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thrifty-swiftie · 2 months

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it's all come full circle now, can confirm i still stand wholly by wonka gate and everything i said in that essay.

wonka gate: an examination of the parallels between wonka (2023) and sweeney todd (2007)

i saw wonka (2023) approximately 10 hours ago and since then i have been plauged by the film's nearly exact parallels to sweeney todd. over the past 10 hours, i have employed the help of my friend @orfisheus and we have successfully deconstructed every similarity between wonka and sweeney todd, though this post will specifically focus on the 2007 tim burton adaptation.

**SPOILER ALERT FOR BOTH FILMS. DO NOT READ AHEAD IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS!**

the simplest place to start is to introduce whom each of the wonka characters is trying to replicate. in my opinion, the most recognizable of these characters are mrs. scrubbit, portrayed by olivia colman, and mr. bleacher, portrayed by tom davis. these two are obviously trying to replicate sweeney todd/benjamin barker and his counterpart mrs. lovett. these two are recognizable by name alone, with "scrubbit" sounding extremely similar to "lovett" and "bleacher" sounding similar to "barker." however, the personalities of scrubbit and bleacher are nearly exact replicas of lovett's and sweeney's personalities. both sets of characters run "shops" that aim to harm the people coming in. one character, lovett in sweeney todd and bleacher in wonka, lures their victims in while the other, sweeney and scrubbit, do the actual harming. even from a non-theatre fan standpoint, the similarities between these characters is undeniably recognizable.

now, you may be asking "if scrubbit and bleacher are meant to represent the main characters from the original source material, why aren't they the main characters of wonka?" to that, i propose that we look at wonka as if it's the story of sweeney todd told by another character: anthony. timothée chalamet's wonka is almost a 1:1 copy of sweeney todd's anthony. both characters are dreamers and see the world in the best light possible despite all of the tragedy surrounding them. if you choose to view wonka as a story told through an anthony-esque character's perspective, the fun, colorful atmosphere of wonka feels less out of place than it did upon my initial viewing of the film. in a society where law enforcement and religion is corrupted by corporate greed, willy wonka still chooses to see the good in the world and the people in it, hence the film's upbeat and colorful atmosphere.

no anthony can be complete without a johanna, which willy wonka finds in noodle, the film's female lead played by calah lane. noodle, a supposed orphan (although, like with sweeney's johanna, the viewer finds out the true parentage of noodle later in the film), was taken in by the film's antagonists and is literally caged in by said antagonist. this directly mirrors johanna being trapped by turpin, sweeney todd's antagonist.

though the characters do not take a romantic interest in each other (which, let's be real, would be illegal) wonka and noodle form the same kind of bond that anthony and johanna did in sweeney todd. wonka rescues noodle from her cages multiple times throughout the film, just like anthony freed johanna. the duos care more about the wellbeing of their partner rather than the rest of the world and at the end of both films, the two sets characters both have happy endings.

in terms of minor characters, i would consider wonka's trio of chocolateers to be an extension of judge turpin, while keegan michael key's police chief character takes on the role of beadle.

as for plot parallels, the two films share many similar vital plot points, including quite literally opening in the exact same way. tim burton's sweeney todd film begins with anthony singing on a boat, while paul king's wonka opens with willy wonka singing on a boat. both sing about similar topics too, with wonka singing "after seven years of life upon the ocean... the city i've pinned seven years of hopes on lies just over the horizon... i've got twelve silver sovereigns in my pocket and a hatful of dreams" and anthony singing "i've sailed the world, beheld it's wonders... but there's no place like london." right off the bat, the viewer is exposed to the dreamer's perspective before the rest of society is shown.

not long after, wonka is brought to the shop of mrs. scrubbit and bleacher, where bleacher then attempts to club wonka. this could potentially serve as a callback to sweeney and his razors.

we meet noodle right after this. although noodle is most definitely the johanna stand-in of wonka, an argument could also be made for her representation of sweeney todd's toby. in the 2007 film, mrs. lovett takes toby in both out of usefulness and emotional attachment and she puts him to work in her shop as an assistant. like toby, noodle is taken in by mrs. scrubbit and put to work. however, mrs. scrubbit feels no emotional attachment at all towards noodle, hence why her name is scrubbit, a pun regarding her profession, rather than lovett, a name that professes why the character takes toby in.

as the wonka film progresses, we see more and more parallels with burton's sweeney todd. firstly, bleacher lies about his identity for a large portion of the film, just like sweeney does, and in both films the audience is made aware of these lies before the other characters find out. another parallel can be drawn between sweeney and wonka as both characters go "underground" to escape arrest, although wonka literally uses the underground sewer system while sweeney conceals his identity from the people who used to know him as benjamin barker. additionally, both wonka and sweeney utilize their stores to evade police capture.

at the very end of the film, we see our last two similar plot points. first, noodle is reunited with her mother. johanna meets her own mother at the end of the film, but while noodle is able to obtain a happy ending and live the rest of her life with family, johanna doesn’t realize it’s her mother, and is unable to reach that same fulfillment. johanna’s ending is much more tragic than noodle’s, however wonka is a children's movie, so what can you really expect? finally, in the post credits scene, we see justice delved out to mrs. scrubbit and bleacher as they are arrested for their wrong doing, similar to how mrs. lovett and sweeney die at the end of their film. once again, they're not killing people in a children's film, so this is the best we can get in terms of a parallel ending.

after breaking these similarities down with @orfisheus, i am completely convinced that wonka is a cleverly concealed parody of sweeney todd, but in the end, the movie represents a genre that is critically underappreciated in today's society. musical theatre should not have to be concealed to be enjoyed by all and theatre should not be relegated to the stereotypical shakespeare dramas. at the end of the day, who can really say if wonka is secretly a replica of sweeney todd? all that truly matters is the knowledge that allows us to appreciate wonka's worth. more than just a children’s film, it builds off of the foundation of two great works to become something that both pays tribute to and evolves the stories of willy wonka and sweeney todd.

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thrifty-swiftie · 4 months