The classic William Golding novel will be adapted into a movie for the third time, but this time featuring an all female cast.

If a group of young women were stranded on an island, would they descend into chaos and brutality? This is a question that director/writers David Siegel and Scott McGehee will look to answer in the upcoming Lord of the Flies remake that has already caused a lot of controversy.

The classic novel by William Golding in 1954 centered around a group of schoolboys who found themselves stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. While the boys made an effort to establish order, their society eventually unravelled into cruelness and disarray. Strong themes such as barbarism and masculinity, as well as the inherent evil of man, were featured in the novel. If you have not yet read the novel, I strongly recommend it. (Note: this article does not contain strong spoilers.)

The upcoming movie featuring females will be the third movie adaptation of the original novel. The first adaptation was in 1963 and received a 7.0 rating on IMDB, with the second one being made in 1990 and receiving a 6.4 rating.

While the directing duo of David Siegel and Scott McGehee are relatively unknown, their previous work, including “The Deep End” and “What Maisie Knew” received mostly positive reviews. When asked about his new movie, McGehee stated, “it breaks away from some of the conventions, the ways we think of boys and aggression. People still talk about the movie and the book from the standpoint of pure storytelling. It is a great adventure story, real entertainment, but it has a lot of meaning embedded in it as well.”

This is not Hollywood’s first effort to remake a movie originally starring male leads. 2016 saw a “Ghostbusters” remake featuring notable actresses such as Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig as two of the four female leads. However, the movie was criticized for its poor plot and cheesy jokes. An “Ocean’s Eleven” remake was also announced for 2018 that will be called “Ocean’s Eight” and feature several famous females actresses as the leads, as opposed to men. Among these actresses are Anne Hathaway and Sandra Bullock.

However, the Lord of the Flies remake has serious potential to separate from these two other movies. While “Ghostbusters” and “Ocean’s Eleven” feature the leads saving the city from ghosts, or pulling off elaborate heists, the plot of Lord of the Flies is significantly different. As mentioned earlier, it tells the story of a group of isolated schoolboys falling into anarchy. In order for the remake to stay true to the general plot, it must assume that women would react the same way as boys in that situation. As a result, some people have criticized the concept, saying that the movie will likely paint an untrue depiction of how females would deal with that situation.

William Golding, the now deceased author of the novel, once stated, “[do not] ask me why, and this is a terrible thing to say, because [I am] going to be chased from hell to breakfast by all the women who talk about equality. This has nothing to do with equality at all. I mean, I think women are foolish to pretend they’re equal to men — they’re far superior and always have been. But one thing you cannot do with them is take a bunch of them and boil them down, so to speak, into a set of little girls who would then become a kind of image of civilization, of society.”

As Lord of the Flies is a frequent read in school, several high schoolers had opinions on the new movie:

Jonathan Tostevin (10) stated that he did not “think it was necessary to remake.” He compared it to how Marvel was changing traditional superheroes. He does not plan on watching it and thinks it will fail as a movie.

Jack Holske (10) said “I think it is an interesting concept, which several directors have recently tried to attempt. I cannot confirm whether it will be a success or a disaster. However, if it is anything like the recent Ghostbusters reboot, I do not think it will reap much profit. It is also important to note that the original story’s cast consisted entirely of boys. Their behaviours and interactions between each other, whether for better or worse, are significantly more different than the behaviours and interactions between girls. I do not know if I will end up watching it.  I would rather let the critics watch it first, review the movie, which shall then determine my choice.”

Rafa Romasanta (11) stated that “I think it is a good idea, but will probably not be all that successful as most movies following a similar vein were not either. I would probably watch it because I liked the book and the concept is very interesting. I think the idea works in this context because Lord of the Flies was based off the idea of a closed environment of all males, so switching it up with females makes sense for a reboot, as the plot is more reliant on characters and their actions compared to Ghostbusters.

Wendy O-charoenrat (10), thought that while “it was a bit unnecessary”, it would be interesting to see how much they ended up changing the plot. She plans on watching it.

This disputed topic will continue to stir up controversy until well after its release, which has not yet been announced. There are a variety of opinions about this upcoming movie, so don’t be afraid to discuss your thoughts down below in the comments.

Craig Dawe