I don't know why Netflix needed to use the Addams Family for this. I know, it's because the Addams have a name everyone knows snd loved Made it so "Family friendly" m, they could use everything for the show and it would suit so much better than our beloved Addams. I know many people loved the show and that's ok, but I don't like it. I was exciting for something like "Addams Family Values" and I got another boring "Netflix Original" show for teenagers. That would be fine, but I had just not the right epectations, I guess. Gormez and Morticias crazy love for each other was one of the best parts in the whole Franchise for me. The actors in *Wednesday* have not the chemistry together I wishes for. P.S.; You made a great critique a Out everything I don't like about the show either. Thank you, JohntheDuncan.
@JohntheDuncan Fun fact: When Wednesday spoke german I didn't understand anything! German is my native language. Should't I know what she said? I thought she spoke a different language when I watched the clip.
“I would die for her. I would kill for her. Either way, what bliss.” Gomez was always a breath of fresh air in a time full of boomer humour and “ew, wives, amirite guys?” culture. The romance between him and Morticia has always been my favourite thing about the Addams family. It melts the heart like summer snow.
Gomez and Morticia Addams were the only couple on TV that you could believe were actually capable of having children. They were clearly passionate about each other and their family.
Morticia and Gomez are relationship goals. They were the reason I started watching to begin with, esp after being bombarded with nonstop unironic "ball and chain" type gags in sitcoms that always seemed to imply marriage was meant to be miserable, as though that's supposed to be accepted as normal and good. Saying Morticia and Gomez were a breath of fresh air fr feels like an understatement lmao
The part that always gets me about Family Values was when even when the baby was 'normal' they DIDN'T reject them, like the final clip in the vid, Morticia read them a "normal" book and tried to understand the kid where they were at, not what they wanted them to be. Fucks me up every time
Yes! And like when they send the kids to camp, they don't understand it at all but they've been convinced that's what the kids dearly want so they do it for them
How about in the 1960s episode (if anyone has watched the series) when Pugsley wanted to be in the Boy Scouts, they didn’t understand at first, but they tried to understand him and support him.
To be fair. Making media that is highly aesthetic and on a surface level seems to support "weird" people and characters while under the hood being highly conservative and problematic is just kinda always been Burton's thing.
@@seabreeze4559 yeah i remember being in 6th grade and our theater kids put on a short play about the story this was about 3/6 years before Corpse Bride came out when my best friend who was always a much bigger Tim Burton fan than i was actually thought he had come up with the whole story up and was a little deflated when i informed her about the story being a Jewish folk tale Tim Burton became old the only thing he did was take someone else’s story and slap his aesthetic on it and called it art i still haven’t watch Wednesday yet due to my issues with Tim Burton clearly not caring about stealing from a culture that has been systematically kept down and killed honestly i believe the only reason he cast a Person of color in the Lead role is for fake woke i know they talked about how the original TV Wednesday was of Hispanic decent Castilian to be exact. but even this is problematic due to the disparity between how film and television represents those of Hispanic decent vs those of Latinx if you were of Hispanic decent t meant you were rich beautiful “pure” intelligent and good where as those of LatinX especially FAAB people you are cheap seductive “Exotic” bad and stupid
That just sounds weird. Wednesday and Pugsley were both different from 'normal kids' in that they admired their parents and loved their family. Why wouldn't she want to be like Morticia? Woman's got it all.
What's nuts about it, is I think that's what Burton didn't like. If you grew up in almost every conservative Christian family, they tend to love the Adams family for showing 'actual family values' which is something the broad 'christian conservative family' has long bitched about Hollywood not showing, like, as in complained since there was a Hollywood. It's an edgy fantasy but as long as the family wasn't some group so far that anything vaguely witchy made them upset (which do exist, of course) it was recognized pretty universally as a 'parody of the evils of American family portrayals.' I think that's actually what made him want to dramatically alter it? It was that perceived 'normy' thing of the White Christian wants, not that, that call from general Christian circles has long been kind of a countercultural remnant of the positive parts of the religion that haven't been bastardized by mass culture.
Honestly, it would have been more of a subversion to have her genuinely like her mum and strive to be like her- that's something that's never explored in films with teenage characters. If there had to be any friction with a parent, it could then perhaps be with Gomez, who maybe isn't coping well with the idea of his little girl growing up.
@@Glittersword I kind of got that from the new show while watching it with my sister, her main issue at the new school Morticia was basically a rockstar as a teen. They have most of the same basic skills, but her mother even a decade before her did them better.
The castration of Gomez is unforgivable. The idea that Gomez is afraid of anything is preposterous. One can dishearten Gomez, but rattle his gate in a knife fight, not likely.
I was really bugged when the show took all of Wednesday's weird-ness and off-putting-ness and basically just turned it into a defense mechanism for an "I'm afraid to be vulnerable" type of deal. Even had a literal therapist spout some of the most cliché psychobabble for the most basic character profile from any other formulaic TV show.
EXACTLY!!! as a psychologist i was HORRIFIED with the therapist!!! like what the fuck first sesson was that?????? its terrible!!! nothing NOT A SINGLE word out of her mouth was therapist like. DID THEY EVEN CONSULT AN ACTUAL THERAPIST????
Burton 's entire filmography is about coopting counterculture and forcing it into the framework of hegemony. the moment i heard his name was attached to Wednesday i knew it'd be bad
I had the exact same thought. He takes a counterculture imagery and makes it devoid of any progressivism and ability to inspire and guide us, the mass, to take right actions for better world. Sad.
I really, really hated the bad feminism and bad representation of colonization. As soon as we got to Wednesday getting mad at a boy for saving her from a falling statue NOT because it would’ve been an interesting death (which is within her character) but because it was anti feminist for a MAN to help a WOMAN 🤦🏽♀️, I was out. Like…that’s not feminism, it’s just people who aren’t feminists views of feminism, and the show never critiqued her for it.
There is so much to hate, but I think the "pick your favorite marginalized group" scene truly demonstrates (early on in the show) how Wednesday was going to suck 1. the implication that "marginalization" is an identity you can choose is gross 2. Even within the premises of the show's world, it is utterly incoherent and poorly thought-out: the various outcasts gangs are more like 'species' (sirens, vampires, werewolves), how is one supposed to 'join' these various groups? and why is this outcast society not structured more like the supposed protagonists of the show (the addams family)? It is lazy, inconsistent worldbuilding on top of a poor understanding of the source material. Another very unflattering juxtaposition between the 90s films and this show is Morticia's utter horror at having killed in self defense. What about "We Gladly Feast on Those Who Would Subdue Us"? There is more understanding for what it means to be an outcast in that single, glorious line than in the whole of Wednesday
Exactly. Having Morticia horrified at killing in self defense and having Wednesday bring up the murder charges against Gomez as an accusation seems out of character.
Basically this show was made by those who wanted to check off the wokeness boxes, but really didn't understand why specific themes or topics are even being discussed these days. It's more than just throwing in diverse casting here and there. The show is very much like a typical Disney film. They want to appear progressive, but they dont want to create anything that could risk alinating certain audiences, which could hinder profitability. Hence the lack of any satire or analysis on gender, race, colorism, sexual orientation, imperialism l, etc. I found the show pretty dull, but I'm glad people are giving props to Jenna Ortega. The show is pretty bad, but there are scenes of hers I could watch over and over.
@@ShannaFarley I absolutely agree. I enjoyed the show, but mainly because I enjoyed Jenna Ortega as Wednesday. There was a lot throughout that just grated my nerves, though, and the fake attempts at seeming woke was one of them. For example, I absolutely hated the whole 'werewolf conversion camp' line, because the 'not changing into a werewolf' thing was really much more 'very late puberty' coded rather than queer coded, because it's a change she was going to go through all along, it was just so late that she and her mother were starting to get worried. It really felt like they threw that line in to check the 'queer allegory' box without even doing a queer allegory. I do think it did much better than the Sabrina remake, though, because while there were moments that were definitely failed attempts at trying to seem woke without understanding the issues, it wasn't so in your face that it made it unwatchable. Also, at least when Wednesday has character flaws, it's very clear that the writers knew those traits were flaws. I would have loved to see the 'murder in self defense' story done with Morticia and Gomez gleefully recounting what had happened, though, before it all devolves into frantic arm kissing. Right there in the psychiatrist's office, no need to draw it out or hide it.
My biggest gripe with Tim Burton is that he likes to proclaim himself as the "king of the weirdos" or whatever but he is as basic and cookie cutter as they come.
Pugsley being traumatized over getting tied up and shoved in the locker ticked me off. I was surprised Wednesday hadn't done that to him herself! Also her fabricated hatred of her mother was so sexist, like this boomer myth that teen girls just *magically* hate their mothers because *hormones*. It's lazy writing and robs both Morticia and Wednesday of their strength and charm. They always seem to have a close relationship, with Wednesday even dressing like Morticia during special occasions in the 90s movies. The casting was the one thing I liked about this show. These poor actors got shafted out of the role of a lifetime with a lazy script and shallow director!
This! As soon as I saw Pugsley being upset and traumatized by his locker excursion as well as Wednesday hating on her parents, I immediately put the show in the "No" pile. Then I saw all the praise the show was getting, and I just was so disheartened. Would have loved a reboot of the Addams family and am so disappointed and saddened with what Netflix presented us with instead.
makes you wonder if the people who praised the Show had ever seen any pervious Addams content/media, be it be the original 60s sitcom, the two Hanna Barbera cartoon shows(70s and 90s), the 2/3 movies or that 90s remake show by the same people who did Power Rangers and Goosebumps?
I'm an autistic gal & much of the neurodivergent community is championing Wednesday as a headcanon. I wanted to like it so much, but it's definitely not for me. Thank you for expressing what I thought was just my own personal disappointment.
Ooh remember how in Addams family Values when Wednesday tells the kid in the waiting room when that kid tells the stork baby story and Wednesday says her parents had sex?? She would not be embarrassed by her parents.
I'm not surprised that the messaging is so *baffling* since Tim Burton's own views on race are pretty awful. He has on multiple occasions tried to justify racist casting and exclusion of minorities in his films, and whined about "political correctness". And then there was his whitewashing of a classic Jewish folk tale. Speaking as someone who considers themselves goth, and who absolutely loves a lot of his early films; Tim Burton as a person is pretty freakin' awful. Alyssa Shotwell's recent article about _Wednesday_ on The Mary Sue touches on some of the most blatant examples; and how pretty much all of his BIPOC characters are either villains or tokens. He likes to put on the aesthetics of the gothic, the outsider, the other, and the feminist; but his portrayal of all of them is incredibly superficial and lacking real understanding of marginalization. He certainly missed the point of the Addams Family.
it confused me why they gave gomez the line cara mia an italian pet name that was used on wednesday in her only love interst in the movies Gomez is assumed to be lantino he would always use spanish pet names and Morticia would always speak french to him idk how they fucked up the show and its character so bad its like they painted their series in black and couldnt see the real picture anymore the fact that they force school on wednesday so much when in the original show they never wanted their kids in school or participate in modern activities like boy scouts and baseball when Pugsley was interested in it that they were mortified and did anything to prevent it and if they knew Pugsley was getting bullied and would realise school isnt for them when Wednesday got kicked out for fighting back they are just not made for normality they despise it so why force their kinds into normality and not seeing Wednesday for a long period of time they couldve did so much more with the show even though it was entertaining thats not the point when u take someone elses series and make a progression in time to show what their future is looking like basically to continue the series showing how they are living as the kids are in teenage years dealing with the modern world and puberty parenting is a struggle and being weird in america is too cause people will come knocking at ur door trying to get u to conform with society and that shouldve been the point people trying to get Wednesday and Pugsley into normality and them sticking to their roots not putting Wednesday in an even weirder environment just for her to be cold and uninterested in everything and thats the only reason why shes an outsider why did they have to make the environment more weird than the Addams cause its not supposed to be a fantasy story its supposed to take place in the real world of america they couldve atleast modernized it and made fun of todays issues they couldnt even show their house the main point of production it wouldve been so good with all the ways to make their weird plants and different rooms like i wanna see cleopatra all grown out and alive with cgi and shit it wouldve been so cool
well he can't win then, he cast them and you complained he didn't cast them and you still complained nobody asked for a white queen of the damned did they and that's goth
I did love when they casted Latinos to play Wednesday, Gomez, Fester, and Pugsly (one thing it has over the 90s movies), but that just made it more baffling when they had Wednesday's ancestor be an "early colonizer" instead of an indigenous person. They had the perfect opportunity to touch on the complicated identity of sharing indigenous and conquistador ancestry, but instead went with a baffling generic "good" colonizer vs. bad colonizer.
They could have gone for the duality of being latine (knowing our identity is the product of SA and genocide and colonization) and have that reflected in a) Wednesdays knowledge of indigenous history b) her "not fitting in" struggle w Morticia being based around having a white mom when she isnt white
@@user_.b why don't we just don't put bullshit child parent squabble in fucking Addams Family. Talk about this in any other show but leave Addams alone from drama nonsense
the irony of Tim Burton kind of ripping off the plot of Debby separating Uncle Fester from the family but not realizing her main crime was trying to turn him against them, which Tim spent the whole Wednesday series basically turning her against Morticia over such basic "I don't want to be you" cliches. That, and the love triangle just completely took me out. There were some good plots he could've played on, but ultimately ignored in favor of the traditional, girl against mother, monster of the week girl detective trope was ultimately boring. And since when would Gomez being a murderer suddenly be a negative thing? They've always hinted at crimes in the past that were celebrated.
@sewer~rat Absolutely not. Definitely not if they were paying any kind of tribute to the comics. It's just a mess. I feel badly for Jenna because I think she did the best with what she had, and the same with the rest of the cast. But god, it was like watching a bad cw show. Like The Originals when all the good writers left.
@@liacastrobugliossi8792 I could even understand wanting to be better, but she'd never resent her. She'd maybe be interested, or if not, her mom would support whatever interests she had.
I mean fine, show that mom has some flaws and why Wednesday is cool and capable all on her own. But they didn't have to contort Morticia so grotesquely to do it. And they didn't even TRY to ask what the real Morticia would have done. All the while Tim Burton is lurking in the background with an oscillating hand suspiciously down his pants going "hey guys, doesn't this scene look goth af?!" They hand us this hot garbage and cancel the actually good shows and then have the audacity to cry about having lost massive subscriptions. These people aren't smart enough to be good capitalists anymore, just neolibturds trying to make a buck or two off our nostalgia on the way out.
Debbie is by far the most worthy adversary the family has ever had. The best part of that arc for me, is that if she was willing to accept them the way they accepted her... she could have had everything she wanted... a devoted and loving family.
