Lord of the flies .. SPOILERS … SPOILERS..

[the80sweregreat]

Only seen episode one today as I studied the book for my O level English literature exams.
I can’t remember much of it, but I did feel sorry for Piggy.
One thing that annoyed me was Piggy telling Ralph his real name. We never get to know his real name in the book. Not sure why they have changed this. It is irrational, but it seemed unnecessary. I even had to check online that this was correct.

I have watched all four episodes now .
It follows the book pretty well apart from a crucial plot line .

Don't know why .

Even though I knew what was going to happen I was blown away by this series .
Beautiful scenery .
Loved the actors they were perfect though not as I imagined them.

I loved the little flashbacks .
The book does go into so much descriptive detail , the words are perfect .
I could quote lines from it for hours .

I won't do Spoilers even though this is the Spoiler Thread , I think you need to enjoy it first hand .

Double Check this is the Spoiler Thread .

SPOLIERS .....................

Ok- I have gone and dug up my very tattered copy of the book and read some chapters just random ones .

The book describes Ralph as looking straight from the Home Counties when he pulls up his socks and describes in his dream a house near Dartmoor ? His Father travelled so he'd have moved about . Going off to boarding school and home . Probably to explain why he was so rational and balanced

I did like Simons explanation of his relationship with Jack how over Christmas when they were in school they were friends but as soon as the other boys came back Simon was dropped like a stone . He just accepted and waited till the next holiday to be in Ralphs favour .
Also the flashback scene where parents were saying goodbye to their sons but no-one was seeing Jack off . These aren't in the book , or the bit where they find the suitcases .

The actor who played Jack (Lox Pratt ) reminded me of Joel in Eastenders , the same arrogance in the look but Jack was purer of thought as he wouldn't have been obsessed with girls .

Piggy - loved the actor David McKenna , loved his accent , he is Irish and beautifully spoken. (Piggy in the book was English and not the social status of the other boys, one of the many differences highlighted )

Piggys death in the book was horrific , I don't know why they changed it unless it was to allow him and Ralph to hobble through the forest ? And for Ralph to look after him? But the original death had the other boys in shock at what Roger had done . It was the most dramatic part of the book , worse than Simon because they couldn't blame the dark or the dance . Piggy was in cold blood .

The fire going out ,the boys eating the pig once they re-lit it but Piggy (who's glasses were used for the fire ) wasn;t given any till he asked "Aren;t I havin' none" , Jack wanted to punish and humiliate him as much as he could be making him starve and making him beg .

Such a sad but involved tale , little boys who turned feral .

Just to remind you all that in real life, there is at least one instance (I'm sure I have read at least 2) where schoolboys were stranded on an island without adults, and set up a civilized and nurturing society. e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/09/the-real-lord-of-the-flies-what-happened-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months

I think comparing the book to real life is pointless, it’s fiction and based on the principles that given
the right set of circumstances men can act with complete savagery. This has been proven to be true time and time again, look at every war.

I saw a documentary on the Vietnam war recently where a mother said of her son that she sent out a good boy and got a murderer returned to her. He was a good young man from a nice family and had been involved in the massacre of innocent women and children.

To me this is what the book is about.

I've watched all the episodes but rewatching E2 'live'.

Bloody love it.
Am quite wowed by it.
It's harrowing, gut wrenching and menacing all at once.
The descent into savagery is so well done.
But, oh my, the Little 'Uns are so little 😥
What a cracking cast.
As already said, David McKenna as Piggy and Lox Pratt as Jack are stand out, they're incredible, but also the Big Uns are all lean, almost skinny, just as they were in that era.
All of them are so well cast.

I was surprised with how Piggy's death was portrayed too.
It was such a pivotal moment in the book for what it symbolised!

Isn’t Piggy pushed off a cliff in the book? Thats how I remembered it. I need to reread it.

Yay to elegant script. No agenda twattery from beeb!

Well done Golding family for keeping that herd of wild bores off the island. 🐗

Piggy actor is a genius. Simon/Christ actor harrowing. (I always forget Jesus was turned on and murdered by the mob - Golding didn’t.)

filming colours are perfect.

There’s a bit more to it than boys ‘who aren’t loved’ turning feral. LOTF always reminds me of Hitler’s Willing Executioners, the worst book I’ve ever read. Don’t.

It’s about how ordinary Germans murdered Jews - not all baby Germans can have been unloved.

I loved the first two episodes, but felt the latter two fell short. I don't think the story sustains four hours and the added stuff (Simon's diary, Ralph's mum, Piggy's Wilfred Owen death) missed the mark for me.

There was absolutely no climactic build in the finale, and where was the raging, destructive hellfire and race to the beach? It was so slow. The impact of Ralph running for his life into the naval officer at the end of the book has stuck with me since school - the way the adult presence immediately changes the dynamic is an extraordinary piece of writing, and would work so well on film.

I also felt there wasn't enough on the hunting, killing and eating of the pigs - those scenes were so visceral and vital in the book. The boys' hunger and desperation for meat was a huge factor in the politics, and in the resulting bloodlust. It was all a bit brushed over.

I don't think film adaptations always need to be terribly faithful to books, but in this case the book is basically a film treatment - it's all visual symbolism, very little dialogue and a story that can easily be told well in two hours or so.

So much about it was brilliant though - the actors were superb, extremely well cast, I loved the cinematography (so unsettling), the cutaways to animals and insects, and the music was extraordinary. The way it used Britten, Holst, Elgar in the early episodes, then as the boys descended into savagery the music lost its structure and beauty too.

The way individual leaves are painted green or red! Colouring lovely.

The specs are so important! Need more of that cracked lens.

I agree about the lack of climax - that fire’s vital.

Oooh , poor Piggy was murdered .
Ralph and Piggy had gone to the fort to demand Piggy's glasses back . Piggy was so short sighted he was pretty much blind . The Hunters had stolen his glasses for fire and rendered him helpless .
He had the conch , the last semblance of authority in the vain hope the boys would listen.
Ralph realised reason wouldn't work with Jack and called him a "bloody bloody thief" and they fought .
Piggy stood there helpless with the conch . Roger stood at the stick levering the huge rock ( size of a small car ) and heaved with all his strength . Like the hunt where Roger pushed his spear into the pig with all his might he knew what he was doing .
The rock glanced off Piggy , shattered the conch to a thousand pieces till it ceased to exist and poor Piggy lay on the flat rock with his head burst open till the tide took him .

It was a shocking but premeditated death and Ralph was then completely alone . No Piggy , no conch and on Jacks terrain. So no rules and no mercy .
"Roger has sharpened a stick at both ends" .............for Ralph. !

You don't need to read it now