Lord of the Flies No More

In William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”, a group of young British boys were trapped on an uninhabited island and forced to survive by themselves. However in the 1990 movie “Lord of the Flies”, this changed dramatically. Many of the hidden messages of the original novel were taken out, decreasing the impact that the novel gave. As well, things were changed, disrupting the very nature of the book. Despite all this however, many similarities remain to get the general message across. With many differences and unimportant similarities, the 1990 movie should not be called “Lord of the Flies”.

When the book was made in to a film in 1990, many subtle messages in the book were lost. In the book, Simon was shown as a heavenly being who prayed daily and challenged the evils of the island. In the movie however he was shown as a gentle boy who spoke little and cared for the pilot. Another change was the disappearance of the mulberry birthmark boy. In the book, he was the first to mention “beasties” on the island, and was also the first to die on the island, lost in the fire that burned half the island down. The removal of these events made the movie lose the feeling of guilt in the beginning of the story.

Serious differences however, disrupted the very foundations of the book from which the movie was made from. The highly educated, appearance conscientious British private school boys, some who were even in choir, were replaced with rough American boys from cadets. This destroyed Golding’s message to show that even the most high classed, religious humans can turn savage. The American boys were already rough and vulgar, giving them little space for their decent in to savagery, when the British school boys had a very long way to fall to become savages. More importantly however, was the ignorance of the Lord of the Flies. People who have never read the book would not be able to figure out why the movie was called “Lord of the Flies”. Simon’s “talk” with the Lord of the Flies had a significance that should not have been removed from the film.

Even with many differences, similarities remain between the book and the movie. The general message of the decent in to savagery was still shown like in the book. The character traits that all the boys showed are still portrayed by their actor counterparts. Many of the minor events such as the blowing of the conch, and the leaving of Jack and co. from Ralph’s tribe remained the same. Only these little similarities are what are keeping this movie called “Lord of the Flies”.

The talk that Simon had with the Lord of the flies, a boy taken by a fire that the other boys created, the survival of British private school and choir boys on an uninhabited island with no adults, all those were key events in the original novel by William Golding. With the creation of the movie however, the events were altered for the worse or taken out, never to be shown on the big screen. Though based on the novel, the movie “Lord of the Flies” does not deserve its title.