A Loss of Meaning

In 1990 an adaptation of William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies was created to bring the old title to a new generation. The film, while maintaining some basic ties to the book, lacks much of the allegory and points of interest that made the book such a captivating read. Both have a group of young boys who end up being stranded on an island and are forced to survive; some trying to remain civilized and others turning to savagery. Unfortunately, the story in the movie is condensed and not as meaningful as its book counterpart. Something as significant as the talk between Simon and the pig’s head is missing, as well as there being an adult present for much of their stay on the island. The movie is not so different that it is unrecognizable to be The Lord of the Flies, but it makes the entire experience much hollower.

The book starts off when a plane crashes in the ocean while evacuating children from a war infested environment. Right away, a divergence is made to more suit the time frame in which the movie was released in. Instead of having the boys from a prestige, religious boarding school, the movie has them coming from a military academy. The opening scene shows all the children in a raft making their way towards the island which results in the loss of chaos and confusion present in the book. To make things even more easy going, an adult is onboard the raft, giving the boys a sense of hope that everything will be ok. In the book the boys are alone from day one and are never given the false hope of peace and order than an adult provides.

The actual monster that the entire story revolves around is the final major difference. The idea of a monster was first brought up by the birth-marked boy early on in the book. From there fear consumes many of the boys, so much that they begin to fight amongst themselves and bring forth the major conflict. The movie decided to go with something completely different and have the monster be a deranged Captain Benson. The fear that comes with the monster is still in the movie, but it presents itself in a much more realistic way not giving it as much of a metaphorical meaning. The discussion between Simon and the pig’s head, something that is so important to the allegory of the book, is completely avoided in the movie.

Even with both the movie and book addressing the idea of savagery amongst society, the two bring it about in much different mediums. The visuals and images a movie provides can strike a persons heart much more than any amount of words could, but the book will always be able to convey a deeper allegorical message. The movie is not the same experience as the book and should have tried to stick more to the roots of the novel rather than deviate.