Another part of the joke was that the Addams family were genuinely happy as a family. The Addams family are the only TV family that didn’t show a family that hated each other. Gomez and Morticia loved each other dearly compared to all the other shows where the parents hated each other.
Well not the 1960s I mean they loved each other but other 1960 tv couples also loved each other, however 1960 Morticia and Gomez were the first tv couple to show they have a sex life without obviously showing the actual sex and I think they were the first 1960s tv couple to sleep in the same bed while other couples slept in separate beds
Finally. I thought I was going crazy when everyone else kept praising it. All I kept thinking was "This isn't the Addams Family and I don't think the creators realize that."
I grew up on the 90s movies. Couldn't get into the Netflix show. The Addams to me are macabre, endearing and fun. The Netflix series leans too heavily into teen angst. Also, hate to say it, but Morticia looks awful; Catherine's cosmetic work is distracting.
The thing that bothers me about the Wednesday series is the conflict between Wednesday and her parents. The best thing about the Addams Family is that they always love, accept, and support each other. It's what keeps me coming back to every new adaptation, and without it the show feels kind of soulless.
I think it’s cuz now Wednesday is a teenager , and we never saw the character in her teen years and how that can change the dynamic even if it’s not permanent , cuz that’s an aspect they stay on in interviews “we never saw Wednesday as a teen “
@@Tarikkb Be that as it may, the teenage rebellion stereotype is a bland, overused stereotype. Presenting Wednesday as a teen in the same bland way other teen/parent relationships are presented is the most uncreative choice possible, and doesn't seem true to the characters. If it were me, I think I'd have kept the original Morticia Frump personality, where she's shy and withdrawn to start with, and blossoms when she starts dating Gomez and feels value. This would also mean including Ophelia Frump, her sister whom she was overshadowed by. Let Wednesday find out what a shy and timid person her mother was, and set herself up in contrast to that as "I have never been a wilting wallflower. I've always known my worth" and have that be the conflict between them: The fact that she doesn't need the same lesson her mother did, but her mother is assuming because they're both introverts that that is the problem. Or set up the contrast with her father. Gomez Addams (when played properly, and not by Guzman) is one of the most joyously extroverted characters in television. Let him not get things like introverts needing more alone time, or that his daughter is not introverted in the same way his wife was, and so he thinks he just needs to encourage her. Let Gomez take his daughter places and embarass (no, scratch that, we're talking about Wednesday) discomfort her by starting conversations with random strangers. As someone who is an introvert born to an extroverted father, this was always the most awkward thing ever, and had nothing to do with us not loving each other, and everything to do with very different temperaments. These would be the places I see potentials for parent/child strife. Wednesday shouldn't suddenly fear Morticia is controlling, and her father shouldn't suddenly be a pale ghost of himself.
Every family, regardless of being a normal one or a kooky, spooky, chilly, hilariously freaky family like Addams there’s always parents-children conflict esp when kids hit puberty. That’s how life is, normal, spooky or even pilgrim or alien.
Yeah I think it’s weird how in Wednesday there’s dysfunction in the family. She didn’t want to go to her mum for advice? The joke is that Wednesday would ask her mum the most outrageous thing and they act like it’s normal (like asking her mum for gunpowder or knifes and her mum wouldn’t bat an eye)
Not to mention her parents had NO chemistry. Their younger selves were so much more believable, and yet we’re supposed to believe these two worship each other??
my main issue was that the show didnt feel like the addams family and instead felt like a show that they wanted to make but they wanted something to fall back on incase that it failed
Wednesday had more depth. When she says “The God of my people have spoken and have said do not trust the pilgrims. Especially Sarah Miller.” I felt it in my soul! The writing was so clever and so deep and unexpected it still holds up but it’s natural.
