One of the many times I watched The Gentlemen, I laughed at the scene where Matthew (Jeremy Strong) joked that it was illegal in France to name a pig Napoleon. Of course, there are ridiculous laws all over the place. Want a few? In Georgia, it is illegal to eat fried chicken with a fork. In Arkansas, it is against the law to say the name incorrectly. Which means Bill Clinton would have come after me for years of me saying “ARE-Kansas.” It is prohibited to sleep on top of a refrigerator in Pennsylvania. That means my cat is a thug in Penn. And one of my favorites: It is illegal for unmarried women to parachute on Sundays.
The point is that there are crazy laws all over the place that seem completely ridiculous, and there is almost always a story behind them. So, is the Napoleon pig law a real thing? Is it illegal to raise a swine and name it after the legendary French Emperor? Well, let’s dig in. Why? Because I am a nerd and I need company in the weeds.
In France, it’s illegal to call a pig Napoleon, but just try and stop me. – Matthew, The Gentlemen
The inciting incident
Some things we randomly believe that make no sense come from growing up around urban legends or old wives’ tales. For instance, how old were you when you realized that sitting too close to the TV won’t actually make you go blind? Do you still avoid going outside with wet hair or sitting in a drafty room because you don’t want to catch a cold? Or, how about swallowing gum? Do you still think it sits in your stomach for seven years? How we came to believe these things as a worldly hivemind is fascinating. So, why did the entire country of France and a large population internationally believe that France outlawed naming your pet pig after Napoleon?
The myth didn’t even arrive until 80 years after Napoleon’s Second Empire. While he ruled until 1870, the myth didn’t appear until 1947. And it is half George Orwell’s fault. When he wrote Animal Farm and it was published in 1947, he named the pig who ruled over the animals Napoleon. If you are familiar with the novel, you know the pig served as a revolutionary who eventually became a tyrant. He used everything from violence and deceit to propaganda to manipulate the animals. So, Napoleon was a name given to the pig as a way of showcasing his and the late Emperor’s ways.
Why is the myth only half Orwell’s fault? Because when it was published in 1947 by O. Pathé, the editor changed the character’s name to Ceaser. One of the theories is that the editor was an admirer of Napoleon. Another was that the editor was avoiding controversy. The publications stayed that way until the novel was republished in the 80s and the name was changed back to the original. Thus, the seeds were sewn for conspiracy.
The misunderstanding
Here’s what happened after the publishing change in 1947. Censorship became a topic of conversation when tyrants began to control the information from the masses. The idea that suppressing opinions disparaging the government and its leaders would cause a revolt and that controlling the public consciousness would allow the leaders to control their actions (or lack thereof) was a hot-button topic after the war in the late forties. So, the question started to circulate as to why a publication would change the name away from a divisive leader.
The problem is that Napoleon isn’t exactly a clear-cut figure in history. Some historians look at him as a figure who established the Napoleonic Code, which replaced feudal laws with merit-based civil legal standards, equality before the law, and property rights, and as a man who reformed taxation, stabilized national finances, created the Banque de France, expanded public education, built roads and sewer systems, emancipated Jews, Protestants, and Catholics from historical ghettoization and religious restrictions. Other historical views on Napoleon see a man who crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804, abandoning democratic and republican ideals of the French Revolution. They point out his sweeping European military campaigns and the disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia, with massive loss of life, economic devastation, and regional instability. And let’s not forget the reinstatement of slavery in French colonies in 1802, reversing a 1794 abolition law, and reduced legal freedoms for women.
But the aspect of Napoleon that drove this myth for decades is his deployment of a secret police network led by Joseph Fouché, which heavily censored the press and crushed political opposition. Sounds exactly like a man who wouldn’t allow anyone to name a pig after him. Weirdly enough, no one did until Orwell. And the simple swapping of his name to seem less provocative was enough to drive an old wives’ tale that it was illegal to do so. It drove it so hard that there was even a Change.org petition to remove the law, stating it was unconstitutional and people should be free to name a pet after whomever they choose.
The moral of the story? Don’t believe everything you read. Or, don’t get lost in the weeds when someone in a Guy Ritchie movie makes an odd claim, causing you to dive into the annals of history. On the plus side, I did find out that his military campaign into Egypt led to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. So, I guess that eventually led to the movie The Mummy…thanks for that, Mr. Bonaparte.
