Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

 

What is the basic plot of Willy Wonka?

  • The eccentric owner and founder of the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory, one of the largest makers of confectionaries in the world, sends out five golden tickets hidden inside his world-famous Willy Wonka chocolate bars.
  • The lucky five children who find the tickets will be given the once in a lifetime opportunity to take a tour of the chocolate factory, with Willy Wonka personally. The tour is full of wonder as candy and chocolate have been re-engineered into everything from rivers to bridges to grass and walls, a land of “pure imagination” as Wonka describes 
  •  However, along the tour each of the five children give into their unique temptations, which causes them problems and forces them to leave the tour
  •  Except for Charlie, a poor, humble, local kid who always follows Willy Wonka’s instruction, respects his authority, and has a pure love for everything he sees at the factory
  •  At the end of the tour, Charlie is the only one remaining. Much to his surprise and delight, the reward for his patient endurance is that Willy Wonka gives him the entire factory

Who are the main characters?

  •         Willy Wonka

o   Wealthy, eccentric founder and owner of the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory, one of the biggest confectionary companies in the world

o   He is mysterious and reclusive. There are many myths and legends about him

o   His factory is full of fantastical wonder that stretches the imagination about what chocolate and candy can do 

  •        Charlie

o   A young boy from the same village Wonka’s factory is located

o   Him and his family are among the poorest in town, and live snuggly in a small, leaky house

o   Yet, Charlie is extremely happy and content with life

o   He is always willing to sacrifice himself and his own desires for the good of the family, whom he loves very much

  •        Augustus Gloop

o   From Dusseldorf, Germany

o   Obsessed with eating everything in sight, especially chocolate

o   His is severely obese, yet pounds away bars of chocolate

  •         Violet

o   From Atlanta, GA

o   Extremely competitive

o   She wants to be number one at everything from sports to chewing gum competitions and believes that everyone else is a loser

  •         Veruca Salt

o   Is the young daughter of a wealthy British businessman

o   Receives everything she asks for, including several exotic animals, but is never happy

o   Is insatiably greedy, unhappy, selfish, and complains about everything

o   Believes she is the center of the universe

  •         Mike Teavee

o   Smart American kid who is obsessed with TV and violent video games

o   Is aggressive, selfish, and always angry

o   Hates chocolate

How does the plot reveal the nature of God or the reality of life as revealed in Scripture?

  •         Willy Wonka is kind of a parable of Christ and the Kingdom of God

o   There is a ruler, a king, who invites ordinary people to follow him into his kingdom for a tour

  •         But the tour tests each person to see if they will give in to their unique sin temptations

o   Augustus Gloop with Gluttony

o   Violet with pride and selfish ambition

o   Veruca Salt with greed and pride

o   Mike Teavee with pride, hatred, and selfishness

  • But Charlie is the only kid left at the end of the tour and much to his surprise, the prize for enduring to the end is the inheritance of the entire factory
  •  Unlike the other kids, who are proud and rich in spirit, Charlie is the only child who is humble, pure, and poor in spirit

o   According to Jesus’s sermon about the Beatitudes, it is such people who are meek who will inherit the earth, it is the poor in spirit who will own the Kingdom of God, it is the pure of heart who will see God, while it is those who are rich and proud in spirit now who will not

o   Jesus says in Matthew that it is those who humble themselves like a child that are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven

o   Similarly, in Revelation, Christ talks about those who are in Christ and remain obedient to Him and don’t fall into temptations, who don’t “soil their garments,” will rule with Him  

  •  Charlie’s purity of heart allows him to see the essence of chocolate in a way the other kids cannot

o      In response to Mike Teavee’s comments on hating chocolate and the factory because it is useless and pointless, Charlie says that that is the essence of chocolate and why it’s beautiful because it doesn’t have to have a point

o      Charlies’ purity of heart allows him to find beauty in that which seem useless and pointless

o      Similarly, it is the pure of heart who see God and the essence of His beauty and that He is not to be worshipped for His usefulness to us, but rather simply because He is beautiful

  •         Even in Willy Wonka, we see some echoes to Christ

o      Christ was so different and contrary to the cultural norms of His time that He would seem eccentric at best and a threat at worst, and was thus persecuted because of that

o      God and Christ are described by the Bible as the very essence of love and He is the biggest producer and promoter of authentic love

o      And like chocolate, true love does not have to have a point, it is not useful for life, but is what makes life worth living

o      God created the universe, the world, and humanity as an expression of His love because He is all sufficient in Himself and does not need anything else, therefore creation does not have to have a utilitarian usefulness either, it does not have to have a point, except perhaps to point back to God who is the definition of love and beauty

o     God’s creation is also like art, which does not have to have a usefulness in the utilitarian sense, but is created to behold beauty and find joy and meaning

o     And people, who are the pinnacle of God’s creation are not particularly useful to God, and are in fact hostile and destructive to God, yet we are His image bearers and thus possess an artistic beauty that He seeks to bless

  •         Jesus says that we cannot serve God and money/mammon

o      Money and mammon represent the utilitarian/usefulness mindset that much of the world operates on

o      It sacrifices or uses God, family, friends, people and relationships to get more money/mammon

o      Conversely serving and loving God means putting Him and family, friends, people and relationships as the priority in life and money/mammon is the tool to serve and glorify them

  •         Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is not a perfect parable

o      Inheriting the Kingdom of God is not based on our ability to muster up the strength to resist temptation or to be stronger than everyone else, but rather based on our abiding, trusting, and depending on the Holy Spirit, who transforms us and gives us the ability to resist temptation and to endure and thrive in faith until the end.   

 

Key Scripture:

  • Matthew 5:1-11 ESV “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” 
  •  Matthew 18:1-4 ESV “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’ ”
  •   Luke 6:24-26 ESV “ ‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.’ ”
  •  Matthew 6:24 ESV “ ‘No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.’ ”
  •  John 21:18 ESV “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ ”
  •  1 John 4:7-8 ESV “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
  •  Revelation 2:26-27 ESV “ ‘The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.’ ”

 

 

Food for Thought:

  •           If you are a Christ follower, is your faith and hope set on Christ and His Kingdom? Does contemplating His kingdom help you resist sinful temptations and propel you to love and good works and faithful endurance? Also, do you worship God for what He can give you or because He is beautiful and worthy of worship?
  •       If you are not a Christ follower, do you see the traces of God’s divine beauty in your daily life, from a gorgeous sunset to a star-lit night? If you see that life is worth living because of the love you have for friends and family, how much more so if you receive the love that Christ offers? 

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