So I just re-watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory:
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
I'm talking about the film that was released in 1971, not 2005. I re-watched it because I stumbled upon a website saying that Charlie's Grandpa Joe is actually a horrible person, and honestly, after watching the film for the first time bearing this in mind, I really couldn't agree more. As we all know, when Charlie brings home a golden ticket, Joe, after being bed-ridden for 20 years, miraculously gets out of bed. Now, this website goes into a conspiracy theory about how Joe must've gotten out of bed each night while everyone else was sleeping during these 20 years since, in real life, a person's muscles would stop working if they stayed in bed that long. However, as proven by the chocolate factory itself, the laws of physics in this film's universe seem to be different than the laws of physics in our own universe. So let's just go by what we know.
In the beginning, it seems like Joe is simply too old and tired to help out in the family, which does seem like an innocent enough reason for him to lay back with Charlie's other 3 grandparents, while his daughter and grandson do all the work. However, when Charlie reveals that he found the last golden ticket to the family, Joe shows his true colors. It's the prospect of free candy that motivates him to get out of bed, not the prospect of helping his tirelessly working daughter and grandson. Even since Mr. Bucket died, Mrs. Bucket had been folding laundry nonstop to support the family, and not once did her father offer to help her, maybe take over folding laundry for her once in a while. It was when the opportunity arose for Mrs. Bucket to catch a break and do something fun that her father decided to take over for her. It was then that Joe decided to get involved his grandson's life, rather than when Charlie started doing his paper-routes. It's a basic principal in life that if you want the fun aspects of something, you also have to partake in the responsibility. Mrs. Bucket should've said, "If you're going to stay in bed when there's work to do, you're also going to stay in bed when there's vacation to go" and insisted on being the one to accompany Charlie to the factory. |
Anonymous
| If you read the book, Charlie has both parents and neither want to go to the factory. The ticket says you can bring one or two people, and they suggest grandpa joe goes. The movie really does make him look selfish though, I agree. |
Anonymous
| Did you see the Oompa Loompas? Because I’m not sure this is a movie to be watched for its depiction of reality. |
Anonymous
-girl filled with blueberry juice needs to be squeezed -kid who loves tv is shrunk down to tv size -fizzy lifting drink lifts you up - a coat is added as an ingredient -an everlasting gobstopper Candy lasts forever -a woman isn’t sure she’ll give up chocolate bars in exchange for her kidnapped husband See, OP? |
Anonymous
|
Anonymous
| In OP’s defense, Grandpa Joe encouraged Charlie to steal the Fizzy Lifting Drinks and went crazy when Willy Wonka told them it disqualified Charlie from winning the candy; Grandpa told Charlie they’d give the Gobstopper to Slugworth. It was good-hearted Charlie that gave it back. I always thought Grandpa Joe was a jerk. |
Anonymous
|
I didn’t think that joe was in bed being lazy, more that he was feeble and had given up, can’t be a choice to lie in bed with 3 others eating cabbage water. It was the excitement and joy of seeing Charlie happy and his wishes to have grandpa go, that encouraged him to try with all his might.
Agree that it was awful for him to tell Charlie to sell-out, but in the end it was a memorable childhood movie. |
Anonymous
|
Anonymous
| All I know is that I want a gobstopper now |
Anonymous
| I just watched this again too, last week! Showed my 7 and 6 year olds, and this is exactly what I told my husband - that Grandpa Joe is a giant turd for letting his family care for him and go deeper into poverty when 3 minutes or so of hobbling about got him back on his feet. |
Anonymous
That last one is totally realistic. It would be a hard choice for me! |
Anonymous
It’s realistic for you because you would eat the bars. She just wanted them for the trash part of them. That’s the unrealistic paet. ? |
Anonymous
Part! |
Anonymous
| What era was it supposed to have taken place? Dickensian London in Brady Bunch clothes? |
Anonymous
|