The fact that the story and the movie were written by a very good author and produced by two major corporations is an indication of the consent element. Consent is also revealed by the popularity and the acceptance of both the story and the movie by its readers and audience who admire Mr. Wonka, empathize with the Buckets when they are in dire situation and who innocently blame their misfortunes on the way things are, the nature of man, old age, bad luck, etc and rejoice when Charlie is rewarded in the end and the family is saved from starvation
What about coercion? Is coercion applied in the movie or the story? The answer is yes albeit invisible. This family is forced to accept their situation of unemployment and are in such a position where they have to yield to the system and to the generosity of the capitalist Wonka without rebelling against him because he as well as other capitalists appear as their saviors although they are also their tormentors. Not only did Wonka fire Mr. Joe but he also refuses to hire any of the citizens of his city.
Hunger will tame the fiercest animal, it will teach decency and civility, obedience and subjection, to the most perverse (Townsend qtd in Polanyi, 1944:118)
Hunger has tamed the grandfather who is obedient and is admiring of the capitalist system and its icon, Wonka, who is actually his oppressor and the man who reduced him to sharing a bed with another three in his old age. Joe's broken spirit is the same believing spirit that looks up to Wonka with admiration and mystery because he thinks that this hand fed him and can feed his son and grandson although it also reduced him to destitution.
Gramsci says that.
The small black men who were malnourished are dominated by Mr. Wonka. They accepted this dominance and the subsistence level that he provides for them in return for endless hours of work because of the benefits they get compared to their initial starting point which was starvation in the forest. They recognize him as the Master and a relationship between both parties ensues. The Oompa Loompas accept a situation of dependency because of the returns they get and which are satisfactory to them for this period of time. Hegemony then takes place through a combination of compelling conditions that coerce Joe and the Oompa Loompas in addition to a promise of returns and benefits to which they give their consent.
Gramsci talks about the element of luck in becoming more hegemonic,
If a subordinate in the system becomes lucky and benefits from the system, this person will highly likely accept and embrace it. It is unlikely that Charlie for example will develop into a socialist. He will replace Mr. Wonka and will justify his actions. If he is as good as the great chocolateer, we anticipate that he will prompt growth in the company by introducing new products and opening new global markets. In other words he will follow suit. He will work on maximizing profit and minimizing cost. He may eventually replace the Oompa Loompas with more trained squirrels causing the Oompa Loompas to end on the unemployment heap with four grandparents on one bed surviving on thin cabbage soup.
The story and the film play on this element of luck. It serves its audience a hope. They may also get lucky. The system allows people to gain endless money with no good cause and to keep it. The idea that all people are equal in getting such a chance albeit slim is comforting and the possibility of achieving success and riches dupes the audience into consent. It is a propaganda based upon, “It can happen to you too and if it happens you can keep all the financial rewards without check same like Mr. Wonka.” It works on man/woman's greed and hope of comfort and security.
Gramsci also points to the use of education in achieving hegemony,
The school as a positive educative function and the courts as a repressive and negative educative function are the most important state activities in this sense but in reality a multitude of other so called private initiatives and activities tend to the same end - initiatives and activities which form the apparatus of the political and cultural hegemony of the ruling classes.. (1971: 258)
As mentioned above class exercises and different web sites were developed to encourage educators to use Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the classroom. It is on the reading list of school children.
Wallerstein says that the US propaganda of the benefits of the free market are accepted in many third world countries. “
Today in many (perhaps most) of these countries, the slogans of the free market are on everyone's lips (1995:105)
However, the results of such free market hegemony appear less promising. In the story, the Oompa Loompa's consent results in a precarious situation of dominance where Wonka says that he basically needs an heir to take care of those whom he dominates. They become dependant on him incapable of self sufficiency and of caring for themselves.. They become the children and he becomes the guardian in rhetoric reminiscent of the slave/master relationship and its apologetics as depicted in Rudyard Kipling's famous poem advocating US Imperialism The White Man's Burden
Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child. (1899)
where the blacks are seen as in need of protection and therefore in the infancy of their civilization by the Eurocentric myopic glasses of the West. Once they discover that they are insecure, their consent will be withdrawn and Mr. Wonka will have to employ coercion to get them to work under the same conditions.
Wallerstein in “Liberalism and Legitimation of Nation States” says that,
Some time was to pass before the reality of the impossibility of closing the North-South Gap on a world scale fully entered the consciousness of people around the world (1995:104)
In other words third world countries' citizens like the Oompa Loompas will discover in time their dependency and insecurity.
Wallerstein describes the world power relations as North /South. It is interesting that Dahl uses the same dichotomy although he does not identify his city. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory takes place somewhere where there is snow and freezing cold in the winter and where is that but North. As for the Oompa Loompas, they are brought from Africa where they are used to the heat. The North/South dominant relationship is replicated in the movie in human and spatial terms. Another interesting observation is that Mr. Wonka teaches his Oompa Loompas English. The global dominance relationships as expressed in the movie are no longer implicit but rather explicit.
Arrighi argues that the United States has lost its hegemonic power. If the US has managed to maintain some hegemony it is because it has managed to dupe some and convince them that it is acting in the general interest when in reality it is only serving its own interests (2005) reminding us once again of Wonka philo-Oompa Loompas comments.
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