Publicity and Survival

     There are many differences between the Lord Of the Flies book and movies. Three of the main differences are the boys coming from the same military school, there being no choir, and that it is set in a differenct time period.

     In the book, all of the bous come from different parts of Britain. They didn't know each other and lacked knowledge of the others leadership skills. This is also the reason they had a vote for chief. Golding is saying that by establishing a shaky government on simple ground rules following a unknown leader, there is bound to be problems. It shows Goldings view of politics to a certain degree as presidents, prime ministers, etc, are most of the time unknown to the whole population.

     In the movie, the boys already know each as they come from the same military school. This meant that they already knew each other and their place in authority. They all had titles such as commander, colonel, general, etc. This means they had no problems establishing a government and deciding who will be leader as Ralph already had the highest position. Due to this, there was no external conflict between Jack and Ralph.

     The differences might not seem like much, but this is one of the most important things in the book. The lack of being able to find the right leader is why Jack split away from the tribe, since he wanted power but it went to Ralph as he seemed to be a natural born leader. This conflict later lead to Ralph being hunted down for wanting to bring the tribe back together and losing all of the boys to Jack's tribe.

     The next difference is that the boys are British in the book while they are American in the movie. The reason Golding made the boys British is because he is British himself and that British boys were being evacuated during WWII. Watching British boys perform such acts when they are supposed to be all proper and clean was part of the irony Golding had. It shows up in the end when the naval officer says he didn't expect British boys to act like that.

     The movie made the boys different since it was made in a different time span. It connects with the other reason of it being placed as there was no evacuation of Britain during the Cold War. The boys are portrayed much more differently, being more aggressive and cold to each other while the only ones who retain their original personality are Piggy and Simon. They retain the form of purity they had while the others, even Ralph, are changed. It goes with the thought of Americans being militaristic and cruel, as they are portrayed like that more often in media around the world.

     The reason for the change is to show the difference of portrayel of cultures. Americans are said to have a greater army and to be more tough, as was the case during the 60's. In the 40's, Britains were said to be proper and knowledgeable, something that goes on today. It is also pretty significant as it the decent into savegery isn't shown as clearly.

     The last change is the lack of a choir. The choir symbolizes the Nazi and Hitler in the book, something that was a major figure during WWII. The choir also symbolized Goldings view of Religion, that it can corrupt and be easily broken. Jack symbolized Hitler, as being the leader of the choir and the most cruel, having developed a a bloody chant for killing the pig and being obsessed with killing the weaker species. The main symbolism for the boys is the beast within, it makes you wonder that if the choir, who are supposed to be the most religious, are so cruel and non-religious.

     The lack of a choir in the movie makes it harder to see what the beast is, infact, they don't even call it a beast in the movie. The lack of a choir is due to two possible reasons: There being no Nazi during the 1960's, and the lack of a internal entity that causes the boys to decend into savegery. The lack of a choir means that the boys do not have a external conflict between them due to supression.

     The choir are a main part of the story. Instead of the boys joining due to being promised fun and food as in the book, they join out of pure choice in the movie.  They are always behind Jack while the movie doesn't make them look like they are with Jack out of the fact he's the leader of the choir, it makes the boys in it seem more like his posse.

     All in all, the movie did somewhat of a good job staying true to the book, but with more of the scenes being part of the script. As Ralph says "A Russian submarine, full of olympic gold athletes," the chances of movies based on books staying true are rare. It included the more important events, such as the deaths of Simon and Piggy, Ralph being hunted, and the group splitting in two. The sad part is that it has the potential to make it full of all the events, but leaves out lots of back story which might leave the viewers confused at the plot. It somes up the book in what a good hour and thirty minutes can, but should have been longer to appease the fan base of the books, as it generally had negative reviews.

Lord Of the Flies Final Project

My version

             The birds flew away as the sound of a ship neared the island. Being hunted posed a problem to Ralph as he knew that he needs to find his way toward the beach. As the sound of the hunters closed in, he knew he didn’t have time to think, so he ran as fast as he could towards the beach. The countless thorns scratched against his body leaving their little imprints in the form of blood. At last, he reached the beach, his body bruised and bloody, his feet scorching on the hot white sand, and his mind thinking about following his father around as a young child again.

Alas, it was too late; the ship had already passed and was already stopping at the next island, presumably searching for signs of life or just restocking on supplies. The grey smoke from the ship rose up into the air, matching the one from the fires behind Ralph.

“No! No! It can’t be! My only chance of rescue, gone,” Screamed Ralph at the top of his lungs.

“Just give up now,” said a remarkably familiar voice.

“Where’s Jack?” “He went back to the cave,” said the voice, now full bloodlust.

“Tell me one thing, what do you feel about that? The ship just passed by and missed us. You know why it missed us? Because of you and your stupid hunting group only used the fire to cook, we coulda been off this island by now and back at home by now if you all had just listened to me, the chief instead of the babbling idiot Jack.”

The hunters tied Ralph up and took him to Castle Rock for Jack to see.

“Well, chief, here’s what you wanted,” Said Roger.

“Just put him to the side and go hunt the sow, I’m top bored to do it right now.”

“Not so fast hunters, haven’t you realized it yet? Haven’t you noticed that it was me who killed Piggy, it was me who hunted Ralph, and what has Jack been doing? Nothing, he just sits there and gives orders while we have to do the work and listen to him talk all day long. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone such as me, who does work and just doesn’t sit on his lazy butt, is chief?

There was no response, making it the first time that there was complete and utter silence on the island.  

“What? You don’t want me to be leader?” The only noise, somewhat amusing, was the noise of crickets chirping, until Roger stepped on it.

