Thought Paper: Lord of the Flies

Reaction Paper: Lord of the Flies

I was able to get hold of a copy of the 1990 version of the Lord of the Flies movie directed by Harry Hook. The movie is about a group a group of children who get stranded in an island with no adults and no supplies in hand. In the movie we see how rules and different norms emerge and develop. There are two different types or personality of leaders in the film. We have Ralph and Jack. Ralph was the one who was first appointed or voted by the group to be their leader based on his position in the Boy Scout that they were participating in. He handled his position maturely and he seemed to take charge immediately in situations. With him as the leader he assigned different roles to the group. He assigned Jack and some of the kids to look for food, he arranged a system where they took shifts in watching the fire so that it would serve as a signal to passing helicopters that could save them, there were also shifts on who would watch over the sick captain, and he made use of a shell that Piggy found and used it as a horn to call everyone for assembly. He was more of a democratic type of leader who encouraged anyone to speak up and he was optimistic on them getting saved. The stranded group lived a civilized life until there were some conflicts that came out in the group. This happened between Ralph and Jack. Jack was assigned to the group of "hunters" who were assigned to look for food. One day a helicopter was hovering around the area, Ralph and Piggy got excited and saw this as the chance for them to get saved, but they found out that the people in charge of the fire went hunting instead so the fire had already cooled down. When Ralph confronted Jack and his gang that there chance of being saved got forfeited because they neglected their responsibility of watching the fire the conflict started. Jack wanted them to look for meat and have fun at the same time while Ralph wanted them to behave more like grown ups would do. Eventually the group split up until it was only Piggy, Simon and Jack left in the original group. Unfortunately, Simon got killed when they were invited to the feast when Jack's group roasted a pig. The once civilized boys thought it was a monster running towards them but it was actually Simon so they stabbed Simon to death with their pointed sticks. After that the boys behaved more barbarically, they also killed Piggy with a very big rock because they needed Piggy's glasses to make fire and they despised Piggy for saying things that are more rational and grown up like. In the end it was Ralph against Jack's group and Jack's group went looking for Ralph intending to kill him too. The group broke up when the rescuers arrived on the island shocked at how the boys looked like after days at the island. The film showed how groups develop and eventually separate ways. It shows how different personalities can affect groups. I really