Do you like your TV shows kooky and spooky? How about mysterious, heartwarming, and laugh-out-loud funny? If you answered yes to any of these, then you’ll love Netflix’s Wednesday, the latest (re)incarnation of The Addams Family.
It's the 'in' thing: The disembodied hand character Thing and Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in Wednesday. Credit: Courtesy Netflix © 2022.
Most of us are familiar with the ‘strange and deranged’ Addams Family. Whether it’s the 1990s films starring Anjelica Huston and Christina Ricci, or the black-and-white TV series from the 1960s and 1970s, or perhaps – somewhat more rarely – the original 1930s New Yorker cartoons where it all began.
This dark, Gothic family, complete with monstrous relatives and humorous horrors galore, works because of its parodic modelling of 20th-century American family values.
While Wednesday makes for a brilliant character study, particularly as she learns to strike out on her own and establish an identity away from her family (a classic teen coming-of-age story), there are enough of the familiar family characters to keep the series within the realms of tradition.
Most of these adaptations centre around the family as a whole, but Netflix’s Wednesday departs from this tradition to focus on the death-obsessed daughter with the deadpan stare, Wednesday (born on Friday the 13th, but named for ‘Wednesday’s child is full of Woe’).
While it alters the on-screen family dynamic, focusing on Wednesday is a fresh move that revives the Addams Family tradition and brings it into the 21st century.
A creepy cast: Moosa Mostafa as Eugene Otinger, Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams, Naomi J. Ogawa as Yoko Tanaka, Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay in episode 103 of Wednesday. © Credit Netflix 2022.
We first meet Wednesday as she is moved to a new school, Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for ‘outcasts’ filled with students deemed too monstrous for society (classes are typically populated with werewolves, vampires, sirens and ‘gorgons’ – some school teachers may relate).
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Wednesday, typically alone, brooding and with a sharp tongue and sardonic wit that could melt the skin off Dracula, manages to make herself an outcast among outcasts. That's despite the best efforts of her new roommate Enid, whose rainbow-bright aesthetic and relentlessly cheery disposition is the perfect opposite of Wednesday’s Gothic gloom (and probably the only thing Wednesday herself considers scary).
Do the 'monster' mash(-up)
What follows is a classic teenage boarding school mystery, just with monsters (if you enjoyed other TV hits like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Pretty Little Liars or even Riverdale, then this one’s for you).
Double act: Jenny Ortega plays Goody and Wednesday Addams in Wednesday. Credit: Netflix © 2022
Jenna Ortega, in the title role of Wednesday Addams, is particularly brilliant, managing to put a fresh spin on the character while also recalling iconic Wednesdays past. Speaking of former Wednesdays, keep your eye out for the return of Christina Ricci as a ‘normie’ (non-monstrous) teacher at the school in a brilliant touch that reinforces the show’s sense of the uncanny, haunting return of the past.
While Wednesday makes for a brilliant character study, particularly as she learns to strike out on her own and establish an identity away from her family (a classic teen coming-of-age story), there are enough of the familiar family characters to keep the series within the realms of tradition.
Film makes a 'thing' about Wednesday
Central to Wednesday’s story is her relatable (and perhaps more realistic) relationship with her mother, portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones, adding tension to Wednesday’s attempts to find her own path. Watch out too for the brilliant Gwendoline Christie as Principal Weems.
However one of the most breakout stars of the show is Thing, the sentient, disembodied hand which acts as a kind of confidante for Wednesday. The relationship between them is one of the most heartwarming and hilarious parts of the show (prepare yourself to get surprisingly emotional about a hand that walks on its fingertips).
Brillantly Burtonesque: Four out of the eight episodes of Wednesday are directed by Tim Burton.
The show also benefits from another classic Gothic duo, only this time one that exists in the real world: director, Tim Burton and composer, Danny Elfman. Having collaborated in previous Gothic classics such as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Batman, the duo brings their weird magic to the screen once more.
The cinematic music plays such a huge role in the mood of the show that it becomes almost like a character itself. The visuals are gorgeously rich and evocative, with Burton’s classic blue, black and white palette juxtaposed against poetic bursts of colour.
Jam-packed with familiar references (most especially to Gothic authors like Edgar Allan Poe) and wonderfully satisfying call-backs to previous Addams Family adaptations, this show is a pure delight from start to finish.
While I’m already packing my bags to move to Nevermore Academy, the faint of heart should beware; supernatural themes and mild gore land the show a rating of M. But don’t let that keep you from enjoying the cryptic mysteries of this latest spooky hit, which makes the perfect binge-watch for the holidays.
Dr Kirstin Mills (pictured) is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Master of Research in the Faculty of Arts. Her research specialises in Gothic literature and media.
