From: garym@mcgath.com   
      
   On 2/18/24 11:28 AM, Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:   
   > WONKA (2023): WONKA is a prequel to WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE   
   > FACTORY (of which there was a 1971 film (with Gene Wilder) and a   
   > 2005 remake renamed CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (with Johnny   
   > Depp).  This is a musical, but the beginning is also a spoof of the   
   > musical genre.  It is also Dickensian with a dash of Victor Hugo.   
      
   Roald Dahl's _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ has some highly   
   disturbing features, yet somehow he gets a pass. A few days ago I was   
   struck by an item that crossed over elements of Harry Potter and   
   Charlie, and the former was presented as the one people might not want   
   to touch.   
      
   In the original version of Charlie, the Oompa Loompas were Africans who   
   were brought over and kept in isolation. They were slaves or close to   
   it. As I understand it, the new _Wonka_ totally rewrites this story.   
      
   Dahl's reaction to Khomeini's murder contract on Salman Rushdie was to   
   heap contempt upon Rushdie: "This kind of sensationalism does indeed get   
   an indifferent book on the top of the best-seller list — but to my mind   
   it is a cheap way of doing so." On another occasion he said, "There is a   
   trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity."   
      
   I'm not saying people shouldn't read his books; it's no longer possible   
   for him to benefit from their sales. But I find it bizarre that people   
   give him a pass so easily while spewing hatred on someone who deviates   
   from the orthodoxy on trans people.   
      
   --   
   Gary McGath    http://www.mcgath.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)