Willy Wonka

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Willy Wonka is a fictional character in the Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, as well as the film adaptations Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

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[edit] Biography

Willy Wonka is the founder of the Wonka Candy Company and the inventor of candies such as Wonka Bars and Everlasting Gobstoppers. He proves an unparalleled genius in confectionery development, inventing seemingly impossible products that capture the world's imagination, like ice cream that never melts, and small candy eggs that hatch chocolate chip birds that move and chirp. His products are shipped and sold worldwide from his factory.

However, other chocolate makers become jealous and start sending spies to infiltrate Wonka's factory and secretly steal his recipes. In fear of being ruined, Wonka closes the factory and fires all of his workers. Several years later, the factory once again starts running, secretly staffed exclusively by the Oompa-Loompas, a race of dwarves from Loompaland who relish the taste of cocoa beans. Wonka's journey overseas to Loompaland was for the purpose of finding new exotic flavors for his candy and for pure pleasure. The gates of the factory remain locked, to prevent any more spies from stealing his recipes.

Eventually Wonka, now old and not having any children to inherit the business when he dies, feels the need to arrange for a successor for his business, if only to provide a home and work for the Oompa-Loompas. However, he wants to groom one from childhood to guarantee he or she would keep with his methods and spirit. To that end, he announces a contest with five Golden Tickets randomly placed in his products promising a tour and a lifetime supply of his products to the winners for starters. Five children find the tickets, including Charlie Bucket, and they go on the tour of the bizarre factory. During the course of the tour all the children except Charlie misbehave, and find themselves in terrible predicaments that result in their being removed from the group. When only Charlie remains, the delighted Wonka reveals his plan and his offer, which Charlie eagerly accepts. He and his family move in to live and work in the factory.

[edit] Wonka in the film adaptations

A musical film adaptation of Dahl's book Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, directed by Mel Stuart and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, was released in 1971.[1] It was originally a box office flop, but has since come to be considered a classic, hailed a children's classic by critics, and has attracted a worldwide audience.

This film added some dialogue with references to poetry that were not in the novel. The film also included a rival chocolate maker offering the children money if they betrayed Wonka and provided him with an 'Everlasting Gobstopper'. Another departure from the novel had Charlie disobeying Willy Wonka with the encouragement of Grandpa Joe. Also, Veruca Salt's "elimination" involved a room full of golden egg laying geese that she wanted one of. When she went to stand on one of the egg testing machines, she was pronounced a "bad egg" and dropped down the garbage chute. This is different from the book (and 2005 film) where Veruca went after a squirrel, got tested by a squirrel, and thrown down the garbage chute by the squirrels because "her head sounded hollow."

Another film version of the tale was released in 2005. Titled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it is a comedy directed by Tim Burton and stars Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.

This film featured sections of the novel that were not included in the first film, but also removed some scenes which were in both.

Tim Burton's 2005 version added a history of the character: Willy Wonka is the son of dentist Dr. Wilbur Wonka (played by Christopher Lee). Wonka had a traumatic childhood: his father forbade him to eat candy and forced his son to wear large and unsightly orthodontic headgear. Eventually, he tastes chocolate and starts getting ideas for other candies. When he becomes an adult, Wonka opens his own candy store, with Grandpa Joe being one of Wonka's first employees; Mike Teavee's father was hinted to be one as well.

Additionally, in Burton's film, Wonka initially refuses to allow Charlie to bring his family to his factory. An eventual reconciliation between Wonka and his father causes Wonka to change his mind and allow Charlie's family to move in with him as well.

[edit] Other appearances

  • In the Family Guy episode "Wasted Talent", Pawtucket Pat, a spoof of the Gene Wilder version of Wonka, offers a tour of the Pawtucket Brewery to winners in a plot similar to Dahl's and the 1971 movie version.
  • In Dexter's Laboratory, a contest took place in which Professor Hawk gave gold floppy disks to stores around the world, whoever found these golden floppy disks, which were sold amongst normal floppy disks, were allowed to tour Professor Hawk's laboratory.
  • In the Futurama episode "Fry and the Slurm Factory", Fry wins a contest to visit the Slurm factory after finding a golden bottle cap in a can of slurm. The factory features a slurm room where Grunka Lunkas (whom Professor Farnsworth detests) sing. The tour guide slug is dressed like Willy Wonka and tell Hermes Conrad he could fire the whole workforce of Planet Express and hire a team of Grunka Lunkas for half the wage and that the Grunka Lunkas are practically slaves.
  • In The Simpsons, a Willy Wonka-like gag shop owner named Goose Gladwell claims to own "20 stores in 30 states" and buys Bart Simpson's line of T-shirts. Goose is a former green beret who fought in Vietnam and claims that his experiences from those days are what made him crazy.
  • Johnny Bravo once won a contest to visit a jerked beef factory managed by a Wonka-like character named Jerky Jake, who was so impressed by Johnny's jerky-related knowledge he decided to name him his heir but changed his mind after Johnny's display of his usual stupidity during the press conference held to announce Johnny as Jerky Jake's heir.
  • In What's New Scooby-Doo the Scooby Snack factory owner dresses himself like Willy Wonka and once held a contest where whoever finds the golden Scooby Snack could pick between a tour in the factory or a trip to Aruba. Shaggy and Scooby win and Velma comments only they would pick the tour instead of Aruba.
  • In Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Rin owns a chocolate factory that parodies Willy Wonka's. Nozomu is refused entry as he doesn't have a Golden Ticket, however he was able to enter because he threatened to notify the health inspectors if he becomes suspicious about how the chocolate is made.

[edit] Nestlé's mascot

An animated version of Willy Wonka, based on Gene Wilder's portrayal and Quentin Blake's illustrations, serves as a mascot for Nestlé's Willy Wonka Candy Company brand. He appears on the packaging, marketing, and in the company's television commercials. Animated versions of Oompa-Loompas are seen on the website.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory", The Internet Movie Database, IMBd. Retrieved on 1 October 2008. 


[edit] External links

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