In 1964 Roahl Dahl published a book which would become a classic in children's literature, one which despite its many rewrites and the shift in public's views, continues to enthral young and not-so-young readers worldwide.
Its lively, colourful, and dynamic characters are still as alive as ever, and its message still rings as true and relevant as the day when it first saw the light.
Inspired by Dahl’s childhood experience as an actual “chocolate tester” -his school occasionally received boxes of chocolate from the Cadbury chocolate company to be tested by the pupils -, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” was first published in the U.S. in 1964 by Alfred A. Knopf, and later in the UK by George Allen & Unwin.
In 1971, Dahl wrote a sequel, "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator", which was published a year later.
The author of “Matilda”, “James and the Giant Peach”, “The Witches”, and “The BFG” worked on a third instalment for Charlie and Willy Wonka, but sadly he never got to finish it.
The idiosyncratic illustrations by Quentin Blake further underline the quirky character of the story, and its freedom of line reflects the easygoing nature of the story, sparking the young readers’ imagination.
Willy Wonka, Charlie and his grandpa, by Quentin Blake.
Charlie Bucket is a poor boy who lives with his parents and four grandparents in a tattered old house in the outskirts of the city, and he strikes literal gold by discovering the last golden ticket to visit the factory of the famous candyman Willy Wonka.
In his descriptions, Dahl does not hide Charlie’s hunger or the severe want suffered by his family, but always keeps an air of humour and optimism about their precarious situation.
Dahl describes Willy Wonka as wearing a black top hat, a plum-coloured velvet tail coat, bottle green trousers, pearly grey gloves, a gold-topped walking cane, and a black goatee.
He also makes special mention of his eyes, describing them as most marvellously bright, “they seemed to be sparkling and twinkling at you all the time. The whole face, in fact, was alight with fun and laughter.”
As for his demeanour, Dahl likens Wonka to “a squirrel in the quickness of his movements, like a quick old squirrel from the park.”
If this comparison seems a bit unkind, the words Dahl used to describe the four naughty children who visit the chocolate factory would scandalise today’s sensitive readers.
In their farewell song, the Oompa-Loompas mock Augustus Gloop by calling him a ‘pig’, ‘beast’, a ‘revolting boy’, ‘great big greedy nincompoop’, and ‘infantile’ (later versions removed the word ‘fat’ from the list).
Violet Beaugarde receives a similar treatment, being called a ‘repulsive little bum who’s always chewing gum’.
Later in the book, Dahl seems to repent from his vicious criticism, and in the case of Veruca Salt the Oompa-Loompas’ farewell song blames parents for spoiling their children.
In the case of Mike Teavee, Dahl makes an open call for children to read books instead of being numbed by television, calling it “that ridiculous machine, that nauseating, foul, unclean, repulsive television screen!”, a critique that he would probably now extend to all modern screen overexposure.
Dahl’s views on each of these topics are made quite clear throughout the book, and leave no room for second interpretations, something which brought him no little controversy.
But if these descriptions caused him trouble, it was the Oompa-Loompas that received the most acerbic criticism.
Oompa-Loompas, by Quentin Blake.
In the book, Dahl describes the characters as no larger than medium-size dolls, “tiny people, no taller than my knee”, having beautiful white teeth and rosy-white skin, long golden-brown hair, and dressed in deerskin (men), fresh leaves (women), or nothing at all (children). They were mischievous, fun-loving, jolly, loved to laugh, and they were always making up songs.
The fact that Wonka tested his inventions on them and employed them as full-time workers with no other salary than chocolate also sparked criticism.
More alarming still was Willy Wonka’s admission that he had ‘imported’ the Oompa-Loompas from Loompaland, stating, “I smuggled them over in large packing cases with holes in them”.
All these images stemmed from Dahl’s childhood recollections and were in no way not ill-intentioned, but pointed directly to slavery and to Britain’s colonialist past at a time when the British Empire was crumbling, and the Civil Rights movement was at its height.
Dahl had to rewrite the characters in order to appease the readers’ sensitivity, but the controversy still remained.
Subsequent readings -by adult readers- found even more faults in the story, and the novel was even banned for promoting a “poor philosophy of life”, and for making Charlie a character with no negative traits.
In spite of all these, sixty years after his publication, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is still one of the most popular books in children's literature, and its message remains still fresh after several generations of readers.
The book and its characters spawned a series of franchises, film versions, a limited-edition run of Wonka candies, and even appeared in a Royal Mail first class stamp in the UK in 2012.
Here we take a look at three film adaptations that have kept the Wonka characters alive for new generations to appreciate.
"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (1971)
This first film book adaptation is faithful to the original source, although includes a few changes for the sake of the film’s narrative.
Most of the film was shot in the enclosure of a studio, which gives it a look that modern viewers may perhaps deem 'plastic' and artificial. However, since most films at the time were shot in similar conditions, the audiences then had no problem with this.
