[WalterBright]

> Wonka's character is a great way to personify the distant coldness of the industrialized corporate bosses of Dahl's day and our own.

I just took the movie at face value, and while Wonka was an odd character, I didn't look for a deeper meaning beyond being a fairy tale where everyone got what they deserved.

[NooneAtAll3]

which of the movies, tho?

[WalterBright]

the first one

[AStonesThrow]

Oh I see. There are many writers, such as Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis, and Isaac Asimov who were simple academic fellows with insular lives and limited social skills, who dashed off shallow fairy tales with a notable lack of allegory, deep meaning, or social/political import. That's all they knew.

On the other hand, there are other writers, such as Roald Dahl, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein, who had not only a distinguished education, served honorably in their nation's military service, saw combat, perhaps even worked in military intelligence, and led a cosmopolitan lifestyle with plenty of diverse contacts throughout the world, and they're also dashing off these cotton-candy, boilerplate fairy tales that people just consume and toss into the fireplace. Surely they enjoyed having a hobby where they could set aside their career and experience, and just sort of doodle with pen and paper.

</s>

[WalterBright]

Nothing wrong with just writing a good story.