Grace in Movies: Wonka

This is a blog entry about the film Wonka (2023) and the ways the gospel can be glimpsed through its storytelling. It's not a film review, nor am I making any assertions about what the creators intended with this story. Just my reflections as a Christian who loves watching movies. I hope you enjoy!

from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/fr/e/e7/Wonka_%28film%29-bis.png

Well, I can say that in many ways I was surprised by this film. Let me name a few:

This film was not advertised as a musical, yet in the very first seconds of the film, the beautiful and talented Timothée Chalamet as Wonka begins singing the opening song! I was completely taken off-guard!

To be quite honest, after seeing posters and one trailer for this film, my expectations were very low. But I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable and engaging the movie was!

Similar to my overall low expectations (maybe I'm too sinical?) I was expecting the "child orphan" character, Noodle (portrayed by Calah Lane), to be another child-actor performance that's painful to watch. But instead I witnessed a performance that was completely enjoyable! She ended up being my favorite character/performance in the whole film!

But of all these surprises, I was most delightfully surprised while watching the film that the story painted a picture that reminded me so much of the story of Jesus.

from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wonka

Wonka as a Jesus Figure

Depending on the way you watch films and your personal background, you might think this is a crazy idea. I admit that it does sound strange. But if you would care to listen, I will explain.

Spoiler Alert! Please note that I will be discussing several important plot points from the film, so if you want to see the movie free of spoilers, go watch it now and come back afterwards :)

A Single Purpose and a Single Sovereign

The opening song of Wonka shows our protagonist arriving in the city that has been his singular focus and intended destination for many years (seven years to be exact, a very Biblical number 😉).

In the song, he describes how he's got only "twelve silver sovereigns" and "a hatful of dreams." (Twelve, another Biblical number! Coincidence? If only I could ask the writers!) And by the end of the song, upon entering the city, Wonka has only one sovereign left.

Yet with no other money or possessions besides these and the tattered clothes on his back, Wonka is unfazed. He is only hopeful, optimistic, and confident. He's knows he's got something incredible to show this city. "I got nothing to offer but my chocolate" he says.

Wonka sets out with the memory of his mother to guide him. She was the reason he first loved chocolate. Her presence is with him "whenever I share my chocolate with the world," he says.

This setup reminds me so much of the foundation of Jesus' years of ministry.

After becoming an adult and spending a certain amount of time isolated in the wilderness (40 days in the dessert for Jesus versus seven years at sea for Wonka), Jesus began His ministry in various cities in the ancient near-East. And like Wonka, Jesus had one special city on His heart as His final destination. Wonka's fictional city was unnamed in the film, but for Jesus, this was Jerusalem.

Jesus, too, set out on His journey with very few material possessions and no place to lay His head (Luke 9:58). But what He did have was more valuable than anything else: the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:22), intimate communion with and obedience to His heavenly Father (John 6:38), and a singular mission: to save lost people (Luke 19:10) and to announce the year of Jubilee, the coming Kingdom of God (Luke 14:17-21, Matthew 4:17).

Yes, Jesus' good news of God's Kingdom is being compared to Wonka's chocolate in my analogy.

Stick with me!

from https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/warner-bros-entertainment/images/6/68/A_Hatful_of_Dreams.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20231224031215

Jesus came to show people a different kind of world, a world that He could see and that others couldn't quite seem to (yet). This is like what Wonka is doing in the film.

There's a scene in the opening song where Wonka envisions what the world around him might look like if people discovered his amazing chocolates. Everything is changed. There's dancing in the streets! When soon we get another view of his singing in the street, and we see what other people around him see: some guy in the street acting strange.

This is how some people saw Jesus. He had a dream for how the world can be completely different from how we know it to be now. A new world that exists right now, in heaven, and is coming to earth. A world where the rules are totally different. The blind can see. The lame can walk. People love their enemies as much as they love themselves.

And many people just didn't get it. Probably thought He was crazy. But that didn't stop Him.

from https://img.delicious.com.au/4uxUBBh1/w1200/del/2023/07/wonka-192535-2.jpg

Teaching & Demonstrating the Kingdom, Inviting Others to Taste and See

"My name is Willy Wonka, and I have come to show you a marvelous morsel, an incredible edible, an unbeatable eatable the likes of which this world has never seen..." These are the words that Wonka preaches on his first day of spreading the news that his amazing chocolate is here to share.

In his song "You've Never Had Chocolate Like This" Wonka starts performing miracles and changing people's lives using the power of his incredible, unique chocolates. People are falling in love. They are dancing and singing in the streets! Everyone's worlds are being turned upside-down, the impossible suddenly seems possible.

Basically, when Willy Wonka and his chocolates are around, life just seems better. In John 10:10 Jesus said, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

When Wonka started, his opening proclamation was that he was going to show everyone a "marvelous morsel." When Jesus started His ministry, He announced "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor" (Luke 4:18-19).

The year of the Lord's favor: this is reference to Jubilee, a celebration of abundance, when debts are forgiven, the earth is given relief, and people can rest from their work and enjoy the feast! It's not life as normal, and it's not following the regular rules of society. It doesn't make sense for people who want to climb the business ladder or accrue more money or land. But it's amazing!

