Background
How the hell did this piece come together: Well, back when I was a junior in college, I took this course called Psychology of Personality. The professor was crazy to say the least; however, he was also incredibly brilliant. To illustrate some of the points he made in lectures, he used to bring in films to show scenes and how they illustrate themes of Freudian or Jungian psychology. We learned that Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction constantly wasted time and this quality of anality prompted his death. We also learned that the concept of vagina dentata explains why the male lothario in the opening scene of Halloween left so quickly after copulating with the ill-fated Judith Myers. This professor got me so engulfed with the material I was learning that one night I decided to pop in my favorite film (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) and write an analysis of how Sigmund Freud would see this film had he been alive in 1971 when it was released.
FYI: For those of you unfamiliar with Freud and his theories, I should warn you that Freud was a messed up little fuck and his theories all center around sexual neurosis. In laymen's terms, we're all fucked up cause of unresolved issues related to our childhood sexuality. I kid you not. Anyway, happy reading and please do not let this analysis warp your opinion of this children's film too much.
This analysis is written in scene-by-scene chronological order of the film. Also, some of the very short scenes of this film such as television news montages or footage clips of Wonka mania taking over the world are not mentioned mainly because there is nothing to grasp from.
Opening Credits
The film begins with images of chocolate being made alongside the opening credits. Subtract the credits and the opening sequence is nothing but imagery and music. Pictures (as opposed to words) and music represent the id and primary unconscious processing. This sequence represents Charlie's dream and it shows some of his sexual urges. First off, there is a scene of chocolate dribbling and shooting symbolizing ejaculating, as well as a scene of chocolate bars being inserted into slots (symbolizing sexual penetration). However, the main feature of this scene is that all the sexual eroticism is expressed through brown colored chocolate. Chocolate and its brown color is symbolic of anal eroticism. From this, we see that Charlie is homosexual (more to come on this later in the analysis). The scene ends with pictures of chocolate bars wrapped up in "Wonka" labels. Words (representative of the ego and consciousness) symbolizes a transition out of Charlie's id and a slow progression back to consciousness (or Charlie's ego).
Candy Store
Scene opens with a steeple (phallic symbol) and pictures of children running. Children symbolize our primal id urges. Children are primarily focused on gratifying their impulses. In this case, they're looking to satisfy their oral fixation. The kids run to the neighborhood candy shop where Bill greets them. The candy shop is again full of phallic imagery (candy bars, straws). This represents how to the kids, Bill is a powerful man. Why you ask? Because he and the candy products he sells satisfy the kids orally fixated urges. Side note, this scene is MOSTLY music and imagery and is still symbolic of Charlie's dream. As stated in the last scene, this scene represents a slow progression out of Charlie's id.
Meet Charlie
In the next scene, we meet Charlie as he walks from Bill's Candy Shop window to his newspaper boss to get his delivery. The newspapers are mostly full of words (not pictures) which represent that Charlie is fully back in consciousness and in his ego (not his id). When Charlie looks at the Wonka factory, a strange old man (the tinker) starts talking to him. If you look closely, you'll see a bunch of large knives hanging from the tinker's cart. After talking to this man, Charlie runs away very frightened. Now what's going on here? The tinker and his knives symbolize the Oedipal father: a scary old man with knives ready to cut off the penis of his son. Charlie sees this man and his knives, gets a sense of castration anxiety and runs away fearful that this man will cut off his penis.
Meet Charlie's Family
When we're introduced to Grandpa Joe, there is an umbrella handle in the background. This symbolizes impotence. Fast forward a few scenes later when everyone is asleep except for Charlie and Grandpa Joe talking about Wonka, notice how Grandpa Joe has 2 potent bedposts to his left and right. The combination of the umbrella handle (when in the presence of others) and the 2 potent bedposts (when alone with Charlie) symbolize how Grandpa Joe is only potent or able to become erect when he's alone with Charlie. The two of them have a homosexual relationship. More to come on this later in the analysis.
A quick aside for the scene of the psychoanalysis with his patient (Mr. Hofsteader). There is nothing really symbolic about this scene but I mention it because it is an OBVIOUS reference to Freudian psychoanalysis as a method of therapy. After all, the patient is lying down not facing the doctor and talking about his dreams.
