Article Experimental

ALL IN THE FAMILY, BODY LANGUAGE, AND SHARING COMMON INTEREST

SEEN IN THE NOVEL AND FILM OF “OLIVER TWIST”

Hidayatur Rahman Romadhona

English Department, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang, Malang 65141,

Indonesia

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Every culture has products. The products can be in form of novel and film. Every

novel and film contain different cultural aspects and it is influenced by the development of

technology and culture themselves. This study investigates some cultural aspects in the form

of body language, sharing common interest, and all in the family seen in the novel and film of

“Oliver Twist”. The “Oliver Twist” novel used in this study is the novel written by Charles

Dickens and published by Richard Bentley in 1838 while the film used in this study is

“Oliver Twist” film in 2005 which was directed by Roman Polanski. The research showed

that there were some differences about cultural aspects seen in the novel and the film. For

instances, in the aspect of all in the family, the character “Monk”, which was actually one of

Oliver’s siblings, was not included in the film. Thus, although the novel and the film

possessed the same story, the cultural aspects seen were not really the same because they

were developed during different era and there were a change in culture between those eras.

INTRODUCTION

Collis (2000) said, “a knowledge of habits and mores of one culture is the key that

opens the door to the understanding and appreciation.” This theory become a basis of some

research on culture, especially in literary works and films. One of most popular novel which

contains culture aspects are “Oliver Twist.” It has three culture aspects, namely All in the

Family, Body Language, and Sharing Common Interest.

Oliver Twist is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by

Richard Bentley in 1838. Oliver twist itself was a story of Oliver, a boy who became an

orphan after the death of his parents. He got shuffled around from place to place, getting

exploited whenever possible. He ended up getting in with a gang of thieves. He did some

things which he knew that he shouldn’t do such as picking a pocket or two. Finally, it ended

on a positive ending with Oliver finding happiness under the care of a law-abiding, wealthy

family.

Moreover, Oliver Twist also has been made into numerous film and television

adaptations. In 2005, Oliver Twist film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film

Festival on 11 September 2005.The film is directed by Roman Polanski and the screenplay by

Ronald Harwood. The film was shot in Prague, Beroun, and Žatec in the Czech Republic

(Wikipedia,n.d). The film received some awards and nominations. It won “Cinematographer

of the Year” in Hollywood Film Awards 2005. It also won “Best Production Design” in

SannioFilmFest 2006. At the same time, it was nominated as “Best Film” in European Film

Awards.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The purpose of this study is to find the differences of cultural aspects found in the

novel and the movie script. The research questions are formulated as follows:

1. What are the differences between the cultural aspects found in the novel and movie

script of “Oliver Twist”?

2. In what way they are different?

METHOD

The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative. The researcher read “Oliver

Twist” novel and looked for three cultural aspects. They are all in the family, body language,

and sharing common interest. The same technique is used for movie script. After the

researcher watched the movie and then read the movie script. After the researcher found

those cultural aspects in the dialogue between characters in the novel and movie script of

“Oliver Twist”, the researcher give numbers to the dialogue and give label on them. Then, the

researcher describe those findings. The findings are divided into three parts, namely pre-

climax, climax, and anti-climax.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION

From the findings and discussions, the researcher can conclude that although there are

some differences in the detail of the story, however in general both of the novel and the film

present the same ideas and the same cultural aspects. They are body language, sharing

common interest, and all in the family. Although, there is no character Monks in the film,

which I think could influence audience perception about the story, especially in the ending of

the story, however the director of the film has succeed in representing the story in the novel

visually into the film. Overall both of the film and the novel are great. The only thing that the

researcher complains is there are so many characters involved in the story so that it

sometimes make the researcher a little bit confused.

SUGGESTION

Since the researcher only focus on the film made in 2005, it is suggested for further

researchers that they also used another version of Oliver Twist film like in 1933, which is

first talking version, 1948 film by David Lean, 1974 an animated movie, 1982 film starring

George C Scott as Fagin, or Two television movie adaptations in 1982 and 1997.

REFERENCES

Collis, Harry. (2000). 101 American Customs. Chicago: Passport Books.

Genzel, Rhona B. & Martha Garves Cummings. (1994). Culturally Speaking, A Conversation

and Culture Text. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Oliver Twist. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 18, 2015, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Twist

Oliver Twist (2005 film). (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved January 18, 2015, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Twist_(2005_film)