On paper, it seems easy to plug into the zeitgeist with a reboot — simply gender swap the leads, and spend the rest of the year counting money. In reality, however, it can be incredibly awkward to reverse roles without causing an uproar.
Take an all-female reboot of Lord of the Flies. Yesterday (August 30), Deadline announced that the classic novel would be adapted once again, with a film depicting this story from a female perspective. Aside from its all-female cast, the film is being written and directed by two men — Scott McGehee and David Siegel.
"We want to do a very faithful but contemporized adaptation of the book, but our idea was to do it with all girls rather than boys," Siegel told Deadline. "It is a timeless story that is especially relevant today, with the interpersonal conflicts and bullying, and the idea of children forming a society and replicating the behavior they saw in grownups before they were marooned."
Whether it's the portrayal of women or the fact that the story is being developed by two men, the announcement has been met with all sorts of derision online. Check out some tweets on the subject below.
Take an all-female reboot of Lord of the Flies. Yesterday (August 30), Deadline announced that the classic novel would be adapted once again, with a film depicting this story from a female perspective. Aside from its all-female cast, the film is being written and directed by two men — Scott McGehee and David Siegel.
"We want to do a very faithful but contemporized adaptation of the book, but our idea was to do it with all girls rather than boys," Siegel told Deadline. "It is a timeless story that is especially relevant today, with the interpersonal conflicts and bullying, and the idea of children forming a society and replicating the behavior they saw in grownups before they were marooned."
Whether it's the portrayal of women or the fact that the story is being developed by two men, the announcement has been met with all sorts of derision online. Check out some tweets on the subject below.
Dudes writing a female version of LORD OF THE FLIES is like a gift to the problematic think piece gods...
— Scott Mendelson (@ScottMendelson) August 30, 2017
A thousand words on how they already did an all-girl Lord of the Flies and called it Mean Girls.
— Courtney Enlow (@courtenlow) August 30, 2017
An all women remake of Lord of the Flies makes no sense because... the plot of that book wouldn't happen with all women.
— roxane gay (@rgay) August 31, 2017
An all-female Lord of the Flies is in the works? Soooo...they're basically re-making Heathers? pic.twitter.com/BdmIoLN0nB
— Blake@FanExpoCanada (@ComicBookGrrl) August 31, 2017
We're literally living an all-male "Lord of the Flies" right now, but sure, let's see two male writers describe how women would be worse.
— Charles Clymer🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) August 31, 2017
