words that make a difference: “Willy Versus Charlie: The Culture-Bending Oompa Loompa”

As an author of film criticism, I aim to write and discuss topics accessible to those readers not well-versed in the field. My approach is to remain open and pick topics that are contemporary and modern, then interlace them with scholarly criticism and theory. At stake in my writing is the ability for the reader to understand what they see on the screen, and the elements that influence the theatrical production of films.

My essay, "Willy Versus Charlie: The Culture-Bending Oompa Loompa," will be published this spring in Film Matters, an international undergraduate film scholars' magazine. Film Matters publishes four issues a year, and each paper undergoes an anonymous peer review process.

The topic of my essay is the cultural impact and evolution of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and its contemporary retelling, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. An audience can see many changes between the two films, from character design and costumes to innovative technology. These changes were brought about due to the cultural and historical changes in the U.S., especially the civil rights movements.  Many found the depiction of the Oompa-Loompa similar to those of victims of the slave trade, both in their physical characteristics and their background stories. What I learned in the process of researching the essay is the unique ability of film to channel historical and cultural changes without smothering the viewer, or projecting a certain moral message or ideology.  In my essay I explain:

"To avoid the same negative reaction Dahl's novel received, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) redesigned the Oompa-Loompa characters as genderless beings with no ethnic references in their physical appearances.  Their first on screen appearance depicts the Oompa-Loompas as strange men with green hair, orange faces, and white factory overall uniforms.  While the actors are different in size, shape, and stature, (five actors play the Oompa Loompas) none give off the distinct appearance of a darker skinned man the directors hoped to avoid.  In fact, the orange skin avoids any reference or resemblance of any human ethnicity" (5).

I view my criticism as a marriage of my two majors: Cinema and Screen Studies and English. My latter degree focuses on the mechanics of writing, and highlights structural values and composition. Cinema and Screen Studies allows me to focus specifically on the medium of film and the analysis of the image that I see on the screen. By analyzing this image I have learned to "read" film in a way similar to "reading" a written text. The two together allow me a wider scope of theories and knowledge that otherwise would not be available if I had chosen one of the two majors.