William Golding’s “Lord Of The Flies” is an iconic novel that was adapted into a movie in 1963. Over 50 years later, the brutal story about a group of students stranded on an island is going to get a remake to be helmed by Scott McGehee and David Seigel for Warner Brothers. While the producers promise to be faithful to the novel, their biggest detour is the cast themselves: the students on the remote island will be girls instead of boys.
Warner Brothers adapt iconic novel
McGehee and Seigel are good at depicting traumatic events. They last directed the 2012 drama “What Maisie Knew.” Before that, they also directed “Bee Season” and “The Deep End.” They also mentioned being big fans of the original “Lord of the Flies” film but felt that a new contemporized version is apt.
According to Siegel, the timeless story is especially relevant today, especially in its take on interpersonal conflicts and bullying. It also instills upon the thought of children mimicking adult behavior that they saw before being stranded on the island.
However, their contemporized adaptation involved having girls stranded on an island instead of the boys that were in the original story. The aggressively suspenseful novel from an all-female standpoint will tell it in a way that has never been told before. McGehee noted that having girls in the story shifts things in a way that could help the audience see it in a new light.
Criticisms surround news
While many agree that there is a need for more female-centric films in Hollywood, many criticized the news even before the project gained traction.
It is also very unnerving that white men are in charge of a movie that puts girls against each other to call social order. Such plot has been seen before in a milder sense, but LOTF remains to be a story written with boys in mind, and not without reason.
Some people argued on social media that making an all-female adaptation of Lord of the Rings completely misses the point of the story, considering how it centers on systemic male violence and toxic masculinity so that it won’t make sense with a female cast.
Then others pointed out that there are already movies with an all-female cast that is similar in essence to Golding’s story, including “Heathers,” “Jaw Breaker,” and “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” to name a few. Also, these stories didn’t include pigs’ heads on sticks and plane crashes on remote islands.
“Lord of the Flies” is the latest film remade with gender-bent roles. However, there is a lot of doubt regarding the most recent adaptation, many concerned over the story’s treatment of girls, considering that it will be written, directed, and produced by men.