Meet Augustus Gloop
This porky little boy is fixated in a psychosexual stage. Can you guess which one? Hint: he never stops eating. If you guessed the oral stage, treat yourself to another bong hit cause you're right. This boy is focused on satisfying his oral fixation through over eating. At the end of this scene, a strange man with glasses (dressed as a waiter) serves Augustus a sausage, this is symbolic of this strange man (we later find out that he is the evil Mr. Slugworth) basically serving his penis to Augustus. This does not imply that Slugworth is gay or pedophilic, it is symbolic of Mr. Slugworth being a powerful man (we find this out later in the film) and due to his powerful position, he is able to whip out his penis and symbolic offer it to a little boy to snack on.
Charlie's Birthday
Charlie's gift from three woman is a red scarf. The symbolism is that he is being strangled by women. Maybe this is the neurosis (or "root") of Charlie's homosexuality.
Meet Veruca Salt
First thing to notice about this scene is that Miss Veruca is sitting in the "boss" chair and her father is introduced at an interesting camera angle. When we first see him, he is kinda hunched over or "spineless" which tells us a lot about his character. Anyway, behind Veruca is a display of a giant plastic shelled peanut. Must I say what this is symbolic of? Veruca is the kind of girl who requests anything from her father and receives it. She has all the power in that relationship.
The peanut (a shelled casing with 2 nuts inside it) obviously symbolizes her fathers testicles. In other words, Veruca has her father's balls hanging on the wall in her father's office. She is in control of him. Now as par with the other kids, what psychosexual phase is this girl stuck in. I'd say she is anal retentive. After all, she wants everything! This is symbolic of her trying to hold her feces in.
Meet Violet Beauregarde
Not much here except that she is fixated in the oral phase (after all, she chews gum all the fucking time which itself is symbolic of displaced, sexual energy).
"Cheer Up Charlie"
When Charlie meets his mother at the laundry, a broom handle appears to come from her. This symbolizes how she is a "phallic woman," in other words, a woman of power over Charlie. The song again is a dream sequence since it is nothing but music and imagery.
Meet Mike Teevee (little booger kid)
Upon meeting this kid, we see that he is covered and obsessed with toy guns. Now what psychosexual stage could this represent? Mr. Teevee is a phallic fixated kid. Later in the film, he'll point his "gun" in somebody's stomach illustrating "anatomy is destiny" (when little boys in this stage discover their penises, that's where their hands are for a long period of time). In this scene, Mr. Slugworth (the news reporter) carries a microphone and he shoves it in everyone's face. If you'll look back at the Meet Augustus Gloop scene, you'll see that this also represents how Slugworth is powerful enough to whip out his penis and shove it in the faces of others, especially little kids.
Charlie Finds A Golden Ticket
First off, the Golden Ticket is symbolic of people and libidinal energy. Throughout the film, everyone in the world is in search of one and people seem to go crazy trying to find one. Everyone attaches libidinal energy on these tickets as if they represent the "atomic orgasm." Anyway, when Charlie finds the ticket and has his talk with Mr. Slugworth, yet there is nothing phallic present (no sausages or microphones). The symbolism is that unlike with the other boys, Slugworth has no power over Charlie (we'll see how this is illustrated later in the film).
"I've Got A Golden Ticket"
This scene symbolizes the homoerotic relationship between Charlie and Grandpa Joe. First off, when Charlie is putting Grandpa's shoes on, it appears that he is sucking his penis (watch closely, it's brief). Grandpa Joe is smiling and the two grandmothers are both watching with "penis envy" looks in their faces. Also, during the song, Grandpa Joe grabs a cane and gives it to Charlie (hmmm, more homoerotic imagery).
At the Gates of the Wonka Factory
When we first see Wonka, he is walking with a cane. Not surprising that our first impression of him is with a phallic symbol as Wonka is a man of incredible power, as the rest of this analysis will illustrate. Also, when Wonka meets Mike Teevee, the little booger stuffs his gun (symbolic of his penis) in Wonka's stomach. Hence, little Teevee is phallic oriented and is led through life with his penis in front of him guiding him (anatomy = destiny).
Entering the Factory
First off, this symbolizes a slow entry into the id. Throughout the second half of the film, the characters regress more and more into their childhood urges, confront fears, and live out psychosexual fantasies. When Wonka closes the door to the factory in the previous scene, it represents him taking them out of reality and consciousness and the slow descent deeper and deeper into the ids of the factory guests. Wonka takes his ten guests into a dreamlike id state which is played out more and more.
Another note, notice how the Oedipal and Electra complexes are played out with the 4 nasty kids. Each kid brings his or her opposite sex parent. Obviously, each kid chose which parent to take and chose the one that he or she felt the unconscious sexual wishes towards. The exception of course of Charlie and Grandpa Joe since they're gay.
