thebirdsystem

[thebirdsystem]

What the fuck

wonka gate: an examination of the parallels between wonka (2023) and sweeney todd (2007)

i saw wonka (2023) approximately 10 hours ago and since then i have been plauged by the film's nearly exact parallels to sweeney todd. over the past 10 hours, i have employed the help of my friend @orfisheus and we have successfully deconstructed every similarity between wonka and sweeney todd, though this post will specifically focus on the 2007 tim burton adaptation.

**SPOILER ALERT FOR BOTH FILMS. DO NOT READ AHEAD IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS!**

the simplest place to start is to introduce whom each of the wonka characters is trying to replicate. in my opinion, the most recognizable of these characters are mrs. scrubbit, portrayed by olivia colman, and mr. bleacher, portrayed by tom davis. these two are obviously trying to replicate sweeney todd/benjamin barker and his counterpart mrs. lovett. these two are recognizable by name alone, with "scrubbit" sounding extremely similar to "lovett" and "bleacher" sounding similar to "barker." however, the personalities of scrubbit and bleacher are nearly exact replicas of lovett's and sweeney's personalities. both sets of characters run "shops" that aim to harm the people coming in. one character, lovett in sweeney todd and bleacher in wonka, lures their victims in while the other, sweeney and scrubbit, do the actual harming. even from a non-theatre fan standpoint, the similarities between these characters is undeniably recognizable.

now, you may be asking "if scrubbit and bleacher are meant to represent the main characters from the original source material, why aren't they the main characters of wonka?" to that, i propose that we look at wonka as if it's the story of sweeney todd told by another character: anthony. timothée chalamet's wonka is almost a 1:1 copy of sweeney todd's anthony. both characters are dreamers and see the world in the best light possible despite all of the tragedy surrounding them. if you choose to view wonka as a story told through an anthony-esque character's perspective, the fun, colorful atmosphere of wonka feels less out of place than it did upon my initial viewing of the film. in a society where law enforcement and religion is corrupted by corporate greed, willy wonka still chooses to see the good in the world and the people in it, hence the film's upbeat and colorful atmosphere.

no anthony can be complete without a johanna, which willy wonka finds in noodle, the film's female lead played by calah lane. noodle, a supposed orphan (although, like with sweeney's johanna, the viewer finds out the true parentage of noodle later in the film), was taken in by the film's antagonists and is literally caged in by said antagonist. this directly mirrors johanna being trapped by turpin, sweeney todd's antagonist.

though the characters do not take a romantic interest in each other (which, let's be real, would be illegal) wonka and noodle form the same kind of bond that anthony and johanna did in sweeney todd. wonka rescues noodle from her cages multiple times throughout the film, just like anthony freed johanna. the duos care more about the wellbeing of their partner rather than the rest of the world and at the end of both films, the two sets characters both have happy endings.

in terms of minor characters, i would consider wonka's trio of chocolateers to be an extension of judge turpin, while keegan michael key's police chief character takes on the role of beadle.

as for plot parallels, the two films share many similar vital plot points, including quite literally opening in the exact same way. tim burton's sweeney todd film begins with anthony singing on a boat, while paul king's wonka opens with willy wonka singing on a boat. both sing about similar topics too, with wonka singing "after seven years of life upon the ocean... the city i've pinned seven years of hopes on lies just over the horizon... i've got twelve silver sovereigns in my pocket and a hatful of dreams" and anthony singing "i've sailed the world, beheld it's wonders... but there's no place like london." right off the bat, the viewer is exposed to the dreamer's perspective before the rest of society is shown.

not long after, wonka is brought to the shop of mrs. scrubbit and bleacher, where bleacher then attempts to club wonka. this could potentially serve as a callback to sweeney and his razors.

we meet noodle right after this. although noodle is most definitely the johanna stand-in of wonka, an argument could also be made for her representation of sweeney todd's toby. in the 2007 film, mrs. lovett takes toby in both out of usefulness and emotional attachment and she puts him to work in her shop as an assistant. like toby, noodle is taken in by mrs. scrubbit and put to work. however, mrs. scrubbit feels no emotional attachment at all towards noodle, hence why her name is scrubbit, a pun regarding her profession, rather than lovett, a name that professes why the character takes toby in.

as the wonka film progresses, we see more and more parallels with burton's sweeney todd. firstly, bleacher lies about his identity for a large portion of the film, just like sweeney does, and in both films the audience is made aware of these lies before the other characters find out. another parallel can be drawn between sweeney and wonka as both characters go "underground" to escape arrest, although wonka literally uses the underground sewer system while sweeney conceals his identity from the people who used to know him as benjamin barker. additionally, both wonka and sweeney utilize their stores to evade police capture.