Following Dahl’s description almost to the line, Willy Wonka is dressed in a purple coat, brown top hat, gold topped walking cane and sand-coloured pants. Gene Wilder’s bright eyes and mischievous smile also accurately convey the quirkiness of the iconic character.
One of the many merits of this film is that it was made with limited technical resources and without the use of any special effects save for some photographic effects. In spite of it, the film still manages to convey a sense of wonder and realism of a magical place.
In a departure from the original source, the film includes the appearance of Slugworth, a character only mentioned in the book, who acts as a spy trying to convince the children to find him the secret for Willy Wonka's “Everlasting Gobstopper” in return for a large sum of money.
Another difference with the book is the appearance of the Oompa-Loompas.
Eager to avoid controversy, the director decided that they should be non-human creatures altogether, with orange skin and green hair, and dressed in traditional garments. In addition, although they engaged in songs, they were mostly silent and sombre, another departure from the original source.
Due to technical difficulties to recreate the Nut Room, the film opted instead for a Golden Egg Room, in which Veruca Salt is declared a "bad egg" along with her father, and thrown down the garbage chute.
The ending is also changed from the original source in order to enhance its main message.
When Charlie is the last and only child remaining in the tour, Willy Wonka abruptly sends him off. As his grandfather confronts him for an explanation, Wonka retorts that they've stolen from him during the tour, and refuses to give the rest of Charlie's prize.
Although heartbroken, Charlie accepts his decision, and returns him a candy he had given him during the tour. The gesture (a show of honesty and loyalty, by refusing to sell Wonka’s discovery to Slugworth, despite Charlie’s need for money) sparks the candyman’s heartfelt appreciation, giving Charlie the factory and transporting him and his grandfather off to a brighter future.
Dahl himself resented all the changes made to his story and disliked this film version; but for most of those who watched it then and since, these alterations made no difference in their enjoyment of the fantastical tale.
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005)
True to his style, Tim Burton’s film takes a more sombre approach in creating Dahl’s imaginary universe, enhancing the mystery and suspense of the scenes.
Filmed with a much higher budget than its predecessor, the film’s aesthetic is modernist and even futuristic, updating the look of the story and making it more attractive to contemporary audiences.
This version is also more faithful to the original source in its general content.
The portrayal of Charlie's living conditions and their family's plight with hunger and poverty are described more extensively, and the emotions conveyed by Charlie and his family also feel more authentic than in the 1971 version. All these help the audience -by now used to naturalism on the screen- to connect better with the emotional aspect of the story.
Willy Wonka’s appearance rescues the black top hat and gloves, but his overall look (with an emphasis on black) is much more elegant and sober than Dahl’s description, and the golden-topped walking cane is replaced by a candy cane.
However, the character’s demeanour remains playful and unpredictable, with a few fatalistic and melancholic notes which are part of Burton’s trademark.
This attempt to adhere to the original material is no coincidence, since the Dahl estate was granted total artistic control of the film by the producers. And yet, the film also includes plenty of original ideas of its own.
For instance, Burton expands the children’s backstory in an attempt to deepen into the psychological aspects for their wickedness.
Thus, Violet Beaugarde is not only a voracious gum-chewer but also a hyper-competitive karate-kicking trophy-winner, daughter of a pushy and equally hyper-competitive mother. Mike Teavee, on his part, is not addicted solely to television but also to violent video games and -worst of all- he doesn’t even like chocolate.
However, the greatest departure from the previous film and from the original source are the Oompa-Loompas.
Although the film depicts Wonka’s first encounter with the tribe almost exactly as described by Dahl in the book, the rest of their development is different.
Using CGI technology, the legion of tiny characters are performed by a single actor in hundreds of individual frames put together on the scene.
In addition to being portrayed by the only non-Caucasian actor in the cast, the overall look of the characters is modernised by dressing them in spacesuit-like jumpers, with their black hair worn in a short ponytail.
Also, unlike the previous film, the Oompa-Loompa songs are completely different for each child and were commissioned to Burton’s longtime collaborator
Danny Elfman.
Heavily influenced by different styles of pop music, each of the musical numbers are veritable music videos on their own, but aside from these, there is no more singing in the film, bringing this version closer to the original source.
Although CGI was already widely used by then, instead of solely relying on special effects, Burton used actual built sets (later enhanced digitally), thus achieving fantastical effects while retaining the physicality of the environment.
In addition to the messages conveyed in the book, a rather subconscious message in Burton’s film is the importance of oral hygiene. From young Willy’s scary dental contraption to his dazzlingly white smile, his dentist father, the prominent teeth of all characters, and Mr. Bucket’s job at the toothpaste factory, teeth are of significant importance in this story.
As in the 1971 film version, Burton’s film also changed the original story ending in order to include an additional message.