When they hang up their coats, hands reach out of walls. This symbolizes entrapment meaning Wonka has taken them, against their will, into their unconscious minds. In addition, Wonka has another phallic symbol (feather pens) which he hands to his guests. Again, Wonka is a powerful man who can symbolicly offer his penis to others.
Distorted Room
This scene is a classic representation of "froetteurs". This concept explains that people on an unconscious level like being in crowded places such as subway cars or closed rooms because it satisfies an unconscious desire of being rubbed up against. This scene is a perfect illustration of that. On the outside (or conscious) level, everybody is complaining about being in such a tight room, but unconsciously, they're all loving it since its satisfying primitive sexual urges of the id.
The Chocolate Room
I love how a musical lock unlocks the entrance to this room. Music represents pure emotion (or id) implying that in this room, all who enter symbolically enter their ids. In this case, everyone is regressing back to two psychosexual stages: orality since all their oral fixations will be satisfied by the candy around them and anality since the brown chocolate waterfall represents repressed anally fixated wishes. I should mention also that the lyrics to "Pure Imagination" which Wonka sings is a great metaphor for childhood id regression.
The scene continues with shots of the guests eating candies. Naturally, this a ripe with symbolic sexual metaphors. Charlie and Grandpa Joe exchange candy canes and then put them in their mouths (homosexual "69ing"), Mr. Beauregarde bites into a red licorice wheel (cunnilingus with red licorice representing vaginal folds), and then Mrs. Teevee licks white cream (need I mention what that symbolizes).
The Chocolate Waterfall
As mentioned before, this represents anal eroticism. In the scene, the adults are first grossed out by it, then entranced by it. This is symbolic of conscious repulsion towards feces being counteracted with unconscious desires from the anally fixated stage of being "engrossed" by feces. Freud believes that during the anal phase, children view their feces as their products and see them as valuable objects. In the Chocolate Room, where all its entrants are in their unconscious minds, nobody can help being interested in the chocolate river (a.k.a. the shit).
Then Augustus Gloop gets eliminated by being shot through a pipe. As I already expressed, because of primitive unconscious wishes people have towards shit, shit takes on a conundrum: "Shit is valuable and that of value is shit." When Augustus drinks from the chocolate river, he is drinking up something that people attach id-related value towards. This offends the crowd since he is wasting "valuable shit." When he falls in the river, he gets sucked up a pipe. This is symbolic of being placed inside the anus. Augustus's drinking the river was his way of "retaining shit " or anal retention. Being sucked up the pipe is the ultimate illustration of anal retention. Then we get treated to the first Oompa Loompa song.
A side note on the Oompa Loompas: Not too much here except that they are symbolic of one's superego. In the Chocolate Factory, all of the guests are deep within their ids and the Oompa Loompas balance out the psyche by representing the superegos. Listen to the lyrics for the songs they sing. All of them center around one theme: behavior that goes against self-gratifying drives. Since none of the four bratty kids has a parent that teaches morality and self restraint, the Oompa Loompa are the symbolic superego parents in this film.
The Boat Ride
This has to be my favorite part of the film, and from a psychoanalytical perspective, it is a myriad of information. The ride begins pleasantly, then it enters a tunnel, and quickly turns into a nightmare for everyone except Wonka. Symbolically, Wonka is psychoanalyzing his guests. Upon entrance to the tunnel (which symbolizes Wonka guiding them deeper into their id), the guests start freaking out and begin hallucinating.
The hallucinations are merely images of repressed aggression and sex. The chicken getting its head chopped off (aggression, the snake crawling over a man's face (fellatio), the monster represents repressed trauma the guests experienced from their parents, the eye symbolizes "I" or the true nature of one's being. In other words, the eye represents the total (unconscious repressed wishes combined with consciousness) psyche implying that one is not complete unless their unconscious wishes are taken into account. The image of Slugworth implies how Slugworth is on the minds of each person in that boat! By psychoanalyzing his guests, Wonka is finding out what is on their minds and checking up on their greedy impulses (After all, he sent Slugworth to test each kid's morality).
The Inventing Room
First off, the entrance to this room has words on it. This symbolizes nothing more than a transition from the dark depths of the id (see previous scene) to a place closer to the surface of one's psyche. Wonka throws a clock into a vat of bubbly solution and then tells Veruca, who is eating the solution, "Time is a precious thing, never waste it." Interesting reference. Time is symbolic of anality. People fixated in the anal phase are focused in trying to control time believing that if they control time, they control mortality. Here Veruca is trying to control time by eating the solution with the clock thrown into it (as I mentioned earlier, Veruca is fixated in the anal phase) since she wants to own everything. Wonka's remark makes me believe that he is telling Veruca that controlling time is a waste of time and they she should loosen up (hehe, silly reference to anal retention) and not focus on time too much. Wonka sits on an exercise bike and mixes a batch of white creamy mixture. Symbolically, he is masturbating. He is such a powerful man that he can masturbate in front of others and get away with it.
