Twisting Dickens:

Analyzing David Lean's Adaptation of Oliver Twist

 Abstract
 
British director David Lean directed his take on Charles Dickens’s timeless novel, Oliver Twist in 1948. Lean's film adaptation is to be defined under the fidelity model of adaptation. Lean creates a powerful work which reinterprets the themes of Dickens's Oliver Twist. Our web essay focuses on the ways in which Lean’s depiction of characterization, reinterpretation of Dickensian themes, and choice of lighting, sound, and visual representation categorize Lean's film adaptation as one that follows the fidelity model of adaptation.