Violet Beauregarde
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Violet Beauregarde is a fictional character from the Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its film adaptations, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She is a chewing gum fanatic, having broken a world record by chewing the same piece and type of gum for three months solid. In the original novel and 1971 film, Violet has a best friend named Cornelia Prinzmetel, whose record she broke. In the 2005 film, she appears to not have any friends, because of her overcompetitiveness. Violet is the third bad kid to find a ticket, and the second to get kicked off the tour for misbehaving.
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[edit] Differences
In all three versions of the story, Violet tries an experimental piece of "three-course-meal" gum, against Willy Wonka's advice about the prototype's bugs. This causes her to turn blue, fill with juice and swell up like a balloon blueberry (considerably larger in the 2005 film than in any other version), much to the horror of her parents. The 1971 version adds a twist to Violet's downfall - if the blueberry juice inside her was not squeezed out of her immediately, she would explode.
Although the three versions of Violet vary, they share similar personality traits. She is far more of a tomboy than Veruca Salt, seems the most pleasant of the naughty children, and is somewhat more competitive than the other Golden Ticket Winners, especially in the 2005 movie, where her competitive behavior is greatly expanded to include her participation in sports and the martial arts. Also, in all three versions of the story, Violet addresses her mom as "Mother" —- despite cultural changes over time.
As part of the four misbehaving children, Violet corresponds to one of the Seven Deadly Sins. She has the least obvious connection of the four, but she appears to represent pride. Because of the vague connection to her sin, Violet, especially the 1971 Denise Nickerson version of the character, has come to be regarded by many fans and fan fiction writers as the most sympathetic of the four "naughty" children, particularly because in the 1971 version she is the only one to tell Veruca Salt to stop complaining.[citation needed]
[edit] Violet in the novel
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory character | |
|---|---|
| Violet Beauregarde | |
| Gender | Female |
| Personality | Loud, mischievous, very competitive. Obsessed with gum. Can be pleasant despite her bad manners and is a tomboy in every sense of the word. |
| Family | Father Mr. Beauregarde, Mother Mrs. Beauregarde |
| Town/City the character lives in | Unknown |
| Portrayed by | None |
In Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Violet is described as having a "great big mop of curly hair" and as someone who talks "very fast and very loudly". Illustrations of her vary from illustrator to illustrator, but she is usually drawn as having a large mouth and wearing blue jeans and a purple T-shirt, reflecting her tomboyish nature. In this version, both her parents accompany her to the factory. Her nationalty is not mentioned but both film versions make her American.
One aspect of Violet found in the novel but not taken up in either film version was her habit - shared with other children - of inconveniencing other people for her own amusement. She boasts about how she liked to stick a piece of gum on lift/elevator buttons so that whoever presses the button next will have gum stuck on their finger. According to her, "You get the best results with women who have expensive gloves on". Incidently, in this version her mother disapproves of her gum-chewing habit.
[edit] Violet in 1971 film
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory character | |
|---|---|
| Violet Beauregarde | |
 |
|
| Violet Beauregarde portrayed by Denise Nickerson in the 1971 adaption | |
| Gender | Female |
| Personality | Similar to book, but with some minor differences; she and Veruca don't get along, but she is very nice to Charlie. Not as competitive as other adaptations, but still a loud and fast talker. She also loves her dad but is very eager to get into the spotlight. |
| Family | Father Sam Beauregarde, Mother Scarlett Beauregarde (voice only) |
| Town/City the character lives in | Miles City, Montana |
| Portrayed by | Denise Nickerson |
In the 1971 movie adaption, Violet was portrayed as a pre-teen girl with long brown hair and wearing a dark blue pant-dress, living in Miles City, Montana. She was played by twelve-year-old former Dark Shadows child actress Denise Nickerson. Her father, Sam Beauregarde (played by Leonard Stone), was a salesman of used American automobiles who never missed an opportunity to compete with other car dealers and sell his cars on the lot. However, he does in fact worry about his daughter more than his work, as he is very angry at Mr. Wonka when Violet blows up into a blueberry. Violet's mother can be briefly seen on TV, but only for a few seconds. She is a tall woman with a short bob of red hair. She was played by an uncredited actress.