I feel like the closest Wednesday got to understanding the Addams Family was the scene where she watches Legally Blonde as if it’s a horror film and loves it. It was the one part that didn’t feel soulless to me
It’s always the little moments like: -Wednesday being delighted about being covered with blood while everyone else was horrified. -Wednesday and Pugsley fishing with grenades. Otherwise it didn’t feel like the Addams Family. Or even Tim Burton.
I think the message was less that 'she needs to be more normal' and more she needs to appreciate the people in her life that care for her, instead of taking advantage of them and disregarding their feelings. Imo
the problem is that in order for them to show her emotional growth, they made her do things completely out of character. she shouldn’t have to be expressive to show emotions/ gratitude, when her natural state is showing no emotions. she shouldn’t have to hug someone/ physically show her appreciation of them, when she has been established to hate physical affection. and she shouldn’t have to be weirdly forced into a romance despite showing no romantic interest in anyone (but that's a different conversation tbh) it would have been a much more affective message to have her retain these traits of herself, while also having her see those who care for her as equals. her changing her traits to be more “normal” just shows the viewer that THAT was apart of the problem, when it wasn’t. the problem should have gone both ways: wednesday learns to be friends with people out of genuine care rather than using them for personal gain, and everyone else learns to not try and force wednesday to act a certain way to please themselves. (sorry for the long paragraphs)
@@ThatClassicGirlXO i am talking about teen wednesday/ the tv show wednesday specifically. i’m talking about how her “abnormal” traits in the beginning of the show change towards the end of it to appease her friends
Most people I have discussed the show with who actually like the show can't answer 1 simple question. "what actually did you like about the show?" because everyone is obsessed with the character not really the story or where the story is leading towards. Their answers are always "omg im in love with Wednesday" but that's it that's where it ends
I enjoyed the asthetics for the most part, but yeah, since this is a heavily character-motivated story there isn't much to enjoy outside of Wednesday and Ortega's performance. The story is basic, and it would have been cooler if they hadn't resolved everything by the end of the first season. The dialogue is pretty funny, and well-delivered. Thing was well-used. There aren't many things to focus on other than Wednesday because the show is taking that character (rather, the 90s reinvention of that character) and placing her in a atypical (but not entirely original) world to bounce off of, play off it, propel the events of it. The show ends with Wednesday because her presence is the most important element of it
Wednesday was for me just like a Monster High type of thing, I would see this plot in a Monster high movie( a kids-ish movie) but they just decided to just destroy the Addams Family with it
The moral isn't that she needs to care what people think, but that she'd be happier if she connected with the people who accept her for who she is. It goes out of its way to teach Wednesday that she is part of something bigger than herself and that she doesn't have to isolate. Nobody asks Wednesday to change, they just care about her and want her to acknowledge that she cares for them.
She would lose what makes her “Wednesday Addams” as a character. Wednesday is supposed to be perfect, manipulative, and always on top of things… I get that it would be great to see her change, but her changing simply because plot demands it is painful to watch… she was clearly manipulated by Enid… I would’ve thought Wednesday could handle trifling emotions like that…
@@markalbarracin2011 i kinda disagree im sorry. Because the more u interact with other people the better u get to know urself. U can not fully know your full potential if u dont interact or have friends. I think Wednesday is more stronger than ever than she was before. Ik shes already strong even alone but i think we get to see her greater potential whilst interacting with other people
@@CaulkMongler I don't even think it's a matter of messaging. She's the protagonist. If she doesn't grow and change the story will be stagnant. It is possible to have a never changing protagonist, but this isn't the genre for it. That's SpongeBob. And even he has arcs
As someone who has struggled to connect with people, I definitely relate with this interpretation. I think a central theme is reconciling your weirdness (and the guarded-ness that often comes with it) with a culture that increasingly accepts weirdness. Shawn's definitely on the right track with the bit about how this change reflects a change in our social norms. This really is a 21st century interpretation of the Addams family, and I actually think a true-to-the-source interpretation would fall flat these days. The 60s sitcom is very camp, and we love it for that. But camp doesn't play with the current target audience. The last thing we need is a goth Big Bang Theory. I also don't think it ruins Wednesday as a character, as much as it grows her. All the other members of the family are just as oblivious to their oddity as always. But they seem to be confined to their own little world for the vast majority of the time. Yes, Gomez and Morticia went to the same school...30 years ago, but Wednesday is currently the only one interacting with the modern world. It's a culture shock and it changes people. And it's relatable to viewers who have ever felt out of step with the world around them, which is essentially everyone who would want to watch it in the first place.
