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Visit Tyndale s thirsty(?) Web site at areuthirsty.com TYNDALE is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 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 Living Translation, 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 Zondervan Publishing 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 2005 823.914 dc22 2005000810 Printed in the United States of America 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The author and publishers make no claim to be associated with or endorsed by the Dahl Estate or Warner Brothers Studios regarding the content of this book.
[Charlie said,] I knew he was famous, Grandpa Joe, and I knew he was very clever.... Chapter 1 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 Chocolate Factory, page 9)
Is Image Everything? VH1 recently tackled the Big Question. No, not What s the meaning of life? or Who will be the next president? or even Who ll be this year s prom queen? Nope, none of those. It was What makes an icon? It s not enough just to be famous or to have won a couple of awards, says VH1. Here are some of the requirements for stars to achieve 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 changed from what it meant centuries ago. Originally, icon meant an image or an artistic representation of anything holy. During the early days of the Roman Empire, an icon was a painting, sculpture, or mosaic that stood for some basic teaching from the Scriptures kind of a spiritual focal point for the early Christians to reflect on. But today
4 Rasmussen an icon can be any person, picture, character, or symbol that is easily recognized, often imitated, and even idolized. We are bombarded by media images from television, billboards, magazine ads, movies, and the Internet. But are all of these beautiful people and expensive objects icons? Some will become a fad or trend and then quickly be forgotten (like last year s boy band), while others stay with us for many, many years. Those lasting images are the ones that become icons. Why? Icons give us a fresh way of looking at things, a new perspective. So maybe cultural icons today aren t really that different from the icons of centuries past: They somehow reflect an insight or meaning greater than the image itself. So, Who Gets Your Worship? According to a recent study published in New Scientist, one-third of the U.S. population has the starry-eyed condition called Celebrity Worship Syndrome. About 20 percent of Americans closely follow celebs for entertainment and social reasons. Another 10 percent have an intense personal feeling for a specific idol many believing they have a special bond with a movie star, athlete, or musician. These people experience signs of addiction in their celebrity worship. One percent of U.S. citizens are struggling with a borderline-pathological condition in their adoration of a pop figure. They would 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 It would be hard to argue that Willy Wonka doesn t fit into VH1 s definition of a cultural icon. Start humming the tune to an
WonkaMania 5 Oompa-Loompa song and someone will probably join in (unless you re really musically challenged...). Mention an Everlasting Gobstopper and most people will know what you re talking about. But the lasting popularity of Willy Wonka goes beyond that. Chat with any one of the millions of fans truly influenced by the world s favorite candy man, and the discussion will inevitably lead to a debate over favorite characters, favorite lines, and favorite moments associated with Wonka not to mention our favorite opinions about what really should have happened to Augustus, Veruca, Violet, and Mike Teavee!................................................ Wonka Wannabes Other people besides Johnny Depp who were considered for the role of Willy Wonka: Robin Williams, Steve Martin, Nicholas Cage, Christopher Walken, and Michael Keaton. Rumor has it Marilyn Manson and John C. Reilly were interested in the part too................................................. But then there are those people who just have to take things too far and go to ridiculous lengths to find the secret meaning of every word, every object, every gesture. These are the people who take the symbols and images of the story and exaggerate and twist them until the original meaning is lost and a new, distorted meaning takes its place. What about those brightly colored mushrooms by the chocolate river? Some people think that they actually represent the drugs of the same name and that the movie is nothing more than one big chemically enhanced trip. Film director Mel Stuart denies this view of the movie in his book Pure Imagination, saying, But it wasn t a psychedelic drug trip, or at least it wasn t my intention for people to think it was. 2 Here s what Paris Themmen (aka Mike Teavee) had to say: About the drug induced theory of Wonka: It s the most common theory I hear. I have been told that it is a popular movie to play at raves. People go to raves and watch this movie while under the influence of whatever. 3 Other distortions of the world of Willy Wonka are many.
6 Rasmussen [Charlie and the Chocolate Factory] is gonna be a wild ride. Big shoes [to fill], though. Gene Wilder did such an awesome job in that film in the early 70s, so I mean, taking that character of Willy Wonka and going somewhere completely different is... he sort of made the job infinitely more difficult for me. Johnny Depp Johnny Depp: Secrets and Sparrows, MTV s Movie House, MTV, http://www.mtv.com/band s/m/movie_house/depp_se cret_040309/index.jhtml?e pinum=22%20. Veruca Salt is not only the name of a character in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but also the name of a punk rock band from Chicago. Did you know Marilyn Manson once spoofed the character in one of his music videos? Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons have also done their own parodies of the Oompa-Loompas and the boat ride down the chocolate river. The original purpose of icons in the early church cathedrals got twisted too. Back in the fifth and sixth centuries, some Christians believed that if they prayed to an icon, it would somehow help answer their prayers. Sometimes icons would even be given credit for miracles that took place, such as someone being healed from a life-threatening illness. The icon, meant to be a glimpse of God a reminder of the supernatural power of our Creator instead became an idol. Some of these takeoffs of Wonka s story are meant to be entertaining, but they show what happens when we look too hard at an image for answers. The fact is, while God can use a variety of cultural images (even Willy Wonka) to reveal pieces of biblical truth to us, none of these images could possibly show us the entire truth about God s character or reflect even a fraction of his glory and power. The apostle Paul gives us an unusual illustration of how earthly images are a reflection of God: Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV). That statement may not seem to make much sense if we are visualizing the kind of mirrors that we re used to, the kind that reflect objects perfectly. But the mirrors Paul was talking about were different they often had dents or ripples, and the images reflected in these ancient mirrors were cloudy at best.
WonkaMania 7 Paul was saying that we only catch glimpses now and then of who God really is through the images around us. Those glimpses or images can easily become distorted by our limited perceptions. So we need to be sure we worship the Creator of the image, not the image itself. An icon is an open door to the Creator; when it becomes an idol, the door slams in your face. Madeleine L Engle How foolish are those who manufacture idols. These prized objects are really worthless. The people who worship idols don t know this, so they are all put to shame. Isaiah 44:9 Unwrapping the Truth Craving 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 Thought Who are some current pop icons you have been influenced by? What are some current popular trends and images you think will be forgotten ten years from now? Why? Do you feel like you have ever made an idol out of any people or things in your life? How can you avoid worshipping the icons and idols of our culture?