Last night, my family and I went to see Wonka. It was as weird and wonderful as I’d heard, but I found myself even more swept up by its magic than I’d anticipated. Underneath the costumes and choreography and theatrics of it all, though, is the story of a young man desperately trying to stay connected to his deceased mother through chocolate.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Braver on Paper to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.