Sidenote: Grandpa Joe mentions Turkish Baths, a non-Freudian reference to his homosexuality.
The Gobstopper Machine
This machine's mechanisms of back and forth motions with rod objects is an obvious sexual reference. When the machine finishes, these little candies come out of it. Metaphorically, I see this as birth. From sex to little babies coming out of the vagina, this machine represents the birth process. Naturally all the guests are fascinated by how it works since seeing a representation of the birth process takes them back to a repressed memory of the birth trauma.
The Gum Machine
This machine produces gum, which as we all know satisfies oral eroticism. Violet (the remaining orally fixated character) naturally goes nuts when she sees the gum. However, there's more than meets the eye. Wonka (the charismatic powerful leader) made the gum with his machine. When Violet puts the gum in her mouth, she is symbolically trying to orally incorporate Wonka into herself. She unconsciously wants to take Wonka's qualities into herself and believes that eating the gum is a way to do so. However, Wonka is force to be reckoned with. The gum turns her into a blueberry! Once again, Wonka is a man of unlimited power! Bubye, Violet.
Lickable Wallpaper
Obvious oral erotism reference. While licking, Charlie says "Grandpa this banana is fantastic. It tastes so real." Of all the fruits, he associates his grandfather with the banana. Hence, another reference to Charlie's homosexual relationship with Grandpa Joe.
The Bubble Room
I've always liked this scene and its message is somewhat ironic for children. Anyway, Charlie and Grandpa's ascent towards the fan represents their move within the psyche. In this scene, they're trying to rise out of their ids into their superegos, but the fan (that vicious ego) realizes that in Wonka's factory, it is essential that the guests be in touch with their ids. Therefore, the fan not only refuses Charlie and Grandpa Joe entrance into their superegos but also makes them get deep back into their ids. After all, to be spared from the fan, the two must burp. A child's oral pleasure (in other words, regression back into their ids) is the only thing that will save these two. On a more superficial level, our parents always told us not to burp, yet disobeyed parents (or the superego) is the only way to survive in this scenario. Oh the humanity!
The Golden Geese
Clearly, the geese who LAY golden eggs are a reference to anality. Going back to the whole "valuable shit" concept, these valuable golden eggs come out through the asses of these geese. More with anality, besides time, being obsessed with retaining money is another quality of a fixation in the anal stage. Here, the geese are being anal expulsive by freely expelling valuable eggs and Veruca behaves in accordance with her anal retentive fixation by wanting these valuable eggs. Sadly, she goes to far and plummets down to the incinerator. Pity, that.
The Wonkamobile
While driving the car, its starts shooting out a thick white liquid which covers everyone. Once again, do I need to say the symbolism here? Again, Wonka is such a powerful character that he can ejaculate all over everyone and get away with it. More than that, in this scene, a minute after he ejaculates all over his guests, the car drives through a dryer and everyone has forgotten all about the fact that they were covered before. A good cinematic representation of Wonka's deceptive character.
Wonkavision
In this scene, Mike Teevee shrinks, symbolizing his desire to regress and become a "little man" again. He fulfils his wish of regressing out of his latency stage (prior to the formation of his superego) when he could fulfill his phallic fixated urges wherever and whenever he wanted without any parental/superego guilt. Then Mike goes off to be stretched back to regular size.
Wonka's Office
Everything is a half of something. This symbolizes how Wonka's psyche is slighly "off" or in this case, incomplete, explaining his eccentricities and how his superego is undeveloped.
The Wonkavator
Charlie, Wonka's, and Grandpa Joe's upward voyage in this glass elevator represents their journey into a "dreamlike" state. The elevator has a phallic symbol on top of it symbolizing how all three characters are led by their penises (anatomy = destiny). It also symbolizes power. In this scene, Wonka makes both Charlie and Grandpa Joe powerful by giving them control of his chocolate factory. It is only natural that all three of them travel in a vehicle with a phallus on top.
Note from the webmaster: I can't believe he left out one important detail on this one. Wonka yells, "HERE IT COMES!!!" just before the Wonkavator shoots through the roof. Do you even need an explaination?
The films ends with a shot of clouds. The movie has gone full circle and ends in another dreamlike id state.