Compare and contrast the 1963 and 1990 version of ‘Lord of the Flies.’ Which is the most helpful for students of the text?
I am writing an essay on the comparison of the two films. Which were the black and white written by Peter Brooks in 1963 and the Technicolor version written by Harry Hook in 1990. In my essay I will also examine which of the two versions were in the spirit of Golding’s novel and which was more useful to students of the text. I will also explore media techniques and how the main themes and the characters are portrayed.
The black and white version was most in the spirit of Golding’s novel. This film was made by Peter Brooks, whom had a cast of British schoolboys taken to Vieques, a Caribbean island. After three months Peter got the boys to act out the novel, which actually had little direction from Peter Brooks. In the plot events they were meant to have missed a ship, but instead they missed a plane, when Jack let the fire go out, however most events were kept true to the novel. The characters are very similar to their descriptions in the novel. However in the novel Simon has coarse, black hair, though in the film he had blonde. The location was true to how Golding portrayed it to be in the novel. The visual descriptions gave a good imagery to this exotic paradise. The music occurs usually when an event is to take place, or to symbolise the themes of he characters, or the mood of the story at the time. For example when Simon dies they use soft choir music, which gives a feel to his character as being a symbol Christ. The camera angles were used to portray Golding’s messages more clearly. For example at the end of the book, Ralph was running from the tribe of boys, when he is rescued by a navel officer, in the film Brooks does a close-up shot of his face, where he cries, in happiness and in sadness. If you don’t understand parts of the novel, then the film may be easier to comprehend because as you watch the way in which the characters communicate with one another, it may give a better understanding for the story.