Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2024 January 16

= January 16 =

How accurate is the movie Wonka (2023) to its time period?
I know it's not supposed to be as it's a movie taking place in a fantasy world. But I know it still takes place around the 1900's-1940's I can't tell from just watching the movie which time period. That's not my question, though I'd love an explanation. My question is how accurate is the movie to its time period? I would like to know. Blaze The Movie Fan (talk) 22:43, 16 January 2024 (UTC)


 * But what actually is its time period? That is never stated. (I would have thought pre-1900.) And how do you propose to measure "accuracy"? There are machines depicted that have never existed. That means it's not accurate at all, as one would expect from a fantasy. Shantavira|feed me 09:18, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Ok I will be more specific. I mean how the law works and how people acted back then. How accurate is that to the real world of the time period? Blaze The Movie Fan (talk) 10:09, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Chiefs of Police being bribed is as old as the invention of Chiefs of Police. The use of solid chocolate for the purpose only arose by the end of the 18th century. The story line has Dickensian aspects, suggesting the Victorian era. The original novel was inspired by Roald Dahl's experience during his schooldays, around 1929–1934, so it is reasonable to assume the novel is set around that period or a bit earlier. Mr. Willy Wonka is described in the novel as wearing "a small, neat, pointed black beard – a goatee", and being "like a squirrel in the quickness of his movements, like a quick clever old squirrel from the park". This is consistent with this origin story taking place in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. --Lambiam 12:11, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
 * IMO, there was some Les Miserables inspiration in there, but that may fall under "Dickensian". Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 13:17, 17 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Mike's TV-addiction is post-WW2 though. See Television: "After World War II, an improved form of black-and-white television broadcasting became popular in the United Kingdom and the United States, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses, and institutions. During the 1950s, television was the primary medium for influencing public opinion." Modocc (talk) 13:15, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
 * As with Hamilton, there may have been less singing and dancing going on in everyday life. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 15:54, 17 January 2024 (UTC)


 * Assuming like the other film that it's based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I don't have a clear memory of that book (I read it as a kid) but it might be possible to infer from it. You want the non-bowdlerized version.  Our article about the book says it was inspired by Dahl's memories of the 1920s. 2602:243:2007:9330:15DA:CAD1:28F4:E61E (talk) 13:32, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Again, the 1964 book's young character Mike aspired to be on television: a technology which became ubiquitous in the USA and UK after WWII. -Modocc (talk) 14:02, 18 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes the Coronation in 1953 is generally taken as the starting point for TV in British working-class homes. Note that the original book was set somewhere in Britain; Hollywood later moved it across the Atlantic (we have Chief Constables or Commissioners here). Alansplodge (talk) 18:23, 18 January 2024 (UTC)