Willied by Wonka

First a book, then a movie, and now a candy factory! Who wouldn't know Willy Wonka? Willy Wonka has been a household name ever since 1964. The elderly know it as the book. The adults know it as the movie. The kids know it as the candy factory. In fact, though generations and generations have passed, people still love to read, to watch, and to eat Willy Wonka.

Willy Wonka continues to captivate many as it taps into children's imaginations with its timeless story and flavourful candy. The character of Wonka brightens up people's days with his fun attitude and delights children with the idea of his candy factory. He serves as a hero as well to those who are down and is a great example to people that it is okay to dream and be creative.

The character Willy Wonka is the wildest fantasy of every sweet-toothed child out there. He is the rich uncle who everyone avoids, the eccentric old man in the house on the end of the block, and the godfather kids wished for while they did their chores. He was the candy man who had a smile and something sweet, for just a penny, and he was the mode of transportation to all of our wildest childhood dreams. Created in 1964 by Roald Dahl, Wonka made his first literary appearance in the book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." The story talks about the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of the eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka.

The fun filled book was inspired by the experiences of Roald Dahl during his school days wherein Cadbury would often send packages of chocolate to the schoolchildren in exchange for their opinions about it. At that time, Cadbury and Rowntree's were England's top chocolate makers and therefore are very competitive. They would often try to steal each others' trade secret by sending spies to pose as employees into the others' factory and because of this, companies became very protective of their chocolate making process. In accordance to this, the secrecy and machines in the factory are what inspired Dahl to write the story.

In 1971, the 1st musical film adaptation of the book was released. The film was entitled "Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory" and it revolves around Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy Wonka's factory with 4 children from around the world. In 2005, the 2nd film adaptation of the book was released. Entitled "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory", the story concerns Charlie, who has won a ticket to the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world right across his house. Both movies are similar in some ways like the plot and its characters but differentiate on how they portrayed the character Willy Wonka. In the 1971 film adaptation, Willy Wonka was portrayed as a feature arising from his creative genius. He annoys the other characters with his crazy antics and is fun and lovable. In the 2005 film adaptation, Wonka is viewed more as a sympathetic character.

What is brilliant about the Willy Wonka's candy factory is that it is able to bridge fantasy with reality. Willy Wonka is not only in books and movies but is, in fact, an actual candy factory. Men and women of all ages can go into any shop and purchase a box of candy that was seemly made by the Oompa-Lumpas with Wonka's funny and exotic ingredients. The factory, Breaker Confections in Chicago, was first started in the late 1950's by a family owned-company. In 1965, Sunmark Companies purchased and changed the name of Breaker Confections to Willy Wonka Brands. The Sunmark Companies became part of NESTLE by 1988 and they changed the name to Willy Wonka Candy Factory. Beacuse Wonka is a known brand, the company has immediate recognition with kids and thus is now a leader in kids' candy. The factory produces some of the most fun, innovative, high quality candies in the world. Their candy is also unexceeded in appearance, flavour and packaging. According to David Hubinger, the general manager of the factory, "Innovative, imaginative, unpredictable--that's the platform for any kind of Wonka product or package" (Forcinio, 2000).

One of the reasons of Wonka's growing success is its products. The products of Wonka are fun to eat and full of vision and through the years, the products never cease to disappoint. The first candy ever created in the factory is the Everlasting Gobstoppers which was adapted from the movie. It is composed of several layers to mirror the colour changing effect of the candy like in the movie. The Gobstopper also has a powdery centre. Unlike in the movie, which proclaimed that an Everlasting Gobstopper lasts forever, the product only lasts only about half an hour.

Nerds, small irregularly shaped tangy and crunchy sweets that come in variety of flavours, are one of the greatest candies Willy Wonka has ever created. It is sold in a box with two separate flavours which has its own separate opening mechanism. Nerds was awarded "Candy of the Year" in 1985 by the National Candy Wholesalers Association for their success.

Next come the Runts. Runts are hard