Lord of the Flies isn't a fun series, but it is a very good one. Sometimes you watch series that you don't find particularly good, but they are just fun and easy to watch. With Lord of the Flies, it's exactly the opposite. It's cruel and disturbing, and certainly not relaxing television. I couldn't handle watching multiple episodes in a row due to all the misery. However, it is a very good series.
Lord of the Flies is a four-part adaptation of the 1954 book of the same name by William Golding, which is now considered a classic and often appears on English reading lists. In this story, a group of schoolboys crash on an uninhabited island. As they try to survive, a society forms where the boys attempt to outdo each other with cruel power games.
Screenwriter Jack Thorne convincingly portrays the nihilistic view of humanity.
Golding's original story presents an incredibly nihilistic view of humanity. Humans are said to naturally seek conflict and struggle as soon as order and authority disappear. You may agree or disagree with this interpretation. Nonetheless, Jack Thorne, who wrote the series, succeeds very well in conveying this message convincingly.
This is first seen in the story. The first episode is quite calm, and we see how the boys find each other and devise a plan to survive and escape. It seems to begin harmoniously, but the ominous design subtly reveals that this can never end well.
And that premonition is correct. Once the basics are in order, a fight for leadership begins, and it is fierce. When the barrier of civilization falls, you see how some children turn into beasts, and Thorne's script captures this effectively. The boys do terrible things to each other, and it's clear that gentleness does not pay off in this society. We also see an interesting power struggle. This series effectively shows how cruel power and the path to it can be.
With its design, the series effectively brings the feeling of impending doom to the screen.
Although the design is sometimes a bit excessive, it is effective. The direction is in the hands of Marc Munden, who also directed a few episodes of the series Utopia. The sometimes unusual camera angles and alternative color palettes we saw in Utopia contribute to the oppressive atmosphere that prevails both physically and psychologically on the island. The music, composed by Utopia colleague Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, also fits excellently in the series and effectively makes the impending sense of doom palpable.
Additionally, Lord of the Flies has a good young cast. Not every character gets equal screen time, and not every young actor is a future Oscar winner, but the three main actors Lox Pratt, David McKenna, and Winston Sawyers perform well. They carry the challenging themes and give a voice to the different viewpoints within the group of boys. Especially Pratt, as the cruel Jack, embodies the hunger for power and the ruthless path to it very well.
Writer Jack Thorne successfully brings out the nihilistic view of humanity from the original story. Still, Lord of the Flies is not a pleasant series to watch for relaxation. However, it is well-made television.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
