This time of year is a pivotal moment in the life of any Champagne house: as we enter the harvest season and the transformational process that follows, Taittinger is using its social media accounts to unveil a new communications campaign inspired by the world of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This literary nod provides an opportunity to retrace the history of a book that was already a classic of children’s literature long before it gained fame on the big screen. We look back on Roald Dahl’s tale and its journey to global success.
Published in 1964, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory started off as a children’s novel, before becoming a cultural entity whose cinematic adaptations would make it known to a worldwide audience.
Its author, Roald Dahl, was born in Wales in 1916, into a family with Norwegian origins. His early life was defined by a strict upbringing in boarding schools, followed by his time as a fighter pilot during the Second World War. After the conflict he spent more time writing, initially for adults before finding lasting success in children’s literature. His stories often sought to showcase the power of children’s imagination, as opposed to the rules and injustices of the adult world.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory takes place in a specific social context: post-war England, where rationing was still in place. Young Charlie Bucket lives in abject poverty, in a small run-down house with his parents and four grandparents. His life changes when the eccentric chocolate maker Willy Wonka announces that he is holding a contest: the five children who find a golden ticket hidden in a bar of chocolate will get the chance to visit his mysterious factory. Against all odds, Charlie finds one of these tickets and joins four other children from different backgrounds.
The tour is a chance to explore a hidden world where each different area — the chocolate river, the experimental machines, the squirrels sorting nuts — illustrates both the chocolate-maker’s inventiveness and human excess. The other children, each representing a specific flaw (gluttony, tantrums, greed, screen obsession) are eliminated one after the other by various mishaps that punish their misbehaviour. Only humble, unassuming Charlie makes it to the end of the tour. The final reward is not just a lifetime supply of chocolate, but a symbolic inheritance: Willy Wonka chooses Charlie to take over the chocolate factory.
The book was an instant hit in the USA, and then in the UK, and quickly became one of Dahl’s most-read works. However, the book also drew criticism: some of the early representations of the chocolate factory’s workforce, the Oompa-Loompas, were deemed problematic and were edited in later editions. These adjustments reflect the critical reception of a story that has since become an enduring favourite.
There are several anecdotes associated with the book’s success: Dahl had his own connection to the world of confectionery – as a child, he had taken part in product testing for a chocolate-maker, an experience that fed into the novel’s imaginary world. The satirical dimension, meanwhile, reflects the author’s penchant for caricaturing human foibles.
The story’s fame grew even further on the big screen. In 1971, an American adaptation entitled Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory offered a musical version of the book. In 2005, Tim Burton released a new and somewhat darker version, repositioning the story within the director’s unique aesthetic. These two very different films have each helped anchor the character of Willy Wonka in popular culture, sometimes to the point of eclipsing the original text.
Sixty years after its first publication, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remains one of the most popular titles in English children’s literature. Its longevity owes as much to Roald Dahl’s imagination as to the translations and adaptations that have brought the story to audiences around the world.
