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Danny Moran
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Danny Moran
@dmoranscripts
Writer & script editor. https://t.co/82gEFgLHgp [email protected]
london Tham gia Ağustos 2019
808 Đang theo dõi320 Người theo dõi

@rcbregman @AlOrchardLisle The book isn't an attempt to map out what would actually happen in that situation. The story is a way for Golding to explore themes he's interested in (British society/colonialism etc)
This is like saying Deliverance isn't an accurate depiction of canoeing holidays in Georgia.
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The BBC just released a new adaptation of Lord of the Flies, the classic novel by William Golding. It's beautifully made, but it's still telling the wrong story.
A few years ago, I went looking for the *real* Lord of the Flies. I wanted to know: has it ever actually happened? Have kids ever been shipwrecked on a deserted island?
It took me a year of research, but I found it. In 1965, six boys from a boarding school in Tonga stole a boat, got caught in a storm, and drifted for eight days without food or water. They washed up on 'Ata, a remote, uninhabited island in the Pacific. They stayed there for 15 months, and what happened on that island was the exact opposite of William Golding's novel.
These boys set up a small commune. They built a food garden, stored rainwater in hollowed-out tree trunks, created a gym with improvised weights, and built a badminton court. One of them, Stephen (who would later become an engineer) managed to start a fire using two sticks. They kept it burning the entire time.
Of course they fought too. But then they argued, they had a rule: go to opposite ends of the island, cool down, then come back and apologize. As one of them told me: ‘That's how we stayed friends.’
Back home, everyone assumed that the boys – Luke, Stephen, Sione, David, Kolo and Mano — were dead. When they were finally discovered by an Australian captain named Peter Warner, he radioed their names to Tonga. After twenty minutes, a tearful response came back: ‘You found them! These boys have been given up for dead. Funerals have been held. If it's them, this is a miracle!’
Peter commissioned a new ship, hired all six boys as his crew, and named the boat the Ata, after the island where he found them. They remained friends for the rest of their lives – Peter and Mano even became soulmates. I tracked them down, and it became one of the central chapters of my book Humankind.
Here's what struck me most: William Golding (the author of Lord of the Flies) was a troubled man, an alcoholic who once said ‘I have always understood the Nazis, because I am of that sort by nature.’ I think he was projecting his own darkness onto children. And we turned it into a lesson about human nature that we teach to millions of kids around the world.
I think the real lesson is the opposite. When real children found themselves alone on a real island, they didn't descend into savagery. They cooperated, they took care of each other, they survived.
I'm not saying that the Tongan castaways were representative of all kids everywhere. But I am saying that every kid who has to read or watch the fictional Lord of the Flies also deserves to know what actually happened when it played out in real life.
Stories are never just stories. We become the stories that we tell ourselves.

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Cllr @KeziaHarper and I are resigning from the Labour Party. As independent councillors, our focus will be on fighting for the people of Faraday, a ward we are deeply proud to represent. Please read our full statement


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@picturehouses @bugoniafilm @hopeylivliv Scrolled past this and thought @SteveBracknall was moonlightingas a director
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A new Yorgos Lanthimos film is the equivalent of a Picturehouse national holiday — have you seen @bugoniafilm yet? 🐝
🎧 Tune into The Love of Cinema podcast for our latest episode, where @hopeylivliv dives deeper into the film with Yorgos and writer Will Tracy.

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@staticbluebat Completely agree. When I was a teenager it was considered the coldest film ever. Now it's that movie where the director turns up at the end and says the N word a bunch of times.
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I feel like when I was in high school Pulp Fiction was treated as the untouchable Tarantino classic and now it’s treated as one of his lesser films
kyle@Caol_MacCormaic
uncs of film twitter: what are some movies that are canonical now but were basically unknown when we were coming up? like Come and See or Possession. inversely: what are some movies or filmmakers that seem to have fallen off? (Takashi Miike comes to mind)
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The Labour party faces allegations that it rigged an election in order to block a leftwing candidate from leading a council.
Here's @pollysmythe with an anatomy of an unedifying debacle:
novaramedia.com/2025/07/17/how…
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EXCLUSIVE 🧶
The Thursday Murder Club assembles "the Mount Rushmore of British acting giants," says director Chris Columbus.
It stars Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie and Pierce Brosnan – who reunites with his Mrs. Doubtfire director.
Read more: empireonline.com/movies/news/th…

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@mslacewing45 Mate of mine watched Son of Saul on Netflix and as the credits rolled it suggested he watch Better Call Saul. True story.
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