Have you ever thought of Willy Wonka, not as mad genius or whimsical chocolate maker, but as a corrupt CEO? In this episode, we will discuss and shed light on how he and Mark Zuckerberg have more in common than you realize.
This is also the first (although not the last) time The Gifted Child Symposium is featuring a guest! We are joined by Max Elliott, our theme song composer and resident Charlie and the Chocolate Factory expert. Focusing on the 2005 Tim Burton adaptation, which Max has seen more times than anyone we know, we explore the exploitative conditions of the Wonka Chocolate factory, the massive unemployment and poverty rates it has created in local community, and the way the Bucket family manages to see past all of that once Charlie gets the golden ticket. Listen in as we seek justice for the Oompa Loompas, interrogate the practices that keep the poor Buckets poorer, and question why in the world Willy Wonka would want his successor to be an 11-year-old boy.
The answer might lie in the way we venerate powerful men and excuse cruelty for the sake of abstract innovation, or it might be found inside a chocolate bar. Take a look…and you’ll see… into your imagination.
Special guest and music by Max Elliott.
Find Max on Youtube at EMAYEX MUSIC.
Bibliography
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Directed by Tim Burton, Warner Bros, 2005.
Dahl, Roland. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Knopf, 1964.
Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Puffin, 2016.
Lohmann, Meisha. “‘Wonka’ movie holds remnants of novel’s racist past”, The Conversation, 2023. https://theconversation.com/wonka-movie-holds-remnants-of-novels-racist-past-217069
Miller, Victoria. “The Heartbreaking Charlie And The Chocolate Factory Detail Tim Burton Took From Real Life”, Looper, 2021. https://www.looper.com/671450/the-heartbreaking-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-detail-tim-burton-took-from-real-life/
Min, Paige. “The Hypocrisies of Wonka’s Chocolate World: Flipping Dahl’s Story Inside Out”, Tortoise: A Journal of Writing Pedagogy, Princeton University, 2021. https://tortoise.princeton.edu/2021/05/02/the-hypocrisies-of-wonkas-chocolate-world-flipping-dahls-story-inside-out/
Yacovone, Donald. “Roald Dahl, the Caribbean, and a Warning from His Chocolate Factory”, ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, Harvard University, 2020. https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/roald-dahl-the-caribbean-and-a-warning-from-his-chocolate-factory/
Wonka. Directed by Paul King, Warner Bros, 2023
