Sometime on weekends, I go through television shows and movies that will be playing during the week and set them up to record on the Tivo (actually, it’s a SA Explorer8000 HD, for those who care). Since I’m usually busier on weeknights, I do what catching up I can on weekends. This weekend, I watched Peter Brook’s 1968 version of Lord of the Flies. I’ve read about the movie/book before, and I’ve known it’s themes for quite some time. I’ve even seen the “homage” Simpson’s episode. Children are savages (as Paul Graham notes in Hackers and Painters). Perhaps, at heart, we all are. What I’ve never really cared to do, however, is to place these themes into any sort of modern social context. Chalk it up to laziness; who knows.
In the story, a group of children are stranded on an island. They are essentially forced to create their own societies, instill some sort of government, and keep up the impression of order. Their nature, as the viewer learns, is not one of order, but of savagery, injustice, and violence. Early on, two sects of followers arise from the pre-adolescent crowd. Ralph, who despite his leader-esque shortcomings, inspires a small band of children who seem to think reasoning over situations and actions is a good idea. Among his supporters are mostly outcasts: Piggy, the fat and not-so-sassy, and Simon, the quiet and pure. Jack inspires another group of followers. He is able to sway members of Ralph’s crew by claiming to be a hunter and a protector.
Seeing the movie now, however, landed the rosy impression of present-day relevancy upon my cheek. Jack is most certainly President Bush. Like Jack, he instills fear in the flies (or ordinary citizens) of a non-existent threat. Jack’s fictitious islandic beast was actually a fully accessorized pilot who had not survived a crash landing. Nevertheless, he carries on the impression that the threat is real and near. He is able to propagate this impression through violence. In the passion of a midnight lightning storm, he and his followers hunt down and kill Simon (the quiet and pure) all in the name of seeking out and killing the beast. President Bush has used similar tactics, since 9/11, to wage a violent battle in the face of a dwindling, and, many would argue, non-existent threat. In the process he has declared war on a nation, although not as quite and pure as Simon is portrayed, that is largely undeserving of our aggression.
I will now make the additional claim that John Kerry is not the solution to America’s addiction to aggressively interfering in the affairs of other nations. (That’s that, etc. etc.)
Many Americans are drawn to violence and the power which surrounds it. Many mindless flies are drawn to bloodied and rotting creatures, who’ve nothing but a wooden spike to keep hold of their head. Consider being quiet, or pure, or fat, or not-so-sassy. But whatever you do, next time you find yourself chanting, “Kill the pig! Slit her throat! Bash her in!” stop and ask yourself who the pig is, what the pig has done, and why she deserves being bashed in.