Gilligan's Island vs Lord of the Flies

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, the tale of some bright young Brits, whose plane went down in a sudden crash because of a marksmen’s hits. The boys wound up on the shore of an uncharted desert isle, with Ralph the brave, and Piggy too, a sadist and Simon Christ. Some choirboys, and the rest are here on Lord of the Flies’ Island. What you just read was the theme song for “Gilligan’s Island”rewritten to set up William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.

While one is a classic novel renowned for its symbolic representation of humanity and the other is a 1960s television show that only ran for 3 seasons, both the show and the book involve a group of people forming a microcosm on an island as they wait for rescue, both of which demonstrate the pitfalls of human nature when left unchecked. The show and the book clearly have a number of differences; to start,”Gilligan’s Island”is a comedy, while there is very little humor to be found in Lord of the Flies.

The castaways on “Gilligan’s Island” are all adults (male and female) while in Lord of the Flies, the castaways are all boys 12 and under. Thus, on “Gilligan’s Island”, sexuality, or at least flirtation becomes a theme at times, (especially when the movie star Ginger is around, flaunting one of the hundred gowns she brought on the 3 hour tour) while most of the boys in Lord of the Flies are too young to even like girls.

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Additionally, the castaways on “Gilligan’s Island”seem to be much more prepared than those in Lord of the Flies. All of them have a couple of suitcases, and some, such as the Howells have many more; the boys in The Lord of the Flies have nothing but the shirts (or robes) on their backs. While there are clearly numerous differences between the book and the show, the two both share some common themes as the characters of both face common struggles. One of the first things to happen in Lord of the Flies is a scramble for power; while the boys end up electing Ralph, Jack manages to gain undermine Ralph’s authority constantly. Similarly, there is a constant struggle for power on”Gilligan’s Island”as well, albeit one which is portrayed comically.

In fact, one of the first episodes, “President Gilligan” involves the Skipper and Mr. Howell vying for “President of the Island”. Although Gilligan is eventually elected, the Skipper completely ignores Gilligan’s position and frequently punctuates his demands with “Gilligan, that’s an order”. This continues to create problems for the castaways as various characters, especially the affluent Mr. Howell disregard the Skipper’s authority. Another common theme is paranoia. One example in particular is the episode “Waiting for Watubi” which involves the castaways finding an traditionally evil tiki idol which convinces them a curse has been put on the island. This episode is very reminiscent of the “beast” parts of Lord of the Flies in which the island is paralyzed with fear of a non-existent evil being. Another theme prevalent throughout both Lord of the Flies and “Gilligan’s Island” is the struggle for rescue. Although presented comically, Gilligan and occasionally the other castaways constantly botch rescue attempts. Similarly, Jack ruins the group’s chances of being rescued by letting the signal fire go out several times, once during a time which the fire was truly vital. Finally, possibly the largest similarity between the book and Gilligans Island is the groups’ need to work together and the consequences which result from lack of cooperation. In the book, the boys must work together to make living on the island work, which is also true on “Gilligan’s Island”.

Disagreements frequently erupt in the group, with the girls on the island at one point leaving the men to form their own camp, which teaches everyone a lesson about how much they need one another. Although the group constantly disagrees, they are able to work out their differences and move forward, unlike the boys in Lord of the Flies who end up killing Simon and Piggy (and almost Ralph). Although the group on”Gilligan’s Island” clearly has some rather far-fetched problems (Gilligan’s mouth turning into a radio receiver because of a bad filling), many episodes deal with the same theme found in Lord of the Flies, from issues involving a lack of food and water, power struggles, paranoia and general group disagreements, “Gilligan’s Island” and Lord of the Flies have many similarities despite their very different formats and genres.