When I heard this one my jaw dropped in excitement than thinned out in disappointment. Lord of the Flies, a book I previously covered on this blog, is getting another film adaptation- which is understandable. Unlike some classic novels like Dracula and Frankenstein that get remakes and gaming-gods help me “reimagings”, Lord of the Flies has more parodies associated with it than films. Quick Recap: bunch of young boys stranded on a island, isolated, try to survive while turning on each other and losing there shit. I was excited until I heard it was going to be a all female cast. Now please, before blowing up the comment section, hear me out. The source material was so effective because our characters were children, twelve at the oldest; I think that having it set with all with all female children can add new layers to the story and maybe explore some new roots. But I doubt the studios and producers will keep them children but instead try to play it out for some sex appeal: get some attractive 16-18 year olds, put them in tight, wet school outfits, and drop them on an island with some drooling hope for boobs. That is the movie I DON’T want. I don’t want a movie that uses sex appeal to draw in crowds, I also don’t want Mean Girls island; I want this movie to do the book justice because I think the messages it teaches can potent now more than ever. I’ll be looking into how this all develops and I’m sure I’ll keep talking about it but I just wanted to share my thoughts on the subject, but what do think? Drop a comment below and may the gaming gods be with you.
I really think this is just Hollywood trying to cash in on the trend of supplanting and inverting traditional gender roles. If there is a real point to them doing this, I would love to hear it because it just seems unnecessary. Golding himself was asked why the story only has boys in it and I’ll link to it at the end of the comment, but I agree with his sentiment. My genuine reaction when I heard about this adaptation was, “Why?” Not to be dismissive, but an honest lack of understanding as to why a studio would do this for any other reason than riding a trend.
https://www.quora.com/Why-aren%E2%80%99t-there-any-female-characters-in-William-Goldings-Lord-of-The-Flies