And riches. If she were part of the family they'd probably pay for her pastel mansion she loved so much despite not liking it. She would have had everything, they'd probably even accept an apology from her if she genuinely wanted to join the family
@@erinbathie-moore8478 she didn't want just acceptance, I think. That was the problem She wanted Fester to be less ugly or dead, and a family she could show off if anything. She wanted to be the Malibu Barbie, but also wanted others to be Malibu Barbies as well-or not be at all Debbie was the Addams paradox of tolerance
@@elfodelputoinfiernoDebbie actually wanted Ballerina Barbie. When her parents gift her Malibu Barbie she is upset. I think this is why she gravitates toward pastels and why she is comically outraged when Morticia comments on it. Point still stands tho. If the Addams were into pastels they'd be the perfect family for Debbie
I'm so glad other people are recognising how the Wednesday Netflix series just doesn't have the same satirical wit of previous adaptations. My favourite adaptations are the original black and white sitcom, the 00s sitcom and the 90s cartoon. I feel like Tim Burton only really understands the Addams Family in aesthetic and absolutely nothing else.
No shade to Luiz Gusman, but they did my boy Raul Júlia dirty with this show. Gomez is a fundamental part of the family, not just a tertiary character used as a prop in a mom-goth Daughter drama Tim Burton seems to think we like
We could’ve gotten a really cool “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” type pastiche where Wednesday has to survive in WASP country as an exchange student and makes friends with, like, modernized goth kids or something actually funny. Instead we got Harry Potter. Fuck, man… I wanted it to be good.
Honestly your idea sounds incredible and I wish it existed and will forever be sad it does not. I would write it if I could but unfortunately I cannot because I am not a writer.
I got 2 episodes in before I decided it was an artless, charmless, Twilight meets Harry Potter meets something even worse than both. Full of cheesy "mall goth" clichés, and dialogue reminiscent like the kind of things any of us who grew up alternative had said to us by often well meaning family members or other adults. Netflix presents Wednesday is for people who think "Normal People Scare Me" t-shirts are witty and cool, and excitedly introduce themselves to new people as "a Slytherin"
Yeah, and idk why this specific scene comes to mind. But when you talk about the forced goth and edgy aesthetic, that line where Wednesday talks about how she loves murder cases and how the Black Dahlia murder is her favorite.
@@BratzRockAngels oh, everyone lives true crime these days, but it's not right to say a murder is your favourite because that sounds like something yhat could compell someone to commit another act to be known. It's why you should eithet make up a case or use a niche one from long ago
They stripped everything that made them the Addams and turned them into an ordinary family in goth clothes. I was so disappointed in the lack of joy in Gomez and the lack of family devotion in all of them.
I have a question about the werewolf roommate. In her introduction, we learn she's a werewolf who can't "wolf out", save for some sharp claws. She's distressed by this fact, as she'll eventually be disowned by her family, and I think she really wants to wolf out regardless. She's seen werewolf doctors, but nothing helps. She wants to wolf out, but can't. When her family visits and mom hands her pamphlets for wolf-out camp, which is described as running around in the woods with werewolves (no medical interventions), the roommate freaks the fuck out and says "You're trying to send me to conversion therapy?!?" So she turns it down, and then eventually transitions into a werewolf to save the day in the last episode. This is the fulfillment of her character arc - she wanted to be a werewolf, and now she is. So... referencing conversion therapy was fucked up, right? I know I'm just some cis straight guy, but... conversion therapy is a human rights violation where people are bullied/coerced/tortured into giving up nonstandard gender presentation/sexual attraction. This is a werewolf puberty boost that's less invasive than modalities she already sought out. Am I wrong? Is there a pro-lgbtq+ message to be taken from her refusal to go to werewolf summer camp? Or is this a terrible writer hamfistedly jamming in a controversial term for shock value?
No you're right it's absolutely fucked. I think they were trying to make some gay allegory but its so so confused that even trying to pick it apart is almost impossible. It ends up with an almost pro conversion message????? Which is obviously fucked. I couldnt find the time and space to talk about that in this video
Yeah no its hugely fucked up. Especially since she did end up wolfing out in the end and in her words which you quoted 'converted'. She's just a regular werewolf now, nothing unique about her anymore, not that I think she was that hnique to begin with lmao
@@TRexRAWWR1 If you drop the bit with her mom then it's an unmotivated coming-of-age story, which... fine. I choose to believe that someone came back with a note and said "Oh, add this in!" and didn't think about it more than that. Because otherwise - yeah, it's super fucked up.
Even with Enid wolfing out at the end it's still kinda horrifying Her family wanted to send her to metaphorical conversion therapy not even for being metaphorically ace/gay but for just being a late bloomer. That's how desperately they wanted her to conform.
The most baffling bit to me was when enid, a werewolf insecure about her delayed puberty, is threatened with "werewolf conversion camp" by her mother. Something she refuses 10 minutes later and is cheered on for by her father. Such a confusing mixed metaphor.
I think it's more of a metaphor for taking your time to grow at your own pace. Her mother is forcing her to grow up essentially (maybe her room is also a hint at this as it's full of cute things that could be seen as "childish") You can be insecure about changes and feeling the pressure to be a woman at a young age and I think Enid is a great example of that conflict. She wants to be strong and blossom -- but at her own pace even if it's slow.
@@gracecasas3794 I agree and disagree. I think you get what the writers were going for, but what the actual text says is that Enid and her mom fundamentally agree that wolfing out (puberty/growing up) is important, and Enid wants to wolf out. However, they use conversion camp, a thing which in the real world explicitly exists to change you fundamentally from who you are and what you want for your life. It shows ignorance and laziness on the part of the writers that they would use such a serious real world allegory for a cliched and ultimately unimportant plot point, especially one to which it does not apply. Enid's mother could have instead suggested surgery, or a new diet, or fitness coaches. She could have threatened her with disownment. The conversion camp choice was, ultimately, baffling in how inappropriate and unnecessary it was.
her hair is blond with blue and pink highlights. So I think they were going for a trans metaphor. Which is even worse. Because A) could have just had a trans story if you wanted a trans story. B) she's a werewolf which kinda means you end up making a connection between monsters and trans people in a very troubling way. either way it's a fucking mess.
They really made an allegory for conversion therapy and then she turns into a werewolf anyway. It doesnt make sense why she was worried about never finding a mate if she couldnt transform when she was already dating Ajax before she transformed anyway. It was such a shallow and empty ""gesture"" to the LGBT community without ever having to soil your perfect teen drama by putting GAY PEOPLE in it. At this point it's so corporate and sleazy, I'd rather they just never allude to the LGBT community at all, at least that way they're not trying to wear a superhero cape without having to do anything
"A world view focussed on aesthetic over anything else" is the most concise description of every new Tim Burton production I've seen in the last 20 years
I love how the very same show writers remembered that Wednesday is latina from her father's side but not her being french from Morticia's side. "'Tish that's french!" ring any bells. Well not in the new show apparently...
My wife recently watched this show on Netflix and, while I only caught it in spurts, I was pretty confused from the get go. When I first went over to check it out and I saw that she was sent to a boarding school I was instantly confused. What could Wednesday Adams possibly do that would get her sent to a boarding school? At first I thought maybe it would be playing with the idea of her becoming a teenager, maybe wanting to fit in and compromising on her Adams Family Values, maybe wearing preppy clothes, trying out for the cheerleading team, or going to a Taylor Swift concert or something, and getting sent to a monster school after that so she could have better role models from an Adams perspective. Nope. She apparently played a cruel prank on a kid at school that landed him in the hospital, something that would land a lot of normal TV show protagonists in a boarding school but that Wednesday's parents would absolutely love. It was such a bizarre take that I immediately suspected they were going to try to assimilate Wednesday. Catching some of her complaints about her mother was equally weird. Morticia is trying to force you into a mold? She's a parody of a permissive parent that literally lets you electrocute your brother and actively encourages whatever gruesome violent mischief you get up to...except apparently not in this universe, where that mischief gets you sent to boarding school. Seeing this video kind of padded out the parts I missed while validating that initial take. I never really articulated what I was feeling watching it in terms of the social aims of the Adams Family films. It just felt...off. This video largely puts that feeling into words.
The point of the Moricia and Wednesday relationship isn't that Morticia IS trying to make Wednesday be like her, it's that Wednesday fears becoming like her mother. And maybe projects that fear on to her mother, thinking that she's trying to make her like her.
Yeah but its such a typical teenager fear, not one I think Wednesday Addams would have. Why would she? That entire nonsense with her being embarrassed by her parents and not respecting her mother's life choices felt more of a CW trope than how a real Addams would react. She would respect her mother while forging her own way and Morticia would be cool with it. You know, not like the typical tv family where teens and parents always fight and never respect or understand each other.
Gomez and Morticia might have been proud of Wednesday, but as mentioned in the car ride, the parents of the mutilated boy were threatening a lawsuit and Wednesday was expelled from the school for her stunt. Given the severity of the prank, it's likely that no other school in the state would take her, so the choices were homeschooling or a boarding school where dangerous things happen all the time. Gomez and Morticia talk about wanting Wednesday to expand her horizons, so a boarding school isn't all that unbelievable. Also, this is not the first iteration where Wednesday expresses irritation with her parents. In both the 60's and '98-'99 series, she runs away from home over a perceived slight. In the 60's series she even leaves a cute note: "Dear Mom and Dad: I hate you and I'm running away forever. Love, Wednesday."
Some might be familiar with Maggie Mae Fish’s critique of Tim Burton, where she points at that his works are only superficially contrasted with suburban America, while their messaging is invariably, hugely pro-suburbia. They often feature outsiders that are accepted by the “Real Americans,” with any rejection being the result of misunderstanding. Beetlejuice is an outstanding example, where a Wednesday-esque Lydia Dietz is mocked and rejected by her coastal-elite parents (and whose suicidal thoughts are parodied in much the same manner as this Wednesday’s toothless allusions to an absent patriarchy), only to be accepted and adopted by the folksy, small-town Real American ghosts. This show really, with its toothless jabs at problems that don’t exist in this world and with a host of people from all walks of life eager to accept and adore Wednesday, seems utterly unsurprising in this light; more of the usual Burton fare. Also, what’s with those weird Millennial jokes? Wednesday hates cell phones and says she doesn’t want to be a slave to technology… … WHILE operating on a coffee machine because she has to have coffee right now… and the show does not comment on this apparent contradiction at all. And then halfway through there’s that weird I’m-Not-Like-Other-Girls jab about boy bands. So many times I’d just have this playing in the background and then look up like… wait… what did they just say?
That scene was so frustrating "I don't want to be a slave to technology". She says, working on a machine that the fixing of is her only chance at escaping her current situation, as opposed to having a phone, which instead of forcing her to barter mechanical repair for a lift, would just allow her to call for one. Somebody is a slave to technology alright Wednesday. it is you.
The I'm-not-like-other-girls part felt so insulting. I'm still pissed about her considering legally blonde as a horror story. It cemented my belief that not only do the showrunners not understand Wednesday, but they also don't understand legally blonde.
I'm so glad I watched this because I was so baffled by the surface level media critique I was seeing of the show always ending with the person saying it was "sometimes bad writing but enjoyable." I don't even have really any grounding in the addams family but I knew immediately something was off. The show just feels like nostalgia bait for people who have never actually seen addams family/were too young to actually absorb it but just like the aesthetic.
1) I haven't probably seen older versions, but I like the aesthetic and enjoyed the show. Why's that a bad thing? 2) I think my mom saw an older version and enjoyed this one too.
I’m just starting the vid, but I gotta say two things. One, I’m still Big Mad someone had the gall to claim this was the first iteration to include latinx actors as if Raúl Juliá isn’t right there. 2. How the eff do you miss the point so badly that there’s a whole plot point that Gomez isn’t gleefully proud of killing Morticia’s stalker? How do you cast Louis Guzmán as Gomez and not let him loose?
Raúl Juliá was an incredible actor and a gift. His depiction of Gomez, iconic. The potential for Louis Guzmán to make the role equally glorious to Juliá's is utterly wasted by this tripe passing as The Addams Family, and it's depressing af. He 100% coulda' killed it
I've only seen snippets of the show and it didn't seem all that bad at first but some of those lines you brought up later on actually shocked me. "You don't know what it's like not to be believed" and "we lived here in harmony with nature and the natives" especially. Baffling really is the only word to describe it.
Imagine watching Addams Family Values and coming away with the take "Wow, that summer camp sure seems like a swell place! Wouldn't it be great if we got rid of all the weird shit and that were just the whole show?"
The weird pilgrim backstory/plot is in way even worse, apart from putting it in the past they change it so much it's not even related to the real world anymore. The pilgrim colonizers kind of turn into horror monsters with no real connection to the real world tragedies that occurred much more recently than we tend to realize.
The werewolf conversion camp thing is so weird.. because she can't "wolf out". So in this metaphor being straight is a cool superpower and queerness is like a failed attempt to be straight. But then.. BUT THEN she heroically wolf's out to save the day.. so like "thank god she was straight all along and her straightness will save us yaaaaay!" Is that what you're saying?? Tim?? Also also, a lot of autistic people felt seen by this depiction of Wednesday and I can really imagine that. But in the end it poses her as the problem, she needs to learn to feel like a normal girl, she needs to change so that her friends will like her (although tbf the boring boys love her even though she's nothing but rude to them but like that's because she's hot or something). That's so sad because the thing about being autistic is that you can't just.. not be??.. and people's expectations that you can are one of the biggest barriers you face living in this society. Like I know she needed an arc but I really don't feel that "be normal now" needed to be it
Yeah I agree with all of this. I had a whole section on the conversion stuff originally but it was so weird and incoherent that i couldn't even make analysing it gel into the script
So as an autistic person myself, Wednesday wasn't learning to "be normal" or fit into people's expectations she's learning that sometimes it's worth it to learn to communicate with others. She is still clearly herself, minus the tendency to shut people out so that they don't disappoint you when they expect you to be someone you're not. It's actually fascinating how many allistics seem to think her resolve to be friends with Enid and Eugene, and friendly with Bianca and Xavier is proof that she's fallen into societal norms.
