It leads to him becoming a certified loner, Wonka functions in a silo away from society untrusting of adults that have wronged him, trusting only children for their purer, kinder hearts. He has always been treated as an anomaly by townsfolk who find him strange, and whisper about him behind his back. But two themes stood out to me most his isolation, and being misunderstood. There is of course his flamboyance, which is quick to suggest a deviation from the pallid heterosexual landscape we see in the film. There is enough plausible fan theory to suggest Wilder’s rendition of the character is a cis-gay asexual man. But the cinematic Willy Wonka–the original Gene Wilder version, of course, not the disastrous Burton-Depp version–is certainly not your average straight boy.
There’s always loud protest when you ‘ruin’ a childhood movie by pointing out a beloved character is gay (even though the idea of him being a straight, sexual being being doesn’t cause the same furore). A still from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)