at the very end of the film, we see our last two similar plot points. first, noodle is reunited with her mother. johanna meets her own mother at the end of the film, but while noodle is able to obtain a happy ending and live the rest of her life with family, johanna doesn’t realize it’s her mother, and is unable to reach that same fulfillment. johanna’s ending is much more tragic than noodle’s, however wonka is a children's movie, so what can you really expect? finally, in the post credits scene, we see justice delved out to mrs. scrubbit and bleacher as they are arrested for their wrong doing, similar to how mrs. lovett and sweeney die at the end of their film. once again, they're not killing people in a children's film, so this is the best we can get in terms of a parallel ending.

after breaking these similarities down with @orfisheus, i am completely convinced that wonka is a cleverly concealed parody of sweeney todd, but in the end, the movie represents a genre that is critically underappreciated in today's society. musical theatre should not have to be concealed to be enjoyed by all and theatre should not be relegated to the stereotypical shakespeare dramas. at the end of the day, who can really say if wonka is secretly a replica of sweeney todd? all that truly matters is the knowledge that allows us to appreciate wonka's worth. more than just a children’s film, it builds off of the foundation of two great works to become something that both pays tribute to and evolves the stories of willy wonka and sweeney todd.

[thebirdsystem]

Spiderverse oc Caleb. Info dump time baby

So so, Caleb is a lil guy (aka 17 or some shit. He doesn’t know his b day) and from this alpha dimension of the spiderverse aka an og universe. This company gets symbiotes from across the multiverse. Lasher(who is super nice, green and doesn’t like being alone and killing), Toxin(a lil fucker with Percy Jackson type of personality), Grendel(a fucking dragon of an old ass god of darkness), and carnage(super loyal guy). And they merge with Caleb at a super young age. Oh I also made them a spider mutant so their mouth and etc naturally has a spider thing but to look more human they make the symbiotes shape shift them. They don’t do amazing jobs tho, like the tips of their fingers are always free/blue. They’re mouth is always a lot of work to fix so bc its so complicated so mask. Their outfit always mimics their other forms etc.

They have 3 forms. A humans form, hero form and symbiote form.

I already explained their human form. Besides their eyes? They’re little crosses with a circle to naturally see better.

So their hero outfit is to outright mimic a hero so they’re more socially acceptable. They shoot webs though their three fingers and have spider legs on their side and back. The legs can turn into arms or wings. Though they’re not wings very often. I’m thinking the legs would combine to make those wings if Caleb really needs to fly. They can spit acid at bitches and they have massive teeth to the point the symbiotes need to heal their mouth all the time from Caleb and etc biting themselves. Oh! They’re hero name is also Anomalies bc I feel like they hear this all the time and was like “metal, fuck yeah.”

Now their monster form. I think in this form people like carnage and Grendel are mostly in control. So they work like a fucking animal to survive.

Their wings can grow bigger and have a spider web pattern. With spider mantis legs, normal dragon arms and legs. Their tail looks like lasher’s tendrils and their tongue looks like a modified Carnage tendril. Imma say they’re like 20 feet tall maybe more if they wanna be. I like to think they eat cows and bagels a lot.

Oh Caleb is also a lil shit.

They can also glitch into other dimensions. That’s where they got the name anomalies bc they’re, that, yeah. So in the future when they start to feel like they’re safe and not a mistake they gain the ability to shape themselves into other dimensions. So Lego Caleb to turn small and dodge out of the way? Yeah baby! A hammer dimension to be like a loonies toon character? Pipe bomb!

#across the spiderverse #spider man across the spider verse #spiderverse spoilers #spider gwen #spiderverse fanart #spidersona #spiderman #spiderverse pavitr #spider man 2099 #spiderverse oc #sony spiderverse #hobie spiderverse

[thebirdsystem]

Have an art dump

#my art #art #artists on tumblr #fine art #character art #my ocs #rwby fanart #rwby oc

[thebirdsystem]

Have an art dump

#my art #art #artists on tumblr #fine art #character art #my ocs #rwby fanart #rwby oc

[thebirdsystem]

Pause.

TANG AT THE MPREG WATERS?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!!!??!??????!!?!??!?!?!!??!!??!?!?!?!!??!

[thebirdsystem]

TANG AT THE MPREG WATERS?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!!!??!??????!!?!??!?!?!!??!!??!?!?!?!!??!

#lmk mei #lmk tang #lmk sun wukong #mk lmk #lmk macaque #lmk wukong #lmk season 4 #lmk spoilers #lmk #lego monkie king #lego monkey kid macaque #lego monkie kid #lego monkey kid fanart #IN JTTW THERES A RIVER THAT MAKES YOU PREGNANT #IM SOBBING

[thebirdsystem]

Sketchy manga redraw, I'll probably color it when I have more free time ^^

Original panels here !!

