Support NeoGAF

[bitbydeath]

I’m sure we can all agree there was something a bit off about Willy Wonka.

He not only had alien like creatures (oompa loompas) working for him (who may or may not have been enslaved).

He also had a lot of future tech which I feel we only saw the tip of. (I’m guessing he learned from the Oompa Loompas)

The golden tickets were only handed out to kids, I’m sure plenty of adults would also like to own his business which is very convinent and further more each room they went into was tailored to each child’s weakness.

Also as the kids disappeared the Oompa Loompas had a song prepared to sing about their misfortune.

I’m not sure if he wanted to outright murder them though, maybe a new recipe required the fear of children?

What does GAF think?

 

[MC Safety]

The Golden Tickets were a promotion, and not handed out to children.

Wonka is a supergenius who understood human psychology, but couldn't have expected five children to find five golden tickets.

Child murdering psycho is an extreme exaggeration. He may have been a sadist, but no one was killed at the factory.

 

[Amory]

Murderer? No.

He's an eccentric, maybe a bit of a misanthrope, but then again most of the people in that movie were pieces of shit

 

[KevinKeene]

Speaking about the Depp-version: There absolutely was this permant sinister, brooding atmosphere. It was as if it took only a slight variation and we'd be watching a psycho-thriller.

 

[Basoes]

He was a slave owner who inbred oompa loompas but a child murderer he was not

 

[Northeastmonk]

The part that scared me as a kid was at the beginning of the original film where a man says he never sees the workers go in and he never sees them come out.

Edit. I don't think he was responsible. It must be like the tobacco industry.

 

[Bumbles]

He didnt enslave the oompa loompas, they joined him there freely. Its explained in the books, but Ive lifted this from the Roald Dahl website - http://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl/characters/magical-folk/the-oompa-loompas

The Oompa-Loompas are from Loompaland, which Mr Wonka describes as a terrible place. "Nothing but thick jungles infested by the most dangerous beasts in the world - hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles," he tells Charlie Bucket and the other Golden Ticket winners.

Loompaland is such a terrible place that when Mr Wonka invited the Ooompa-Loompas to come back to his Chocolate Factory, they leapt at the chance. Now they live and work there, helping Mr Wonka with his experiments and generally keeping his Chocolate Factory going.

The Oompa-Loompas enjoy singing and dancing. They're always making up songs. Their favourite food is the cacao bean, the central ingredient in a bar of chocolate, and in the Wonka Factory they have access to as many cacao beans as they could possibly wish for.

 

[way more]

He didn't murder the children. Two of the kids came out fine if just dirty. The other two were mutilated but healthy.

 

[womfalcs3]

He was a slave owner who inbred oompa loompas but a child murderer he was not

Woo. That's a relief.

 

[DiscoJer]

Murderer? No.

He's an eccentric, maybe a bit of a misanthrope, but then again most of the people in that movie were pieces of shit

They were kids. Most kids are jerks at heart. Like cats. But unlike cats, they eventually grow out of it.

 

[hankster]

He was a sad clown copy of Pawtucket Pat that's who he was. Kids these daze....

Pawtucket Pat

 

[llien]

Speaking about the Depp-version: There absolutely was this permant sinister, brooding atmosphere. It was as if it took only a slight variation and we'd be watching a psycho-thriller.

That's more of a Tim Burton than Depp, in my humble opinion.

 

[woopWOOP]

He was a slave owner who inbred oompa loompas but a child murderer he was not

Woo. That's a relief.

lol

Been awhile since I saw the 1971 movie, but he seemed like someone who enjoyed showing off his crazy factory but didn't really care if anybody got themselves mangled/killed there by doing things their own way, children or not.
"Stop, don't, come back"
So not really a murdering psychopath, but he clearly didn't give a shit about the wellbeing of those kids, lol

 

[Mohonky]

It was more like, manslaughter I thought.