@@kenzij I see what you mean. I guess I was more looking at things in terms of themes and writing decisions rather than Wednesday's own experience, or looking at her in the way I would a real person doing those things. Like just looking at things thematically, it seems that when she does things that she wouldn't ordinarily do like hugging Enid the narrative takes pains to reward that and show that this is a good thing. I have spoken to a few autistic people who took what I did away from it too and found it quite frustrating in terms of the decisions that were made when writing the show. However, if in real life a person with autism works to create close bonds with people although it's difficult, that wouldn't be a bad thing imo or mean theyre being forced into changing themselves, it just kind of felt like the writers were forcing it to me and I bet the writers were mostly or completely allistic
personally my issue was not with her trying to be "normal", but with the fact that she just acts like a bad person and is never forced to reckon with it. she DOES lie to her friends, she DOES lead them into danger and use them, and she DOES act hypocritical about her relationships to them. the scene where wednesday claims she "never asked" for anyone to be her friend/help her had me yanking my hair out. yeah! you didnt ask! you LIED and also actively took advantage of peoples kindness when it suited you, and then refused responsibility for the fallout when things went south! if anything, i deeply resented the seeming conflation of being an "outcast" (specifically, autistic) with being an asshole. wednesday doesnt need to communicate the same way other people do, and she never really does except on her own terms (crying when thing is wounded, hugging enid after both of them nearly dying), but she DOES need to grow to be a likeable and justifiably admired protagonist. if anything, the story didnt go far enough to show her changing, instead depicting largely superficial moments that don't mean anything about her as a person. what *i* wanted to see was wednesday, who is painted as this intellectual savant-of-all-trades, acknowledging her foolishness in trying to keep people close enough to manipulate but also far enough to never owe them any kindness back. i wanted to see her say *sorry* to enid, and to learn that being a blanket pessimist is as stupid as a blanket optimist. her perpetual nihilism had none of the fun and joy of the ricci wednesday, because she was written like a redditor who calls themselves a misanthrope and claims to be too smart to be invited to parties.
I shudder at the thought of this being the start of some inane Addams family cinematic universe which each family member or even side character getting their own show. Pugsly gets a sitcom where he's a tv cook. Gomez becomes a detective with the LaPD in an police procedural.
I sympathize with your points. One of the things that drew me to the Addams Family was Morticia and Gomez, because they were possibly one of the few, if not the only, hetero couples I saw on tv that didn't appear to have a dislike or hate for one another like so many other sitcoms specifically have between hetero married couples. Ironically, they displayed a more desirable relationship goal, despite being portrayed as the oddball. That all said, I did actually enjoy the Wednesday show for what it was, despite all its faults. I loved Ortega's small twists to the character, such as not blinking as often. It's probably worth noting though that it came out that Ortega herself apparently had other aspects of her character she disagreed with on the show, such as having to deal with the love triangle, something Wednesday would likely never have dealt with in the first place because it's so out of character. Ortega didn't win the battle on that unfortunately, but she did manage to avoid some cringey lines, like she apparently was originally supposed to be excited and express some excitement over that dress she got for a dance, breaking her character and making her more into a pick me type person. That all said, one of the biggest scenes in the show that really jumped out was the scene with Morticia and Gomez over the murder like you went over. I had expected that to be a highlight for the family, as it would be in character for Gomez and Morticia to see the murder as a sign of Gomez showing his love, but the scene undercut what we all loved about the Addams Family in the first place instead. For as amazing as Ortega did in her portrayal, it felt like the writers and producers frequently missed the point of the character and her family.
Also it really felt like the producers were trying to recreate the successfully popular scene in the 90s movie with Wednesday about indigenous people...but wildly failed and it did not translate as well as it did in the movie
I mean, as soon as I saw Tim Burton was leading I set my expectations to: This is going to be mostly an aesthetic thing. So I actually enjoyed the watch even if I was shaking my head at all the piss poor allegories, themes, and "satire?". Loved Jenna Ortega!
Same, pretty much. I didn't think he could do the Addams family properly and I was right, so I ended up thinking the show was pretty fun for a quick binge.
THANK YOU! The 1990s films were so important and significant because they use the Addams to expose ideas and values that have long been normalized by and for white conservative Americans. Through the Addams’ weirdness and ACCEPTANCE (and pride) of weirdness, the audience is forced to question whether the values they grew up in were really all that great. The part where Morticia says “Wednesday is at that very special age when a girl has only one thing on her mind” and Amanda’s mother says “boys” to which Wednesday replies “homicide” has been replayed to hell and back. But it is a great example of the Addams’ snappy critique of gender roles and presumptions. Why do we assume that the ONLY thing that can take up a teenage girl’s time is boys? The new series just doesn’t pack that punch.
Yes! And the scene where the kids were arguing about the gender of the baby and they asked Gomez "what is it?" He responded with "it's an Addams!" The Addams never cared about gender or sex, they cared about family.
It was just a high school teen drama with the name "Addams" and "Wednesday" slapped on it. I absolutely HATED the way the series made a connection between being queer and being a werewolf with the whole Enid thing but then just made her be "fixed" in the end . They talked about "conversion therapy" and how she isn't going to change and that's how she is. Just so at the end they make her have her transformations and just totally forget that they literally made her not being able to transform a reference to queerness. As a queer person it made me feel really bad, the series just uses us and uses modern themes to gain points, while destroying everything that made the Addams family progressive and different from other things
I hadn’t watched it, but my roommate did and she hadn’t seen any previous adaptions, so she was describing it to me. Wednesday getting sent away and having this dislike for her mom was so weird to me that I don’t think I’ll ever watch it. My roommate truly thought that that was like part of her character and I was just so disappointed that they put this rift between her and her family, because the whole thing was they were raising their children differently than other households, which is how they were able to have such a close bond. Like you pointed out, it fundamentally changes the story, if they’re a family with disdain for each other it falls back into sitcom tropes of a constantly fighting family.
The cynic within me would say that Wednesday is trying to pose itself as a kind of guilt-free alternative to Harry Potter more than it is an Addams family series.
And yet it ends up *also* being a series with bafflingly backwards (at best) and downright hateful (at worst) worldviews baked into it while vaguely gesturing at being progressive and Down With The Kids. And maybe it's just me, but I'm getting really tired of people trying to create "guilt-free alternatives to Harry Potter"--I get that their intentions might be noble, but at some point you have to stop trying to salvage something bad and focus on actually making something good and original.
It felt like the writers were huge Buffy fans tbh, and used Wednesday to try and retell that story. (It was about as good at handling colonialism and racism as Buffy, that’s for sure.) With a splash of Percy Jackson in hot topic paint added to the mix. I did enjoy it, but you’re bang on about the confused, mixed messages.
Spot on. Exactly my thoughts, Wednesday was a Goth aesthetic looking but made for prime time TV version of Harry Potter/Scooby Doo remix. I thought watching it Tim Burton was going to come out as a TERF (it was Helena Bonham Carter who did, so I was close).
A lot of the Wednesday/Morticia strife comes from the truly awful failed Broadway musical which understood the Addamses even worse than Burton. My ex was in a production of the musical, it was horrible - she was good.
@@coolbanana165 because it’s a bad rip off of Harry Potter, so much of a rip off, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tim Burton apes JK Rawlings and becomes a TERF, the thing she is now most famous for.
A handful of co-workers told me "Oh, you _have_ to watch the new Wednesday Addams show on Netflix". I was reticent to take the recommendation because I usually don't like the same things as they do and I'll leave it at that. But then I was alone in the kitchen, cooking, and decided during the initial prep (getting all the stuff together, making sure the pans were clean, cutting up onions and peppers, etc.) to watch something from Netflix on my phone that I wouldn't mind if I missed a bit here or there. I watched two or three episodes before later deciding to watch this video. As an aside, with some of these newer shows it becomes difficult to know when one episode ends and another begins. And that is not a compliment. Sometimes an episode concludes halfway through but just keeps going. Sometimes it is just meandering and you're halfway through _another_ episode before you realize nothing actually came together in the last one. As for this show in particular, I had it pointed out to me some time ago that Tim Burton is really only about visual aesthetics and all his writing and themes are still very much status quo and conservative-friendly conformity (and most of the best stuff with his name on it was actually made by others). This became painfully clear with the opening of this show as Wednesday felt like she was written by some right-wing hack trying (and failing) to blend in with their conception of the "liberal media". -- It got the family wrong, and it was really weird to see Wednesday's apparent disdain for her parents which is very out of character, and the oddly right-wing anti-emotion stuff and her being squeamish that her parents love each other. Then additionally the edge-lord-a-thon as she's introduced to the magical school trope (magical schools are an old concept with a lot of different examples in literature, but the writer seemed to only know about Harry Potter). And it became clear that the show had no idea what it was talking about nor what if any sort of message it may be trying to go for as it was very inconsistent. And then I recalled seeing the thumbnail for this video and decided to find it and see what it had to say on the matter.
Found this on Tumblr under a different rant about the series that ended with emphasizing a “You were going to send me to werewolf conversion camp??” line. I was going to leave a thoughtful comment about the video here but then I looked at the comments and found out werewolf conversion camp wasn’t a tasteless joke but an actual plot point in the series and now I need to go lie down for a While.
"Pastels?" *eyebrow lift* Seriously, that movie was everything to me as a kid. I'm so torn about whether I want to see this show because *waves hand at video*, but Wednesday and Morticia and Gomez have been my rolemodels for life.
Angelica Huston and Raul Julia didn't play Morticia and Gomez Addams, they became Morticia and Gomez Addams. Honestly, Addams Family Values is one of the best cast movies I've ever watched. Every person in every role gave an absolutely perfect performance.
I loved these movies as a kid and I don't know that I could bring myself to watch the new show. From what I've seen though I think Jenna did a great job with what she was given and I liked the costume designs that I saw.
I regret watching it because I can't unsee how they mangled everything I loved about the Addams for decades. The visuals are perhaps the only thing the show has going for it and even that's nothing to write home about. Hollow, vapid Instagram-cum-tumbler aesthetic vibe (insert any other modern colloquialism that is now devoid of meaning)
Thanks for putting into words my bewilderment while watching Wednesday. To add to the long list of missed opportunities the Netflix show presented, they gave us a werewolf girl, prominently displayed throughout the season, who couldn't turn into a wolf. They spent several episodes presenting this as a positive, that she didn't need to be like all every other werewolf... And then they throw that character away in the last episode in favor of a sloppy cgi fight scene that could've been way cooler if she didn't transform, but stood up for her friend anyway smh
Goddammit, that idea about Enid (wait was that her name?) not being able to transform at the crucial moment but still jumping into the fray at great personal risk to protect her friend is SO FUCKING BRILLIANT that honestly, if the entire show was exactly the same except for that one scene, I'd still walk away from it with a positive feeling.
When I saw Gomez fighting… and not have a gigantic grin on his face, I turned off my TV and I’ll never bother with Wednesday again. Edit: I’m glad Duncan mentioned it Gomez isn’t afraid of shit, they seem to be able to feel pain but are completely indestructible.
Lots of smart comments here already, so I'll add a dumb one: As someone who makes a point of referring to the 1992 adaptation of Dracula as "Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula", it made me chuckle every time you said, "Tim Burton's Netflix's Wednesday".
Oh, I can point out a great plot hole: she is scared her father is a murder when she started the show throwing piranhas in a pool full of teenagers and complaining she didn’t manage to kill them 😂
Holy shit, I had my reservations about watching it based on early reviews, but you've really nailed the issues with it here. I've seen only portions of it, and *nothing* I've seen has endeared me to it or made me want to watch the rest of it, save perhaps Gwendoline Christie. Also, I'm really sick and tired of the school-for-magic-kids trope, it's been done to death and I don't see any good reason to make Wednesday magical, it just seems like a tacked on plot device to fill out the story.
I specifically remember thinking it was really great when Enid said "not hugging is kinda our thing." and genuinely hated the moment Wednesday embraces her, because having the former, respect of ones differences and care for each other expressed in non-expected or untraditional ways, like refusing to hug each other, is maybe the strongest Addams family moment in the show. Which is pretty disappointing.
The show is giving the audience the opportunity to larp as an oppressed minority without any of the inconvenience of actually being an oppressed minority. I mean, I'm enjoying what I can out of the show, but you're 100% correct in all of your critiques.
I watched bits of Wednesday and just... as soon as they got to the car ride to the school I was already just... what did they do to my precious Addams Family! This is just so many levels for wrong. And then just so much hoping it was a fluke and it'd get better. It really did not. I was really hoping for just... it could have meant something and not been empty calories. I've been chewing on how to properly articulate what I felt was wrong with it and this really helped me find form for it. Also, there was an animated Addams movie in 2019, which was fine but most importatly, it at least got the basic themes right. It felt a little like rehashing familiar ground with just a coating of modernity on it. But it had something to critique consistently. So it's not like there hasn't been a more faithful and still successful adaptation. So there's no using the excuse of it just having been outdated and needing modernising. On that note, I just found out it had a sequel so I've got something that I am actually eager to watch more of now.
Every time I come back to this, I find another bit of food for thought that I missed the first time. Truly a fantastic exploration of how Burton's "Addams" story betrays the key concepts behind the narrative legacy that he has attempted (and failed) to claim.
Your end point perfectly encompasses why you cannot find a meaningful commentary in Wednesday. There is no commentary. It wasn't made with an intent to be anything beyond content itself.
Wednesday is the definition of all style and absolutely no substance. The 90s films justified the gothic aesthetic with a barebones but still entertaining social commentary. This has absolutely nothing
There was this old TH-cam series called adult Wednesday which was as you would guess what Wednesday would be like as an adult and when I saw Christina ricci first post something about Wednesday I was really excited as I thought it was a really cool idea and her portrayal of Wednesday was perfection. But the Netflix show is just another riverdale teen trash show.
i hated the show because she was an “outcast” but EVERYONE wanted to be her friend except for the designated “bully who everyone hates” character. But she was presented as if she was rejected for being weird when actually everyone liked her even when she was cruel
The fact that I didn't even catch that Wednesday's ancestor was supposed to be a coloniser is a testament to how engaging that show was. 😬I was just thrown by her blond hair. Really great video!
Ngl, I've stopped caring about Tim Burton after those horrible Alice In Wonderland movies. They made it clear that he only cares about Aesthetic, and can't construct a coherent theme even for something simple and cliche as do what you want and don't bow to societal pressure.
So much of the plot was just picking out stuff from the movies without bothering to have any idea of what it meant. Like they just looked at stills from the movies but never even read a plot summary. Plus the trend of schools for so called misfits who are actually super heroes. The show was really cool looking but made very little sense.
I have struggled to put into words why this show gave me a slimy feeling and like it would be fine if it wasn't the Addams, and didn't give me the feelings enjoyment like I did for the original movies I had hoped to bring back. Thank you so much for putting it into words! I definitely agree with what you are saying, I also now have a new understanding of why the movies just clicked with me.
