We lost a lot of great people in 2016. One of the most recent being Gene Wilder.
Gene Wilder had a tremendous effect on many people. Countless children and adults have been entertained by him. Uzo Aduba said he was a genius. Josh Gad called him the greatest comedic mind of his childhood, and Salma Hayek said that Willy Wonka is the film that made her want to be an actress.
For me, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a marvel. It's one of the best movies ever made. As a kid I was fascinated by Roald Dahl's books and the films that came from them. I loved characters like The Grand High Witch, The Trunchbull, The BFG, and Charlie Bucket. Roald Dahl didn't talk down to children; he told them that the world is scary but not impossible to navigate. I don't think any character embodied this more than Willy Wonka. When I saw Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory after having read Charlie and The Chocolate Factory it struck a chord that stayed with me into adulthood.
I am not one of those people who when I “became a man, put childish things away”: I never stopped watching cartoons. I still collect action figures and toys to an extent that is likely not healthy, and I make my living drawing and writing comic books. I'm also not someone who thinks those things are exclusively for children.
I love my job. I love that I get to create stories and make art for a living. Half of the time, something that I draw in my sketchbook turns into a full illustration or print out. I want to share the things I love with the world.
Several years ago, a new fandom was added to my ever-growing list of things to obsess about and share with everyone I can: RuPaul's Drag Race.
Unless we are counting Bugs Bunny, the first drag queen I ever saw on TV was RuPaul. I'm having a hard time remembering if it was as the unforgettable Mrs. Cummings, Jan Brady's high school counselor in the Brady Bunch Movie, or if it was on the episode of Ricki Lake that she practically guest hosted. Either way, I remember being fascinated. Years later, she would go on to create RuPaul's Drag Race, which allowed gay men to finally understand what straight men go through when football season comes around. I've been hooked since the first season. Obsessed isn't quite the right word; it goes beyond that.
I still make comics but I draw Drag Queens all the time now too. Not nearly enough as some other amazing talented artists: (see: Chad Sell, Alfredo Roagui, James Barry, Michael J. DiMotta to name a few) but enough that I have been able to have an entire table full of merchandise at the first and second RuPaul's Drag Con in Los Angeles.
Drag Con is a wonder. I do conventions all the time, and it's one of the best shows and most well-organized conventions I've ever done. Witnessing RuPaul cut the ribbon at the first Drag Con was something I'll never forget. She invited all the freaks, all the weirdos, all the outcasts into her world and told them they were home. And that's when I realized something. It had been staring me in the face for the longest time: RuPaul is Willy Wonka.
I'm not just referring to the fact that RuPaul now has a line of delicious chocolate bars (I've had one. It's incredible). What I mean is, every year RuPaul invites a handful of hopeful “children” as she calls them, into her magical wonderland. Queens who hope to carry on her legacy show up, having been awarded a metaphorical golden ticket if you will, and well, by the end of the whole experience, only one is left standing. Every week, a new challenge offers the contestants an opportunity to prove their worth, whether it be in comedy, sewing, singing or any other thing she cooks up. Throughout, Ru gives the kids guidance and some tough love, much in the way Willy Wonka would offer a slight read now and then to the parents and children making their way through his wondrous chocolate factory. On Drag Race, Oompa Loompas have been replaced with a hunky Pit Crew of men, who assist Ru in the challenges. Not to mention, these experiences are all set to a fresh soundtrack of RuPaul hits that she pumps out shamelessly (“available on iTunes,” of course).
She's reminding us that she is a music maker and a dreamer of dreams, and we can be that too.
RuPaul gave me the courage to come out to my family. Hearing each episode end with “If you can't love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else,” did something to me. Over and over throughout the show and in interviews I heard RuPaul's say, “what other people think of me, is none of my business,” and “less they payin' your bills, pay them bitches no mind,” and it started to sink in after a while. It hit me just as hard as Wonka telling Veruca Salt, “Time is a precious thing. Never waste it.” These quotes are things I can replay in my head when I'm feeling blue or unmotivated and they have never let me down.
But besides all that, the show is fun. It's become an experience I can get something out of and be entertained by. It makes me happy. Besides, as Willy Wonka put it...
On “What's the T"—RuPaul's podcast with Michelle Visage—they often talk about how the world as we know it is actually fake. How it's the Matrix, and it's Oz, and once we look behind the curtain and see who the Wizard really is, we can see that everything around us is a construct. When we do that, we cease to take ourselves so seriously. It's this point that drives it home for me more than any other.
Because, fundamentally, what RuPaul does better than any other person living today is offer a solid sense of comfort after being exposed to the construct. We become wrapped up in a blanket of courage and truth. She looks us straight in the eye and tells us: “Child, come with me, and you'll be in a world of pure imagination.”
Terry Blas is the illustrator and writer behind the ongoing web series