charlie and the chocolate factory

i have always been fond of tim burton's tendency towards perverse juxtapositions between oddness and normality. much like he did in many other films where cautionary fairy tales become creepy comedies, here too the story of a bunch of kids who win a trip into a magical chocolate factory delves into very dark territory with a lightness of touch, and a wit so nasty it cannot really be passed off as a children’s film.

as the nasty kids get their comeuppance in a series of choreographed elimination sequences, each more nasty than the other, we can see burton, through his alter ego, depp thoroughly enjoying himself. the song and dance sequences that accompany these are ridiculous but fun in spite of- or perhaps because of – the constant pop culture references within, from the beach boys and kiss to stanley kubrick.

as usual the film has brilliant visionary special effects. the town in which the factory lies is laid out much like the suburban american landscape of edward scissorhands, except that dreary brick walkups replace the monotony of the balloon frame houses. a factory that seems inspired by the drawings of sant’elia looms over the town casts long shadows over anyways gloomy streets. inside the factory it’s a theme park of chocolate- colours and forms collide in bizarre ways. the odd thing is that it is in here that the dark undertone of the film really takes over. there is always in these ‘happy’ spaces a dark undertone.

burton, like so many of his heroes, finds comfort in the grey ordinary, or in the darkness of the shadows, than the psychedelic abnormality of perpetual happiness and light.