Some of those clips got a reflexive “fuck you” out of me. I was thinking about skimming through the show to see what went wrong but I think I’ll save myself the grief
I was optimistic and open-minded about this adaptation too, but as soon as I saw Wednesday looking grossed out by her parents & the hints about her resenting her mom, I was OUT. I was ready to be okay with any reading besides that; like you said, we're living in an increasingly volatile time of extreme conservatism and an attack on human rights. I thought a new Addams Family adaptation was welcome! But not like this. I grew up adoring my mother. I still adore her; I happily agreed to accompany her while driving 80 miles for work today, because driving busy freeways that long makes her anxious. She apologized for asking, but said she already felt so much relief knowing I'd go with her. My dad died in a car accident when I was little. People politely, and eventually rudely, expected my mom to remarry. But she didn't want to. My parents had the love and devotion Morticia and Gomez have; my mom knew she couldn't find anything like that again. People felt confused and almost a voyeuristic sense of boredom at her not remarrying: they would ask if she hated spending time with her kids, and look disappointed when she said no. She worked 2 jobs to support us as a single mother, but she was still present and made time to be with us. I got those same kind of voyeuristic questions, with people asking if I "wish I had a step-dad" or if I found my mom embarrassing. People would look disappointed when I said no. That confused me, and even now with a better understanding of social rules I still find it confusing. My mom is cool and funny, extremely smart with a photographic memory, pretty, kind and empathetic, understanding and accepting. She's not perfect, but I'm very proud of and grateful for her. So, all that being said, I really resonate with what The Addams Family conveys about love and family. And because this is the internet and disclaimers are necessary at every turn: I'm Not saying you're obligated to love your parents or anyone in your family. If someone is unloving or abusive, they don't deserve you. I've cut out quite a few members of my family. On the same hand, though, it's worth thinking about how hurtful and dysfunctional it is to claim to hate your wife, or that your mom is embarrassing. I think we should try to be kind and consider what we say and why. I think it's a saddening waste of potential to use The Addams Family to do a tired, shallow run through of "angsty tween living in mom's shadow". And I think my mom is the coolest, smartest person I'll ever meet.
How do you have them upset about committing murder when the first scene in The Addams Family movie shows them about to pour boiling liquid on a group of carolers? Or when Tully and Penderschloss? fly into pre-arranged graves and Wednesday & Pugsley standing there with shovels? Pugsley: Are they dead? Wednesday: Does it matter?
The message that I got from watching this show, is that instead of embracing being different, characters who are outsiders need to be converted to fit in as “normal”. Instead of Enid keeping her werewolf quirks without “wolfing out” she needed to be a werewolf in order for the plot to forward seamlessly. They made Wednesday fit in with the “outcast” to show others that she haS eMotioNs, and had being an INTJ her entire personality. They could’ve ruffled some feathers with this character, but chose all cliches to excuse lazy writing
All great points. One thing I'd like to add is that Wednesday is presented as this aromantic/aroace character yet is forced into romances with these guys she has no interest in. Even in the older movie where she goes to the summer camp, I never saw Wednesday having any chemistry with her "boyfriend." She has always been aromantic and I wish characters in media could just be accapted like that. I relate to Wednesday in the netflix series as an aromantic person cause she isn't interested in romance, but is kinda forced to play along in some instances because of pressure from allo society (also her werewolf friend). Even stating that she wishes she cared more ;ie wishing she could have romantic feelings. I ended up dating people because I thought it was the normal thing to do, I thought that eventually I'd randomly gain the ability to have romantic attraction. I did not lol
The review I was looking for. I was turned off by this show as soon as I saw the personality changes and new family dynamic. I couldn’t have said it any better.
THANK YOU! You have put my deep confusion over the show into concise terms. I was so deeply disappointed by the shows portrayal of Wednesdays feud with her mother and the truly weird portrayal of mortisha and gomez.
Normally I'm pretty easy to please but this show not only proves that those involved in writing had no idea what the IP is even about but just made odd decisions with what they did decide to put in. Ok, your Addamses aren't murderous, fine, but why does your Wednesday (that has already committed assault that could have easily been the murder of an entire swim team) have such a major issue with her Dad maybe having possibly killed someone in his youth? It just doesn't make any goddamn sense. And this is just one major example of such instances in the show.
This video is spot on. The concept could have been great if the school were truly unconventional and weird instead of exactly like a regular high school except richer and more gothic... I mean they're supposed to be "outsiders" and yet they still replicate cliques and social structures?? Where's the fun and imagination in a setting like that? Why would Morticia and Gomez want to send their kid to a place like that? And having Wednesday confront the legacy of colonialism and how it still impacts the world today, leading to the ostracization of families like hers, could have been really interesting. She has clearly been passionate about those things since childhood and it wouldn't be out of place at all. There's just a lot of missed opportunity here and I think it comes from this weird impulse to make Wednesday angsty for no reason. Like she's somehow SUCH an outcast that she's an outcast at the school for outcasts. Why? Because she's... Goth? The creators wanted her to be treated as a weirdo within the text of the show but also wanted her to be seen as cool and edgy by the audience and so the result is a restrained, watered down Wednesday who's only saved by Jenna Ortega's performance and Ortega's contributions, such as the choreography for her dance. Say what you will about him but Tim Burton's outsider angst sometimes works to make a compelling narrative - ie. In Edward Scissorhands - but he also tries to force it into stories where it makes zero sense and it's really exhausting to watch.
THANK YOU!! When I first saw Wednesday I was also baffled by the world building but strangely no reviews seemed to touch this issue. As a latina myself, I would also like to add my to cents to the conversation. My biggest problem with the show is how they made a clear separation between outsiders and normies (although the plot itself very often contradicts the power dynamics that it tried to represent) and the awful characterization of the rest of the Addams. 1. In my country, miscigenation was extremely common during colonial times, however most of the offspring was a direct result of patriarchal and colonialist violence and assault. So, there is no such thing as a "good" colonizer. Everyone here knows that, but listening to my grandparents talk about their grandparents, I came to realize that even horrible people can do good, sometimes. And this is why I always loved the Addams family. They recognized that nobody can be only good or bad, but always a mixture of the two. And someone should always be given the opportunity to redeem themselves if they so wish. Another point is that the "otherness" feared by the white was exactly the original cartum's Addams: disabled, deformed, ethnic minorities... the people who would be exposed in circus around the US and Europe as "exotic" when Charles Addams was drawing their adventures. I was deeply offended by their representation of good and evil in such an unidimensional way and even making species up to represent outcasts! As if we don't have enough real marginalized groups for them to choose from!!!!!! 2. The family!!!! What they made with my loving and supportive family!!!!! I've always interpreted the Addams' view of life as a direct opposite of the christian fear of death and eternal damnation. And that is why they never banned enjoyment born from danger. So it was extremely disrespectful to have a plot where Gomez and Morticia are consumed by regret for killing a man... IN SELF DEFENCE! I mean, not even the law would have blamed them! Furthermore the weird plot about Wednesday and Morticia is very confusing. Because the show never even explained why their relationship became strained in the first place and their portrayal of Morticia is much more aligned with a dismissive mother than a supportive one (as she has always been). I could go on and on about how Netflix's fear of being too edgy or controversial while trying to pretend that it cared about any societal issue at all is absolutely disgusting and infuriating, but I will stop here for the sake of my blood pressure.
I started watching Wednesday with a nephew and I quickly lost interest. It was so barren of what I loved about the 90's adaptations. Don't get me wrong, I love the original show and comics, but the films were just so good, and in my opinion, some of the best satire to come out of that decade. What those movies said and how it was received by so many people speaks volumes about the type of "benign radicalization" that helps reshape our world. I know a lot of young people who idolized Ricci's Wednesday, because she embodied that elder spirit that exists in all children. That suspicion that there was something fundamentally wrong about the standards in which we live in as a species, especially those tied to marginalization and exploitation. That isn't even touching upon the mixed up and confused messaging/tone this series had. Ortega was great, but I feel like her performance was just apeing so many things I've seen a million times before. When I heard she ripped off Siouxsie Sioux for her dance moves, I just rolled my eyes and was glad she at least called it out. If you want snarky & confused, but fun gothy nonsense, just watch the Craft.
WHEN I SAY YOU GOT THE ASSIGNMENT OMG!!! This profile is private and does not reflect it, but I'm a black goth intersectional writer and deconstructionist who does counseling from an anti-oppression lens and loves The Addams Family. When I say that I could tell the issues with the show from EPISODE 1!!! People around me or who don't really get deconstruction or even really understand how oppressive ideas and narratives are reinforced through art and media found it odd that I wasn't as excited as they were about the show. Like, already knowing about Burton had me looking at it sideways, but it was just so much worse. Had me thinking that many people who liked it perhaps like The Addams Family, but don't understand the core or foundation of what makes them who they are. No one seemed to understand my gripes with it from either a story-telling or critical perspective. I very much agree that is was profoundly BAFFLING for ALL of the reasons. You did an excellent job at laying out the depths of why and how. Thank you very much for this analysis. It's an affirming breath of fresh air because YOU GET IT!
Gosh I knew I hated the Wednesday series, but I didn't know how to spell it all out in a cohesive manner. I'm SO thankful for this video. You've given me the ammunition that I need to tell people why the writing sucked so bad. Thanks man!! ❤❤
OK! Haven't finished the video yet, so can't comentate, but I'm happy you gave Jenna the credit she deserves! I can understand majority of critiques for the show, but it's truly Jenna Ortega's performance which sells a majority of it for me. They were lucky with Jenna 100%, because I doubt it would've been as successful as it is right now!
I could barely get past the first couple of episodes. The characterization was all wrong. Wednesday resenting Morticia threw me off. The Addams are supposed to always get along dispite being creepy that's the joke. Dispite being creepy they are the perfect family. I get that it's an adaptation and I wasn't expecting it to be exactly like the movies and the sitcom but that is the one thing you don't mess with. I also hate how Wednesday went from deadpan to rude.
I didn't even have to watch the show to know it was trash, and this video explains really well the vibes I assumed would already be in there from Tim Burton's name being attached to the project. The dude needs to get his grubby fucking mitts off outsider properties and just make things look nice for people who can tell actually subversive and thought-provoking stories. His aesthetic is fine, but his ability to find writers who can tell a good story has been down the drain for decades, if not forever. It's been old and stale for decades at least.
Gosh it is so refreshing to have someone highlight the things CAoS did well, I'm getting so tired of seeing people say "Wednesday is what Netflix Sabrina wanted to be and failed". CAoS had a lot of issues, but it committed to its various Gothic themes with utter abandon, and as you say, had open acknowledgement of the trouble with patriarchal systems (and even with how it also harms the men within it), and the need for feminist action, no matter how performative it occasionally came off. Thank you!
When "even Caos did this shit better" is an argument you know the show is... Hm. BAD. I loved the first season but it went downhill so bad with a lot of themes... BUT HEY. I LOVED THE FIRST SEASON Which is more than could be said from the five minute car ride that already put me off of Wednesday
you shine a light on the series’ fundamental problems. There’s almost nothing of the unique macabre sensibilities that makes us love the Addams family. Morticia and Gomez from the movie would never voluntarily send Wednesday away for putting piranhas in the school swimming pool-they wouldn’t see anything wrong with that! The creators try to keep Wednesday’s character an outsider, but when she’s in a school filled with werewolves and crap all they have to work with is her “allergy” to colour and her blunted emotional affect, which is fine but its definitely a downgrade.
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This is a big success, not a failure! Wednesday is a big success!!!
I don't know why Netflix needed to use the Addams Family for this. I know, it's because the Addams have a name everyone knows snd loved Made it so "Family friendly" m, they could use everything for the show and it would suit so much better than our beloved Addams. I know many people loved the show and that's ok, but I don't like it. I was exciting for something like "Addams Family Values" and I got another boring "Netflix Original" show for teenagers. That would be fine, but I had just not the right epectations, I guess.
Gormez and Morticias crazy love for each other was one of the best parts in the whole Franchise for me. The actors in *Wednesday* have not the chemistry together I wishes for.
P.S.; You made a great critique a Out everything I don't like about the show either. Thank you, JohntheDuncan.
@@johannschwarz5293 Why so you think about it in this way? I am just curious.
@JohntheDuncan Fun fact: When Wednesday spoke german I didn't understand anything! German is my native language. Should't I know what she said? I thought she spoke a different language when I watched the clip.
@@followthewhiterabbit884 a couple folk have said this! I speak a small amount of german so i just thought my german was just not good enough
“I would die for her. I would kill for her. Either way, what bliss.”
Gomez was always a breath of fresh air in a time full of boomer humour and “ew, wives, amirite guys?” culture. The romance between him and Morticia has always been my favourite thing about the Addams family. It melts the heart like summer snow.
Him and Morticia are a platonic ideal
Gomez and Morticia Addams were the only couple on TV that you could believe were actually capable of having children. They were clearly passionate about each other and their family.
@@JohntheDuncan I'm not sure platonic is the right word 😂
Morticia and Gomez are relationship goals. They were the reason I started watching to begin with, esp after being bombarded with nonstop unironic "ball and chain" type gags in sitcoms that always seemed to imply marriage was meant to be miserable, as though that's supposed to be accepted as normal and good. Saying Morticia and Gomez were a breath of fresh air fr feels like an understatement lmao
@@JohntheDuncan Platonic where???!!!😂
The part that always gets me about Family Values was when even when the baby was 'normal' they DIDN'T reject them, like the final clip in the vid, Morticia read them a "normal" book and tried to understand the kid where they were at, not what they wanted them to be. Fucks me up every time
Yes! And like when they send the kids to camp, they don't understand it at all but they've been convinced that's what the kids dearly want so they do it for them
@@JohntheDuncan exactly! Unconditional acceptance and love, they never rejected their children even when they didn’t understand why
exactly!!!
Family goals 💜🙌🖤
How about in the 1960s episode (if anyone has watched the series) when Pugsley wanted to be in the Boy Scouts, they didn’t understand at first, but they tried to understand him and support him.
To be fair. Making media that is highly aesthetic and on a surface level seems to support "weird" people and characters while under the hood being highly conservative and problematic is just kinda always been Burton's thing.
he stole corpse bride from a jewish story
@@seabreeze4559 yeah i remember being in 6th grade and our theater kids put on a short play about the story this was about 3/6 years before Corpse Bride came out
when my best friend who was always a much bigger Tim Burton fan than i was actually thought he had come up with the whole story up and was a little deflated when i informed her about the story being a Jewish folk tale
Tim Burton became old the only thing he did was take someone else’s story and slap his aesthetic on it and called it art
i still haven’t watch Wednesday yet due to my issues with Tim Burton clearly not caring about stealing from a culture that has been systematically kept down and killed
honestly i believe the only reason he cast a Person of color in the Lead role is for fake woke i know they talked about how the original TV Wednesday was of Hispanic decent Castilian to be exact.
but even this is problematic due to the disparity between how film and television represents those of Hispanic decent vs those of Latinx
if you were of Hispanic decent t meant you were rich beautiful “pure” intelligent and good
where as those of LatinX especially FAAB people
you are cheap seductive “Exotic” bad and stupid
You put the nail in the coffin there, bud.
@@HealthyObbsession Do latinos a favor and don't use "latinx."
@@danic_c some "latinos" do use latinx thou...
That just sounds weird. Wednesday and Pugsley were both different from 'normal kids' in that they admired their parents and loved their family. Why wouldn't she want to be like Morticia? Woman's got it all.
What's nuts about it, is I think that's what Burton didn't like.
If you grew up in almost every conservative Christian family, they tend to love the Adams family for showing 'actual family values' which is something the broad 'christian conservative family' has long bitched about Hollywood not showing, like, as in complained since there was a Hollywood. It's an edgy fantasy but as long as the family wasn't some group so far that anything vaguely witchy made them upset (which do exist, of course) it was recognized pretty universally as a 'parody of the evils of American family portrayals.'
I think that's actually what made him want to dramatically alter it? It was that perceived 'normy' thing of the White Christian wants, not that, that call from general Christian circles has long been kind of a countercultural remnant of the positive parts of the religion that haven't been bastardized by mass culture.
Honestly, it would have been more of a subversion to have her genuinely like her mum and strive to be like her- that's something that's never explored in films with teenage characters. If there had to be any friction with a parent, it could then perhaps be with Gomez, who maybe isn't coping well with the idea of his little girl growing up.
Morticia is a tough act to follow.
I believe there's even a halloween episode in the 60s sitcom where Wednesday dresses up as Morticia
@@Glittersword I kind of got that from the new show while watching it with my sister, her main issue at the new school Morticia was basically a rockstar as a teen. They have most of the same basic skills, but her mother even a decade before her did them better.
The castration of Gomez is unforgivable. The idea that Gomez is afraid of anything is preposterous. One can dishearten Gomez, but rattle his gate in a knife fight, not likely.
I was really bugged when the show took all of Wednesday's weird-ness and off-putting-ness and basically just turned it into a defense mechanism for an "I'm afraid to be vulnerable" type of deal. Even had a literal therapist spout some of the most cliché psychobabble for the most basic character profile from any other formulaic TV show.
Like if Daria was in Harry Potter.
EXACTLY!!! as a psychologist i was HORRIFIED with the therapist!!! like what the fuck first sesson was that?????? its terrible!!! nothing NOT A SINGLE word out of her mouth was therapist like. DID THEY EVEN CONSULT AN ACTUAL THERAPIST????
Burton 's entire filmography is about coopting counterculture and forcing it into the framework of hegemony. the moment i heard his name was attached to Wednesday i knew it'd be bad
Burton burned all his goodwill by making those soulless Alice in wonderland movies and kicking off the live action Disney trend
Exactly. Co-opting counterculture to affirm the hegemony.
Ouch.
@@georgekostaras I actually liked the first Alice film, with Mia and Johnny.
The second one though was utterly repellent.
I had the exact same thought. He takes a counterculture imagery and makes it devoid of any progressivism and ability to inspire and guide us, the mass, to take right actions for better world. Sad.
I really, really hated the bad feminism and bad representation of colonization. As soon as we got to Wednesday getting mad at a boy for saving her from a falling statue NOT because it would’ve been an interesting death (which is within her character) but because it was anti feminist for a MAN to help a WOMAN 🤦🏽♀️, I was out. Like…that’s not feminism, it’s just people who aren’t feminists views of feminism, and the show never critiqued her for it.
There is so much to hate, but I think the "pick your favorite marginalized group" scene truly demonstrates (early on in the show) how Wednesday was going to suck 1. the implication that "marginalization" is an identity you can choose is gross 2. Even within the premises of the show's world, it is utterly incoherent and poorly thought-out: the various outcasts gangs are more like 'species' (sirens, vampires, werewolves), how is one supposed to 'join' these various groups? and why is this outcast society not structured more like the supposed protagonists of the show (the addams family)? It is lazy, inconsistent worldbuilding on top of a poor understanding of the source material.
Another very unflattering juxtaposition between the 90s films and this show is Morticia's utter horror at having killed in self defense. What about "We Gladly Feast on Those Who Would Subdue Us"? There is more understanding for what it means to be an outcast in that single, glorious line than in the whole of Wednesday
Exactly. Having Morticia horrified at killing in self defense and having Wednesday bring up the murder charges against Gomez as an accusation seems out of character.
@@PixieoftheWood
"Isn't he a ladykiller?"
"Acquitted!"
@@shaniatreyu9303 Exactly. The dropped murder charges should be something they casually mention without much concern.
Basically this show was made by those who wanted to check off the wokeness boxes, but really didn't understand why specific themes or topics are even being discussed these days. It's more than just throwing in diverse casting here and there. The show is very much like a typical Disney film. They want to appear progressive, but they dont want to create anything that could risk alinating certain audiences, which could hinder profitability. Hence the lack of any satire or analysis on gender, race, colorism, sexual orientation, imperialism l, etc. I found the show pretty dull, but I'm glad people are giving props to Jenna Ortega. The show is pretty bad, but there are scenes of hers I could watch over and over.
@@ShannaFarley I absolutely agree. I enjoyed the show, but mainly because I enjoyed Jenna Ortega as Wednesday. There was a lot throughout that just grated my nerves, though, and the fake attempts at seeming woke was one of them. For example, I absolutely hated the whole 'werewolf conversion camp' line, because the 'not changing into a werewolf' thing was really much more 'very late puberty' coded rather than queer coded, because it's a change she was going to go through all along, it was just so late that she and her mother were starting to get worried. It really felt like they threw that line in to check the 'queer allegory' box without even doing a queer allegory.
I do think it did much better than the Sabrina remake, though, because while there were moments that were definitely failed attempts at trying to seem woke without understanding the issues, it wasn't so in your face that it made it unwatchable. Also, at least when Wednesday has character flaws, it's very clear that the writers knew those traits were flaws.
I would have loved to see the 'murder in self defense' story done with Morticia and Gomez gleefully recounting what had happened, though, before it all devolves into frantic arm kissing. Right there in the psychiatrist's office, no need to draw it out or hide it.
My biggest gripe with Tim Burton is that he likes to proclaim himself as the "king of the weirdos" or whatever but he is as basic and cookie cutter as they come.
And hes talked about how certain people (black people) don't 'fit his style'. He seems to only care about the cis het white 'weirdos'
He's not gay enough to be weird
Pugsley being traumatized over getting tied up and shoved in the locker ticked me off. I was surprised Wednesday hadn't done that to him herself! Also her fabricated hatred of her mother was so sexist, like this boomer myth that teen girls just *magically* hate their mothers because *hormones*. It's lazy writing and robs both Morticia and Wednesday of their strength and charm. They always seem to have a close relationship, with Wednesday even dressing like Morticia during special occasions in the 90s movies.
The casting was the one thing I liked about this show. These poor actors got shafted out of the role of a lifetime with a lazy script and shallow director!
This! As soon as I saw Pugsley being upset and traumatized by his locker excursion as well as Wednesday hating on her parents, I immediately put the show in the "No" pile. Then I saw all the praise the show was getting, and I just was so disheartened. Would have loved a reboot of the Addams family and am so disappointed and saddened with what Netflix presented us with instead.
makes you wonder if the people who praised the Show had ever seen any pervious Addams content/media, be it be the original 60s sitcom, the two Hanna Barbera cartoon shows(70s and 90s), the 2/3 movies or that 90s remake show by the same people who did Power Rangers and Goosebumps?
I'm an autistic gal & much of the neurodivergent community is championing Wednesday as a headcanon. I wanted to like it so much, but it's definitely not for me. Thank you for expressing what I thought was just my own personal disappointment.
Ooh remember how in Addams family Values when Wednesday tells the kid in the waiting room when that kid tells the stork baby story and Wednesday says her parents had sex?? She would not be embarrassed by her parents.
I'm not surprised that the messaging is so *baffling* since Tim Burton's own views on race are pretty awful. He has on multiple occasions tried to justify racist casting and exclusion of minorities in his films, and whined about "political correctness". And then there was his whitewashing of a classic Jewish folk tale. Speaking as someone who considers themselves goth, and who absolutely loves a lot of his early films; Tim Burton as a person is pretty freakin' awful. Alyssa Shotwell's recent article about _Wednesday_ on The Mary Sue touches on some of the most blatant examples; and how pretty much all of his BIPOC characters are either villains or tokens.
He likes to put on the aesthetics of the gothic, the outsider, the other, and the feminist; but his portrayal of all of them is incredibly superficial and lacking real understanding of marginalization. He certainly missed the point of the Addams Family.
Not surprising also given his obsession with J Depp & Helena Bonham Carter, both publicly right-wing ideologues.
it confused me why they gave gomez the line cara mia an italian pet name that was used on wednesday in her only love interst in the movies Gomez is assumed to be lantino he would always use spanish pet names and Morticia would always speak french to him idk how they fucked up the show and its character so bad its like they painted their series in black and couldnt see the real picture anymore the fact that they force school on wednesday so much when in the original show they never wanted their kids in school or participate in modern activities like boy scouts and baseball when Pugsley was interested in it that they were mortified and did anything to prevent it and if they knew Pugsley was getting bullied and would realise school isnt for them when Wednesday got kicked out for fighting back they are just not made for normality they despise it so why force their kinds into normality and not seeing Wednesday for a long period of time they couldve did so much more with the show even though it was entertaining thats not the point when u take someone elses series and make a progression in time to show what their future is looking like basically to continue the series showing how they are living as the kids are in teenage years dealing with the modern world and puberty parenting is a struggle and being weird in america is too cause people will come knocking at ur door trying to get u to conform with society and that shouldve been the point people trying to get Wednesday and Pugsley into normality and them sticking to their roots not putting Wednesday in an even weirder environment just for her to be cold and uninterested in everything and thats the only reason why shes an outsider why did they have to make the environment more weird than the Addams cause its not supposed to be a fantasy story its supposed to take place in the real world of america they couldve atleast modernized it and made fun of todays issues they couldnt even show their house the main point of production it wouldve been so good with all the ways to make their weird plants and different rooms like i wanna see cleopatra all grown out and alive with cgi and shit it wouldve been so cool
@@TheSoulHarvesterright wing?? wow, I’ve always imagined HBC was more mature and less pretentious than Burton (unlike his ideal work partner JD)
@@slonmish Unfortunately no, she's a British nationalist & terf :(
well he can't win then, he cast them and you complained
he didn't cast them and you still complained
nobody asked for a white queen of the damned did they and that's goth
I did love when they casted Latinos to play Wednesday, Gomez, Fester, and Pugsly (one thing it has over the 90s movies), but that just made it more baffling when they had Wednesday's ancestor be an "early colonizer" instead of an indigenous person. They had the perfect opportunity to touch on the complicated identity of sharing indigenous and conquistador ancestry, but instead went with a baffling generic "good" colonizer vs. bad colonizer.
Yuuup! It's so weird! I mean, It's just a sign of the aesthetic of progress covering the maintenance of white supremacy
They could have gone for the duality of being latine (knowing our identity is the product of SA and genocide and colonization) and have that reflected in a) Wednesdays knowledge of indigenous history b) her "not fitting in" struggle w Morticia being based around having a white mom when she isnt white
@@user_.b my thought exactly. Oh, what could have been...
ISTR 60's Gomez was a refugee from Franco's Spain, but I don't have a firm source for that.
@@user_.b why don't we just don't put bullshit child parent squabble in fucking Addams Family. Talk about this in any other show but leave Addams alone from drama nonsense
the irony of Tim Burton kind of ripping off the plot of Debby separating Uncle Fester from the family but not realizing her main crime was trying to turn him against them, which Tim spent the whole Wednesday series basically turning her against Morticia over such basic "I don't want to be you" cliches. That, and the love triangle just completely took me out. There were some good plots he could've played on, but ultimately ignored in favor of the traditional, girl against mother, monster of the week girl detective trope was ultimately boring. And since when would Gomez being a murderer suddenly be a negative thing? They've always hinted at crimes in the past that were celebrated.
@sewer~rat Absolutely not. Definitely not if they were paying any kind of tribute to the comics. It's just a mess. I feel badly for Jenna because I think she did the best with what she had, and the same with the rest of the cast. But god, it was like watching a bad cw show. Like The Originals when all the good writers left.
Real Wednesday would love to be like her mom, she's her idol.
@@liacastrobugliossi8792 I could even understand wanting to be better, but she'd never resent her. She'd maybe be interested, or if not, her mom would support whatever interests she had.
I mean fine, show that mom has some flaws and why Wednesday is cool and capable all on her own. But they didn't have to contort Morticia so grotesquely to do it. And they didn't even TRY to ask what the real Morticia would have done. All the while Tim Burton is lurking in the background with an oscillating hand suspiciously down his pants going "hey guys, doesn't this scene look goth af?!"
They hand us this hot garbage and cancel the actually good shows and then have the audacity to cry about having lost massive subscriptions. These people aren't smart enough to be good capitalists anymore, just neolibturds trying to make a buck or two off our nostalgia on the way out.
"I didn't hate my mother, it was an accident!"
Debbie is by far the most worthy adversary the family has ever had. The best part of that arc for me, is that if she was willing to accept them the way they accepted her... she could have had everything she wanted... a devoted and loving family.
And riches. If she were part of the family they'd probably pay for her pastel mansion she loved so much despite not liking it. She would have had everything, they'd probably even accept an apology from her if she genuinely wanted to join the family
@@TRexRAWWR1 but it's because of her lack of genuine want and her selfishness, that she ended up with a sticky end
@@erinbathie-moore8478 she didn't want just acceptance, I think. That was the problem
She wanted Fester to be less ugly or dead, and a family she could show off if anything. She wanted to be the Malibu Barbie, but also wanted others to be Malibu Barbies as well-or not be at all
Debbie was the Addams paradox of tolerance
@@elfodelputoinfiernoDebbie actually wanted Ballerina Barbie. When her parents gift her Malibu Barbie she is upset. I think this is why she gravitates toward pastels and why she is comically outraged when Morticia comments on it. Point still stands tho. If the Addams were into pastels they'd be the perfect family for Debbie
I'm so glad other people are recognising how the Wednesday Netflix series just doesn't have the same satirical wit of previous adaptations.
My favourite adaptations are the original black and white sitcom, the 00s sitcom and the 90s cartoon.
I feel like Tim Burton only really understands the Addams Family in aesthetic and absolutely nothing else.