He didnt have intent but he was grossly negligent.

 

[BANGS]

No kids were actually harmed, and the Oompas work for him as repayment for his generosity towards them...

Fact is, the man was a genius. He somehow was able to distribute the winning tickets perfectly to fall into the hands of children, and have his scout ready to meet them shortly afterwards posing as a representative from slugworth. He had everything all planned out perfectly, from the contest winners to the punishments for them...

The only thing that makes zero sense to me, is why he even bothered with the contest and messing with those obviously flawed kids at all. Was it all just an act to teach Charlie some more life lessons before he took over the mantle of Wonka? Did he pick Charlie long before the contest even started? It gets a little hairy when you overthink it, that's why I choose not to...

 

[RedHotBoss]

You guys are missing alot of the crucial details for this case. My friend is an avid fan of both of the movies and the book and she has compiled a huge list of evidence stating that Gene Wilder's Wonka is basically a body swapping immortal who preys on children for candy ingredients, as well as for new vessels to possess in order to live forever.

I cant remember every bizarre example but a few of them come to mind like how charlie and his grandfather were meant to get chopped to bits after drinking that super fizzy soda.(its not like old willy stuck his head in to warn them they need to belch in order to save themselves.) And ever wonder why on that creepy boat ride Wonka knew exactly how many seats were needed for him and his passengers? Even though he started with a much larger group of people he definitly knew ahead of time that he would be missing a few children. It really horrified me whenever she brought it up actually.

 

[-Minsc-]

This is a movie I've heard of, seen the odd clip of but have never watched.

 

[120v]

as a kid i always thought it was a rather mean spirited movie (the original) though i ultimately liked it

never read the book but i'm assuming it's more or less a morality tale and the movies depicted in whatever such way

 

[MC Safety]

as a kid i always thought it was a rather mean spirited movie (the original) though i ultimately liked it

never read the book but i'm assuming it's more or less a morality tale and the movies depicted in whatever such way

Yeah, there's definitely an element of Schadenfreude with the Oompa-Loompas doing a musical number after each dismissal.

The remake is a little more obvious about it, especially in the scene with Veruca Salt and the squirrels.

 

[NovumAngel]

I wouldn't say he was a murdering psycho, but I can't bring myself to feel bad for any of those children either.

 

[MC Safety]

You guys are missing alot of the crucial details for this case. My friend is an avid fan of both of the movies and the book and she has compiled a huge list of evidence stating that Gene Wilder's Wonka is basically a body swapping immortal who preys on children for candy ingredients, as well as for new vessels to possess in order to live forever.

I cant remember every bizarre example but a few of them come to mind like how charlie and his grandfather were meant to get chopped to bits after drinking that super fizzy soda.(its not like old willy stuck his head in to warn them they need to belch in order to save themselves.) And ever wonder why on that creepy boat ride Wonka knew exactly how many seats were needed for him and his passengers? Even though he started with a much larger group of people he definitly knew ahead of time that he would be missing a few children. It really horrified me whenever she brought it up actually.

Charlie and grandpa were never meant to get chopped to bits because they weren't supposed to visit the Fizzy Lifting Drinks room at all.

Tell your friend not to overthink the children's book and accompanying films.

 

[Javaman]

If it were in America, OSHA would have shut him down, bigtime.

 

[SoulUnison]

He didn't murder the children. Two of the kids came out fine if just dirty. The other two were mutilated but healthy.

Two of the kids came out fine if just dirty. The other two were mutilated but healthy.
The other two were mutilated but healthy.
mutilated but healthy.
mutilated

 

[WaterAstro]

He isn't, but he certainly should be shut down for lack of safety protocols. lol

 

[trikster40]

No but OSHA would have shut down his factory in a heartbeat.

Honestly, every single one of this kids violated his safety warnings. If you walk into a construction site without a hard hat and get hit in the head with a falling hammer, it’s not the foreman’s fault.