Article Experimental
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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)