It's pure aesthetic
it's meant to be about the family, not mary sue-ing
No shade to Luiz Gusman, but they did my boy Raul Júlia dirty with this show. Gomez is a fundamental part of the family, not just a tertiary character used as a prop in a mom-goth Daughter drama Tim Burton seems to think we like
Dang, that's a good "to make a long story short".
Must be why the show is called Wednesday, not the Addams Family.
ngl that soundds like shade to luiz gusman lol he didn't write the show xD
If anything Luiz Gusman was also done dirty because he deserved more to do
We don't have to recognize it as canon, it's just Netflix. It was a well-funded fan fiction.
We could’ve gotten a really cool “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” type pastiche where Wednesday has to survive in WASP country as an exchange student and makes friends with, like, modernized goth kids or something actually funny. Instead we got Harry Potter. Fuck, man… I wanted it to be good.
Agreed. I was really hoping they would make the show a slice of life, instead of a supernatural Monster High with a huge plot.
that would be so fun!!
she should be super traditional like roman patriarchy
Honestly your idea sounds incredible and I wish it existed and will forever be sad it does not. I would write it if I could but unfortunately I cannot because I am not a writer.
I got 2 episodes in before I decided it was an artless, charmless, Twilight meets Harry Potter meets something even worse than both. Full of cheesy "mall goth" clichés, and dialogue reminiscent like the kind of things any of us who grew up alternative had said to us by often well meaning family members or other adults.
Netflix presents Wednesday is for people who think "Normal People Scare Me" t-shirts are witty and cool, and excitedly introduce themselves to new people as "a Slytherin"
Yeah, and idk why this specific scene comes to mind. But when you talk about the forced goth and edgy aesthetic, that line where Wednesday talks about how she loves murder cases and how the Black Dahlia murder is her favorite.
@@BratzRockAngels oh, everyone lives true crime these days, but it's not right to say a murder is your favourite because that sounds like something yhat could compell someone to commit another act to be known. It's why you should eithet make up a case or use a niche one from long ago
They stripped everything that made them the Addams and turned them into an ordinary family in goth clothes. I was so disappointed in the lack of joy in Gomez and the lack of family devotion in all of them.
I have a question about the werewolf roommate.
In her introduction, we learn she's a werewolf who can't "wolf out", save for some sharp claws. She's distressed by this fact, as she'll eventually be disowned by her family, and I think she really wants to wolf out regardless. She's seen werewolf doctors, but nothing helps. She wants to wolf out, but can't.
When her family visits and mom hands her pamphlets for wolf-out camp, which is described as running around in the woods with werewolves (no medical interventions), the roommate freaks the fuck out and says "You're trying to send me to conversion therapy?!?" So she turns it down, and then eventually transitions into a werewolf to save the day in the last episode. This is the fulfillment of her character arc - she wanted to be a werewolf, and now she is.
So... referencing conversion therapy was fucked up, right? I know I'm just some cis straight guy, but... conversion therapy is a human rights violation where people are bullied/coerced/tortured into giving up nonstandard gender presentation/sexual attraction. This is a werewolf puberty boost that's less invasive than modalities she already sought out.
Am I wrong? Is there a pro-lgbtq+ message to be taken from her refusal to go to werewolf summer camp? Or is this a terrible writer hamfistedly jamming in a controversial term for shock value?
No you're right it's absolutely fucked. I think they were trying to make some gay allegory but its so so confused that even trying to pick it apart is almost impossible. It ends up with an almost pro conversion message????? Which is obviously fucked. I couldnt find the time and space to talk about that in this video
Yeah no its hugely fucked up. Especially since she did end up wolfing out in the end and in her words which you quoted 'converted'. She's just a regular werewolf now, nothing unique about her anymore, not that I think she was that hnique to begin with lmao
@@TRexRAWWR1 If you drop the bit with her mom then it's an unmotivated coming-of-age story, which... fine. I choose to believe that someone came back with a note and said "Oh, add this in!" and didn't think about it more than that. Because otherwise - yeah, it's super fucked up.
Even with Enid wolfing out at the end it's still kinda horrifying
Her family wanted to send her to metaphorical conversion therapy not even for being metaphorically ace/gay but for just being a late bloomer.
That's how desperately they wanted her to conform.
The most baffling bit to me was when enid, a werewolf insecure about her delayed puberty, is threatened with "werewolf conversion camp" by her mother. Something she refuses 10 minutes later and is cheered on for by her father. Such a confusing mixed metaphor.
I had a whole section on that weirdness in earlier drafts but it became so long i had to cut it. What were they thinking????
I think it's more of a metaphor for taking your time to grow at your own pace. Her mother is forcing her to grow up essentially (maybe her room is also a hint at this as it's full of cute things that could be seen as "childish") You can be insecure about changes and feeling the pressure to be a woman at a young age and I think Enid is a great example of that conflict. She wants to be strong and blossom -- but at her own pace even if it's slow.
@@gracecasas3794 I agree and disagree. I think you get what the writers were going for, but what the actual text says is that Enid and her mom fundamentally agree that wolfing out (puberty/growing up) is important, and Enid wants to wolf out. However, they use conversion camp, a thing which in the real world explicitly exists to change you fundamentally from who you are and what you want for your life. It shows ignorance and laziness on the part of the writers that they would use such a serious real world allegory for a cliched and ultimately unimportant plot point, especially one to which it does not apply.
Enid's mother could have instead suggested surgery, or a new diet, or fitness coaches. She could have threatened her with disownment. The conversion camp choice was, ultimately, baffling in how inappropriate and unnecessary it was.
her hair is blond with blue and pink highlights. So I think they were going for a trans metaphor. Which is even worse. Because A) could have just had a trans story if you wanted a trans story. B) she's a werewolf which kinda means you end up making a connection between monsters and trans people in a very troubling way.
either way it's a fucking mess.
They really made an allegory for conversion therapy and then she turns into a werewolf anyway. It doesnt make sense why she was worried about never finding a mate if she couldnt transform when she was already dating Ajax before she transformed anyway. It was such a shallow and empty ""gesture"" to the LGBT community without ever having to soil your perfect teen drama by putting GAY PEOPLE in it. At this point it's so corporate and sleazy, I'd rather they just never allude to the LGBT community at all, at least that way they're not trying to wear a superhero cape without having to do anything
"A world view focussed on aesthetic over anything else" is the most concise description of every new Tim Burton production I've seen in the last 20 years
I love how the very same show writers remembered that Wednesday is latina from her father's side but not her being french from Morticia's side. "'Tish that's french!" ring any bells. Well not in the new show apparently...
My wife recently watched this show on Netflix and, while I only caught it in spurts, I was pretty confused from the get go. When I first went over to check it out and I saw that she was sent to a boarding school I was instantly confused. What could Wednesday Adams possibly do that would get her sent to a boarding school? At first I thought maybe it would be playing with the idea of her becoming a teenager, maybe wanting to fit in and compromising on her Adams Family Values, maybe wearing preppy clothes, trying out for the cheerleading team, or going to a Taylor Swift concert or something, and getting sent to a monster school after that so she could have better role models from an Adams perspective. Nope. She apparently played a cruel prank on a kid at school that landed him in the hospital, something that would land a lot of normal TV show protagonists in a boarding school but that Wednesday's parents would absolutely love. It was such a bizarre take that I immediately suspected they were going to try to assimilate Wednesday. Catching some of her complaints about her mother was equally weird. Morticia is trying to force you into a mold? She's a parody of a permissive parent that literally lets you electrocute your brother and actively encourages whatever gruesome violent mischief you get up to...except apparently not in this universe, where that mischief gets you sent to boarding school. Seeing this video kind of padded out the parts I missed while validating that initial take. I never really articulated what I was feeling watching it in terms of the social aims of the Adams Family films. It just felt...off. This video largely puts that feeling into words.
The point of the Moricia and Wednesday relationship isn't that Morticia IS trying to make Wednesday be like her, it's that Wednesday fears becoming like her mother. And maybe projects that fear on to her mother, thinking that she's trying to make her like her.
Yeah but its such a typical teenager fear, not one I think Wednesday Addams would have. Why would she? That entire nonsense with her being embarrassed by her parents and not respecting her mother's life choices felt more of a CW trope than how a real Addams would react. She would respect her mother while forging her own way and Morticia would be cool with it. You know, not like the typical tv family where teens and parents always fight and never respect or understand each other.
Gomez and Morticia might have been proud of Wednesday, but as mentioned in the car ride, the parents of the mutilated boy were threatening a lawsuit and Wednesday was expelled from the school for her stunt. Given the severity of the prank, it's likely that no other school in the state would take her, so the choices were homeschooling or a boarding school where dangerous things happen all the time. Gomez and Morticia talk about wanting Wednesday to expand her horizons, so a boarding school isn't all that unbelievable.
Also, this is not the first iteration where Wednesday expresses irritation with her parents. In both the 60's and '98-'99 series, she runs away from home over a perceived slight. In the 60's series she even leaves a cute note: "Dear Mom and Dad: I hate you and I'm running away forever. Love, Wednesday."
Some might be familiar with Maggie Mae Fish’s critique of Tim Burton, where she points at that his works are only superficially contrasted with suburban America, while their messaging is invariably, hugely pro-suburbia. They often feature outsiders that are accepted by the “Real Americans,” with any rejection being the result of misunderstanding. Beetlejuice is an outstanding example, where a Wednesday-esque Lydia Dietz is mocked and rejected by her coastal-elite parents (and whose suicidal thoughts are parodied in much the same manner as this Wednesday’s toothless allusions to an absent patriarchy), only to be accepted and adopted by the folksy, small-town Real American ghosts. This show really, with its toothless jabs at problems that don’t exist in this world and with a host of people from all walks of life eager to accept and adore Wednesday, seems utterly unsurprising in this light; more of the usual Burton fare.
Also, what’s with those weird Millennial jokes? Wednesday hates cell phones and says she doesn’t want to be a slave to technology… … WHILE operating on a coffee machine because she has to have coffee right now… and the show does not comment on this apparent contradiction at all. And then halfway through there’s that weird I’m-Not-Like-Other-Girls jab about boy bands. So many times I’d just have this playing in the background and then look up like… wait… what did they just say?
I should watch Maggie's video on Burton cause yeah that sounds pretty on point
That scene was so frustrating "I don't want to be a slave to technology". She says, working on a machine that the fixing of is her only chance at escaping her current situation, as opposed to having a phone, which instead of forcing her to barter mechanical repair for a lift, would just allow her to call for one.
Somebody is a slave to technology alright Wednesday. it is you.
I was immediately reminded of that video within the first minute of this one lol
new wednesday would def agree with ted kaczynski
The I'm-not-like-other-girls part felt so insulting. I'm still pissed about her considering legally blonde as a horror story. It cemented my belief that not only do the showrunners not understand Wednesday, but they also don't understand legally blonde.
I'm so glad I watched this because I was so baffled by the surface level media critique I was seeing of the show always ending with the person saying it was "sometimes bad writing but enjoyable." I don't even have really any grounding in the addams family but I knew immediately something was off. The show just feels like nostalgia bait for people who have never actually seen addams family/were too young to actually absorb it but just like the aesthetic.
1) I haven't probably seen older versions, but I like the aesthetic and enjoyed the show. Why's that a bad thing?
2) I think my mom saw an older version and enjoyed this one too.
I enjoyed it as it's supposed to give you that old 90s show feel I'm so glad they didn't try and redo the 90s movie vibes and did their own thing.
I’m just starting the vid, but I gotta say two things. One, I’m still Big Mad someone had the gall to claim this was the first iteration to include latinx actors as if Raúl Juliá isn’t right there. 2. How the eff do you miss the point so badly that there’s a whole plot point that Gomez isn’t gleefully proud of killing Morticia’s stalker? How do you cast Louis Guzmán as Gomez and not let him loose?
I was upset about much of this!
I love Raul Julia as Gomez. He was sooo perfect. 😊
Raúl Juliá was an incredible actor and a gift. His depiction of Gomez, iconic.
The potential for Louis Guzmán to make the role equally glorious to Juliá's is utterly wasted by this tripe passing as The Addams Family, and it's depressing af. He 100% coulda' killed it
I think more on part of the Gomez in previous movies are just "hot latino guy" instead a commom man like in the comics.
*Luis. Can we try not to anglicize hispanic names while talking about latine representation.
I've only seen snippets of the show and it didn't seem all that bad at first but some of those lines you brought up later on actually shocked me. "You don't know what it's like not to be believed" and "we lived here in harmony with nature and the natives" especially. Baffling really is the only word to describe it.
I called it bad writing. The show was like something out of the CW but they couldn’t even get the ships right.
Ofcourse Tim Burton would sign off on that.
watching the "You don't know what it's like" line made me think of "Karen" white feminism vs. black men.
I really hope he's mocking his woke detractors.
I really think that Hotel Transylvania was a better reference to the Addams Family than Wednesday was
Burton tried to do what Monster High accomplished years ago and failed miserably
Imagine watching Addams Family Values and coming away with the take "Wow, that summer camp sure seems like a swell place! Wouldn't it be great if we got rid of all the weird shit and that were just the whole show?"
The weird pilgrim backstory/plot is in way even worse, apart from putting it in the past they change it so much it's not even related to the real world anymore. The pilgrim colonizers kind of turn into horror monsters with no real connection to the real world tragedies that occurred much more recently than we tend to realize.
Emphasis on the “much more recently than we tend to realize”.
The werewolf conversion camp thing is so weird.. because she can't "wolf out". So in this metaphor being straight is a cool superpower and queerness is like a failed attempt to be straight. But then.. BUT THEN she heroically wolf's out to save the day.. so like "thank god she was straight all along and her straightness will save us yaaaaay!" Is that what you're saying?? Tim??
Also also, a lot of autistic people felt seen by this depiction of Wednesday and I can really imagine that. But in the end it poses her as the problem, she needs to learn to feel like a normal girl, she needs to change so that her friends will like her (although tbf the boring boys love her even though she's nothing but rude to them but like that's because she's hot or something). That's so sad because the thing about being autistic is that you can't just.. not be??.. and people's expectations that you can are one of the biggest barriers you face living in this society. Like I know she needed an arc but I really don't feel that "be normal now" needed to be it
Yeah I agree with all of this. I had a whole section on the conversion stuff originally but it was so weird and incoherent that i couldn't even make analysing it gel into the script
@@JohntheDuncan haha it actually defeated you. Very good vid though I didn't think about it in comparison to the 90s films before
So as an autistic person myself, Wednesday wasn't learning to "be normal" or fit into people's expectations she's learning that sometimes it's worth it to learn to communicate with others. She is still clearly herself, minus the tendency to shut people out so that they don't disappoint you when they expect you to be someone you're not. It's actually fascinating how many allistics seem to think her resolve to be friends with Enid and Eugene, and friendly with Bianca and Xavier is proof that she's fallen into societal norms.
