Two Men Are Remaking ‘Lord of the Flies’ With an All-Female Cast and the Internet Is Not Having It

All-female reboots of popular films are important, because it lets women and young children know that men aren't the only ones who rule the world. Take, for example, the all-female reboot of Ghostbusters, or the upcoming Ocean’s Eight, starring Rihanna, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, and five other badass women. On Thursday, it was announced that the latest gender reversal remake will be Warner Brothers’ all-female Lord of the Flies, based on the classic 1954 William Golding novel.

This will be the third adaptation of Golding's novel; there have been previous versions released in 1963 and 1990. Scott McGehee and David Siegel, the pair behind The Deep End, Bee Season, and What Maisie Knew, are set to write and direct the new film. In other words: two men are set to make a movie that will comment on the female gender, with no women at the lead of writing or directing. 

As many have pointed out, the prospect of this movie is problematic. Films like the all-female Ghostbusters or Ocean’s Eight work because there is nothing inherent about gender in the art of ghostbusting or pulling off heists. Lord of the Flies, though, is a story concerned with masculinity—specifically, how toxic and dangerous it can be when gone unchecked.

With this in mind, many are understandably skeptical about the upcoming new version. Have McGehee and Siegel not read the book, or did they not understand it? Even if you give them the benefit of the doubt and assume their movie would shift to discussing female gender issues, why in the world would Warner Brothers hire two men to write and direct the goddamn thing?

“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.”

As if anticipating the inevitable backlash, McGehee explained the two were “taking the opportunity to tell it in a way it hasn’t been told before, with girls rather than boys, [which] shifts things in a way that might help people see the story anew.”

For many, this sounds like pandering. All-female reboots and gender issues are in vogue, but not every single story will work. The silver living here is that stuff like this brings the best out of Twitter. Needless to say, the reactions thus far are ruthless and, well... amazing: