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WonkaMania

Copyright © 2005 by Kris Rasmussen. All rights reserved.

Cover photo copyright © ______ by ___________________. All rights reserved.

Author photo copyright © ______ by ___________________. All rights reserved.

Designed by Jacqueline Noe

Edited by Stephanie Voiland

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New LivingTranslation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®.Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of ZondervanPublishing House. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rasmussen, Kris.Wonkamania : the search for your golden ticket / Kris Rasmussen.

p. cm.Includes bibliographical references.ISBN-13: 978-1-4143-0546-2 (pbk.)ISBN-10: 1-4143-0546-X (pbk.)1. Dahl, Roald—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Children’s stories, English—History and

criticism. 3. Fiction—Religious aspects—Christianity. I. Title.PR6054.A35Z85 2005823′.914—dc22 2005000810

Printed in the United States of America

11 10 09 08 07 06 057 6 5 4 3 2 1

The author and publishers make no claim to be associated with or endorsed by the Dahl Estate or WarnerBrothers Studios regarding the content of this book.

Chapter 1

[Charlie said,] “I knew he wasfamous, Grandpa Joe, and I knew he

was very clever. . . .”

“Clever!” cried [Grandpa Joe].“He’s more than that!

He’s a magician with chocolate!He can make anything—

anything he wants!”

(Charlie and the ChocolateFactory, page 9)

Is Image Everything?

VH1 recently tackled the Big Question. No, not What’s themeaning of life? or Who will be the next president? or even Who’ll bethis year’s prom queen? Nope, none of those. It was What makes anicon?

It’s not enough just to be famous or to have won a couple ofawards, says VH1. Here are some of the requirements for stars toachieve pop-culture icon status:

• Do they pass the one-name test?• Can you dress up as them for Halloween?• Did they break new ground in pop culture?• Can you quote them (or their character) in ten seconds

or less?• Do people imitate their clothes or their hairstyle?• Did Saturday Night Live create a sketch about them?• Did someone write a song about them?1

The meaning of the word icon today has definitely changedfrom what it meant centuries ago. Originally, icon meant an imageor an artistic representation of anything holy. During the early daysof the Roman Empire, an icon was a painting, sculpture, or mosaicthat stood for some basic teaching from the Scriptures—kind of aspiritual focal point for the early Christians to reflect on. But today

an icon can be any person, picture, character, or symbol that iseasily recognized, often imitated, and even idolized.

We are bombarded by media images from television, bill-boards, magazine ads, movies, and the Internet. But are all of thesebeautiful people and expensive objects icons? Some will become afad or trend and then quickly be forgotten (like last year’s boyband), while others stay with us for many, many years. Those last-ing images are the ones that become icons. Why? Icons give us afresh way of looking at things, a new perspective. So maybe culturalicons today aren’t really that different from the icons of centuriespast: They somehow reflect an insight or meaning greater than theimage itself.

It would be hard to argue that Willy Wonka doesn’t fit intoVH1’s definition of a cultural icon. Start humming the tune to an

4 Rasmussen

So, Who Gets Your Worship?According to a recent study published in New Scientist, one-third of theU.S. population has the starry-eyed condition called Celebrity WorshipSyndrome.

About 20 percent of Americans closely follow celebs for entertain-ment and social reasons. Another 10 percent have an “intense personal”feeling for a specific idol—many believing they have a special bond witha movie star, athlete, or musician. These people experience signs of addic-tion in their celebrity worship.

One percent of U.S. citizens are struggling with a “border-line-pathological” condition in their adoration of a pop figure. Theywould willingly hurt themselves or others in the name of their idol.(Kinda makes you glad you’re not a celeb, huh?)

“Celeb Worship,” Soul Journey, April 28, 2004, http://www.gospelcom.net/rbs/sj/20040428.phpc

Oompa-Loompa song and someone will probably join in (unlessyou’re really musically challenged . . .). Mention an EverlastingGobstopper and most people will know what you’re talking about.But the lasting popularity of Willy Wonka goes beyond that. Chatwith any one of the millions of fans truly influenced by the world’sfavorite candy man, and the discussion will inevitably lead to adebate over favorite characters, favorite lines, and favorite momentsassociated with Wonka—not to mention our favorite opinionsabout what really should have happened to Augustus, Veruca,Violet, and Mike Teavee!