I think I just struggle with the character of Wednesday as a whole, not just because it’s not very Addams like but also because she’s quite judgemental, and has a disdain for anything that’s different to what she deems as good or acceptable. Like when she first meets Enid, she grimaces at the colour in her room, and refuses to hug her. She also says later on, “it looks like a rainbow vomited on your side of the room”.I feel like the original Wednesday Addams would’ve found the amount of colour weird, but wouldn’t be disgusted by it, or mean about it.I also don’t get why someone as outcasted, and unique as Wednesday is, wouldn’t be embracing of someone who’s equally strange and different like Enid. The conception of her character also just seems a bit confused. Like she’s a typical teenage girl in the sense that she “hates” her mum, and is coming up against the usual teenage life experiences e.g. complicated love interests, starting a new school etc;But then she’s unimpressed, and cynical of everything around her, and can’t seem to let go and have fun-like a teenager would. Wednesday also never seems to be happy Unless she’s doing something wildly morbid like grave digging. Even her own birthday she doesn’t enjoy,and instead of being appreciative of the surprise birthday party that was thrown for her (which makes her character seem ungrateful).She reminisces on a past birthday party, she only liked because got to hit a piñata filled with spiders-which is again wildly morbid. Something about Wednesday only being able to enjoy things that are wildly morbid, makes the character feel forced and unrealistic.Sort of like a cliche, one note depiction of an Addams family member, rather than a fully fleshed out character.Her character would feel a lot more believable if she liked some regular teenage stuff, alongside the grotesque and strange things.
This put to words something I've been thinking about all week since I watched it. If Wednesday's values and morals line up with everyone else's than what is the point of her character? She obviously believes murder is wrong throughout the show so it makes her quips and edgy one-liners feel more like a teen trying to be quirky than a teen who has a fundamentally different sense of right and wrong. And then at the end, it felt less so that she solved the mystery but that there was literally no one else left alive to accuse. She accused so many people, eventually she was gonna be right. All that said, I really enjoyed the show while I was watching it and it had a nice charm to the acting and cinematography that I really appreciated.
What confused me and just stuck the entire time was how in the very very beginning, it’s established that she WAS trying to straight up kill those people in the pool. (I.e. the “Attempted murder” thing) so why is she seen suddenly really against murder of any kind? Where did that come from? Especially through the whole Gomez story beat,, she was SO hung up on “oh no my OWN FATHER was a murderer” when she actively went out of her way to try to kill those guys in the first five minutes of the series. I really did enjoy it, but it had a lot of loose ends, and just like he was saying, I don’t like how she just had a lot of things handed to her (along with the whole “visions are often wrong” being drilled into our head but hers aren’t??? She just interpreted them wrong.) And how did she just randomly accuse Laurel I still don’t know.
The thing that annoyed me the most was that Wednesday was rude to everyone for no reason and I could not for the life of me understand why anyone liked her. I liked her one liners, but in context they just made no sense. For example wgen she starts fencing against Bianca and just whips out the "queen bee" dialogue, without having met Bianca, let alone talked to her. I found it to be confusing, because if I walk up to a stranger and say: " I bet you think you're all that, but jokes on you I'm gonna rule this show now" that would just be confusing, weird and irritating to that person. I couldn't empathize with Wednesday, even though Ortega was really great in the role, because her behavior made no sense
I thought Wednesday said the queen bee dialogue because Bianca started it with the whole "let the psychopath in the school" line. Bianca hasnt met Wednesday either but was mean to her first coz of the rumors.
