What Are The Similarities Between The Goonies And Lord Of The Flies

If there were no adult supervision in our society would you abide by the rules or live a life that entails having to be daring or barbaric? Rules confine us from doing things that we want to do without considering the consequences. Working together as a whole or betraying one another is a leading theme in the novel, “The Lord of the Flies” by William Golding and the film The Goonies by Richard Donner. A plane landing on a deserted island with no adult supervision, but the hope that several kids will find their way home with the help of a ship. Intense treasure hunts where young kids find gold that change their lives and family forever. This novel and film are accompanied with dynamic characters, plot, symbolism, setting, camera angles, camera

lighting and sound. Golding and Donner use these elements carefully and overall the theme mentioned above reflects upon that.
Cinematography is the most important element in filmmaking. When creating a film using cinematic techniques can transform an uninteresting movie into a work of visual art. Within the movie, The Goonies directed by Richard Donner the cinema photographer, Nick McLean, used angles to portray a sense of depth perception to the audience. An example of how this was observed throughout the movie was when we focused on the conversation between the two characters, Sloth and Chunk about a Baby Ruth chocolate bar. Within this conversation the camera angle views both of them together in the same frame and then each of them separately. Donner focused on this idea of angle formation because he allowed the audience to observe the true expressions of each character. A critic from IMDB.com named Shondra Stewart states “There are points where you actually forget the adventure is really only taking place underneath a town” (1). With this being said I agree with Stewart because while watching the movie I felt this camera angle style brought a sense of realism to the film. Angles are used primarily to keep the audience engaged in the upcoming scene and I believe this was done exceptionally well because Donner made me feel as if I was a character in the movie.
In “The Lord of the Flies” the idea of having one dynamic character is a crucial part in grabbing the readers’ full attention.

The main character, Ralph, is known to be the ‘chief leader’ to the other boys who are stranded on the island with him. In being the chief leader Ralph possesses qualities that make him more reliable than the other boys because of his maturity and age. A prime example of this is when Ralph, as the leader go in search of the beast with the boys, venturing into parts of the island they have not been to before. Ralph also inherently knows that as a leader, he must physically take the lead in the hunting party, despite his feelings of great trepidation in doing so. This is seen when Golding writes, "His mouth was tight and pale. He put back his hair very slowly...He forced his feet to move until they carried him out on to the neck of the land" (130). This revealed to the reader that Ralph is the primary representative for order, civilization, and leadership. Ralph is interested in building huts and thinking of ways to maximize their chances of being rescued, while the boys are only interested in having fun on the island. Overall, this element is very important because Golding wants to emphasize on the idea that without any adult supervision in society, then the outcome will undoubtedly lead to chaos and

carnage.
Lighting is an element that is very important because this technique makes a huge impact on the quality of a final image. With the use of lighting one can “control the mood of the video, direct the eye of the viewer where you want it to go and one can emphasize or de-emphasize elements within the frame” (“Video Lighting Technique” 1). In the film, lighting was emphasized with moods. For example, when the Goonies were in the basement of the Fratelli’s restaurant there is hardly any light, but when they adventure outside the light is very bright. The brightness in this scene indicated that the Goonies were secure and content. On IMDB.com a critic named Robert Ebert states “This film is a neck break narrative speed. More things happen in this movie than in ordinary action films. There’s not just a thrill a minute; there’s a thrill, a laugh, a shock and a special effect” (1). I feel the special effects used in this movie, lighting and camera angle, bring this whole movie together and Donner is terrific in drawing in his audience while raising our excitement levels to an all-time high.
One of the most important parts of deciphering the key elements in a novel is being able to understand the plot that is being conveyed by the author.

The plot is evidently a conflict between survival of the fittest and character struggle. The young kids often are conflicted between hunting a pig for food or setting a fire that will allow smoke to be seen in the air. Hunting and gathering versus being rescued becomes a focal point to Ralph, the chief leader. Ralph uses one major technique to start a fire. An example of this is with Piggy’s glasses being directed into the sunlight. Although survival is the number one premise on the island, commotion among each character quickly arises because of the lack of parental guidance. This was observed when the young kids killed a littlun’ named Robert, jeering chants and comparing the little boy to a pig. “They got his arms and legs. Ralph, carried away by a sudden thick excitement, grabbed Eric’s spear and jabbed at Robert with it...Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig. Bash him in!” (Golding 164). The plot of this novel is for the young kids to be saved, but the only thing that is occurring is chaos and destruction. These young kids are quickly losing a sense of who they are while being on this island and Golding does a great job demonstrating this to the

reader.
Sound is incorporated extremely well in The Goonies because of the array of special effects and music that fit exceptionally well with every scene. An example of how sound was used in this movie was when one of the characters named Chunk was required to do the “truffle shuffle” before Mouth allowed him to come inside the house. Within this particular scene the audience was hearing several different sounds all mashed into one, which allowed a sense of entertainment to the audience. A critic named Gatita Chicita from Wordpress.com states, “The use of automated dialogue replacement aka ADR was done exquisitely in this scene. This scene provided ADR with a little more enhancement on the sounds of when Chunks belly was wiggling” (“The Goonies: Sound” 1). The sounds used in this movie brought forth a sense of entertainment to the audience and the realization that these kids are profoundly immature when there are no adults nearby. Moreover, these kids lead their own lives and this connects well with the theme of adult supervision and disobedience.