But then there are those people who just have to take thingstoo far and go to ridiculous lengths to find the “secret” meaning ofevery word, every object, every gesture. These are the people whotake the symbols and images of the story and exaggerate and twistthem until the original meaning is lost and a new, distorted mean-ing takes its place.

What about those brightly colored mushrooms by the choco-late river? Some people think that they actually represent the drugsof the same name and that the movie is nothing more than one bigchemically enhanced “trip.” Film director Mel Stuart denies thisview of the movie in his book Pure Imagination, saying, “But itwasn’t a psychedelic drug trip, or at least it wasn’t my intention forpeople to think it was.”2 Here’s what Paris Themmen (aka MikeTeavee) had to say: “About the drug induced theory of Wonka: It’sthe most common theory I hear. I have been told that it is a popu-lar movie to play at raves. People go to raves and watch this moviewhile under the influence of whatever.”3

Other distortions of the world of Willy Wonka are many.

WonkaMania 5

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wonka WannabesOther people besides Johnny Depp who were considered for the role of WillyWonka: Robin Williams, Steve Martin, Nicholas Cage, Christopher Walken, andMichael Keaton. Rumor has it Marilyn Manson and John C. Reilly were interestedin the part too.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Veruca Salt is not only the name of a charac-ter in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory butalso the name of a punk rock band fromChicago. Did you know Marilyn Mansononce spoofed the character in one of hismusic videos? Saturday Night Live and TheSimpsons have also done their own parodiesof the Oompa-Loompas and the boat ridedown the chocolate river.

The original purpose of icons in theearly church cathedrals got twisted too. Backin the fifth and sixth centuries, some Chris-tians believed that if they prayed to an icon,it would somehow help answer their prayers.Sometimes icons would even be given creditfor miracles that took place, such as someonebeing healed from a life-threatening illness.The icon, meant to be a glimpse of God—areminder of the supernatural power of our

Creator—instead became an idol. Some of these takeoffs ofWonka’s story are meant to be entertaining, but they show whathappens when we look too hard at an image for answers. The factis, while God can use a variety of cultural images (even WillyWonka) to reveal pieces of biblical truth to us, none of these imagescould possibly show us the entire truth about God’s character orreflect even a fraction of his glory and power.

The apostle Paul gives us an unusual illustration of howearthly images are a reflection of God: “Now we see but a poorreflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I knowin part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known”(1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV). That statement may not seem to makemuch sense if we are visualizing the kind of mirrors that we’re usedto, the kind that reflect objects perfectly. But the mirrors Paul wastalking about were different—they often had dents or ripples, andthe images reflected in these ancient mirrors were cloudy at best.

6 Rasmussen

“[Charlie and theChocolate Factory] isgonna be a wild ride.Big shoes [to fill],though. Gene Wilderdid such an awesomejob in that film in theearly ’70s, so I mean,taking that characterof Willy Wonka andgoing somewherecompletely differentis . . . he sort of madethe job infinitelymore difficult for me.”

—Johnny Depp

“Johnny Depp: Secretsand Sparrows,” MTV’sMovie House, MTV,http://www.mtv.com/bands/m/movie_house/depp_secret_040309/index.jhtml?epiNum=22%20.

Paul was saying that we only catch glimpsesnow and then of who God really is throughthe images around us. Those glimpses orimages can easily become distorted by ourlimited perceptions. So we need to be surewe worship the Creator of the image, not theimage itself.

How foolish are those who manufacture idols. Theseprized objects are really worthless. The people who worshipidols don’t know this, so they are all put to shame.

Isaiah 44:9

Unwrapping the TruthCraving more? Check out these Scriptures.Exodus 19:3-5; Psalm 97:5-7; 115:4-8; Isaiah 41:29;Colossians 1:15-16; 3:8-10

Just a ThoughtWho are some current pop icons you have been influenced by?

What are some current popular trends and images you think will beforgotten ten years from now? Why?

Do you feel like you have ever made an idol out of any people orthings in your life?

How can you avoid worshipping the icons and idols of our culture?

WonkaMania 7

“An icon is anopen door to theCreator; when itbecomes an idol, thedoor slams in yourface.”—Madeleine L’Engle