Violet dressed in contemporary blue bell bottom pants. Her hair is styled in a sort of "ponytail", which is pronounced by a giant hair clip.
Interaction between Violet and Veruca isn't mentioned in the original novel; in the 1971 film, although it is never directly referred to, it is clear the two girls instantly take a disliking to each other. Veruca gets jealous when she thinks Violet has been given more gobstoppers than she has, whereas Violet calls Veruca a "Nit", a "Twit", and in an incorrectly-typed line, a "Twerp", which leads to a punchline in which Grandpa Joe refers to Violet as "a nitwit". Ironically, Denise Nickerson and Julie Dawn Cole, who played Violet and Veruca respectively, were good friends in real life and both had crushes on Peter Ostrum who played Charlie.
Denise has said that the film-makers, to simulate the blueberry scene, blew her up in a rubber suit and made her outline in two halves of a styrofoam ball. It took 45 minutes for her to get into her costume. She could not go to lunch during rehearsals; instead she was rolled every 5 minutes to keep blood circulating.
[edit] Violet in 2005 film
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory character | |
|---|---|
| Violet Beauregarde | |
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| "Violet keeps her eyes on the prize." | |
| Gender | Female |
| Personality | Similar to book; her competitive behavior is expanded considerably. Also, she is very cocky and overconfident. |
| Family | Mother Scarlett Beauregarde, Father unknown |
| Town/City the character lives in | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Portrayed by | AnnaSophia Robb |
In the 2005 movie adaption of the book, Violet is also a pre-teen girl, played by ten-year-old AnnaSophia Robb but she lives in Atlanta, Georgia instead of Miles City, Montana, has short blonde hair in a page boy hairstyle, and a very competitive disposition, having won 263 trophies and medals in practically anything—from martial arts competitions to gum-chewing contests, among many others. She is not only a world record holder, but a junior world champion in gum-chewing. As in the book and 1971 film adapatation, she laid off gum for a while and switched to chocolate bars instead in order to win the contest.
Thanks to her mother, Violet is always thinking about gum, as heard in the scene where she is shown the Everlasting Gobstoppers, saying "It's like gum" when in fact the Gobstoppers are hard. In this version, Violet's father is not seen, or even mentioned — her parents have presumably divorced or separated, possibly as a result of the father's death. Her mother, Scarlett Beauregarde (played by Missi Pyle), is also her manager and coach, having strong confidence that Violet is going to win the special prize at the end of the factory tour. Violet and her mother both wear similar tracksuit-like outfits (in keeping with the original illustrations of Violet by Quentin Blake). They are portrayed as very similar in appearance and personality, and it is suggested that Scarlett encourages Violet's competitiveness only to continue her own legacy as a champion baton twirler.
Violet and Veruca pretend to become good friends, too -- an aspect not mentioned in the original film or novel. In fact, in the original film, an unmentioned subplot (seen only by the girls' reactions to each other and confirmed by the actresses at later dates) has Violet and Veruca engaged in a bitter rivalry with each other, often trying to nudge the other out of the way to be the center of attention.
Violet is very cocky and she has a tendency to belittle the other Golden Ticket holders, thanks to her mother coaching her and instilling her with a cocky attitude.
[edit] Violet's Endgame
Violet's punishment is the same in all incarnations of the character. After learning that Wonka has developed an experimental piece of chewing gum that is meant to simulate a full 3-course meal (in the movies the meal is tomato soup, roast beef and a baked potato with all the fixings, and blueberry pie with cream/ice cream), she quickly grabs it out of his hands and begins chewing away on it contentedly. After ecstatically tasting the first two courses of the meal, Violet gets to the blueberry pie dessert, whereupon things immediately go wrong. She suddenly turns a deep blue and balloons up into a giant blueberry. Wonka states that for some reason the gum always goes wrong when it comes to the blueberry pie, and while he sits and ponders what could be wrong with the formula, Violet and her parents panic as Violet quickly becomes too round to even move. Wonka then summons the Oompa Loompas to roll Violet away to the juicing room so that they can squeeze the juice out of her body.
The size of Violet's transformation differs between incarnations. In the novel and the 1971 film, she grows merely in width, whereas in the 2005 film she grows in height as well, eventually becoming almost elephantine in size.
Another difference is that in the novel and the 2005 film, her hair turns violet. In the 1971 film, it stays brown, but a hue of blue light can be seen on her hair from light reflecting off her face. Also her hair in the 1971 film is lying on her body. In the 2005 film, there is no room for her hair since here body expands over her mouth.
The fate of Violet is unknown in the first movie. She is last seen being rolled by the Oompa-Loompas to the Juicing Room to get squeezed before she exploded; at the end of the film, Wonka assures Charlie that all the other children will be their normal nasty selves. In the 2005 version, she inflates into a blueberry of elephantine proportions (much to her mother's horror), and at the end is shown exiting the factory with her mother in her normal size; much more flexible, but still blue. This Violet, however, is actually pleased with her condition (which reinforces her widely considered role as the most sympathetic "bad" child), much to the embarrassment (and possible regret) of her mother. In the book, she survives as well, retaining purple skin, though increased flexibility is not mentioned.
[edit] Violet Beauregarde Song
This song takes place in the Inventing Room. It is sung by Oompa-Loompas after Violet is turned into a blueberry.
[edit] What it Talks About
The original song talks about "Miss Bigelow", who chewed gum all day for years before her jaws bit her tongue in two and how the Oompa Loompas want to prevent the same thing happening to Violet. In the 1971 version, the song merely talks about how chewing gum for long periods of time is repulsive. The 2005 version restored part of Dahl's original lyrics, although only about Violet, no mention of Miss Bigelow, particularly the part about her tongue bitten in two.
[edit] Times sung
In the book, it is sung while the Oompa-Loompas roll Violet into the boat and take her to the Juicing Room. In the 1971 version, it is sung as the Oompa-Loompas roll Violet out of the Inventing Room. In the 2005 version, it is sung as the Oompa-Loompas roll her around the Inventing Room and then into the boat (they also ignore Violet's terrified screams).
[edit] Portion of lyrics
[edit] Book
Dear friends, we surely all agree
There is nothing worse to see
Than some young repulsive bum
Who's always chewing chewing gum
(It's very near as bad as those
who sit around and pick the nose).
[edit] 1971 Film
Gum chewing's fine when it's once in a while,
It stops you from smoking and brightens your smile
But it’s repulsive, revolting, and wrong
Chewing and chewing all day long
The way that a cow does.
[edit] 2005 Film
Listen close and listen hard,
To the tale of Violet Beauregarde.
This dreadful girl, she sees no wrong,
Chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, all day long.*
[edit] Video Game
In the video game, the player spends two levels with the blueberry version of Violet Beauregarde: the Invention Room and the Juicing Room.
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl) | |
|---|---|
| Characters: |
Willy Wonka | Oompa-Loompas | Charlie Bucket | Augustus Gloop | Veruca Salt | Violet Beauregarde | Mike Teavee | Grandpa Joe | Mr. Slugworth | The Candy Man | Prince Pondicherry | Vermicious knid | Mr. and Mrs. Teavee | Mr. Salt | Mr. Beauregarde | Mrs. Beauregarde | Dr. Wilbur Wonka (only in Tim Burton film) |
| Books: | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator |
| Films: | 1971 | 2005 |
| Misc.: | Differences between the book and film versions | Golden Ticket | Wonka Bar | Video Game | other Roald Dahl films | other Roald Dahl books |
