‘Wednesday’, the new Netflix show, while entertaining and a good stand-alone series, fails to fully grasp what The Addams Family is truly about, says Rose Edwards.
The Addams Family first came to be in a New Yorker cartoon before a sitcom began with the macabre family being the centre.
Their strangeness and healthy family dynamics juxtaposed with the typical American families represented in sitcoms in the 60s was what made the concept new and appealing.
In recent adaptations, we have slowly seen this dynamic be side-lined in favour of making Wednesday the centre of the Addams Family and destroying her relationship with Morticia.
A good (or rather bad) example of this is the recent animated movie featuring the Addams Family, which showed the parents refusing to let Wednesday express herself and explore the world, which the 60s Addams Family would never have done.
Don’t even get me started on the musical adaptation, which completely misses the mark on the Addams Family (great songs though).
The 60s sitcom saw them let Pugsley be a scout because even though they didn’t understand it, they loved him.
Similar events took place in Addams Family Values, where they sent the siblings to summer camp, although they didn’t understand it because they loved them and respected their wishes.
We start to see this shift from a healthy family dynamic and love of all things dark to today’s Addams family in the 90s with the two movies at the time.
Wednesday Addams became such a favourite that the media following chose her as their centre; thus, we got ‘Wednesday’ her comedy series.
The show itself isn’t bad.
I enjoyed it as someone who has long been a fan of the Addams Family and of Jenna Ortega.
I just didn’t enjoy the love triangle and bad blood between Morticia and Wednesday (I miss them having a healthy and loving relationship as Wednesday models herself after her mother).
Despite it missing the crucial points of what makes the Addams Family so great, the show was funny and dark, and I loved most of the characters.
Enid, played by Emma Myers, was so loveable and I absolutely loved her dynamic with Wednesday.
I think Jenna Ortega was phenomenal as Wednesday and props to her for barely blinking.
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She captured Wednesday well, and for those saying she was too dark, remember the 90s version was ready to kill her baby brother in the sequel, so in comparison, I think this Wednesday is pretty laid back.
Also, shout out to the man who played Thing, somehow a hand had more personality than Xavier (we are a Xavier hate club, sorry).
I’d say, the show was a hit, and I did watch it twice already and loved both watches.
The acting shines throughout and I adored Gwendoline Christie in it, and understand now, Jenna Ortega’s awe aimed towards the woman.
She’s so talented.
I wouldn’t have liked her to be in a relationship with Enid tho, but I did think there was some kind of homoerotic tension sometimes and I was here for it! I rly need screenwriters to stop automatically include romance in their shows, Wednesday would’ve been perfect on her own!! pic.twitter.com/mxeevMhf3l
— Mal (@yr0lam) December 10, 2022
However, my hatred for the love triangle burns strong, I’m with Jenna Ortega on this.
It doesn’t help that I think Wednesday and Enid had more chemistry than Wednesday and any guy, but Netflix has a habit of cancelling sapphic shows, so we’ll pretend that was never said.
Lead image: Netflix on YouTube