After beating all the children, Charlie refuses Willy Wonka's offer of becoming the new owner of his chocolate factory, because he has to give up his family. His refusal shocks Wonka so badly that he ends up in therapy, concluding that he must rekindle the bond with his estranged father (a dentist who forbids him to eat candies), which he does with the help of Charlie.
The delicate and often conflictive father-son relationship is a recurrent theme in Tim Burton's films, so it is not surprising that a message in which family is paramount would include this additional reading.
In the end, Charlie gets a chocolate factory, but Willy Wonka gets a family.
"Wonka" (2023)
Although conceived as a stand-alone prequel to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", the story of this film is based on the characters of the book and retains the whimsy of the original material, mixed with elements from the previous films for an entirely new take on the story and its characters.
For, if the 1971 version focuses on Willy Wonka’s quirkiness, and Burton’s version enhances the story’s mood of mystery, Paul King’s version focuses on its benign and sweet aspects (even in the opening titles, it’s referred as the director’s “confection”).
In this film, Willy Wonka is a young entrepreneur ready to start his chocolate company, an adventure in which he'll encounter unexpected foes and difficulties, but also friends and allies.
His appearance refers directly to the 1971 film, although slightly shabbier to denote his humble origins: scratched chocolate-brown top hat, magenta-coloured velvet coat, sand-coloured pants, a gold-topped walking cane, and worn-out travelling boots.
Timothée Chalamet’s bright eyes and youthful demeanour highlights Willy’s playful and inventive character. He also declares himself ‘a bit of a magician and inventor', thus explaining the nature of his fantastical creations.
And if Burton’s film alludes to Willy’s father, Paul King’s rescues the maternal figure as the main engine behind Willy Wonka’s dreams and aspirations.
In line with current sensibilities, the film also incorporates a racially diverse cast (something not seen before), set against the backdrop of a fictional European town in the 1930s.
In addition to Slugworth, Ficklegrubber, and Prodnose -who are only mentioned in the book- Willy Wonka and the Oompa-Loompa are the only characters from the original source portrayed in this film.
The delicate subject of the Oompa-Loompas' slavery is rescued and reformed in the form of the laundry house of Scrubitt and Bleacher, into which Willy Wonka and other unfortunate characters are tricked to work.
Being a prequel, Charlie and his family do not appear, but the film introduces "Noodle", an orphan girl living in the laundry house, a character which provides the film with a clever twist.
As revealed by Dahl's wife after his death, Roald had always wanted "Charlie" to be a
black boy, an idea that was rejected by the publisher at the time, but that was skillfully rescued for this film version.
Also, in response to Dahl’s call for reading manifest in the original book, Noodle is described as a bookworm who teaches Willy how to read, and whose mother is a librarian who lives in a library (the
Radcliffe Camera library in Oxford).
The Oompa-Loompas retain the look conceived for the 1971 film as well as their trademark song, but the use of a CGI instead of actual actors, and Hugh Grant's characterization with aristocratic overtones provide this Oompa-Loompa with a stylishness far from the original source.
Just as the previous films, "Wonka" includes musical numbers interspersed among the action, which accentuate the events portrayed without making it a full-length musical.
Along with new songs and a full soundtrack, two songs from the 1971 film are reprised in this film, with small changes in arrangement: the Oompa-Loompa song, and "Pure Imagination".
Elaborating after the candies imagined by Dahl on his book (such as hot ice cream for cold days, fizzy lifting drinks, lickable wallpaper, etc.), this film presents a whole new array of fantastic confections, such as ‘Hoverchocs’ and ‘Giraffe milk macaroons’, along with others directly inspired by Dahl’s candies (such as the ‘Hair repair eclair’, based on the ‘Hair toffee’ of the book), which introduce elements of fun and whimsy in the story.
In addition, following Dahl's subtle moralising messages, the film points at greed, gluttony, discrimination, and corruption, but this time only the adults are guilty of these faults, and each one receives their deserved (funny) comeuppance.
The final messages -the power of dreams, the importance of family and sharing- continue the legacy started by Roald Dahl in his books, and the film ends on a high note with a glimpse of the future Willy Wonka factory and the wonders it will bring.
Every work of creation and subsequent adaptation reflects the vision of their creator, but also the views of each generation, and in the case of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” this is no exception.
From the original book to the last film of the franchise, each of these creations reflect the current social conventions of what children should be taught, the values they should learn, and the type of material they can be exposed to -or not.
However, this anniversary is a good moment to read again - or for the first time! - this beloved classic, and come up with your own conclusions, remembering that the fantasy and imagination of children’s world has the right to remain untarnished and free from the interpretations, concerns, and views of the adults.
To Learn More...
* Want to learn more about Roald Dahl and his works? Then visit his official website:
https://www.roalddahl.org
* Want to learn the story of Roald Dahl’s first draft of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”? Read this interesting New York Times Article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/books/review/roald-dahl-black-charlie-chocolate-factory.html
Sources: “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl, Penguin Books. IMDB, Booknotions, The Guardian, Wikipedia, New York Times.
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