willy wonka

lifesaver · #1 01-22-2001, 03:17 PM

I KNOW I wasn't the only old schooler here watching WW last night on ABC. It has been FOREVER since I heard the "Candyman Can" song. "Cause he mixes it with love and makes the world go 'round." I was 7 all over again. I am all about the Oompa Loompas. I knew some girls as an undrgrad who looked just like the Oompa Loompas. Watching it as a "grown-up" I was surprised at the amount of drugs that were obviously ingested by the writers/directors to make the flick be trippin' like that. right up there with the Bannana Splits. There is a difference between childrens fanciful imaginations and freakin on X.

Billy Optimist · #2 01-22-2001, 03:19 PM

ooompa loompa dooba de do. I've got the perfect riddle for you. oompa loompa do ba de dee. I think Mr. Wonka is rollin' on E.

ZTAngel · #3 01-22-2001, 04:17 PM

Watching that movie when I was young, I thought it was just about a candy factory and some kids that got a tour of it. Now that I'm a grown up

, I can see all the symbolism that's in it. There are many drug refrences. Also, each of the kids has one of the Seven Deadly Sins (except for Charlie, of course, which is why he "succeeded"). It's so much more fun to watch when you look for all the hidden meanings. It is my FAVORITE movie!

HeidiHo · #4 01-22-2001, 10:46 PM

I know this is a little off topic, but the Winnie the Pooh characters are also the seven deadly sins.
Heidi

mccoyred · #5 01-23-2001, 09:11 AM

Yes, I sat and watched it with my 6-year-old last night. I remember reading the book when I was young but I also saw a different meaning this time.

If we think about it, most 'good' literature (ie books, movies,etc) can be received on more than one level. People ask me why I read books or watch movies more than once; it is for this very reason. At any given time, I can be in a different 'place' and pickup a meaning that I didn't before.

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lifesaver · #6 01-23-2001, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Billy Optimist:
ooompa loompa dooba de do. I've got the perfect riddle for you. oompa loompa do ba de dee. I think Mr. Wonka is rollin' on E.

ROTFLMAO! I had to email that to my sister, because I thought it was so funny. We both love the oompa loompa song. Good one Billy.

Alumnus who cares · #7 01-23-2001, 11:38 AM

OK, the first two are blatantly obvious:

Augustus Gloop = Gluttony
Veruca Salt = Greed

The other two are not quite as clear-cut, but I'll give 'em a shot:

Violet Beauregarde = Pride? She did seem to brag a lot about how she chewed the same piece of gum for three months straight.

Mike Teavee = Sloth? All he did was sit around and watch TV all day.

Classic movie though. Just watching the opening credits, with those mountains of chocolate piling up, made me hungry.

Alumnus who cares · #8 01-23-2001, 11:48 AM

You know what else I caught the other night that I thought was funny? At the beginning of the movie, Bill the candy store owner is singing "The Candyman Song" and throwing around handfuls of candy to the kids. And they basically ransack and loot his store, taking at least a couple hundred dollars worth of goodies, and he doesn't seem to care one bit. But later, Charlie buys a candy bar from him and forgets to pay him right away, and Bill stands there clearing his throat and holding out his hand until Charlie pays him the dime. I got a kick out of that.

ZTAngel · #9 01-23-2001, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Alumnus who cares:
You know what else I caught the other night that I thought was funny? At the beginning of the movie, Bill the candy store owner is singing "The Candyman Song" and throwing around handfuls of candy to the kids. And they basically ransack and loot his store, taking at least a couple hundred dollars worth of goodies, and he doesn't seem to care one bit. But later, Charlie buys a candy bar from him and forgets to pay him right away, and Bill stands there clearing his throat and holding out his hand until Charlie pays him the dime. I got a kick out of that.

What I got from that is because the kids who took the candy were rich. Charlie was poor. I think the symbolism behind that is that the rich will get away with anything. When I watched it the other night with my roommate, she said that the book makes a lot of symbolic refrences to the Industrial Revolution. I've been trying to find them. Alumnus...those were the deadly sins that I got for each kid also.

vanda · #10 01-23-2001, 12:54 PM

Maybe it's because I feel like a kid every time I watch it, but where are the drug references? Sometimes things have to smack me over the head before I see them. But could you imagine going to a factory where everything is "eatable, I mean edible?"

#11 01-23-2001, 04:43 PM

I can't take credit for this- got it from another site but kinda funny:

Gilligan's Island

Pride: The professor (could make any techno system out of a coconut and was cocky enough to never say "no, it can't be done")
Envy: Maryann (over Ginger)
Lust: Ginger (all that time on the island without a phone call from Rock Hudson-you know she was desperate for something)
Greed: Mr Howell
Sloth: Mrs. Howell- she did nothing to contribute to anything.
Gluttony and Anger: Skipper (hitting Gilligan over the head with his hat all the time and well.... his belly!

None apply to Gilligan though... there has to be an 8th- stupidity!

MIDWESTDIVA · #12 01-23-2001, 05:30 PM

I watched the second half. I haven't seen it since I was a kid. I didn't remember it being so stupid. Some of the moves the oompa loompas did looked covertly sexual in nature. But it did make me want to read the book again.

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"There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it." ~George Bernard Shaw

vanda · #13 01-23-2001, 08:25 PM

I discussed this with my cousin because we are avid Willy Wonka fans and we realized some of the drug refernces but as a kid you really wouldn't notice ( Thelickable wallpaper and such) Who would have thought an innocent movie would hold such references!

Billy Optimist · #14 01-24-2001, 01:05 AM

Thanks Lifesaver.

AXO Alum · #15 01-24-2001, 12:54 PM

Okay - I am totally swamped at work but I'm finding a second to contribute to this ---

First of all I can't believe you guys haven't seen this movie everywhere - its been on like TBS/TNT/USA like a million times -- I was so sick of seeing it that I didn't even watch it on ABC. (I really hate it when those stations play movies to death)...but anyway --

I knew even as a child that those oompah loompahs were out to get us -- my favorite part is where they're singing about being a brat and say that she's like a Siamese Cat (they do look rather brattish if you think about it). The whole boatride thing was a huge drug trip in my opinion - I could've lived without seeing that chicken's head being cut off. Another drug reference was when they got into the bubbly and really got "high" and those few seconds of "fun" nearly killed them...big reference to me. But the only part of that whole entire movie that I truly love is the "Paradise" song when they first get to the candy factory. I LOVE THAT SONG! Another thing - to this day, when I say something backwards, I always say "Stop that - reverse it" and do the little hand motion which Willy Wonka did through the entire thing. Okay - gotta get back to work -- just wanted to throw my change in the bucket!

BTW - anyone else hear the Gene Wilder is extremely ill? I don't know the details, but I heard he has incurable something and is not expected to live long...I love him!