‘Am I becoming a one hundred-and-eighty-five pound fly?’: The Gestation of The Fly

Abstract

This chapter evaluates British writer George Langelaan's short fiction titled ‘The Fly’ (1957), and its film adaptation by Kurt Neumann in 1958. David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986) can only truly be appreciated within the context of what preceded it. He was not remaking an unknown film; rather, he was taking on one that came with preconceptions and expectations. In considering Cronenberg's The Fly, one can clearly see that remaking the original 1958 film was not on Cronenberg's agenda. While Cronenberg's film should not be compared to any other because it has ‘its own personality, voice and experience’, to consider The Fly's history gives meaning to the simple genius of the central concept: the story of a scientist accidentally turning himself into a fly.