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ANALYSIS OF THE FILM: OLIVER TWIST BY ROMAN POLANSKI (3 PAGES MAXIMUM)
1. COULD YOU PROVIDE SOME DETAILS ABOUT THE REPRESENTATION IN THE FILM OF THE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT IN WHICH THE STORY PRESENTED, OLIVER TWIST, TAKES PLACE (THE SEETING, THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SITUATION AT THAT PARTICULAR TIME, SOME HISTORICAL ASPECTS DEPICTED IN THE STORY) ?.
Historical Context
In the mid-nineteenthcentury, England was suffering from economic instability and widespread unemployment. The economic instability was a legacy of the Napoleonic era, which lasted until 1815. During this time, England was at war with France. The English government had imposed heavy taxes to pay for the war, and although these did not really affect the wealthy classes, they were a crushing burden on the poor. Pricesrose, food became scarce, and inflation rose. Also because of the war, French and European markets for English goods were closed, leading to unemployment among workers.
Workers were also unemployed because the increasing use of machinery in manufacturing had made many of their jobs obsolete; for example, instead of employing many individual weavers, textile manufacturers began using mechanizedlooms, with only a few people needed to run them. The angry workers, known as Luddites, led movements to smash industrial machinery, a crime that was made punishable by death in 1811.
The Napoleonic War ended in 1815, but the misery did not. With the war over, England entered the worst depression it had ever seen. The number of poor people, never low, increased to crisis levels. Historically, eachparish had been responsible for taking care of its poor by handing out money and food, and more and more people now chose to take these handouts. Others worked but took the assistance anyway, and when employers found out about this, they lowered their wages, making it impossible even for honest workers to survive on their wages. In addition, several thousand war veterans had returned to England,swelling the ranks of the jobless.
During this time, children often worked long hours, every day of the week, in dangerous factories. In 1833, child labor and working conditions began to be regulated and controlled.
In 1834, the "Poor Laws" were passed. They required that people needing public assistance live in workhouses, where they were poorly fed and badly treated. The object of this plan was tomake public assistance unattractive to the poor and thus to decrease the number of people on assistance, as well as the associated costs. The plan did save money, but at a great cost in human suffering, as Dickens makes plain in Oliver Twist.
In 1837, Queen Victoria ascended the English throne and began her long rule and a relatively stable period in English history. This stability, and theincreasing numbers of people in the middle classes who were educated enough to read books for leisure and had the money to buy them and the time to read them, would help the young Dickens to an illustrious future

THEMES: Oliver Twist reflects a major thematic concern for author Charles Dickens, that of social justice. This is reflected in his depiction of character types and narrative structure.His interest and concern with highlighting the plight of the poor and the attitudes within society towards them.
Dickens was concerned with writing for a wide increasing literate public, meaning that his audience were able to recognise his shape characterisations and insightful social commentary.
Themes
Good and Evil
According to George Gissing in Critical Study of the Works of CharlesDickens, Dickens once wrote, "I wished to show, in little Oliver, the principle of good surviving through every adverse circumstance, and triumphing at last." The novel does this but perhaps at the cost of depicting Oliver as a realistic character. Although he runs away from Mr. and Mrs. Sowerberry, in the remainder of the novel Oliver has little initiative or drive. He is the tool of thieves or the...