The man was also too hard on Charlie Bucket.
When we talk about Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, we don’t spend much time talking about how Wonka is clearly a weirdo.
Well, maybe. That seems so obvious that we’re moving on to other questions, but we should probably spend more time on this one. I’m referring to the depiction in the 1971 film starring Gene Wilder, which, like the book, is a bit of a mess. Where do the Oompa-Loompas come from? Wonka is pay These are the people, right? Why did Wonka kill the children? Psychedelic frenzy Why is he dangling unlimited chocolates during a boat ride on the Chocolate River? Extremely poor child Who lives in a hovel with his poor grandparents? What is the meaning of Wonkavision?
And while it’s clear that his rivals all want a piece of his incredibly successful candy business, why is Wonka still so paranoid?
The answer is probably undiagnosed mental illness — a heavy subject to cram into a musical set in a chocolate factory — but this question leads to the film’s ultimate aim, and its unsatisfying ending.
But first, the synopsis: Willy Wonka, the mysterious, globetrotting chocolatier, announces that he is offering an exclusive tour of his candy factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate to the possessor of five golden tickets found randomly inside the packaging of delicious Wonka bars sold around the world. An international race ensues to find the tickets, and each time one is found, the winner is approached by a rival candy maker, a cavernous man dressed in black named Slugworth, who offers a reward if he smuggles out a sample of Wonka’s revolutionary, ever-lasting Gobstopper.
In the end, five children and one accompanying adult end up queuing up to get inside the gates of the Wonka factory: voracious eater Augustus Gloop, competitive Violet Beauregard, demanding Veruca Salt, gun-obsessed Mike Teavee, and our poor hero, Charlie Bucket.
And once inside, each falls victim to their own stupidity, with tragic consequences (Violet is sent to “no juice” after eating an untested blueberry pie candy, which seemed like the worst thing). Everyone is eliminated except for Charlie, who also nearly gets kicked out of the tour after guzzling Wonka’s soda along with Grandpa Joe, who, in my opinion, is right, tells Wonka to “fuck you” and encourages Charlie to put a Gobstopper in his pocket as a reward for Slugworth.
But Charlie doesn’t: he leaves the Gobstopper with Wonka, who quickly announces that Charlie has won the contest thanks to his pure heart: Slugworth is not his rival, it’s Wonka. employee Sent to test Ticket buyers will receive a gift instead of a lifetime supply of chocolate. Wonka’s entire candy businessThey then board an elevator and fly off through the roof of the factory and into the sky above the surrounding city. What?! The end doesn’t matter!
It’s a movie I’ve seen dozens of times over the years, but when I watched it as an adult, I finally realized how patriarchal and moralistic it was to chastise Charlie in this way. Charlie and his family are ridiculously poor. He has a hard time understanding what it means to be pure at heart. this man Wearing a top hat?
But there were also doubts about Slugworth. do not have Rivals? Was the Slugworth incident just a ploy to lure the kids?
In the 1971 film, Slugworth is indeed just one part of Wonka’s schemes, but in Roald Dahl’s book and other film adaptations, he is a clear rival. Wonka becomes so frightened by his rivals’ attempts to steal his secrets that he fires employees for fear of leaks and imports Oompa-Loompas to live in his factory and protect it from intrusions. Industrial Espionage.
Slate Interesting articles from 2005 On this very subject:
Espionage in the real world became so widespread that European candy makers, where virtually every important industry innovation was occurring, began routinely hiring detectives to follow their workers; sensitive manufacturing processes were off-limits to all but the most loyal workers; and outsiders doing business with the candy makers were forced to sign strict, highly punitive non-disclosure agreements.
For example, when Nestlé first successfully blended milk and chocolate, only a handful of Nestlé executives knew the entire process of making milk chocolate. The company also conducted background checks on employees and kept “suspicious” employees under surveillance. At Hershey’s, only a select few know the proper mix of cocoa beans needed to create Hershey’s distinctive chocolate taste. And when Mars needs to show outside contractors around the factory, they are blindfolded.
Dahl experienced the industry’s obsession with secrecy firsthand. At age 13, he enrolled at Repton, a prestigious public boarding school in Derbyshire, not far from Cadbury’s headquarters. Cadbury executives used Dahl and his Repton classmates as tasters. In exchange for secrecy, the sequestered teenage and pre-teen students were given small grey boxes containing an evaluation sheet and 12 different chocolates (one “control” and 11 new ones). Each chocolate, wrapped in plain foil and numbered, was judged by the boys and given a score from 0 to 10. Cadbury then asked the boys to explain their scores.
When you imagine the factory workers who once made Hershey’s Kisses being harassed by thugs hired by their employers, it ruins Hershey’s Kisses.
Industrial espionage is real. China’s intellectual property theft. Until 2018It’s estimated that the pandemic costs the U.S. between $225 billion and $600 billion a year, and is likely to further derail an already eccentric businessman — and it’s not thought to be too heavy a subject to include in a classic children’s movie.
Take pity on the factory owner who is fighting his rival, and go out singing the song we all know and love.
