Supply-Side Wonka

Posted by Nick Beaudrot

Could there be a movie that more exhibited the conservative world view than the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? [Caution: spoilers ahead]

First off, Charlie's family isn't well-off, but the fact that they stick together as a family is more important having money. Charlie knows he only gets one Wonka bar each year, but his grandparents urge him that he has as much a of a chance to get a Golden Ticket as anyone (just have faith!). Meanwhile, Papa Bucket is a victim of technological advancement -- which is a good thing (the advancement, not the victimhood) -- but he seem to just take it on the chin, asking get his wife to "make the cabbage soup a little thinner", rather than looking for some sort of unemployment insurance. And of course, Charlie, a born-again choclatier who just needs the right opportunity, is rewarded for his faith with a Golden Ticket. He ponders selling it and using the profits to help his family ... something almost anyone in the Buckets' situation would consider ... but his grandparents urge him "don't give away that ticket for something as common as money". What sacrifice for the greater good!

Once inside the factory, all the other snooty kids -- false messiahs, if you will -- get their just desserts [pun fully intended], and the one kid with true faith is rewarded in the end ... but he turns it down! Why? He can't take his family with him. What loyalty and sacrifice for one's loved ones! Finally, after turning Wonka into the prodigal son, Charlie and his family reap their reward, and everyone lives happily ever after. All through the healing power of faith in chocolate.

Awesome.

Combined with all the fancy "W" logos, I think it's clear that the subliminal message machine of Hollywood is no longer trying to turn us into communists; it's trying to turn is into conservatives.

Also, no one told me the Fed chair was moonlighting in Hollywood: