Original artwork, not a still
Buttons, buttons, whose got the button?
— Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory ‧ 1971
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is Wonka at his most absent-minded: a genius who built the impossible machine and cannot find its switch, singing a nursery chant while the children wait. The throwaway silliness is the point, because the film keeps you unsure whether he is mad, playing, or testing them, and the line is shouted by fans whenever something needs finding in a hurry.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Willy Wonka & the Chocolate FactoryShow the scene
In the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Wonka (Gene Wilder) has just handed the five ticket winners their Everlasting Gobstoppers and sworn them to secrecy. He then leads the group on to a wonderful contraption, introduced as a revolutionary mechanical wonder, and hunts around its control panel for the right switch, muttering this children's-game chant. Someone points out the button, and the machine turns out the three-course-dinner chewing gum. Violet Beauregarde, ignoring Wonka's warnings, grabs the unfinished gum, chews it, and swells into a giant blueberry.
Sources (2)
- Springfield! Springfield! Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory transcriptscene after the Gobstopper handout, at the gum machineReference checked
- Wikipedia, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate FactoryPlotReference checked
Context reviewed