@@kenzij I see what you mean. I guess I was more looking at things in terms of themes and writing decisions rather than Wednesday's own experience, or looking at her in the way I would a real person doing those things. Like just looking at things thematically, it seems that when she does things that she wouldn't ordinarily do like hugging Enid the narrative takes pains to reward that and show that this is a good thing. I have spoken to a few autistic people who took what I did away from it too and found it quite frustrating in terms of the decisions that were made when writing the show. However, if in real life a person with autism works to create close bonds with people although it's difficult, that wouldn't be a bad thing imo or mean theyre being forced into changing themselves, it just kind of felt like the writers were forcing it to me and I bet the writers were mostly or completely allistic
personally my issue was not with her trying to be "normal", but with the fact that she just acts like a bad person and is never forced to reckon with it. she DOES lie to her friends, she DOES lead them into danger and use them, and she DOES act hypocritical about her relationships to them. the scene where wednesday claims she "never asked" for anyone to be her friend/help her had me yanking my hair out. yeah! you didnt ask! you LIED and also actively took advantage of peoples kindness when it suited you, and then refused responsibility for the fallout when things went south! if anything, i deeply resented the seeming conflation of being an "outcast" (specifically, autistic) with being an asshole. wednesday doesnt need to communicate the same way other people do, and she never really does except on her own terms (crying when thing is wounded, hugging enid after both of them nearly dying), but she DOES need to grow to be a likeable and justifiably admired protagonist. if anything, the story didnt go far enough to show her changing, instead depicting largely superficial moments that don't mean anything about her as a person. what *i* wanted to see was wednesday, who is painted as this intellectual savant-of-all-trades, acknowledging her foolishness in trying to keep people close enough to manipulate but also far enough to never owe them any kindness back. i wanted to see her say *sorry* to enid, and to learn that being a blanket pessimist is as stupid as a blanket optimist. her perpetual nihilism had none of the fun and joy of the ricci wednesday, because she was written like a redditor who calls themselves a misanthrope and claims to be too smart to be invited to parties.
I shudder at the thought of this being the start of some inane Addams family cinematic universe which each family member or even side character getting their own show. Pugsly gets a sitcom where he's a tv cook. Gomez becomes a detective with the LaPD in an police procedural.
Oh sweet lord
How dare you speak that into the universe
I sympathize with your points. One of the things that drew me to the Addams Family was Morticia and Gomez, because they were possibly one of the few, if not the only, hetero couples I saw on tv that didn't appear to have a dislike or hate for one another like so many other sitcoms specifically have between hetero married couples. Ironically, they displayed a more desirable relationship goal, despite being portrayed as the oddball. That all said, I did actually enjoy the Wednesday show for what it was, despite all its faults. I loved Ortega's small twists to the character, such as not blinking as often. It's probably worth noting though that it came out that Ortega herself apparently had other aspects of her character she disagreed with on the show, such as having to deal with the love triangle, something Wednesday would likely never have dealt with in the first place because it's so out of character. Ortega didn't win the battle on that unfortunately, but she did manage to avoid some cringey lines, like she apparently was originally supposed to be excited and express some excitement over that dress she got for a dance, breaking her character and making her more into a pick me type person. That all said, one of the biggest scenes in the show that really jumped out was the scene with Morticia and Gomez over the murder like you went over. I had expected that to be a highlight for the family, as it would be in character for Gomez and Morticia to see the murder as a sign of Gomez showing his love, but the scene undercut what we all loved about the Addams Family in the first place instead. For as amazing as Ortega did in her portrayal, it felt like the writers and producers frequently missed the point of the character and her family.
Also it really felt like the producers were trying to recreate the successfully popular scene in the 90s movie with Wednesday about indigenous people...but wildly failed and it did not translate as well as it did in the movie
how does showing excitement over a dress make you a "pick me"?
The great thing about the Wednesday series is that you can direct your Gen Z niblings to the 90s Addams films and they'll watch them
Tim Burton is really bad about valorizing suburban society while thinking he's satirizing it, Exhibit A being Edward Scissorhands.
he's a boomer
I mean, as soon as I saw Tim Burton was leading I set my expectations to: This is going to be mostly an aesthetic thing.
So I actually enjoyed the watch even if I was shaking my head at all the piss poor allegories, themes, and "satire?".
Loved Jenna Ortega!
Same, pretty much. I didn't think he could do the Addams family properly and I was right, so I ended up thinking the show was pretty fun for a quick binge.
THANK YOU! The 1990s films were so important and significant because they use the Addams to expose ideas and values that have long been normalized by and for white conservative Americans. Through the Addams’ weirdness and ACCEPTANCE (and pride) of weirdness, the audience is forced to question whether the values they grew up in were really all that great.
The part where Morticia says “Wednesday is at that very special age when a girl has only one thing on her mind” and Amanda’s mother says “boys” to which Wednesday replies “homicide” has been replayed to hell and back. But it is a great example of the Addams’ snappy critique of gender roles and presumptions. Why do we assume that the ONLY thing that can take up a teenage girl’s time is boys?
The new series just doesn’t pack that punch.
Yes! And the scene where the kids were arguing about the gender of the baby and they asked Gomez "what is it?" He responded with "it's an Addams!" The Addams never cared about gender or sex, they cared about family.
@@TRexRAWWR1yup tho I do believe they did conformed the baby to be a boy with Wednesday saying "They only need one boy."
It was just a high school teen drama with the name "Addams" and "Wednesday" slapped on it. I absolutely HATED the way the series made a connection between being queer and being a werewolf with the whole Enid thing but then just made her be "fixed" in the end . They talked about "conversion therapy" and how she isn't going to change and that's how she is. Just so at the end they make her have her transformations and just totally forget that they literally made her not being able to transform a reference to queerness. As a queer person it made me feel really bad, the series just uses us and uses modern themes to gain points, while destroying everything that made the Addams family progressive and different from other things
My take on Burton has long been that his understanding of oppression is the exact same as the author of the My Immortal fanfic.
I hadn’t watched it, but my roommate did and she hadn’t seen any previous adaptions, so she was describing it to me. Wednesday getting sent away and having this dislike for her mom was so weird to me that I don’t think I’ll ever watch it. My roommate truly thought that that was like part of her character and I was just so disappointed that they put this rift between her and her family, because the whole thing was they were raising their children differently than other households, which is how they were able to have such a close bond. Like you pointed out, it fundamentally changes the story, if they’re a family with disdain for each other it falls back into sitcom tropes of a constantly fighting family.
The cynic within me would say that Wednesday is trying to pose itself as a kind of guilt-free alternative to Harry Potter more than it is an Addams family series.
And yet it ends up *also* being a series with bafflingly backwards (at best) and downright hateful (at worst) worldviews baked into it while vaguely gesturing at being progressive and Down With The Kids. And maybe it's just me, but I'm getting really tired of people trying to create "guilt-free alternatives to Harry Potter"--I get that their intentions might be noble, but at some point you have to stop trying to salvage something bad and focus on actually making something good and original.
It felt like the writers were huge Buffy fans tbh, and used Wednesday to try and retell that story. (It was about as good at handling colonialism and racism as Buffy, that’s for sure.) With a splash of Percy Jackson in hot topic paint added to the mix. I did enjoy it, but you’re bang on about the confused, mixed messages.
I know a lot of Netflix shows get accused of being paint-by-numbers but Wednesday was just… empty, none of the magic promised was there
Spot on. Exactly my thoughts, Wednesday was a Goth aesthetic looking but made for prime time TV version of Harry Potter/Scooby Doo remix. I thought watching it Tim Burton was going to come out as a TERF (it was Helena Bonham Carter who did, so I was close).
A lot of the Wednesday/Morticia strife comes from the truly awful failed Broadway musical which understood the Addamses even worse than Burton. My ex was in a production of the musical, it was horrible - she was good.
HBC is a terf? Noooooooooooo
What has this got to do with someone being a Terf?
@@coolbanana165 because it’s a bad rip off of Harry Potter, so much of a rip off, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tim Burton apes JK Rawlings and becomes a TERF, the thing she is now most famous for.
@@winterd0tter yeah she started spouting off about it a couple weeks back. I was upset too.
A handful of co-workers told me "Oh, you _have_ to watch the new Wednesday Addams show on Netflix". I was reticent to take the recommendation because I usually don't like the same things as they do and I'll leave it at that. But then I was alone in the kitchen, cooking, and decided during the initial prep (getting all the stuff together, making sure the pans were clean, cutting up onions and peppers, etc.) to watch something from Netflix on my phone that I wouldn't mind if I missed a bit here or there.
I watched two or three episodes before later deciding to watch this video. As an aside, with some of these newer shows it becomes difficult to know when one episode ends and another begins. And that is not a compliment. Sometimes an episode concludes halfway through but just keeps going. Sometimes it is just meandering and you're halfway through _another_ episode before you realize nothing actually came together in the last one.
As for this show in particular, I had it pointed out to me some time ago that Tim Burton is really only about visual aesthetics and all his writing and themes are still very much status quo and conservative-friendly conformity (and most of the best stuff with his name on it was actually made by others). This became painfully clear with the opening of this show as Wednesday felt like she was written by some right-wing hack trying (and failing) to blend in with their conception of the "liberal media". -- It got the family wrong, and it was really weird to see Wednesday's apparent disdain for her parents which is very out of character, and the oddly right-wing anti-emotion stuff and her being squeamish that her parents love each other. Then additionally the edge-lord-a-thon as she's introduced to the magical school trope (magical schools are an old concept with a lot of different examples in literature, but the writer seemed to only know about Harry Potter). And it became clear that the show had no idea what it was talking about nor what if any sort of message it may be trying to go for as it was very inconsistent.
And then I recalled seeing the thumbnail for this video and decided to find it and see what it had to say on the matter.
Found this on Tumblr under a different rant about the series that ended with emphasizing a “You were going to send me to werewolf conversion camp??” line.
I was going to leave a thoughtful comment about the video here but then I looked at the comments and found out werewolf conversion camp wasn’t a tasteless joke but an actual plot point in the series and now I need to go lie down for a While.
Tim Burton not understanding a property, I'm baffled.
"Pastels?" *eyebrow lift*
Seriously, that movie was everything to me as a kid. I'm so torn about whether I want to see this show because *waves hand at video*, but Wednesday and Morticia and Gomez have been my rolemodels for life.
Angelica Huston and Raul Julia didn't play Morticia and Gomez Addams, they became Morticia and Gomez Addams.
Honestly, Addams Family Values is one of the best cast movies I've ever watched. Every person in every role gave an absolutely perfect performance.
I loved these movies as a kid and I don't know that I could bring myself to watch the new show. From what I've seen though I think Jenna did a great job with what she was given and I liked the costume designs that I saw.
I regret watching it because I can't unsee how they mangled everything I loved about the Addams for decades. The visuals are perhaps the only thing the show has going for it and even that's nothing to write home about. Hollow, vapid Instagram-cum-tumbler aesthetic vibe (insert any other modern colloquialism that is now devoid of meaning)
They aren’t good - the 90s movie couple had chemistry, these don’t at all
Thanks for putting into words my bewilderment while watching Wednesday. To add to the long list of missed opportunities the Netflix show presented, they gave us a werewolf girl, prominently displayed throughout the season, who couldn't turn into a wolf. They spent several episodes presenting this as a positive, that she didn't need to be like all every other werewolf... And then they throw that character away in the last episode in favor of a sloppy cgi fight scene that could've been way cooler if she didn't transform, but stood up for her friend anyway smh
Goddammit, that idea about Enid (wait was that her name?) not being able to transform at the crucial moment but still jumping into the fray at great personal risk to protect her friend is SO FUCKING BRILLIANT that honestly, if the entire show was exactly the same except for that one scene, I'd still walk away from it with a positive feeling.
When I saw Gomez fighting… and not have a gigantic grin on his face, I turned off my TV and I’ll never bother with Wednesday again.
Edit: I’m glad Duncan mentioned it Gomez isn’t afraid of shit, they seem to be able to feel pain but are completely indestructible.
thanks for putting into words why this felt so empty to me. Those 2 films were just so iconic and well written. Wednesday doesn't capture that.
Lots of smart comments here already, so I'll add a dumb one:
As someone who makes a point of referring to the 1992 adaptation of Dracula as "Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula", it made me chuckle every time you said, "Tim Burton's Netflix's Wednesday".
Lmao I'm glad someone enjoyed that bit!
Oh, I can point out a great plot hole: she is scared her father is a murder when she started the show throwing piranhas in a pool full of teenagers and complaining she didn’t manage to kill them 😂
Holy shit, I had my reservations about watching it based on early reviews, but you've really nailed the issues with it here. I've seen only portions of it, and *nothing* I've seen has endeared me to it or made me want to watch the rest of it, save perhaps Gwendoline Christie. Also, I'm really sick and tired of the school-for-magic-kids trope, it's been done to death and I don't see any good reason to make Wednesday magical, it just seems like a tacked on plot device to fill out the story.
I specifically remember thinking it was really great when Enid said "not hugging is kinda our thing." and genuinely hated the moment Wednesday embraces her, because having the former, respect of ones differences and care for each other expressed in non-expected or untraditional ways, like refusing to hug each other, is maybe the strongest Addams family moment in the show. Which is pretty disappointing.
The show is giving the audience the opportunity to larp as an oppressed minority without any of the inconvenience of actually being an oppressed minority.
I mean, I'm enjoying what I can out of the show, but you're 100% correct in all of your critiques.
I watched bits of Wednesday and just... as soon as they got to the car ride to the school I was already just... what did they do to my precious Addams Family! This is just so many levels for wrong. And then just so much hoping it was a fluke and it'd get better. It really did not. I was really hoping for just... it could have meant something and not been empty calories. I've been chewing on how to properly articulate what I felt was wrong with it and this really helped me find form for it.
Also, there was an animated Addams movie in 2019, which was fine but most importatly, it at least got the basic themes right. It felt a little like rehashing familiar ground with just a coating of modernity on it. But it had something to critique consistently. So it's not like there hasn't been a more faithful and still successful adaptation. So there's no using the excuse of it just having been outdated and needing modernising. On that note, I just found out it had a sequel so I've got something that I am actually eager to watch more of now.
Honestly i think it's fundamentally just a lazy show that hasn't bothered thinking about what the Addams family means
Every time I come back to this, I find another bit of food for thought that I missed the first time.
Truly a fantastic exploration of how Burton's "Addams" story betrays the key concepts behind the narrative legacy that he has attempted (and failed) to claim.