[thebirdsystem]

What if I was ill

#danny phantom #ticcy toby #sonic the hedghog fanart #yellow guy #hiro hamada #soft mod #hi fi rush fanart #percy jackon and the olympians #micheal mell #IM TRANS GAY AND ND #RAHHHHH

[thebirdsystem]

Hi guys this is the official CRWBY decision on each person ever. I’m totally serious about that /s. But yeah, you can’t argue with me bc I’m right❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

#rwby #rwby v9 #rwby9 #rwby fanart #rwby blake #rwby yang #team rwby #rwby ruby #rwby volume 9 #rwby volume nine #rwby weiss #rwby oscar #rwby jaune #rwby ren #rwby nora #Rwby crwby #I fucking hate Blake’s vol 8 design it so fucking bad #the zippers and everything is so bad and everything #why the fuck does Yang look like that in vol like 5 like right after her ptsd arc #her ptsd arc is also really fucking bad #I LOVE OSCAR #OSCAR HAS AMAZING FUCKING DEIGNS #GOD I AM TRANS #IM SO ILL #ruby’s hair cut in vol 8 is also really fucking good #💚💚💚💚💚💚💚penny💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

[thebirdsystem]

MOBSWEEP MOBSWEEP

WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE MOB:

(here he is he’s in the @autismswagsummit quarterfinals or semifinals i can’t remember i’m in a bit of a hurry)

his entire story is about accepting all parts of himself, including his autism!! and he DOES!!

he’s visibly autistic even though he tries to mask most of the time but people love him! he has many friends and allies and a great family who all care about him

nice kindness. friendly boy swag.

at one point he saves an entire group of people from being brainwashed by a cult leader because he doesn’t understand social cues

canonically has low empathy but is one of the most compassionate people ever

he has meltdowns that get dangerous because of his psychic powers and these cause him to lock his emotions away because he’s afraid he’ll hurt someone :(

he speaks in a very monotone voice even after he accepts all parts of himself

his facial expressions are pretty muted when he makes them at all

he has no idea what he wants to do with his life and he’s not very good at academics. confused autistic rep! rep for autistics who don’t know what the fuck going on!!

his younger brother is also autistic but he needs less support than mob, so he’s overlooked and their relationship becomes strained because of it

i cannot stress enough that he’s just a normal autistic guy. not a super genius or anything (those are cool, but there are way more of them!). just a regular guy who’s not very good at most things but still tries his best anyway. i’m sure there are other autistics like that out there!!!

he is never ridiculed or made a joke of by the narrative

he’s THE MAIN CHARACTER also. we get to see his autism from HIS point of view, which is still very rare!!!

even if he does need support, it’s never shown that he’s a burden for it. he’s not!! his loved ones love him so they support him!

this got really long but PLEASE VOTE FOR MY SON MOB HE NEEDS TO WIN

@autismswagreblogs

#mp100 #mob psycho 100 #autism #autism swag summit #autistic representation #mob psycho 100 fanart #mob psycho #mp100 fanart #mob psycho iii #mob shigeo

[thebirdsystem]

My bestie and I making bingo cards for Rwby vol 9❤️❤️❤️

#rwby v9 #rwby volume 9 #rwby volume nine #rwby9 #I’m so fucking excited #I’m going to be violently disappointed I bet you #I JUST WANT MORE OSCAR PINE. MY TRANS NEEDDDDDD

[thebirdsystem]

COME ON SHIGEOOOOOO

Semifinals

#autismsummit2023 #autism #polls #mob psycho #mob psycho 100 #mp100 #mob psycho 100 fanart #mp100 fanart #mobsweep

[thebirdsystem]

defect: a fault or problem in something or someone that spoils that thing or person or causes it, him, or her not to work correctly.

[thebirdsystem]

[materializes after 2 years of not posting] Hey guys i have a new babygirl

[thebirdsystem]

I really liked the idea of half-ghost Jason, so I did my take on a design for him 😀

Unlike Danny, Jason's halfa mode is closer to Vlad since the death and rebirth didn't happen at the same time.

It looks more like what the person wants to project as vibe?

The spectral cloak was initially there look more ghostly, but then my brain cooked up the idea that it acted almost like a bunch of whiskers, sensing ectoplasm or potential threats around him (like an octopus, idk if it's funny or cursed 😅)

Jason would probably use (maybe abuse a bit) of his ghostly powers after Danny somehow purified the Lazarus waters in his system (Danny, head in his hands : I didn't mean to perform accidental halfa creation).

- - -

The Bats are not having a good time. There is someone killing off criminal left and right in Crime Alley and the culprit is extremely efficient and clearly trained.

No sign of entry at the crime scene. Not even a spec of dirt left behind.

Crime Alley has become suspiciously calm recently.

They whisper about a boogeyman, a red ghost.

(I honestly really want to continue this ❤)

[thebirdsystem]

Violently love this song. I think it goes with Nuru very well.

#vat7k nuru #nuru vat7k #hugo vat7k #donella vat7k #yong vat7k #vat7k varigo #varian vat7k #vat7k #tts varian #varian and the 7 kingdoms #Spotify

[thebirdsystem]

I LOVE HCS AHHHHG

as you all can see i love chai..

(i kinda headcanon chai as brazillian...)

#hi fi rush #art #artists on tumblr #fanart