Lord of the Flies on BBC

Cafe Society
1

Four one-hour episodes drop on iPlayer on Sunday, February 8th. Then they show them on the regular channels over the weeks to follow.

Presumed BBC link all can read with trailer

It looks pretty close to the book: Wartime evacuation of a rich British boys’ school. Some of the background characters may be Indian or Asian, yet I find it plausible whether or not Golding made mention. Ralph, Piggy, and Jack are white kids.

On another site, it said it was unknown when it would be shown in the USA and on which streaming service.

Sorry for announcing the premiere of a TV series that most of you can’t yet watch. And I know many here despise the book. IIRC, in the USA, it was part of English class, circa 9th grade - the age of the boys - to read it. Horrific, yet again quite plausible. I remember when I saw Princess Bride and William Golding as the author, thinking, “This is the guy who wrote Lord of the Flies?”

So, there you are. Good luck storming the castle!

2

I’m not sure if you meant this as a joke or not, but William Goldman was the author of The Princess Bride. Although, he did also write Marathon Man, so the point about his incongruous works does still stand.

3

Well, I loved the book. I dunno how I’ll feel about an adaptation. I’m a bit squeamish.

4

Nope, ignorance and confusion confession. The wiki for William Goldman even says

Not to be confused with William Golding.

5

The Guardian is usually a fair reviewer. I’ll post a link presumably before it’s shown. Yet four hours gives a lot of time to cover the main points. I first thought it’d be the usual BBC six, so this might be just enough screen time.

6

I read it at the time, but I didn’t hate it. I remember that “Sucks to your ass-mar” caught on for a while after we read that book :rofl: I guess because “sucks to your…” Was such an alien Britishism to us

7

Back when she was healthy, my late wife and I used it on each other whenever somebody was being a wimp.

No mercy for the weak.

8

I was 14 when the original movie came out. Then I read the book, which the movie seemed to follow pretty well, but the written narration added some, especially to the ending – as Ralph was weeping on the beach for “the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.” I was very down for a while afterwards, it was a shock to me that adolescent boys might behave like that. I had not known anyone like Jack or his henchmen, who seem to me now to have been psycho- (or socio-) paths.

9

I think the point is that you don’t - can’t - know that when you first meet the characters. Given the time in which Golding was writing, and the world had lived through, it’s not surprising that was why it was a set text in my school, as a warning.

10

I don’t know if the book remains in the curriculum in the UK. So the term would be borderline extinct, though the series might bring it back temporarily.

If said to someone (not in the loop), it would sound like an insult, and only possibly like a Golding reference.

  • It was *schoolyard slang not adult slang
  • It peaked mid-20th century

It depended on:

  • Kids weaponizing mispronunciation
  • A shared cultural cruelty that’s mostly gone or transformed