Last month I posted on Facebook that while discussing the development of my new novel The Lowest Animal with a friend, when I mentioned that I had structured the outline and was now gathering materials and resources for reference, he suggested that I read Lord of the Flies—which, though I was familiar with the story, I had never actually read.
Then I discovered there’s a newer release of the novel that includes an introduction by Stephen King, so I bought that version and finally sat down and read the legendary novel…
Check out Lord of the Flies, with introduction by Stephen King, at Compass Bookstore:
…and then, coincidentally, Netflix released a 4-episode series this month—right on the heels of my finishing the novel:
So, I immediately watched the Netflix adaptation, and I thought I’d share my thoughts on the series as compared to the novel:
I’d say the film follows the novel fairly closely. My main reservation is that it seemed to be filmed/produced in a rather strange way…I don’t know if they were trying to be artistic/atmospheric, or spooky, or just trying to fill time to extend the series. But much of the weird, static scene sequences could’ve probably been left out without taking anything from the storyline.
Also, in the beginning—the boys finding themselves stranded on a desert island after the plane crash—was missing the initial shock and terror that you’d expect, they all just seemed to calmly accept the new reality and start organizing, which IMO was unrealistic. They could’ve cut the aforementioned weird static scenes throughout, and instead added a segment at the beginning of the boys at first terrified, then slowly coming to grips with their situation, and it would’ve been a little more believable going in.
Aside from that seemingly missing element at the outset, the rest of the storyline was fairly a accurate adaptation of the novel. I did notice a few slight deviations—particularly toward the end—but nothing totally off-base or that altered the overarching theme or impact of the story.
As for the characters cast, I think Piggy was spot-on:
Ralph and Jack were okay, though not really how I had envisioned them in the novel; in the novel, Ralph is described as attractive, athletic, and blonde (“fair hair”), and I had envisioned Jack to be more the alpha/athletic/bully type—as he was cast as a dictator/tyrant/primal type in the novel—but he was a very different type of character in the film (no spoilers!) On the other hand, the two main secondary characters—Simon and Roger—were decently done, IMO:
That said, I think that overall, the new NF series did the novel justice, which seems to be unusual these days. So if you enjoyed the novel, I think you’ll enjoy the 4-part NF series as well.
Anyway, just my 2¢, for what it’s worth.
UPDATE: I just discovered and watched the one-hour documentary Making of Lord of the Flies on Netflix, and found it interesting, thought I’d include it here for those who may be interested…enjoy!
Check out Lord of the Flies, with introduction by Stephen King, at Compass Bookstore
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