think it is an odd story if nothing more. The book has developed a cult following because of it's supposed parallels to modern society.
To summarise; Due to its target audience being dissimilar to today's audience, it's irrelevant political agendas and the fact it is a book, one that is 70 years old means it has a niche appeal, despite his TA being mainstream.
Gears of War is for the mainstream audience. Third Person Shooters aren't as popular as First Person Shooters but are still a successful market (Uncharted, Tomb Raider, Mass Effect). However, the TPS genre has become relatively niche due to the rise of big FPS franchises.
In spite of this Gears of War has sold 22 million units and has action figures, shirts, jewellery, books and is rumoured to be having a film.
To expand on this; The main character Marcus is a stereotypical white strong male with a steely exterior but hidden struggles and a hard past. As you go through the game, you learn he was dishonorably discharged and imprisoned because he abandoned his post to save his father, and failed; Dominic lost his children and is obsessed with finding his wife; Anthony comes from a family of soldiers, with most of them dying.
Simply, it has tropes the male player can relate/or think they can relate to: Father-Son bonds, protecting your family, being reserved, being strong etc.