Dear friends. The monthly Tell Us About challenge is back, and this time it's set by Mary Katherine of MK's Adventures. MK, a US based blogger, chose Whimsy.
It was surprisingly difficult. I had imagined there would be a lot out there on Google and possibly even a museum of whimsy I could visit. Well there are, two - but both in America.
It seems Whimsy is not a thing in the UK. In the UK we are more inclined to be eccentric than whimsical.
The difference for me is that a whimsical person is inclined to flights of fancy, wanting things to be better, imagining a different world. An eccentric person, on the other hand, exhibits behaviour in the way they dress or talk, which is not perceived to be the norm.
But I have found a great example, I think, of whimsy.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
The story is about a poor but good-hearted child, Charlie Bucket, who wins a golden ticket to visit the Wonka chocolate factory. He finds he's one of a group of children with a golden ticket. Things turn a bit macabre at the factory when the other children are punished for their bad traits, gluttony, selfishness and so on. Even Charlie and his granddad succumb to greediness and are told they won't win the prize. But there is a happy ending.
Gene Wilder's portrayal of Willy Wonka was a delight. He confounds us right from the start, when he limps slowly out of the chocolate factory, a rarely seen eccentric, and then suddenly performs a cartwheel.
From that moment, we can see the fundamental dishonesty of Wonka’s character, a man who doesn’t really want to live in the adult world, who pretends not to hear when asks difficult questions and inhabits a world of his own making.
The world of Wonka chocolate is dazzling and technicolour with chocolate lakes and boats made of sweets that actually sale.
Roald Dahl didn't like Gene Wilder's portrayal
Surprisingly, Roald Dahl had serious reservations about the casting of Gene Wilder. A friend of Dahl's, Donald Sturrock, told Business Insider: "He had serious reservations about Gene Wilder's performance as Wonka, which he thought 'pretentious' and insufficiently 'gay [in the old-fashioned sense of the word] and bouncy'". Sturrock wrote that Dahl had wanted either Spike Milligan or Peter Sellers to play the part instead. He didn't care for the music either.
The film was remade in 2005 with Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. Film reviewer Roger Ebert wrote that the film succeeded in spite of Depp's performance, which he found creepy.
The film is now being remade for a third time, this time starring Timothée Chalamet, above. The film Wonka will focus on a young Willy Wonka and his adventures prior to opening the world’s most famous chocolate factory. Wonka will mark the first time Chalamet gets to show off his singing and dancing.
Was this a film you loved? Do you think it encapsulates the word "Whimsy?" (I'm starting to sound like a book club prompt.....). Do tell in the comments!
Now read my friends' interpretation of Whimsy
I had thought of writing about these movies, myself! I really can't choose between the two of them. I loved Gene Wilder's version because it was just such an amazing movie for its time. But, the Johnny Depp movie, for all it's creepiness, was more in keeping with the book. I didn't know they were making a third. That will definitely be interesting!
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