Not as Great as the Book

There are three subjects that make Harry Hooks movie version of the Lord of the Flies, 1990, differ from William Golding’s novel. The first reason is the arrival of the boys on the island, Simons encounter with the Lord of the Flies and how the different chiefs ruled.

When the boys came to the island in the book they arrived on plane. In the movie, however, they arrived on the island in a life boat. They all knew each other, and they’re all from the same school, so whoever was the colonel then, is now. But in the book, they don’t know one another; the boys have to get to know each other as they build their campo and rules, which might make something’s tougher in the book than in the movie. It takes away the building up the friends and enemies from the movie. And for some cases, building their skills as leaders.

The second point that made William Golding’s book differ from Harry Hook’s movie was Simons Encounter with the Beast. Simon is A Figure much like Jesus and the Lord of the Flies is something compared to a beezabulb (devil like creature). So when Simon met the Lord, you saw that scene was compared to Jesus’ confrontation with Satan during the 40 days of Wilderness. Simon is both natural and good in this world where such a combination seems impossible, so he realizes this is not real. He he’s the most complex reaction because he is the most complex character. Though, in the movie, Harry Hook completely cut out this meeting with the beats and made it seem he wasn’t so Jesus like, and it didn’t make it seem like what it was compared to in the book—an encounter with the devil. You don’t see Simon fainting in the film, which indicates the horrific persuasive for the instinct for chaos and savagery that the Lord of the Flies represents. It takes away the religious views of Golding’s book.

Another way the book differed from the movie was how chiefs ruled their tribes. At the beginning, the leader was chosen in both, but in the book, Ralph and Jack act like their two leaders. In the movie however, Jack doesn’t interrupt as much, you don’t really see his jealousy. In William Golding’s version you see strait away that Jack despises Ralph, from the very beginning and wants to be chief. Although, in the movie, you don’t see much emotion from him until he says, “I’ve had enough, “and goes to make his own tribe. When he’s gone Ralph doesn’t really do much to keep everyone else in his tribe, like he almost doesn’t care about leading. Though, in the book, he tries everything he can do to keep the boys in his tribe. This changes the relationship between Ralph and Jack.

In all, Harry Hook’s movie, 1990, was only based on Golding’s novel. It was an adaption and cut out most of the symbolism, which left it not as great the book, Lord of the Flies by William Golding.