But you only get to take part in this freeing joy when you choose to take part. "Just try one, and you'll see" seems to be the message Wonka keeps sharing again and again with anyone who will listen. And when people have the courage to try his wacky, "foolish" chocolates, they experience in a powerful way just how amazing it really is! Jesus also invites everyone to participate in His "upside-down kingdom."

Now, Wonka's not making the lame to walk and the blind to see. He is making the bald to grow hair and those lacking confidence with the ladies to grow confidence (this is Willy Wonka after all). But it's a fun and fantastical picture of how joy and goodness can be spread when people take part in his dream (like what we can see when we take part in God's dream for humanity through Jesus).

And just like Jesus didn't set out all alone, Wonka isn't doing all this alone in the film.

And who are the people at the center of Willy's special dream?

I'm glad you asked.

from https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/12/13/rev-1-won-d80-00071_high_res_jpeg_custom-3d456f2d6ea83d0a1cd5cba3c2ad3e9e255bfd99.jpeg

Preaching the Kingdom to the Poor and Forgotten

Wonka's closest friends during his campaign to share the joy of his chocolates with the city (and the world) are a ragtag group of people with no money who have been completely forgotten by society. They are essentially living in modern slavery, kept in poor living conditions and forced to work in a laundry to pay off false debts to a corrupt landlady.

This ragtag group become his confidantes and eventually help him in his work to build the kingdom--I mean--the chocolate empire of his dreams! This setup reminds me of Jesus' disciples: a bunch of nobodies from various backgrounds, and maybe not the obvious choices for who would help to build an everlasting Kingdom.

And there is one whom Wonka especially befriends, an orphan girl named Noodle, whom we get to know best and through whose eyes we get to experience Wonka's wonders.

And she is without a doubt presented as "the least of these." She's a child, a girl, has nothing to her name, and no parents. And she's keenly aware of this, too. She sees her situation as one without hope (Wonka playfully calls this "orphan syndrome.") But who could blame her? She's enslaved forever by an insurmountable debt and totally powerless.

But meeting Wonka changes her entire outlook. Maybe it doesn't have to be this way. Maybe it doesn't have to be hopeless. Even in impossible circumstances, when it seems like nothing can be done, Wonka finds a way to turn things on their head and show her possibilities no one would have ever thought were possible.

"The greedy beat the needy every time, Mr. Wonka. Guess it’s just the way of the world," Noodle tells him in one of their first conversations. But she also admits something: she's never had chocolate.

from https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/edited-image-of-calah-lane-timothee-chalamet-in-wonka.jpg

"We'll soon put that right," responds Wonka. He pulls out his "travel factory" (yes, that's right, everywhere Wonka goes, he carries a little bit of his chocolate factory with him; the analogy is amazing!), and he cooks up a special chocolate for Noodle, with ingredients specially selected to bring her hope, just what she needs.

She tastes it. It's good. But she says she wishes she never tried it, because now each day that she doesn't have chocolate will be that much sadder. But Wonka tells her that he can give her enough chocolate to eat every day for the rest of her life. A never-ending supply.

This reminds me of Jesus speaking to the woman at the well. Jesus told her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

This and everything else Wonka does--the way he lives his life as if outside the boundaries of the harshness of reality--makes Noodle look on in wonder, and it changes her life. We're stuck in this prison? Not with Wonka! We have nothing to eat but gruel? Not with Wonka! There's nothing worth feeling hopeful or joyful about? Not with Wonka!

In the song "For A Moment" Noodle sings, "My life has turned upside-down...He's the one good thing that's ever happened to me...And for a moment I kind of forgot to be sad." She poignantly sings "He turns night to day."

Isn't this a great picture of Jesus? Knowing Jesus changes everything. The way He operated--and still operates today--is totally counter to the ways of the world as we know it. How wonderful!

And indeed, almost everyone else who tried Wonka's chocolate tasted it's wonderful effects and felt the same way as Noodle did. Almost everyone...

Unfortunately there were those who tried the chocolate, but denied it's goodness...

from https://parade.com/.image/t_share/MjAxNDU0ODMxNjcwNDcwMjY1/wonka_father_julius.jpg

The Corrupt Leaders Who Sought to Silence Him (Even Kill Him)

But of course, the powerful, the wealthy, those who held a high position in this city and a monopoly on all things chocolate, they were not happy at all with what Wonka was doing. He was a "disturbance." He was a threat. He was giving people chocolate that was utterly unlike anything they could offer.

They would never say as much, of course. But deep down, they knew it.

They envied him (Mark 15:10). They were fearful, thinking "If this guy keeps doing what he's doing, what will happen to us?" (see John 11:48). Their reactions were very different from those of the common people: "...all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing" (Luke 13:7). Sound familiar?

So, the wealthy chocolatiers, some corrupt religious officials, and some corrupt government officials conspire together to assassinate Wonka. I'm not even kidding. It's in the movie!

They give Wonka a deal: they will provide the money to pay off the bogus debts of all his friends, if he will get out of town and never make chocolate again. Wonka takes the deal. But little does he know that the boat they're using to sending him away is actually rigged with explosives to kill him!

