DVD Commentary meme - "Abracadabra"

[lyricality]

piscaria asked for something about Abracadabra...



This is going to have to be meta, I think, since enough time has passed that I don't really remember my thought process line for line. ^^; I'm surprised that I still occasionally get reviews on this from fanfiction.net--about one every couple of months. o_O; I guess that speaks to the continuing lack of fics for the pairing, heh. I wish I were still as proud of it as I used to be, but now I see so many grammatical flaws that I'd kind of like to just hide it under the bed. I also can't remember why I wrote it in the present tense, since I never write that way anymore.

Originally, I had planned at least one sequel. It was called Smoke and Mirrors, and it was from Wonka's point of view. Abracadabra stands all right on its own, I suppose, but I think the sequel would have made clear that I didn't intend sex with Charlie as a magical cure-all for Wonka's social and emotional difficulties. A lot of it was backstory for Wonka, too--things that wouldn't have been appropriate to address from Charlie's POV.

Some of the readers who came to the story from fanfiction.net might not necessarily have realized that I wrote Abracadabra before the Tim Burton movie ever actually premiered, so I was working solely on the visuals of the trailer and the narrative of the novels. I hadn't read the books as a child for some mysterious reason, so I bought both in one volume and read them in the space of twenty-four hours before I started writing. For that reason, Abracadabra really fits best into the canon of the novels, even if Wonka is meant to look like the Johnny Depp incarnation. I do really love the Gene Wilder version, too, but I can't say that I used much of Wilder's characterization.

I never had much trouble writing Charlie. He was the one who wanted the story told, and Wonka was quite a bit more obtuse about the whole thing. Charlie loves Wonka in every possible way, but at the same time, he recognizes that Wonka is not at all perfect, and he has a fairly intimate understanding of Wonka's major flaws. I think that this dynamic, beyond the simple fact of Charlie's age, sets their relationship on a more equal footing. Charlie still has a lot of work to do; Wonka does not yet recognize him as an adult. The stage is set, however, and I did a lot of tweaking in Part I to set up the pivotal point of their romance. They have come to a threshold, and things can no longer remain the same. Part I was particularly fun to write, because I was able to explore the different skills that Charlie and Wonka bring to the factory. Wonka is the dreamer, of course: he actively bucks convention and stretches all the limits of possibility. Charlie is the engineer, and he enjoys working with his hands and creating extraordinary sets of tools. The Oompa-Loompas adore Wonka because he is their savior, but in a more fundamental way, they love Charlie as one of their own. He is still learning from them. They test him, just like Wonka does, and usually Charlie succeeds.

A lot of reader reviews mention marshmallow-coated Charlie. I would certainly buy it.

I do a lot of my writing out of order. I write in blocks of scenes and then I have to go back in fill in the gaps. I remember that I wrote Part I almost in a single block, and I had written quite a bit of Part III but almost nothing of Part II. The most important aspects of Part II were getting Charlie out of the factory for a bit (letting him function as an adult, without Wonka hanging over his head) and getting to their first disastrous kiss.

Looking back over this, I can see that I pulled Charlie's teacher straight out of the Wilder version. XD "I've decided to switch our Friday schedule to Monday, which means that the test we take each Friday on what we learned during the week will now take place on Monday before we've learned it. But since today is Tuesday, it doesn't matter in the slightest." I'm not quite sure how Charlie got that 115%, but it doesn't exactly surprise me that his teacher never even noticed.

Unlike Wonka, Charlie still remembers how to deal with the outside world, but the lack of privacy is becoming more and more wearing for him. Visiting his family is worth the discomfort. In retrospect, I'm ashamed of how lazy I was here. I completely sidestepped the problem of Charlie's parents (and how they might feel about his relationship with Wonka) by killing them all. I don't know that I did that consciously--in fact, I think I was concerned more with the idea of Charlie's dependence on Wonka, and Wonka's dependence on him in return. They do rely on each other, but I like to think that they aren't co-dependent.

