Disney's Oliver and Company Borrows From Oliver Twist

Introduction and Characterization

          When readers think of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, they normally does not bring up images of music, animals, or a 1980 inspired New York City backdrop.  Yet, someone at Disney saw the possibilities when it came to attempting a borrowed form of adaptation of the classic novel for a more modern children’s audience.  By transfiguring most of the characters from humans to animals, simplifying characters and the plot, and turning up the romantic elements while turning down the social commentary, Disney came up with the 1988 animated film Oliver and Company.  All of these changes were done to appeal to a modern day children, but what is the point when the original storyline no longer seems recognizable?  The limited amount of borrowing from the original piece seems to make this film an original in itself, and a weak one at that.

            Oliver and Company begins by setting the scene, 1980 New York City. It is loud, chaotic, and impersonal.  Enter our protagonist, Oliver, who is an unwanted orange cat that was never chosen from the “Free Kittens” cardboard box (we do not receive a back story as to why the kittens are in the first place).  He realizes immediately just how alone he is in the big city, and by befriending a dog named Dodger, eventually he finds a home among a group of misfit dogs.  Fagin is the human of this fellowship, albeit he does not seem to have any leadership in the group despite being the only human.  The dogs decide to help Fagin pay off a debt to the evil man Sykes (we never know why Sykes loaned Fagin any money in the first place, leaving a gaping hole in the plot line).  While trying to find valuable junk on the street, Oliver finds his way into the arms of the young and innocent girl named Jenny.  He lives lavishly, until his friends steal him away from Jenny because they believed he was in danger.  Poor Oliver is then used by Fagin to try and get money from her wealthy parents in exchange for the cat.  Upon Jenny telling Fagin her parents were away on business, she is stolen by Sykes and the dogs and Fagin go to rescue her.  In the end, Sykes is killed after a high speed chase, Jenny invites the gang back to her Manhattan apartment, and it seems as if Oliver has found people and animals that he can trust and call family.  It ends in a very over the top, happily ever after.

            Characterization from the book to the film seems flawed, despite most of the big names appearing.  The gang takes on a whole new entity in the film. It is not functioning as a way to steal just to steal, but as a means to get money for Fagin so he can pay off Sykes. All the dogs in the gang expect nothing for their work and are just trying to help someone in need, the homeless Fagin.  This is very different from the Fagin speech in Oliver Twist where he states that everyone should be looking out for themselves:

“Well, you can’t take care of yourself, number one, without taking care of me, number one…I’m of the same importance to you as you are to yourself…The first is your number one, the second my number one.  The more you value your number one, the more careful you must be of mine; so we come at last to what I told you at first – that a regard for number one holds us all together, and must do so unless we would all go to pieces in company” (360-361).

This shows a bond between the gang members in the book that seems more business.  They know that they are all linked together and if Fagin falls, they will all fall.  In the film, we see Fagin uniting the group in more of a fellowship of respect.  They are all tied to one another, but it is not detrimental to anyone.  In the novel, we are given the stereotypical look of a Jewish man in the character of Fagin.  But in Oliver and Company, it seems as if every character fits a stereotype.  The evil Sykes is depicted as very large with angular features, which is how many ‘evil’ characters are depicted in an animated medium.  He wears dark suits, which also gives him an air of power.  His henchmen are two huge and black Dobermans who always seem to be bearing their teeth.  On the other hand, Fagin in this adaptation is a dowdy man who has ripped clothing and no self-worth.  He gives up easily and is seen as weak.  This explains why the gang needs to come in and save him; he can not do it himself.  Each gang member personifies a stereotype: rookie, token female, brains, humorous one, idiot, and the leader.  Even the little girl, Jenny, is a very one-dimensional character.  She is either very happy or very sad, but she is always nice; reminding us of Rose from the Dickens novel.  Children can see each character once and know where they lie on the spectrum of good and evil.  This allows for the film to move along quickly, whereas with the book we need a few scenes with each character to establish where they fit in the story.  Even then, Dickens leaves us with a gray area with many of the characters.  Fagin can be seen as a devil in the beginning (depicted with a pitchfork) but by the end he seems like a man who was just dealt some bad cards.  In the Disney film we do not get any of that.  This simplifying of characters seems to be done to such an extent that it is completely making children seem that this is all they can understand: the simple and the stereotypes.