“Lord of the Flies” by William Golding

Movie productions that are based on novels are usually different and that goes for the movie, Lord of the Flies, as well, which is based on the novel of the same title by William Golding. In the novel, the author captures the readers’ attention by the descriptive and provocative plot, even though, some of the scenes are disturbing and heartbreaking. They film adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies loses its significance compared to the novel of the same title because of the modern technologies that are displayed, the absence of significant events and the personality of Piggy.

Verification of the advance technology being used in the movie is shown in the beginning and at the end. At the beginning of the movie, there are a few scenes where the boys use glow sticks to show them their way through the deep forest. In this instance, we can see the difference of this story by the movie; the novel did not mention the usage of any other methods of light source except for the fire that the boys built. In fact, during the scene of Ralph being hunt down by the rest of the boys, Ralph bumps into a British naval officer–“A naval officer stood on the sand, looking down at Ralph in wary astonishment.” (p. 222) In the movie, it is the American Air Force that Ralph happens to strike into; helicopters are flying across their heads and landing onto the island. Due to when the movie is filmed, 1990, enhance technology is used as a result in the movie comparing to the tools usage in the novel.

The absence of significant events is the most upsetting part about the movie production; it loses its exciting plot compared to the novel. From the mulberry colour birthmark boy missing to the conch shattering into thousands of pieces, most of the major events are missing in the 1960 movie. Every incident that happens in the novel has its own importance in portraying the story and relating to the understanding and development of the characters. For example, when Piggy finds out that the mulberry birthmark boy is missing–“That little ‘un had a mark on his–face–where is–he now? I tell you I don’t see him.”(p. 47) — his asthma comes to him and the panic in Piggy’s voice shows us what Piggy’s personality is like in the novel, which displays care and well-observed characteristics in Piggy. In the film, we cannot resemble Piggy’s character due to the absence of certain important events.

Another instance would be the event of the conch shattering into thousands of pieces in the novel. “the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.” (p. 200) One can know or have the sense that the conch is a symbolic item to the boys. It is an item that displays rules and limitation. This event is probably the most significant one out of the rest of the incidents but the 1960 movie edition does not show or mention anything about it. Again, if people have not read the novel before watching the movie, they will not be as interest as they will be with the novel. The lack of noteworthy occasions in the movie demonstrates poor illustrations of the descriptive novel.

Piggy’s personality in the movie differs from the novel quite a lot. In a scene, the boys were having an assembly about beast and Piggy is talking but Jack broke in contemptuously. Piggy and Jack have a little argument in the who should speak if either possess the conch; Ralph shouts at Jack for that matter and lets Piggy to continue with his speech but rather, “Piggy, finding himself uncomfortably embroiled, slid the conch to Ralph’s knees and sat down.” (p. 111) From this, we can observe that Piggy is not a strong defendant for him and does not have much courage in himself. On the other hand, the movie version of Piggy is more offensive. During the shelters building event, Jack abruptly comments that they will never be rescued; as a consequence, Piggy yelled at Jack to shut up. Also, whenever Jack or the other boys tease at Piggy, Piggy will be very defending and talks back at them. This illustrates how self-defending Piggy is and how he is provoking with Jack; such hostility on Piggy’s personality is absent in the novel. As a result, Piggy is less of a victim amongst the others in the movie comparing to the novel.

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies movie adaptation loses the meaning and the magnitude of the original plot in the novel of the same title due to the advance technology being presented, the absence of important events and the character of Piggy. Though movies are a nice way in providing a visual presentation of the novel, the fact is they cut out key events without noticing them and therefore loses the breathtaking and thrilling of the original plot.