Wednesday Addams is not a warm, loving, Friendly character it’s not a damn shock that she wasn’t a nice character and most of the folks in the series started with her she just finished it you might need to watch a another series because you can’t be serious.
Agree! I find it weird that Wednesday out of nowhere just said smth along the lines of 'someone who knit wont be able to handle me' towards the therapist when they only just met?? Also the way she is unnecessarily rude towards Enid when they first met simply because she is girly/cheerful doesn't sits right with me, bcs Wednesday might be blunt but she is not a bitter person like this...
They wanted to make a Monster High show and had rights to the Addams Family. So they just made a Monster High show with a Addams Family paint job over it.
I found myself confused with Wednesday’s motivations in the first episode. We establish that she’s willing to throw piranhas in a pool of people, and she is hinted to have killed two people and that she does not care for anyone or anything. But then all of a sudden she gets visions of the kid dying in the woods and then wants to save him?? I thought she didn’t care about people. She was also in the middle of an escape that would have benefited her, and I feel like the real Wednesday would’ve gone with the escape and not cared. I get they were trying to redeem her character, but the point of her character is that she’s non-redeemable, and we like her for it. I also wondered why Wednesday even cared to find a monster or the mystery because it doesn’t seem like it would be something she would care about. I was more interested in the first episode story of trying to escape the school than the murder mystery. Also, the school itself just rubs me the wrong way. I don’t know why they decided to throw in werewolf kids and vampires and weird stuff like that. Also, I was confused with the parents for being upset with Wednesday for the piranha thing. I feel like they Adams would be proud of that. It felt like the parents were normal and Wednesday was a problem when the whole family has always been strange, And Wednesday’s conflict with her mom made no since. I just went on a rant, but the show kind of irritated me.
I interpreted it more as Wednesday wanting to solve the mystery herself. She is a character who enjoys being in control of all outcomes and being the one to decide when and how to inflict pain. If you notice, she cares more about the mystery than who gets killed. The only death she seems particularly disturbed by was thing, and he didn’t die. Lmao
Totally feel you, bro, it makes no fuckin sense in the wrong way, because whats lovable about the addams family is that they are the only ones that make no sense and they are ok with it. But in this case there is no logic at the very core of the character construction and at the conflict that is created for them. Total garbage of a show, like everything burton's touched for the last 20 years, he shouldnt be allowed to produce any more screen material no more.
Actually Wednesday was never that brutal in any of the original shows. In original series and comic she was freaking out people, but she never had any bad intentions to anyone. First time she was portraited as dark as you claim is in the 90s and in very specific modern interpretation of it. I personally think the monster investigation story was weak too and especially the "super powers" of Wednesday. Including how she got tricked so easy to mistake the monster. From all variations of Wednesday during the existance of Addams there is only one factor that never changes, she is ultra smart. It is something in the comics, it was in the 60s movie, it was the same in cartoons and in the 90s interpretation too, why she needs super powers to figure out what happens when she is suppose to be the smartest person in the school.
Biggest issue is the students being sometimes being dark vs being normal. I would expect the dance scene to be something they would enjoy, like them using axes in the boat scene. Wednesday always felt like an outsider in her own family tho.
Dude I agree when I first heard of nevermore academy I thought it would be a space where Wednesday would fit right in. Like could you imagine Wednesday is talking about how she tried to kill some teens with piranhas and some kid in the background is like "Hey I did that too. We should friends, my name is X"
I haven't watched it, my issue is not everything needs reboots, remakes and redos. I love rewatching "The Addams Family" it was funny, eerie, whimsical, and warm. Too many times the remakes never achieve the same level of entertainment and it feels forced.
@@vim2339 for me the “The Addams Family Value” Mortia and Gomez is a masterpiece. In “Wednesday” show, they might look like the cartoon counterpart of The Addams but the chemistry they’re giving is not matching.
