Lord of the Flies
My son recently watched Lord of the Flies in his government class. They watched the 1990 version as opposed to the 1963 one, which is the one most of us probably remember seeing and being disturbed by way back when.
Anyway, I looked up both versions of the film on IDMB to compare them and I found this interesting. The tagline listed for the 1963 film is: "Evil is inherent in the human mind, whatever innocence may cloud it . . . . " I think that's a pretty good summation of the point of the book.
The tagline for the 1990 version is: "No parents, no teachers, no rules . . . no mercy." That sounds like they're having a party on the island, for god's sake! Or like the introduction to an episode of WWF. Where's the menace? Where's the horror of the realization that lurking inside all of us is the potential to turn into an animal?
I'd blame the remake's tagline on the rise of reality television shows, except for the small fact that they didn't exist yet in 1990! I guess I'll have to blame it on the dumbing down of society. It's as though they didn't think the kids of more recent generations would be interested in a more intellectual take on the story.
It's typical of everything these days, isn't it? The news, political speak, advertising--it's all aimed at the mentality of the six-to-ten-year-old crowd. God forbid we have to think too hard about something in order to be interested in it.
Ben Folds--"Not the Same" mp3 off Rockin' the Suburbs (buy)
Pierre de Reeder--"That's The Way That it Was" mp3 off The Way That it Was (buy)
I always felt really sorry for Piggy when they broke his glasses, as I wear glasses and the thought of not being able to see is so awful. Consequently, Piggy with his broken glasses is the iconic image of the book/film for me.
I saw the 63 version at home, my dad was a teacher, and the thing that has
stuck with me was the bpys walking down the beach singing "kiri kiri kiri
kiri eleison".
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