a comparative essay...over to you

A Cry in the Dark
Lord of the Flies by William Golding and M. Knight Shyamalan’s The Village both create a world in which suspense slowly builds in a terrifying way. The novel ends with fire , murder and devastation, while the film turns on a surprise twist which reveals that everything is and was not as it seemed. There are many similarities between the two stories, but what is clear is the importance darkness plays in the development of the drama. In both stories , darkness serves as the environment in which fear and terror are allowed to flourish.

In Golding’s famous novel, darkness on the island brings out many of the plot developments that create the suspense in the story. Very soon after landing on the island, the reader is told about night terrors, bad dreams and mysterious happenings in the night. The littl’uns cry out and tell of mysterious creatures which seem to lurk in the forest. One of the most interesting characters, Simon, walks alone in the forest in the dark. This partially leads to sightings of a mysterious figure in the dark shadows. As the story develops, the darkness continues to play on the fears of the boys. A parachutist seemingly falls from the night sky, terrifing Sam’n’Eric and ,through them, the others. A violent raid in the darkness reveals how far the boys have fallen. Finally a nightime “assembly’ results in the death of Piggy and the desperate fleeing of Ralph. All of these events occurred under cover of darkness and show that this setting was an important element in the development of the story.

In M. Knight Shymalan’s The Village, a group of concerned citizens take their community back over a hundred years to a simpler, more peaceful life out of concern for the future of themselves and their families. Their isolated world is the utopia they had hoped for , however they find that maintaining it is not without difficulty. The village leaders are forced to create an environment in which the rest of the community is absolutely terrified to leave and even question the world outside its borders. In order to do this , they use the natural human unease with the dark to plant the seeds of terror. Guard posts with roaring fires protect the community in the night. Everyone understands that “those they do not speak of” may come in the night to do untold damage. The security of the village is broken when the “beasts” enter the village under the cover of darkness and “warn” the villagers in ever more disturbing ways. The darkness protects these unspeakable beasts and allows them to complete their horrible deeds. Again, it is shown that the dark and darkness serve as a key factor in creating suspense and disturbing the audience in highly effective ways.

The development of suspense and horror is a complicated process which involves carefully chosen elements. One of the most important of these is the use of the dark and darkness. Both William Golding and M. Knight Shymalan carefully use the darkness to set their scene and further the suspense. Golding uses the boys’ natural fears in Lord of the Flies and an unfamiliar landscape to build a psychological effect which consumes them in the end. The Village uses the darkness to heighten the villagers’ fear of the unknown and the monsters which lurk in their forest. Both skilfully create a suspenseful environment which captivates the audience. Thus captivated, the audience cannot fail to observe it was the use of the darkness that served as the foundation for each of these mysterious, suspenseful tales.