Your end point perfectly encompasses why you cannot find a meaningful commentary in Wednesday. There is no commentary. It wasn't made with an intent to be anything beyond content itself.
Wednesday is the definition of all style and absolutely no substance. The 90s films justified the gothic aesthetic with a barebones but still entertaining social commentary. This has absolutely nothing
There was this old TH-cam series called adult Wednesday which was as you would guess what Wednesday would be like as an adult and when I saw Christina ricci first post something about Wednesday I was really excited as I thought it was a really cool idea and her portrayal of Wednesday was perfection. But the Netflix show is just another riverdale teen trash show.
This show 100% would not be happening without Adult Wednesday Addams, and they bullied her off TH-cam when they decided to do it 🙄
i hated the show because she was an “outcast” but EVERYONE wanted to be her friend except for the designated “bully who everyone hates” character. But she was presented as if she was rejected for being weird when actually everyone liked her even when she was cruel
Dark Shadows wasn’t enough. Tim Burton had to ruin ANOTHER spooky TV family
if the addamses aren't a collection of rusty nails in a bright strawberry jell-o mold they are nothing worth
The fact that I didn't even catch that Wednesday's ancestor was supposed to be a coloniser is a testament to how engaging that show was. 😬I was just thrown by her blond hair.
Really great video!
Ngl, I've stopped caring about Tim Burton after those horrible Alice In Wonderland movies. They made it clear that he only cares about Aesthetic, and can't construct a coherent theme even for something simple and cliche as do what you want and don't bow to societal pressure.
It's funny you talk about coherent and Alice in Wonderland , because you know it's not supposed to coherent :)))
@@userAsiral Original: coherent themes, incoherent plot.
Tim Burtons Adaptation: coherent plot, incoherent themes.
@@userAsiral wonderland is incoherent, the story isn’t
(originally that is)
So much of the plot was just picking out stuff from the movies without bothering to have any idea of what it meant. Like they just looked at stills from the movies but never even read a plot summary.
Plus the trend of schools for so called misfits who are actually super heroes.
The show was really cool looking but made very little sense.
I have struggled to put into words why this show gave me a slimy feeling and like it would be fine if it wasn't the Addams, and didn't give me the feelings enjoyment like I did for the original movies I had hoped to bring back. Thank you so much for putting it into words! I definitely agree with what you are saying, I also now have a new understanding of why the movies just clicked with me.
Some of those clips got a reflexive “fuck you” out of me. I was thinking about skimming through the show to see what went wrong but I think I’ll save myself the grief
I was optimistic and open-minded about this adaptation too, but as soon as I saw Wednesday looking grossed out by her parents & the hints about her resenting her mom, I was OUT. I was ready to be okay with any reading besides that; like you said, we're living in an increasingly volatile time of extreme conservatism and an attack on human rights. I thought a new Addams Family adaptation was welcome! But not like this.
I grew up adoring my mother. I still adore her; I happily agreed to accompany her while driving 80 miles for work today, because driving busy freeways that long makes her anxious. She apologized for asking, but said she already felt so much relief knowing I'd go with her.
My dad died in a car accident when I was little. People politely, and eventually rudely, expected my mom to remarry. But she didn't want to. My parents had the love and devotion Morticia and Gomez have; my mom knew she couldn't find anything like that again. People felt confused and almost a voyeuristic sense of boredom at her not remarrying: they would ask if she hated spending time with her kids, and look disappointed when she said no. She worked 2 jobs to support us as a single mother, but she was still present and made time to be with us.
I got those same kind of voyeuristic questions, with people asking if I "wish I had a step-dad" or if I found my mom embarrassing. People would look disappointed when I said no. That confused me, and even now with a better understanding of social rules I still find it confusing. My mom is cool and funny, extremely smart with a photographic memory, pretty, kind and empathetic, understanding and accepting. She's not perfect, but I'm very proud of and grateful for her.
So, all that being said, I really resonate with what The Addams Family conveys about love and family. And because this is the internet and disclaimers are necessary at every turn: I'm Not saying you're obligated to love your parents or anyone in your family. If someone is unloving or abusive, they don't deserve you. I've cut out quite a few members of my family. On the same hand, though, it's worth thinking about how hurtful and dysfunctional it is to claim to hate your wife, or that your mom is embarrassing. I think we should try to be kind and consider what we say and why.
I think it's a saddening waste of potential to use The Addams Family to do a tired, shallow run through of "angsty tween living in mom's shadow". And I think my mom is the coolest, smartest person I'll ever meet.
How do you have them upset about committing murder when the first scene in The Addams Family movie shows them about to pour boiling liquid on a group of carolers? Or when Tully and Penderschloss? fly into pre-arranged graves and Wednesday & Pugsley standing there with shovels?
Pugsley: Are they dead?
Wednesday: Does it matter?
The message that I got from watching this show, is that instead of embracing being different, characters who are outsiders need to be converted to fit in as “normal”.
Instead of Enid keeping her werewolf quirks without “wolfing out” she needed to be a werewolf in order for the plot to forward seamlessly.
They made Wednesday fit in with the “outcast” to show others that she haS eMotioNs, and had being an INTJ her entire personality. They could’ve ruffled some feathers with this character, but chose all cliches to excuse lazy writing
Exactly
All great points. One thing I'd like to add is that Wednesday is presented as this aromantic/aroace character yet is forced into romances with these guys she has no interest in. Even in the older movie where she goes to the summer camp, I never saw Wednesday having any chemistry with her "boyfriend." She has always been aromantic and I wish characters in media could just be accapted like that. I relate to Wednesday in the netflix series as an aromantic person cause she isn't interested in romance, but is kinda forced to play along in some instances because of pressure from allo society (also her werewolf friend). Even stating that she wishes she cared more ;ie wishing she could have romantic feelings. I ended up dating people because I thought it was the normal thing to do, I thought that eventually I'd randomly gain the ability to have romantic attraction. I did not lol
The review I was looking for. I was turned off by this show as soon as I saw the personality changes and new family dynamic. I couldn’t have said it any better.
love hearing analyses of why the addams family is so good, love hearing scathing teardowns of whatever tim burton has done now. great video
Netflix's Wednesday feels like a CW teen drama/mystery wearing a cheap Addams Family cosplay. Those were not my Addams Family
Well, apparently even Jenna Ortega understood the character better than the writers and she changed things
i bounced off the show hard & quickly myself, peetty much the moment the show introduced its version of pugsley.
THANK YOU! You have put my deep confusion over the show into concise terms. I was so deeply disappointed by the shows portrayal of Wednesdays feud with her mother and the truly weird portrayal of mortisha and gomez.
Normally I'm pretty easy to please but this show not only proves that those involved in writing had no idea what the IP is even about but just made odd decisions with what they did decide to put in. Ok, your Addamses aren't murderous, fine, but why does your Wednesday (that has already committed assault that could have easily been the murder of an entire swim team) have such a major issue with her Dad maybe having possibly killed someone in his youth? It just doesn't make any goddamn sense. And this is just one major example of such instances in the show.
This video is spot on. The concept could have been great if the school were truly unconventional and weird instead of exactly like a regular high school except richer and more gothic... I mean they're supposed to be "outsiders" and yet they still replicate cliques and social structures?? Where's the fun and imagination in a setting like that? Why would Morticia and Gomez want to send their kid to a place like that?
And having Wednesday confront the legacy of colonialism and how it still impacts the world today, leading to the ostracization of families like hers, could have been really interesting. She has clearly been passionate about those things since childhood and it wouldn't be out of place at all.
There's just a lot of missed opportunity here and I think it comes from this weird impulse to make Wednesday angsty for no reason. Like she's somehow SUCH an outcast that she's an outcast at the school for outcasts. Why? Because she's... Goth? The creators wanted her to be treated as a weirdo within the text of the show but also wanted her to be seen as cool and edgy by the audience and so the result is a restrained, watered down Wednesday who's only saved by Jenna Ortega's performance and Ortega's contributions, such as the choreography for her dance.
Say what you will about him but Tim Burton's outsider angst sometimes works to make a compelling narrative - ie. In Edward Scissorhands - but he also tries to force it into stories where it makes zero sense and it's really exhausting to watch.
THANK YOU!! When I first saw Wednesday I was also baffled by the world building but strangely no reviews seemed to touch this issue. As a latina myself, I would also like to add my to cents to the conversation.
My biggest problem with the show is how they made a clear separation between outsiders and normies (although the plot itself very often contradicts the power dynamics that it tried to represent) and the awful characterization of the rest of the Addams.
1. In my country, miscigenation was extremely common during colonial times, however most of the offspring was a direct result of patriarchal and colonialist violence and assault. So, there is no such thing as a "good" colonizer. Everyone here knows that, but listening to my grandparents talk about their grandparents, I came to realize that even horrible people can do good, sometimes. And this is why I always loved the Addams family. They recognized that nobody can be only good or bad, but always a mixture of the two. And someone should always be given the opportunity to redeem themselves if they so wish.
Another point is that the "otherness" feared by the white was exactly the original cartum's Addams: disabled, deformed, ethnic minorities... the people who would be exposed in circus around the US and Europe as "exotic" when Charles Addams was drawing their adventures.
I was deeply offended by their representation of good and evil in such an unidimensional way and even making species up to represent outcasts! As if we don't have enough real marginalized groups for them to choose from!!!!!!
2. The family!!!! What they made with my loving and supportive family!!!!! I've always interpreted the Addams' view of life as a direct opposite of the christian fear of death and eternal damnation. And that is why they never banned enjoyment born from danger. So it was extremely disrespectful to have a plot where Gomez and Morticia are consumed by regret for killing a man... IN SELF DEFENCE! I mean, not even the law would have blamed them!
Furthermore the weird plot about Wednesday and Morticia is very confusing. Because the show never even explained why their relationship became strained in the first place and their portrayal of Morticia is much more aligned with a dismissive mother than a supportive one (as she has always been).
I could go on and on about how Netflix's fear of being too edgy or controversial while trying to pretend that it cared about any societal issue at all is absolutely disgusting and infuriating, but I will stop here for the sake of my blood pressure.
You have such a... soothing and satisfying accent, I don't know how to explain this lol, but I really liked the video and I agree with you!
"Used aesthetically without pushing any critique." Yup, that's Burton.
I started watching Wednesday with a nephew and I quickly lost interest. It was so barren of what I loved about the 90's adaptations. Don't get me wrong, I love the original show and comics, but the films were just so good, and in my opinion, some of the best satire to come out of that decade.
What those movies said and how it was received by so many people speaks volumes about the type of "benign radicalization" that helps reshape our world. I know a lot of young people who idolized Ricci's Wednesday, because she embodied that elder spirit that exists in all children. That suspicion that there was something fundamentally wrong about the standards in which we live in as a species, especially those tied to marginalization and exploitation.
That isn't even touching upon the mixed up and confused messaging/tone this series had. Ortega was great, but I feel like her performance was just apeing so many things I've seen a million times before. When I heard she ripped off Siouxsie Sioux for her dance moves, I just rolled my eyes and was glad she at least called it out.
If you want snarky & confused, but fun gothy nonsense, just watch the Craft.
The confusing power dynamics remind me of Zootopia. Herbivores? Carnivores? Everybody eats, I guess.
WHEN I SAY YOU GOT THE ASSIGNMENT OMG!!! This profile is private and does not reflect it, but I'm a black goth intersectional writer and deconstructionist who does counseling from an anti-oppression lens and loves The Addams Family. When I say that I could tell the issues with the show from EPISODE 1!!! People around me or who don't really get deconstruction or even really understand how oppressive ideas and narratives are reinforced through art and media found it odd that I wasn't as excited as they were about the show. Like, already knowing about Burton had me looking at it sideways, but it was just so much worse. Had me thinking that many people who liked it perhaps like The Addams Family, but don't understand the core or foundation of what makes them who they are. No one seemed to understand my gripes with it from either a story-telling or critical perspective. I very much agree that is was profoundly BAFFLING for ALL of the reasons. You did an excellent job at laying out the depths of why and how. Thank you very much for this analysis. It's an affirming breath of fresh air because YOU GET IT!
Gosh I knew I hated the Wednesday series, but I didn't know how to spell it all out in a cohesive manner. I'm SO thankful for this video. You've given me the ammunition that I need to tell people why the writing sucked so bad. Thanks man!! ❤❤
You're welcome!
OK! Haven't finished the video yet, so can't comentate, but I'm happy you gave Jenna the credit she deserves! I can understand majority of critiques for the show, but it's truly Jenna Ortega's performance which sells a majority of it for me. They were lucky with Jenna 100%, because I doubt it would've been as successful as it is right now!
I could barely get past the first couple of episodes. The characterization was all wrong. Wednesday resenting Morticia threw me off. The Addams are supposed to always get along dispite being creepy that's the joke. Dispite being creepy they are the perfect family. I get that it's an adaptation and I wasn't expecting it to be exactly like the movies and the sitcom but that is the one thing you don't mess with. I also hate how Wednesday went from deadpan to rude.
I think the point about debby having a Latina housekeeper makes more sense/seems more sinister when you factor in Gomez being Latino
Yep i agree
I didn't even have to watch the show to know it was trash, and this video explains really well the vibes I assumed would already be in there from Tim Burton's name being attached to the project. The dude needs to get his grubby fucking mitts off outsider properties and just make things look nice for people who can tell actually subversive and thought-provoking stories. His aesthetic is fine, but his ability to find writers who can tell a good story has been down the drain for decades, if not forever. It's been old and stale for decades at least.
This is probably the best critique I've seen of the show.
Gosh it is so refreshing to have someone highlight the things CAoS did well, I'm getting so tired of seeing people say "Wednesday is what Netflix Sabrina wanted to be and failed". CAoS had a lot of issues, but it committed to its various Gothic themes with utter abandon, and as you say, had open acknowledgement of the trouble with patriarchal systems (and even with how it also harms the men within it), and the need for feminist action, no matter how performative it occasionally came off. Thank you!
When "even Caos did this shit better" is an argument you know the show is... Hm. BAD.
I loved the first season but it went downhill so bad with a lot of themes... BUT HEY. I LOVED THE FIRST SEASON
Which is more than could be said from the five minute car ride that already put me off of Wednesday
you shine a light on the series’ fundamental problems. There’s almost nothing of the unique macabre sensibilities that makes us love the Addams family. Morticia and Gomez from the movie would never voluntarily send Wednesday away for putting piranhas in the school swimming pool-they wouldn’t see anything wrong with that! The creators try to keep Wednesday’s character an outsider, but when she’s in a school filled with werewolves and crap all they have to work with is her “allergy” to colour and her blunted emotional affect, which is fine but its definitely a downgrade.