Lord Of The Flies Movie Vs Book Comparison Essay

The 1990 film version of Lord of the Flies was a curious one. Its choices in leaving out some parts and modifying others are decisions that separate the novel from the movie in many ways. In my opinion the book is effective because of the way it conforms to the adventure tale genre. Because of this, the choices the film version of the novel made were effective in telling the story.
First, the movie effectively keeps Ralph’s innocence which complies with the adventure tale genre. In the adventure tale, the main character or good is supposed to be as good and non evil as possible and the movie accomplishes this in many ways. In the novel Ralph is the one who spreads the nickname Piggy and gives a start to the harassment. This is one of the ways Golding subverts the adventure tale, but the novel doesn’t do that and instead it is Jack who spreads the nickname. Jack is the bad guy and furthers the readers hate and provides resentment towards him. Moreover, in the novel, Ralph sort of takes part in the killing of Simon, which is contrary to the movie. In the movie Ralph takes no part at all in the killing, and again this keeps his innocence and total goodness. In these ways, the movie keeps Ralph’s innocence and

effectively draws viewers into the movie by adhering to the proven method of the adventure tale genre.
Next, the film gives readers a common enemy and forms a connection.

During the time this movie was made (1990), it was the midst of the cold war and resentment of the Russians must have been high in the United States. In the film Piggy and Ralph are talking about the war and how the Russians are the enemies. These statements make a bond between viewers and Ralph and Piggy. Because of this connections viewers may start to like the film a lot more. Again going back to the adventure tale. It is much easier for viewers to like the tale if given a common enemy or someone that is already stereotyped as bad by the media. By giving viewers a common enemy the film effectively tells the story in a way that interests readers and makes them want to keep

watching.
By keeping Ralph innocent and providing viewers with a common enemy, the film makes effective choices to entice readers and keep them watching. The film effectively manages to tell the story by using a solid method that has been proven to work before. The adventure tale genre is used in most famous book and by using that same method in a film, the film makes effective choices in order to tell the story.