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In light of the new, well-acted and well-shot BBC/Netflix adaptation, we discuss William Golding’s 1954 novel Lord of the Flies and its previous (1963, 1991) adaptations. Featuring Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al.
What do we think of the updates made for this retelling? Its pacing? Its repeated close-up shots of kids’ silent faces? Is this per usual obviously inferior to the novel, or does it actually present deeper characters and a more visceral presentation of their degradation?
Follow us @law_writes, @sarahlynbruck, @MarkLinsenmayer. Al fears the lawless jungle that is social media.
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Scapegoating is the default human method of social organization. There is a crisis (e.g., finding yourself stranded on a desert island with food, water, shelter and the depredations of animals and humans to worry about) that threatens to create a war of all against all. A temporary peace is created by blaming an individual or small group for your problems and bonding together in shared hatred – the war of all against one. All must agree who the guilty person is – the scandal; the stumbling block. Humans are mimetic, so the fact that other people think X is guilty means you are likely to copy that opinion. Anyone who objects gets potentially lumped in with the guilty person. You risk your life by defending the scapegoat; so you don’t. Dead men don’t cry, “Unjust.” So, the scapegoating mechanism is never revealed. Nobody needs to be taught to scapegoat. Children do it spontaneously. They will pick on the kid with the birthmark or the limp without hesitation unless they are told not to. The crucified Christ was defended by his disciples at great risk to themselves revealing the scapegoat mechanism for the first time in history. See “Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World.” or “The Scapegoat.” Scapegoating is the primary human sin and the crucifix with the dead Christ ideally reminds humanity “Do not do this.”
This is what “The Lord of the Flies” is about. The children revert back to this default method of social organization. It would be nice if this is supposed to be a philosophical podcast if at least ONE of you was familiar with René Girard and the scapegoat mechanism, even if you just want to debunk it – although, I don’t know why you would want to do that. I waited in vain for one of you to mention what this book is about. Could you find someone to join you with a greater breadth of knowledge concerning things philosophical?
Thanks for the reading suggestion, and I see you have a helpful blog post to get us started on this. Girard was not a name that came up in the entirety of my grad school education, but then again, neither did Althusser, Kojeve, or even Marcel. I’m not sure if any of my co-hosts are aware of his work, but given that the show is generally not about name-dropping (I’m sure we could have bullshitted about what Sartre or Camus would have to say about LoF too), I judge it unlikely they would have thought to bring him in. Best, -Mark