“There goes you stupid excuse, now get back to-” Before Jack could finish, Roger threw the spear and impaled Jack right in the heart much to the horror of everyone else. Jack’s body rolled off the cliff and into the jungles below.

“There, now I will be chief,” Said Roger with a sick, cynical grin.

Three weeks had passed since Roger took over the island and everything was quiet, practically dead silent. Only the littleuns, with their child-like innocence, were talking to each other every now and then. This new shift of power seemed to bring a new way of life to the island, as the wind was now cold and dry, the animals were quiet and reclusive, and the island itself seemed to become more demonic.

The fire, nothing more than ash and burned twigs, had no use, and the trees needed to make the fire, were burned during the Great Fire of Britain as SamnEric called it. All the pigs were hunted and stored in the last remaining shelter so the insects won’t be able to get them. Ralph was the only one left with no paint on him since he was merely a prisoner and not actually part of the tribe. Roger also didn’t wear any paint since he said

“I don’t need a mask.”

The long rainy, silent days was one of the things Roger enjoyed, besides punishing people. Usually he would punish someone if they did something without his permission, such as when a littleun brought the head of the sow still impaled on its stick, now nothing but a skull.

As night crept upon the boys and the Sun sought shelter away from them, they heard a voice they thought was long gone.

“Pssst, come here.” The boys passed it on as nothing but the wind, but Ralph knew better. He felt the fear creep back into him and start to ooze into his brain. When he turned around, there was nothing there. He quickly turned back around and prayed it would go away. The wind, with an eerie whistle, crept past his ears as if it was saying Ralph. Now he knew what was happening, he crept up along the edge of the cave and said

“Jack? How are you still alive?”

“The poor bastard didn’t throw the spear with enough force to pierce the bark armor I had on.”

“Bark armor?” Ralph said in a confused fashion and thinking about how stupid Jack sounds saying that.

“Yes, now wake everyone up so we can get away from here.”

 For once, Ralph was happy to see Jack, but soon, the happiness manifested into malice as he remember how Piggy and Simon died under his rule and how he was hunted.

“Why should I help you? You tried to kill me.” Jack, about to reply, didn’t when he felt the spear Ralph was hiding against his neck.

“Look, I can help, I have a hiding place and have food, how do you think I survived so long on my own?  For once, stop being silly and listen to me.”

After hearing those three words, stop being silly, Ralph quickly jumped up and woke up SamnEric,

“Quick, wake up the other boys and tell them to meet us on the bottom, and don’t wake up Roger.”

Before going downhill, Ralph pictured Rogers face one more time, the stubby moustache, the small eyebrows, and the parted, wet hair, all reminded him of something to terrible.

“Okay, everyone here?” asked Jack.

“Yes, that’s everyone.” 

“Good, now, here’s the plan, what we will do is steal the pigs from Roger tomorrow as he goes to search for us, I have devised a plan and found a perfect route to Castle Rock without being caught, here it is,”

Jack pointed to the drawing on the floor and explained everything clearly. The next day, after finally getting some peaceful sleep, the boys made their way to Castle Rock following the route and doing exactly what Jack said. Every five minutes, they hid to make sure they weren’t being followed and soon, they made their way up to the top.

Roger wasn’t there, as Jack as said, he was out on the other side of the island looking for them. Jack was right behind them, instead of looking for meat, he was grabbing the spears and painted his face red, white, and black, but the paint slowly started to fade.

“Hurry up you idiots, get the meat so we can get out of here.”

“We’re going as fast as we can, so just get off our back and shut up,” replied Ralph, with a proud grin.

As dusk approached, the sound of whales homed in near the island, a sound that frightened the boys. But as it got closer, they realized it wasn’t whales, it was a ship. The ship, silver in color, was approaching the island and the boys, with new found excitement, ran to the beach and started a fire so the ship can see them. Soon, Roger, apparently having the civility knocked back into him, joined them by adding a few pieces of twigs ad leaves. Along the shore dropped a ladder, from which a Naval Officer used to climb down.

“Brilliant fire you kids have made, excellent use of the resources, you all our British right?”

“Yessir, we are British, but we didn’t use all the resources, we sort of burned the entire island down.” Replied Jack in a week voice.

“Well, I don’t expect that from the British, after all, we are much more civilized than those Germans. Come, I will tell the others to get you a shower or few ready for all of you and we will get you a haircut and some fish and chips to eat. You want to look clean in front of your mum don’t you?”

“Yessir,” Replied Ralph this time in a voice that showed excitement, as he was finally going home.

Rational

The reason I chose to start my version at the end of the story is due to the fact that there were so many possible ways to continue the story from that point. Golding had his reasons to end the story over there, as in the original, The naval officer spots the fire and kids and rescues them, while in my version, Ralph reaches the shore to late and misses the chance as the Ship is inspecting the next island a few miles away.

Roger had the potential to do everything that happened in this version of the story. He was cold, cruel, sadistic, and didn’t care if he had to kill a human being. He was the true chief of the tribe but as he was somewhat of a silent person, he worked in the shadows. Jack himself chose not to pick a fight with him when Roger nudged him out of the way. If Jack represented someone such as Hitler, and he had a fear of Roger, what would make Roger represent? It wouldn’t be a person, but more along the lines of greed, sadism, the inhumanity and savagery found in humans as their true colors are revealed and they aren’t bound by civil morals and laws.

Last but not least, I chose to end this version with the naval officer finally showing up as a sign that whenever one succumbs to power and can’t get enough, as Jack is portrayed, going as far as to get Ralphs help so he can take back control, there will be morals and laws that will be followed sooner or later. The exact moment when Jack takes back control, the ship shows up and stops him. Along with the fact that he, instead of grabbing food like the others, grabs the spears, shows just how violent he can be as they were used for hunting the pigs, stabbing Simon, and torturing others.