Simpsons and Lord of the Flies

The second episode of the Simpsons that we watched today in class was obviously closely related to Lord of the Flies. While in the book the boys were in a jet before getting trapped on the island, the Simpsons episode consists of the school kids on a bus that goes off a bridge which led to them to the deserted island. I could not decide if Bart Simpson was representative of Ralph throughout this show as he builds shelter, rescues food, and holds the court as everyone sits around him, or if Lisa Simpson better fit the role as she suggested they not eat so much of the food and seemed to watch out for the group. I concluded that they are both good examples of Ralph’s role. It was obvious to me that Milhouse was Piggy as he wore specs which were used to light the fire and was continually picked on throughout the episode. The bully, Nelson, was representative of Jack through his aggressive behavior and his act of taking Milhouse’s glasses. The concept of a monster and that the kids are scared of it is also present in both stories. I also noticed as they were sitting around the fire, they seemed to be viciously tearing into their meat, eating as if they were starved, as was described in Lord of the Flies. Finally, in the end they were both similar in that an adult came to the island, and saw how the children had developed in the situation. However, at the end of the Simpsons episode it was stated that the children learned to live together in a civilized community, this is unlike Lord of the Flies as in this story there was much more conflict as some lives were even taken through the fighting of the children on the island.