advice needed asap re: Lord of the Flies
 

I teach Government and have decided to just purchase the LOTF dvd instead of renting it. Which version would be best in your opinion. I teach to 12th grade students in a very low income school that is very diverse (in case that helps with decision).

We are viewing the the movie the next 3 days so I need to buy this sometime today. Im hoping to get some advice very quickly.

thanks in advance.

The 1963 version is superior in my opinion. I think the Criterion DVD is the only version of it available and it is pricey if you buy it at a B&M. I haven't seen the disk but according to www.criterionco.com one of the special features it has is a reading of some of the book by the author, William Golding.

You may have to rent a video of the 1963 version if the price of the Criterion is too high or you don't find it in a store.

Alternately, the 1990 version isn't bad.

I hope that helps.

Another vote for the 1963 version. Better than the remake.

went around to b&m's during my prep today. could only find the new one except at barnes and noble...im not gonna pay 39.99. however, i am going to purchase the 63 version but for tomorrow i am going to rent it.

thanks

I got the 1963 Criterion version from Walmart.com for $12.99.

They don't always have it at that price, but the sale comes up about once every two months.

And it's only a $29.99 MSRP - so you should be able to find it for around $20 from many etailers.

dvdpricesearch has it at 17.99. i may end up buying it but i rented it for today. thanks for all your help.

oh yeah, are the extras on the CC educational...do they talk about anything regarding government, etc?

thanks

I used to teach this (to sophomores), and I have shown both films...

Here are my thoughts:

-The 1963 version is undoubtedly the better FILM. Whether it plays better with high school students is a tough call, though. Most high schoolers (believe it or not) still cannot get past the lack of color in any film, and many will shut it down for that reason alone.

-The later remake (which is color) suffers mostly from these two flaws:
a.) The nationality of the kids is changed, so they are Americans. This tends to undermine the entire "we are the most civilized peoples on the planet" ironic theme which Golding intended.
b.) The entire Pig's head on a stick scene (Simon's confrontation with the embodiment of evil) is completely cut. Not there. Nada. This entre theme seems to be lost, and thus even the title loses all meaning. Thus, the film becomes a mere action flick with some interesting comment on how kids might become uncivilized if they were left alone with no adults. All of the deeper themes (is man born evil? Can you kill evil? Simon as the spiritual leader, or Christ-figure, tempted by a Lord of the Flies in the garden, and all of the other ideas with real depth) are completely gone from the more recent film.

-The earlier version admittedly is dated in its use of still shots to simulate the plane crash, and some other hackneyed techniques. And, some of the acting is excellent, but some is amateurish, at times. However, it is still far superior as a film, in its direction, its cinematography, and its editing. It is NOT at all a Hollywood production. The re-make most definitely IS a Hollywood production.

Final thoughts... I believe the more recent version is rated "R." Parent Permission slips would be advised. But... the original remains "Unrated." However, curiously, the earlier one actually depicts brief scenes of male nudity, in which the actors are obviously very young children. I am a bit surprised that this never became a test case for the child porn laws (I recall a few other films which did at times, including Blue Lagoon, among others).

In some years, I showed the earlier version, and then showed brief carefully selected scenes from the Hollywood version, and we discussed the differences. This can work well.

I used to teach this (to sophomores), and I have shown both films...

Here are my thoughts:

-The 1963 version is undoubtedly the better FILM. Whether it plays better with high school students is a tough call, though. Most high schoolers (believe it or not) still cannot get past the lack of color in any film, and many will shut it down for that reason alone.

-The later remake (which is color) suffers mostly from these two flaws:
a.) The nationality of the kids is changed, so they are Americans. This tends to undermine the entire "we are the most civilized peoples on the planet" ironic theme which Golding intended.
b.) The entire Pig's head on a stick scene (Simon's confrontation with the embodiment of evil) is completely cut. Not there. Nada. This entre theme seems to be lost, and thus even the title loses all meaning. Thus, the film becomes a mere action flick with some interesting comment on how kids might become uncivilized if they were left alone with no adults. All of the deeper themes (is man born evil? Can you kill evil? Simon as the spiritual leader, or Christ-figure, tempted by a Lord of the Flies in the garden, and all of the other ideas with real depth) are completely gone from the more recent film.

-The earlier version admittedly is dated in its use of still shots to simulate the plane crash, and some other hackneyed techniques. And, some of the acting is excellent, but some is amateurish, at times. However, it is still far superior as a film, in its direction, its cinematography, and its editing. It is NOT at all a Hollywood production. The re-make most definitely IS a Hollywood production.

Final thoughts... I believe the more recent version is rated "R." Parent Permission slips would be advised. But... the original remains "Unrated." However, curiously, the earlier one actually depicts brief scenes of male nudity, in which the actors are obviously very young children. I am a bit surprised that this never became a test case for the child porn laws (I recall a few other films which did at times, including Blue Lagoon, among others).

In some years, I showed the earlier version, and then showed brief carefully selected scenes from the Hollywood version, and we discussed the differences. This can work well.

Huh. I found the still frames to not be hackneyed, but to be a wonderful way to show a plane crash without showing it. It's a device not used to such great effect in many other films, but I think it really works in this one (and it's not overused).

I've found that high schoolers tend to react well to better art - the newer film is just awful. Black and White may be a turnoff, but once they get into the story I've found that kids respond well to films of high intelligence and beauty.

i showed the first third of the movie today. the students reacted very well to the older version. at first i heard the grumblings...many asked "is the whole movie like this?" when the stll pics of the crash were being flashed...i laughed and told them to just chill...they will like it.

for the most part they seemed to like it. thanks for all the advice...it has gone well so far and i actually really like this film. im going to buy the criterion, if for nothing else i like it!

the other film actually dates it to the 80's (80's pop culture references as I recall.) and it was rated R for language and violence)

Man, thank god for the internet.

The remake was a 1990 film.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0100054/