What is Lost By Using Anthropomorphism

          The use of anthropomorphism is one seen in many children stories, and Oliver and Company is no exception.  The role of orphaned Oliver is given to a golden kitten who is the last kitten in a box marked “Free Kittens.”  It shows that no one wants him, which is similar to the book.  But once he comes to be amongst Fagin’s gang, he is a blatant outsider and the film tends to circle around Oliver’s company rather than himself.  The fellowship seems more loud and outgoing and we lose little Oliver in all of the commotion.  He seems to become a background character in his own film.  The three humans in this movie can not hear the animals speaking/singing, but all the animals can communicate easily enough among one another.  Why would Disney use personified animals to tell the Dickens’ tale?  For one, children are still very imaginative and can easily suspend their disbelief.  Animals also distance some of the things that happen, from the real world; especially acts of a criminal or violent nature.  It is not Fagin that steals, but the dogs.  Therefore Disney is not really condoning stealing.  The violence seen in the film between Sykes and Fagin is acted out, not amongst themselves, but amongst their dogs.  By distancing these darker actions from humans, I believe it makes the situation less real or scary for the child; it keeps the story light. 

          Dickens probably would have hated the way Disney uses anthropomorphism as an element to Oliver Twist tale.  Dickens was using Oliver Twist as a social commentary on the cruelty of humans and mishandling of the government in London.  Disney is not particularly worried about making a statement about society.  During the song “Why Should I Worry,” the Dodger is helping Oliver learn how to survive in the contemporary world of New York City.  We see him tricking a vender into giving him a whole string of sausages as well as using the city transportation system as a way to get around rather than walking. This song is trying to say, to some degree, that if you do not take your own life into your own hands, the world will crush you.  That is as much of a social commentary as you will get in Oliver and Company.  But seeing that poking at society was what Dickens was aiming to do in the first place, I do not think Oliver and Company really hits this very important theme at all; making it seem even less like a fidelity form of adaptation. 

          One element that seems more amplified than the novel ever indicated is the added look at sexuality and romanticism.  Dickens never blatantly states that Nancy is a prostitute, but we must piece together the segments of her story to come to this conclusion.  This more adult theme does not play a front and center role in Oliver Twist, whereas in Oliver and Company it seems riddled throughout.  While singing “Why Should I Worry,” all the female dogs seem to be swooning or ogling over him while the male dogs either feel protective of their female partners or want to be like the Dodger.  The character of Georgette seems to be oozing overly feminine characteristics throughout the whole film.  We can readily see this in the lyrics to her song “Perfect Isn’t Easy”:

Girls, we’ve got work to do

Pass me the pain and glue

Perfect isn’t easy

But it’s me

When one knows the world is watching

One does what one must

Some minor adjustments, darling

Not for my vanity

But for humanity.

Why does Disney feel the need to amp up the sex appeal in a cartoon geared toward children?  It’s all a sign of the times.  Modern audiences are not shocked by this element, it is actually used as a way to get a quick and easy laugh.  No longer is sexuality something that can only be hinted or alluded to, but is something that can be openly displayed.  This is where our second type of audience member comes in: parents.  Some of the sexually based context may go over the children’s heads, but the adults who are watching the film with their children understand it.  It is something for adults to keep them interested in the film that is not entirely geared towards them.  Again, I note the distancing of this very real and human element.  None of the humans are involved in the more romantic or sexy elements of the film; it all revolves around the dogs.  Distancing sexuality from the human elements of the film seems to be keeping children safely away from this element of life that they may not be ready to know about yet.