Thread: Cleaning Up Fagin

Having recently watched a newer movie, of the Charles Dickens' classic, Oliver Twist, I have noticed a trend in dealing with the Fagin character. Fagin, an older Jewish man who works as a fence for stolen goods and trains legions of children to be sneak theives, is seen in a very dark light in Dickens' classic.

Born in London, Fagin is described as "disgusting" to look at. He is the leader of a group of children, the Artful Dodger and Charley Bates among them, whom he teaches to make their livings by pickpocketing and other criminal activities in exchange for a roof over their heads. A distinguishing trait is his constant—and thoroughly insincere—use of the phrase "my dear" when addressing others. At the time of the novel, he is said by another character, Monks, to have already made criminals out of "scores" of children who grow up to live—or die—committing the same crimes as adults. Bill Sikes, one of the major villains of the novel, is hinted to be one of Fagin's old pupils, and Nancy, Sikes' prostitute, clearly was.

Whilst portrayed as relatively humorous, he is nonetheless a self-confessed miser who, despite the amount he has acquired over the years from the work of others, does very little to improve the squalid lives of the children he takes in, allowing them to smoke pipes and drink gin "with the air of middle-aged men". In the second chapter of his appearance, it is shown, albeit when talking to himself, that he cares less about those children who are eventually hanged for their crimes and more about the fact that they do not "peach" on him and the other children. Still darker sides to the character's nature are shown when he beats the Artful Dodger for not bringing Oliver back, making Charley cry for mercy, in his attempted beating of Oliver for trying to escape after the thieves have kidnapped him, and in his own involvement with various plots and schemes throughout the story. He also indirectly and intentionally causes the death of Nancy by falsely informing the ill-tempered Sikes that she had betrayed him and Fagin, when in reality she had shielded him, loving him despite his violent personality. This results in Sikes beating her to death. Near the end of the book, Fagin is hanged following capture, in a chapter that portrays him as being pitiful in his anguish, waiting for the moment he will be led to the scaffold which is being prepared outside and becoming so mad not one guard wants to wait with him, meaning there are two there.

However, seeing both the 1968 version, Oliver!, a musical that was based on the Broadway musical (which I also saw) and a 1997 version with Ron Moody and Richard Dreyfuss respectively playing the roles, I have noticed a trend: to make Fagin seem not nearly as lecherous as he was in the book. His beating up of youths, his snitching and deceiving and him receiving the gallows at the end, are all left out. He is much more lovable and is even portayed as possibly changing his ways.

This of course is not accidental. It is a way to make money off Charles Dickens' work yet still be amicable to the agenda of the Jewish extremists who so often push an anti-White pro-Jewish/pro-multi-cultural agenda.

Was curious if anyone had seen other versions of Oliver Twist and how they portrayed the Fagin character.

The Liberal Literary bunch always get their panties all up in a bunch over Fagin, Shylock too. But Literature didn't pander to Politically Correct critics back then. Can you blame history for telling the truth? Oliver Twist & The Merchant Of Venice will always be part of my favorite pieces of literature.
Want to read something really good? Read The Jew Of Malta by Christopher Marlowe.

The Jew of Malta is a play by Christopher Marlowe, probably written in 1589 or 1590. Its plot is an original story of religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean that takes place on the island of Malta. The Jew of Malta is considered to have been a major influence on William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.
The title character, Barabas, is a complex character likely to provoke mixed reactions in an audience. Like Marlowe's other protagonists, such as Tamburlaine and Doctor Faustus, he dominates the play's action. There has been extensive debate about the play's portrayal of Jews and how Elizabethan audiences would have viewed it.

The Jew of Malta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia