Tim Burton's version of Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series Wednesday doesn't fit with The Addams Family canon, but that's precisely what the franchise needed.
This modern version of the iconic kooky characters shows them in a new light, which has proven not to be everyone's cup of tea. Some Addams Family fans have complained that Wednesday's character is far too different from her original counterpart and have criticized Burton for these changes. However, if the story of the Addamses was going to be told again, it needed to be with a twist.
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The Addams Family started as simple single-panel comics that began appearing in The New Yorker in the late 1930s. The characters within the family weren't named, but they were meant to represent the post-war American dream—with a macabre twist. This concept was taken to the 1964 TV sitcom of the same name, where the old-money family used their strange ways to poke fun at the wealthy elite. This continued across several adaptations over the years until Netflix's Wednesday took a new angle.
It's Okay That Wednesday Is Different To The Original Character
Jenna Ortage as Wednesday int he show and animated Wednesday in The Addams Family
Though little Wednesday Addams had little to say in the original comics, she developed an identity of her own in the Addams Family TV series. She was just as bizarre as the rest of her family and delighted in torturing her little brother and getting up to all kinds of mischief. However, as befitted the American dream themes, Wednesday always treated her parents with love and respect. She was independent and questioned authority but lacked the kind of illogical rebellion toward her parents that a typical adolescent girl might fall into.
This was not the case in the Netflix series, where Morticia and Wednesday's relationship especially was changed to be full of contention. Just like a typical teenager, the titular Addams feared becoming like her parents and did her best to ensure that she did not become the romantic homemaker that Morticia had always been. In short, she was rebelling against the American dream. This was very different from her canon character and is part of what has inspired backlash from longtime Addams Family fans. However, this take is precisely what has made Wednesday so successful.
Netflix's Wednesday Changes Made The Show Better (& More Successful)
Jenna Ortega; Addams Family; Netflix
Unlike other adaptations of The Addams Family, Wednesday isn't set at the Addams' manor and barely features the traditional characters at all. Instead, it takes place at Nevermore, a high school for outcasts, and almost exclusively follows Wednesday. This is a significant foundational change for the franchise and shifted the targetted demographic from families to teenagers and young adults. Ultimately, these audiences were the most unlikely to be very familiar with The Addams Family and were therefore open to a brand new interpretation.
Since the purpose of The Addams Family was to make odd and macabre characters relatable, it wouldn't have made sense to keep Wednesday's character the way it had been written back in the mid-20th century. Wednesday was already a feminist icon in her own right, and her individuality and willingness to speak her mind haven't changed on Wednesday. However, by making her relatable to modern teenagers and putting her in a high school filled with delicious mystery and drama, the Addams Family character has been further immortalized—she is now relevant to yet another generation of audiences.
Why A Modern Wednesday Is Perfect For The Addams Family Franchise
Wednesday-Season-1-Wednesday-Phone-Texts
Just as it makes sense for Wednesday to have been brought to a modern setting, there are benefits to making the entire Addams Family a crew of the 21st century. Their gothic-victorian style has only become more bizarre (yet endearing) and contrasts perfectly with the characters in Wednesday that better embody modern culture (like Enid). Moreover, the idea that the Addamses reflect the traditional American dream becomes all the more impactful when remembering that this dream has become even more unattainable in the years since the original The Addams Family aired on TV.
Though the Addamses are strange, even by Nevermore's standards, it can't be denied that they appear to be the perfect family on paper. Just as they were back in the 1960s, Morticia and Gomez are outrageously in love, and their massive house and beautiful children are all that anyone could ask for. However, in the modern setting of Wednesday, this was used to contrast the far more typical family dynamics of Nevermore's students. Characters like Bianca, Enid, Xavier, and even Tyler demonstrated with their families how the world has changed—which is precisely why Wednesday needed to change as well.
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