By Nicole Lee, Staff Writer
After thirty-one years since The Addams Family movie first came out, Netflix has finally released its highly anticipated spinoff for the eldest child, Wednesday. The series, directed by Tim Burton, follows Wednesday Addams’ journey through Nevermore, a school for outcasts, where she experiments with using her psychic abilities and solves the identity of a murderous monster. The show takes on various familiar TV structures like the typical supernatural high school drama with the conflict being “normies” versus outcasts. While attending Nevermore, Wednesday meets new cliques consisting of werewolves, vampires and sirens while balancing her relationships with the people in the neighboring town. When she discovers a breakout of killings, Wednesday goes into detective mode creating a murder mystery story along the way.
The Addams Family, originally created by Charles Addams in 1938, was a series of cartoon panels published in the New York Times. The cynical fictional family is a satirical inversion of the 20th century ideal family as it depicts a wealthy aristocratic family who delight in the macabre and remain unconcerned about what others may think about them. Since then, the gothic story has been adapted to movies, television shows, and even musicals. In 1964, ABC created a sitcom based on Addams’ characters and in 1991, Barry Sonnenfeld directed the classic movie we have come to know and love, starring Christina Ricci and Anjelica Huston. Now in 2022, Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega, is the latest adaptation, demonstrating the long-lasting appeal of the quirky family.
The Wednesday series has broken English language records for hours watched just in the first week, beating out even Stranger Things season four due to Ortega’s unprecedented acting and dedication to her role. The actress has become one of the most successful rising stars in Hollywood as she has accumulated major breakout roles in the past few years like in the Netflix original series, You, and in the new Scream movie. Her performance methods have been all the talk as it has come out that while filming Wednesday, Ortega would reshoot scenes where she blinked and learned a variety of new skills such as: playing the cello, fencing, archery, and rowing.
Familiar characters such as Morticia Addams played by Catherina Zeta-Jones, and Gomez Addams, brought to life by Luis Guzman, made appearances throughout the eight episode season. However, we were mainly introduced to new faces such as Wednesday’s roommate and best friend, Enid Sinclair. Burton also implemented a love triangle between Wednesday and her new classmate, Xavier Thorpe and “normy” friend, Tyler Galpin; this love triangle had many die hard fans of the original Addams Family and even the actress herself, Jenna Ortega, confused. Referring to the producers of the show, Ortega explained, “I told them very early on that I didn’t want [Wednesday] to be in the middle of a love triangle,” and explained further that she planned to fight the idea. On the other hand, there are many fans who enjoyed seeing a bit of Wednesday’s humanity.
Christina Ricci, who portrayed Wednesday in the 1991 film, plays a recurring role as a Nevermore teacher named Ms. Thornhill. Many assumed she would have a large part in the series as, “there’s no way the old Wednesday would just be some school teacher with no story,” critics on Twitter have pointed out. Though, the old Wednesday and the one that has recently come out are very different interpretations of the Addams Family’s daughter, there is no need to compare the two as both actresses brought the sadistic character to life for many to enjoy.
Although reviews of the series have been relatively positive, critics have been calling out the show’s director, Tim Burton, for being racist. Burton has previously received a great amount of criticism for his lack of diversity in his movies such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice. In response, he has admitted that the entertainment industry tries to force diversity, saying “things either call for something, or they don’t.” Since Wednesday has come out, Burton has continued to cause an uproar as people are noticing and criticizing the director for having the only two African American actors as school bullies. Joy Sunday, as Biana Barclay, plays a mean girl at Nevermore while Iman Marson who acts as Lucas Walker is the son of a corrupt mayor. What has raised the most concern is Burton’s choice of having the mayor in the series own “Pilgrim World” which celebrates colonizers. Viewers of the show have been the first to notice as they comment on social media, “…one thing I hate about this show is that why did they make ALL the black people in this show terrible people?” As Burton’s controversy continues, many wonder what this means for him. Will we see less of his work? Will he add more diversity into his pieces? We will likely see in the near future.
Although Burton is in the media for poor reasons, the show itself is expected to become a major franchise for Netflix due to Ortega’s incredible work. Many hope for three to four more seasons and the expansion of the Addams Family universe, as the eight episodes were not enough. The show was an easy binge and after each episode I was left on my toes. The ending left a bit of cliffhanger, making the viewers want more.