There is a youtube's series called Adult Wednesday Addams which I think you would like to see, portrayed by Melissa Hunter. The episodes are really small, tend to have about 3 minutes each and show and adult version of Wednesday trying to live her life, get a job, buy some groceries.. But, for example, since she's an Addams and all, after a match on a dating app you'll see her during the first date when she's dry and disappointed saying "you don't look at all like the pictures you posted..." and the guy is sort of disgusted and reply "yeah, those pics were taken during halloween, did you really think I was like that?". Give it a try, the acting is really fun.
I just checked it out, and you're right, that's fantastic! What's especially interesting is how it finds so many targets for mockery in the 21st century world. If they're ever going to modernize the full Addams Family, I'd love it if it looked like this. Thanks for the recommendation!
@@ShawnBRyanVideos Looks like netflix and the ip owners cancelled her, and will do the same with good ideas. Hope someone sees the potential she had to keep good stuff coming.
Wed and pugs are equally sadistic yet cute. They are supposed to be funny or “kooky”. I think Jenna carried the whole damn show. But they are very family oriented and Wednesday is ideally just supposed to be unordinary. Not cruel. They are horror/comedy not gore.
Precisely. It sounds like this show took the aesthetic of the Addams and made the priority while not really getting the actual writing part of the characters. Or at least shouldn't have been tied to Addams Family at all and just be its own thing
My issue is that they could’ve called this series anything. It didn’t have to be “ the Addams Family” or Wednesday show. This girl could’ve been her own character with her own story.
I agree. It didn't help that for some reason her school was full of inhuman kids whilst she isn't one, she could have been an energy vampire or something?
Technically speaking ppl would of easily point out there some what of a rip off from a character like Wednesday Addams in an alternative timeline of that so. Let alone the hand
Thank you for this. I personally am so upset with this show...and it's not a bad show at all! It just strayed so far from what Addams Family is all about. The movies, Musical and tv show have literally been my comfort watches for so long because they are hilarious and make me happy. This show had so much potential but ultimately was just so souless and depressing...not the kind of thing I want from Addams Family. Whoever said this should have been a show separate of TAF universe, I completely agree. It's not bad, it's just not Addams Family. Felt more like a really violent version of Monster High.
What I’d love to see is a version of Wednesday not unlike the sitcom, for the most part she’s a regular kid who does typical kid stuff but would also just casually crank the dial up to 11 with a second’s notice whilst remaining innocent & childish.
Ha! Yeah, in some ways it's almost funnier to see a normal kid acting weird occasionally than it is to see a character who's always weird all of the time.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos Make her nearly(emphasis on nearly) indistinguishable from the other kids at first & even let the audience doubt whether they’re watching the right show until she just casually says something devastating & then you’ll know; That’s Wednesday alright!
THIS Most people now thinks of the Addams as the 90s versions. Most with Wednesday being dry, witty and having violent tenancies. I miss the sitcom version. Kind, caring but kooky. They all were. Yes, people got scared off but that was the charm to it. How I would have pictured her as a teen would be, still be somewhat kind and look out for people but act against people who are put off and outright mean to her or her family. The beginning bit with the piranhas was believable for me. Say when she's sharing the room for the first time. Have her offer like a dead plant or something to go on the other side to show appreciation for being her roommate or something. I was also expecting her to contact Morticia through the glass ball but that was never used. Forgot they even gave it to her honestly because of that 'all teenagers have a rebellious phase' thing. The family were always close and despite everything was always very healthy with each other. Sure, there were nicks in that like with Pugsly joining boy scouts but as well they were concerned for him being like everyone else. When Wednesday said about the time she cried, I could get that. But remember she also cried in the sitcom cause of a book where the Knight killed a dragon when she went to school for the first time and her family complained about it. But point stands, I wish they used more of the sitcom version instead of going very into the 90s version or heaven forbid the new animated one.