So in effect, Wonka sacrifices his own life (and his dream) to save his friends and pay their ransom.

This, of course, reminds me of what Jesus did for us. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). But Jesus did not sacrifice His dream when He sacrificed His life. In fact, it was by sacrificing Himself that He made it possible for His dream to come true. Even though it didn't look like that at first.

The corrupt leaders assassinating Wonka thought they got away with it, stopping his dream. Just like the powers of sin and death probably thought they won when Jesus was crucified by the corrupt religious leaders and Roman officials. But this act of self-sacrifice was actually a victory by Jesus over these powers, who could not hold Him in the grave.

For it was through Jesus' death that He was inaugurated as our King, to rise again from death and to reign over us, sitting by God's side, ruling in God's good Kingdom, where everything is right and wonderful forever (Hebrews 12:2, Isaiah 9:7). This is the Kingdom that those who follow Jesus get to look forward to, the Kingdom He is bringing to earth.

For Wonka, he "came back to life" by returning again to the city, not dead, having escaped the bad guys' plot. At the end of the Wonka story, his friends are free, wrongs are put right, and he finally gets to build his factory, a place where dreams come true and where he can make the best most fantastical chocolate to share with the world, bringing joy to everyone who tries them.

It's a happy ending and makes one look forward to the events of the original story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and incites the imagination.

Jesus gave up His life willingly so that not only his friends, but also his enemies, could take part in His dream and share His joy forever in His Kingdom.

So Taste and See! His Invitation is for Everyone

It's fun to imagine what it would be like if the fanciful character of Willy Wonka was real and if one could really visit his fantastical factory where the impossible is possible and everything is wonderful and whimsical (well, unless you enter into the factory with malintent...maybe I should write my next post on the allegory of the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory story...)

But what's true is even better. So much better than an eccentric dreamer and sweets.

The true story of God's Kingdom is so much better than the story of a chocolate factory, for so many reasons. (I've met people in my life who don't like chocolate. What must they feel when they watch a film like this?) But perhaps the most key reason why God's Kingdom is better is that instead of a "world of pure imagination," God's Kingdom is very real.

Jesus said "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field" (Matthew 13:44). He said "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son" (Matthew 22:2). He also said again and again, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2, 4:17, 10:7, Mark 1:15).

So Jesus gave us a taste of this while He was on earth, an "appetizer" for all we can experience if we follow Him into His Kingdom to experience it for ourselves (and share it with others).

Hungry? Jesus can turn a couple of fish into enough food to feed an entire crowd (Matthew 14:13-21). Even more than that, He said that He Himself is the bread of life, more than just food to keep your body alive, food that will bring you eternal life.

Jesus invites everyone to taste and see for themselves that He is true and good. That He changes everything. That He brings hope to everyone, no matter who you are or what your circumstances may be. He's building His chocolate factory--I mean--Kingdom without end, and He's getting ready to throw open the gates (Isa. 26:2, Rev. 21:25).

Will you come and enjoy? Will you feast at His table? Don't worry if you have no money or feel empty spiritually. At His table, the poor and needy are seated in the seat of honor (Luke 14:10-14, Mark 10:31). All you must do is believe in Him and follow Him there.

Jesus said:

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." -John 14:6

"I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved." -John 10:9a

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." -Matthew 5:3

Concluding Thoughts

I know Wonka is just a Hollywood movie. But maybe there's something valuable in seeing God's Kingdom in new and unexpected ways, even fantastical or childish ways? After all, Jesus did say that none could enter the Kingdom unless they became like a child (Matthew 18:3).

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to dream of God's Kingdom the way a child might dream of a world made of candy, and look forward to it with such hopeful joy, excitement, and expectation?

And maybe we can think of ourselves as imitators of Christ, who, like Wonka, walk around with our miniature "travel factories" (or as ourselves vessels for the indwelling Holy Spirit) and break out the Kingdom into our regular, everyday worlds in joyous and surprising ways, showing people that there is another way, there is hope, and inviting them to taste God's goodness.

When we love others and treat others as more important than ourselves, when we forgive and are generous beyond what makes sense to the rest of the world, we are turning things upside-down to show that God's way is the better way, as we pray "your Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven."

I know talking about chocolate factories and the Holy Spirit in one sentence is all a bit silly, but this is how I watch and enjoy movies: in every story I look for the True Story of God and humanity and His great redemption plan for us. I'm glad I got to share this morsel of thought with you.

God's Kingdom is amazing to think about. It's what gives me hope. It's what I dream about.

*******

Thanks for reading!

If you want to learn more about the Kingdom of Heaven, I recommend reading the book of Matthew. If you want to start smaller, you can focus on Matthew chapter 5.

Here are some more resources to explore:

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/on-earth-as-it-is-in-heaven/

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/gospel-kingdom/

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/heaven-and-earth/

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/last-will-be-first/

Film Information:

Wonka. Directed by Paul King, Warner Bros. Pictures, 15 Dec. 2023.

See the film's IMDB page here

Grace in Movies

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Wonka

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