Lord of the Flies Book VS. Film Critical Analysis

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Critical Analysis Essay Lord of the Flies Text vs. the 1990 Film When remaking a novel as critically acclaimed as William Golding’s 1954 novel, Lord of the Flies, the creator should take a number of factors into consideration. Unfortunately the director of the 1990 adaptation of Lord of the Flies, Harry Hook, failed to depict some of the major themes of the novel. He did not accurately recreate several key scenes from the novel that display the instinctive evil in man. This is why the 1990 adaptation of Lord of the Flies did not succeed in its attempt to bring William Golding’s novel to life. The scenes which the director failed to illustrate successfully include Piggy’s death, Simon’s talk with the Lord of the Flies, the dead parachutist and the final rescue of the boys by the naval officer. In the novel, Piggy is hit by a boulder, thrown by Roger, off of Castle Rock. When Piggy is struck by the boulder, the conch shatters into pieces and he is knocked off of the cliff down to a square rock, where his body twitches. However, the director fails to do this important scene any justice because the only thing show is Piggy getting struck. This leaves out the destruction of the conch, which was a symbol of power and authority. It was the one thing on the island which brought order and respect to the boy who was holding it. The destruction of the conch represents the obliteration of any order on the island; once the conch was gone, the island was in chaos. Another thing missed by the director is Piggy’s body twitching after his death. “Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed.” Pg.201. This, no doubt, symbolizes Piggy as a prey of the tribe and as the animal itself. Simon’s talk with the Lord of the Flies is the most crucial scene in the novel. Golding uses the conversation to lay out the theme of the book and begin
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