Charlie buys Slugworth's gum sometimes because he's independent, and he trusts that Wonka knows his loyalty is based on a lot more than just candy. Wonka does know, of course. .....I think that secretly, he likes the taste of coconut on Charlie just as much as marshmallow on Charlie. ♥

I wish the glass dome at the top of the tower really existed, but canonically, it's just a smokestack. I'll keep pretending. This scene came more easily than the rest of Part II, but it was painful to write. Wonka is terrified of Charlie at this moment. He's always clever, but now he barely knows what he's saying, and all those contradictions are not quite on purpose. Their kiss is a catastrophe. Wonka doesn't know how to respond, so he doesn't, and Charlie hasn't learned yet that he can meet that problem and find a solution. The childish part of Charlie is still worshiping Wonka as something unattainable, while the man he is becoming knows that isn't at all the way to go about things. As for Wonka, he had barely gotten used to dealing with Charlie as an adolescent. He's even more frightened of managing Charlie as an adult.

I still love the quote that starts Part III.

Originally, I had envisioned the cemetery inside the factory as evidence of Wonka's impressive family line. Generations of ancestors were supposed to be buried there, and in my mind, he had built the factory onto old family land. That doesn't fit the movie continuity at all, and I can't decide which version I like better. I still like the idea of the Sanctuary, anyway, and I imagine that no matter how old Charlie becomes or how long he lives--and with Wonka, it could be long indeed--he will sometimes come to talk things out with Grandpa Joe.

In this part, Wonka is purposefully cruel, and he can hardly stand it. He still wants so badly to play with Charlie, but he doesn't know how to do it. Everything has changed.

Their argument is a necessary one, because Charlie is right. They can't hide from each other, and this isn't something from which Wonka can run. Besides, their fight is the motivation that Charlie needs to start thinking outside the box of their prior relationship.

I never quite thought about this, but Wonka must be temporarily blind or just really distracted not to notice all the equipment that Charlie installed on the Chocolate Room ceiling. Whoops. ^^; Well, decorating for Christmas is pretty exciting. Especially in a chocolate factory. I want one of those Christmas trees.

Charlie is more of a performance artist than Wonka will ever be, because his act is out of intention, while Wonka's is mostly social awkwardness. Charlie's contact juggling is a rather silly tribute to Labyrinth, naturally. :P

Since I finished this long before the premiere, watching the end of the film felt a little surreal. I remember worrying that everyone would think I had somehow ripped off the idea of sugar snow, even though that was kind of impossible under the circumstances. I'm surprised that I never received more questions about that, since anyone who read this and expected the movie continuity must have wondered if Charlie was suffering from some sort of weird amnesia. Oh well. I still love the imagery of it--especially the idea of Wonka with sugar snow on the brim of his hat.

I think I would do the build-up to the sex scene differently now--more gradually. Admittedly, Wonka has wanted Charlie for a long time--much longer than Charlie realizes--but he still capitulates too quickly. I don't think the passion between them entirely excuses the rush. Despite that, I still like the way the scene is constructed. I like that Wonka locks the door; it demonstrates his consent. I like the way they work together on Wonka's clothes, because disrobing Wonka is so important an act and a symbol. This isn't just Wonka baring his skin, it's Wonka baring his soul, and nobody appreciates that better than Charlie. Wonka's issues with consent and participation here are fairly personal to me, so I won't talk too much about them. Recently, I read that sex is essentially the act of trusting someone else with your body, and I think Wonka would find that sort of trust very difficult.

Charlie wins Wonka's trust--in part because he's always had it, and Wonka has loved Charlie just as long as Charlie has loved him. This is the next step in their relationship, and they've managed to take that step together. Like Wonka says, without each other, they just wouldn't do.

I looked at Smoke and Mirrors just now, and I do have quite a bit of it. If you like, I'll post what I have for you. ♥

Comments

[andersenmom.livejournal.com]

That is a most interesting exercise....

[piscaria.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! Thank you for writing this up. What a trip down memory lane! "Abracadabra" was the story that got me started writing CatCF fanfiction back in the day. I didn't know that you'd written it before the movie came out! It must have been so odd, watching the movie after having written about it.

And I would love to see the bits of the sequel, if you're interested in sharing! :D

[yeoixuzy.livejournal.com]

hello, I sent an email to you about this post, its not coming thru for me. Can you connect with me when you get a chance.