Lord of the Flies: Changes and the Reas

Lord of the Flies: Changes and the Reas

Lord of the Flies:   Changes and the Reasons Behind Them

The screenwriters of the 1990 movie version of Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies clearly had a different sort of project in mind than just remaking the original 1961film.   They made many changes from the original, and each change they made added to the effect of the movie.   Each change they made was obviously carefully thought out and planned for a specific reason.
The first and most obvious change they made involved the boys in the movie.   The boys were American, not British, and they were from a military school.   They seemed to be older; there were no real "littluns."   Also, some were of different races, unlike the earlier movie.   They all know each other from the school.   I think the reason these changes were made was because the movie was made in America for the average American, and the average American might not understand the premise that there had been a nuclear war and that the boys had been evacuated.   The boys were your typical pre-teenagers except for their military background.   They were modern kids.   They grumble about how much they miss television.   Viewers can relate to them easily.  
Another important change is the fact that the pilot does not die in the crash.   He is alive, but seriously wounded.   The boys keep him with them and take care of him, in spite of Jack’s protests that he is going to die anyway and that they can’t afford the time and effort he requires.   He then escapes during the night and the boys are sure he had been drowned, but he is hiding in a cave.   One of the boys enters the cave and hears him.   This is the origin of the story of the ‘monster.’   In the original, though, the dead pilot was attached to a parachute, which moved and frightened the boys because it looked like the ‘beast’ they believed it to be.   The reason for this change is evident.   The idea that a boy who heard a growl and saw something move might think it to be a monster seems more feasible than that...