28 Days Later vs Lord of the Flies

The theme that unites these two great works seems to be when there are no laws or civilization, human character changes.

In 28 Days Later the portion of the movie that I am referring to takes places at the military compound. These guys in a normal position would be normal military personnel. However, under circumstances where they are the primary authority they become sadistic. These men feel that they are the only normal people left in the world, when that is not the case. They refer to women as a “hope for tomorrow.” They are overwhelmed with thought they are the last people on Earth and are obsessed with guaranteeing the survival of the human race. The soldiers look at the two women as the survival of the human race and will do anything to ensure it. However, the more worldly approach for saving the human race turns into an approach that is centered on self-gratification. Some of the soldiers force themselves onto the two women. As the saying goes, “Absolute power corrupts.”

So you are probably asking yourself, “How does this relate to Lord of the Flies?” Before the children are stranded on the island they are perfectly normal children. Once plane crashes and they kids realize there are no adults things begin to change. The kids lose their innocence and become sadistic. The other thing that parallels these stories is the way the characters view the world. At first the children might still look for ways to get off the island, but after a while the kids seem to accept their new surroundings as the reality and forget about the rest of the world. This is very similar to what happens in 28 Days Later. The soldiers at first might still think the rest of the world is fine, but after being in this compound secluded from the world their mindsets change. The soldiers start to think that they are all that is left in the world, just as the stranded children soon forget that there is a world of people out there. The island is basically the military compound because both isolate their inhabitants from the rest of the world.

So often there are hidden commentaries in media. The question then becomes are these themes imbedded by the author or are these “commentaries” constructed by people that look too deeply into simple stories.