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Charles Dickens (1812-1870), writer and social critic of an era
Charles Dickens was one of the first authors to denounce the inequalities of Victorian society of his time, the difficulties of life in big cities at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the brutal treatment of the poorest social classes.
One of his favorite subjects were children. His best known novel, Oliver Twist, has been adapted into film and television on numerous occasions. Written between 1837 and 1839 and published in monthly installments, the novel chronicles the adventures of a poor young orphan, his stay at the workhouse and his escape to London where he moves through different environments of the city and resists the temptation of crime.
Oliver Twist is one of the earliest social novels in the history of literature and calls the reader's attention to various aspects of the society of its time, child labour and the use of children to commit crimes. Dickens mocks at the hypocrisy of his time dealing with these serious issues with sarcasm, irony and dark humour. For the first time in English literature, the work also focuses on the life of a child, who as the main character, tries to reflect his view of reality.
After taking into account their quality, we would like to highlight four film adaptations of the novel:
- Oliver Twist. Director: Frank Lloyd. Cast: Jackie Coogan (Oliver), Lon Chaney (Fagin). Year: 1922. Black and White. Silent Movie.
- Oliver Twist. Director: David Lean. Cast: John Howard Davis (Oliver), Alec Guinness (Fagin). Year: 1948. Black and White.
- Oliver. Director: Carol Reed. Cast: Mark Lester (Oliver), Ron Moody (Fagin). Year: 1968. Colour. Musical.
- Oliver Twist. Director: Roman Polanski. Cast: Barney Clark (Oliver), Ben Kingsley (Fagin). Year: 2005. Colour
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Answers. Online resources
If, after looking at the classroom materials in the Online Resources section, you are interested in the answers sheet for these activities, you can get in touch with us via our email address: info@cinemaperaestudiants.cat
The price of the answers sheet is 3 € each.
Online activities
These interactive activities are an educational initiative of the Terrassa City Council, through the Municipal Board for Education, and of a team of teachers at Torre del Palau Secondary School in this city. Their goal is to promote the use of new technologies in the classroom.
From the school year 2011-12, these interactive activities can be found on our website www.cinemaperaestudiants.cat with the aim of offering another educational tool for all those teachers and students who are interested in them.
