From Workhouse to Operating Theatre: The Evolution of Oliver Twist and The Artful Dodger in Modern Storytelling
From Workhouse to Operating Theatre: The Evolution of Oliver Twist and The Artful Dodger in Modern Storytelling In the fog-shrouded alleys of Victorian London, Charles Dickens crafted a tale that would echo through centuries: Oliver Twist, a searing indictment of poverty, institutional cruelty, and the fragile resilience of innocence. Yet two hundred years later, that same story has been reborn—not as a plea for charity, but as a sun-drenched, blood-splattered meditation on survival, reinvention, and the moral ambiguity of the "rogue hero." The Hulu/Disney+ series The Artful Dodger does not merely adapt Dickens; it interrogates him, asking what happens when the pickpocket becomes a surgeon, when the villain refuses to die, and when the "perfect" orphan grows into a monster. This is not a simple retelling. It is a philosophical collision between 19th-century sentimentalism and 21st-century cynicism, between the belief that goodness is innate and the conviction ...