Useful Data

Useful Data

Film adaptations

There have been two film adaptations:
Lord of the Flies (1963), directed by Peter Brook
Lord of the Flies (1990), directed by Harry Hook

Audiobooks
Lord of the Flies (1999), read by Tim Pigott-Smith
Lord of the Flies (Listening Library, 2005), read by the author


References to other works
Lord of the Flies borrows key elements from R. M. Ballantyne's The Coral Island (1857). Ballantyne's book, a simple adventure without any deep social themes, portrays three boys, Ralph, Peterkin and Jack, who land on an island. Golding used two of the names in his book, and replaced Peterkin with Simon. Lord of the Flies has been regarded as Golding's response showing what he believed would happen if children (or generally, people) were left to form a society in isolation.[5]
Golding read 'The Coral Island' as he was growing up, and thought of Ballantyne as racist, since the book teaches that evil is associated with black skin and is external] In Chapter 11 of the original Lord of the Flies, Piggy calls Jack's tribe "a pack of painted niggers."[6] This was changed to "savages" in some editions and "Indians" in the mass media publication.
Influence
Many writers have borrowed plot elements from Lord of the Flies.

Printed works
Robert A. Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky, published in 1955, can be seen as a rebuttal to Lord of the Flies as it concerns a group of teenagers stranded on an uninhabited planet who manage to create a functional tribal society.[7]
Stephen King has stated that the Castle Rock in Lord of the Flies was the inspiration for the town of the same name that has appeared in a number of his novels. The book itself also appears prominently in his novels Hearts in Atlantis and Cujo.[8] King's fictional town in turn inspired the name of Rob Reiner's production company, Castle Rock Entertainment.
The young adult novel Gone, by Michael Grant, is closely related, with all of the adults and teens above 14 disappearing, leaving the rest to fend for and attempt to govern themselves.

Television
Lord of the Flies inspired Sunrise Animation's classic anime series Infinite Ryvius, which follows the lives of nearly 500 teenagers stranded aboard a space battleship.
Also the "Das Bus" episode of The Simpsons is based on this book. The episode Kamp Krusty also has several elements from Lord of the Flies as well (a pig's head on a spear, kids using primitive weapons and wearing war paint and a burning effigy).
The ABC television show Lost has also shown loose similarities to the book.
The South Park episode The Wacky Molestation Adventure parodies Lord of the Flies, in which Eric Cartman represents Ralph, while Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski both represent Jack. In a twist of irony, the civilised tribe in the episode (Cartman's tribe) is more evil than the savage tribe. Kenny McCormick may have represented Simon, because he was seen dead by a couple trying to discover what went wrong.
In the Two and a Half Men episode "The Salmon Under My Sweater" in Two and a Half Men (Season 2), Jake has to read Lord of the Flies for a book report.

Music
The English heavy metal band Iron Maiden composed a song about the novel, with the title "Lord of the Flies".
The American hard rock band Aerosmith composed a song about a pimp and his stable of women, with the title "Lord of the Thighs" which was a take off and play on Lord of the Flies.
The debut studio album, Boy, by Irish rock band U2 was loosely based on the novel's theme of childhood corruption, and the final song on the album, "Shadows and Tall Trees," takes its title from the novel's chapter of the same name. Additionally, some printings of the book's cover are similar to the cover of the album.[9]
American punk rock band Bad Religion referenced the novel in the song "1000 More Fools", from their 1988 album Suffer: "I've seen the rapture in a starving baby's eyes, Inchoate beatitude, the Lord of the Flies".
American punk rock group The Offspring referenced the title of the book on their song "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" off their latest studio effort, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace

References
^ "The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1900–2000". American Library Association. 2007. http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.cfm. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
^ "The Complete List: TIME Magazine – ALL-TIME 100 Novels". TIME. 2005. http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html. Retrieved on 2007-05-12.
^ Fenlon, John Francis. (1907). "Beelzebub" - Catholic Encyclopedia. - Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company. - Retrieved: May 29, 2008
^ http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/themes.html
^ Johnson, Arnold (1980). Of Earth and Darkness. The Novels of William Golding. Missouri: University of Missouri Press. pp. 132.
^ Green Paint: Mysteries of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies « Great War Fiction
^ Wagner, Thomas M. (2006). "Robert A. Heinlein: Tunnel in the Sky". SF Reviews.net. http://www.sfreviews.net/tunnel_in_the_sky.html. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
^ "Stephen King (1947-)". Authors' Calendar. 2003. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/sking.htm. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
^ Bailie, Stuart (1992-06-13). "Rock and Roll Should Be This Big!". NME. http://www.atu2.com/news/article.src?ID=1625. Retrieved on 2007-11-28.

External links
The Lord of the Flies: A Study Guide
Criterion Collection essay by Peter Brook
Slashdoc: Lord of the Flies Literary analysis of the novel
Nobelprize.org: Play the Lord of the Flies Game
Lord of the Flies characters and plot
Lord of the Flies Reviews
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies