Netflix’s new adaptation of William Golding’s novel “Lord of the Flies” takes place in the 1950s setting, but it’s sometimes hard to tell it’s not 2026. Like in Golding’s novel, the group of boys in “Lord of the Flies” are stranded on a deserted island and end up fighting, isolating and allying with one another in ways that force us to ask an increasingly relevant question: Are the boys alright? Coming on the heels of “Adolescence,” also written by Jack Thorne, and “Half Man,” “Lord of the Flies” is the latest in a series of television shows that tries to answer that question by focusing on the issues young men and boys face today.
Full of children committing horrible acts of violence, the story of “Lord of the Flies” is extreme. But it still strikes a chord more than 70 years later as the dynamics playing out between the boys and how they get influenced by each other has taken on new relevance. In a world with a growing gender gap in education, the workforce and mental health, the conversation should shift from seeing boys as trouble to seeing boys as in trouble, said Nick Isles, director of the UK’s Center for Policy Research on Men and Boys.
