Why live when you can rule? That's the
question 'The Kings of Summer' asked in their movie poster. I know
it's supposed to be taken as a joke, considering the movie is a teen
comedy, but I grew up reading novels where people abused their power.
This was the time where the world survived brutal dictators in
Europe, Africa, and even one of the Koreas. Some novels I read had
interesting analogies regarding abuse of power including Animal Farm
and this novel I'll discuss today.
Greetings everyone, this is
Antibishonen Speaks talking about current events and relationship
issues. Today's topic, let's take a look at 'Lord of the Flies' and
how power and diplomacy can easily get out of hand. Now for those
who haven't read the novel and watched the movie, there are spoilers
coming up.
One thing to notice about this novel,
it's a metaphor regarding politicial conflicts, diplomacy, and of
course the dreaded M. A. D.
And that's what 'Lord of the Flies' was
about, it's Survivor with a bunch of schoolboys marooned on an island
finding a way to get back home. In order to survive, they assigned
Ralph, not Jack, to lead the tribe. Eventually, that would lead
toward mutiny.
As expected before, the schoolboys
tried to keep the society in order while they tried to signal for
rescue. Unfortunately, tensions start to rise when a supposed
'beast' is haunting the island and Jack proclaims he's the better man
because he had a knife. He sucessfully overthrew power because he
promised to 'kill the beast'.
In reality, there's no beast except
within their imaginations and mass hysteria. It turns out the beast
was the dead captain they manslaughter and Simon, one of the
remaining allies, was killed when he was caught in the middle of
their cult. In addition, they also assassinated Piggy with a
gigantic boulder....not funny when it's not a cartoon.
Without cameras rolling, we get to see
Apocalypse Now with a bunch of boys acting as savages to kill Ralph.
Before that happens, the schoolboys unexpectly confront a Marine
officer, upset about their actions because seeing the island in
destruction shows how completely undisiplined they were.
Thus, we get the big reveal in the end
that the schoolboys are symbolism for humanity except there's no
authority figure to stop their self-destruction. M. A. D.,
ironically indeed...
There's your answer why you should live
than to rule. Because you'll end up committing treason while
murdering your opposers because they interrupted your cult. It also
doesn't help that you started arson to assassinate Ralph.
This is Antibishonen Speaks. A strange
novel. The only way to win in 'Lord of the Flies' is not to play.
Would you like to play a game of chess?
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