My personal opinion of Tim burton is that he likes to make out that he’s the patron saint of weirdos, but that doesn’t usually go more than skin deep. His comments on black people show this. Also, when adapting material, he often fundamentally misunderstands its core and gives us a lesser version but with cool visuals. Eg his take on Alice in wonderland shoes that he simply doesn’t understand what makes the original so good. Like the Addams family, Alice isn’t supposed to be particularly emotional or have relatable characters. It’s a surreal, trippy, and absurd work that uses nonsensical humour to satirise and completely overturn the conventions of Victorian society. And that’s what makes it so amazing. Like with Wednesday, burton tried to give Alice some emotional depth by making it a more straightforward logically-based story. But you can’t do that without completely undermining the very premise of the work. For all his airs of being weird, he actually sees things in a very straight way
Exactly. I keep thinking about the fact that i really just didn't want a "deep" version of Addams Family... all the weird emotional stuff in this ended up just making it really depressing and hard to watch.
god yeah this is such a good comment- tim burton really likes to try to paste new narratives over the stories he adapts without really considering either why the source material worked or why the narrative he wants to portray does. i also think he rides on his aesthetic coattails a little too much. i also didn't like the corpse bride, though, so maybe i'm a bad goth.
I agree 100% with you and was going the same the same thing. However, I don’t think Lewis carol’s intention with Alice was only to challenge the Victorian society. He wanted to explain through an allegorical story the journey and purpose of human consciousness. The fall of Alice through the rabbit hole is identical to the gnostic myth of Sophia. Maybe he also wanted to question Victorian conventions, rationality and normality but the absurd jokes and characters weren’t there for their own sake, they have a meaning
The "thing" is, it's not about the family. It's about Wednesday and how she doesn't fit in anywhere. She is still that same loving character and its seen throughout the show at how she cares, especially about Eugene, Enid, Thing and even the whole school because she was willing to die to save it. But she's also a teenager going through all the normal teenage angst. I loved the show as I have since childhood.
@@shadow_hillsgrandma8224 but one special enough that Wednesday kept going to the hospital to see him and talk to him. She was also worried about him when he went off alone. She cared because he was her friend. He's the Xander to her Buffy like Enid is her Willow...or in Enids case Oz.
This was the smartest review I’ve watched recently. You are sooo right! It pains me to agree with you because I wanted to love this show as I do love Jenna Ortega. But I found myself grabbing for my phone as I watched the show.. it didn’t keep my attention because of the lack of that genius, mystery, endearing naïveté that the original show had.
Thanks for your very nice comment! If nothing else, I think Jenna Ortega did an amazing job in this (very difficult) role. Hopefully a second season might come up with a story that showcases her performance a little better.
@@luanaastralis9991 I’m sincerely happy for you that you enjoyed it. As I said I really wanted to love it. I might try it again- it just didn’t engage me the way I thought it would. I might try it again. Is there something about it that you think I should be more aware of? Something that you loved about it?
personally i feel like the new wednesday series works pretty well by itself and works well along with the 90s movies even though the "i hate my parents" plot did throw me off. but comparing it to the original comics and the 1960s show i can see how the new series doesn't work.
She doesn’t hate them, she hates affection. That’s very different. She doesn’t want to go to a different school and follow in their footsteps. She explains that her parents understand her and made her bdays memorable which shows an appreciation for them. She’s dealing with specific situations that she doesn’t enjoy surrounding her parents (going to their same school)
But I feel like that's exactly why it works. The Adams family expresses love for each other In morbid ways. Wednesday taking revenge on kids For bullying her brother is exactly what she would do, Despite telling him she hates him
Oh gosh. I feel so spooky when all i see is good review and anyone who dare to disappoint all get brutally attack even tho its just "opinion". The promo is everywhere. All youtubers say only good things about it all over the world. The promo budget must exceed the production one. As someone who really enjoy adam family watch it so many time thru the year. I felt the same.
Something that makes Wednesday stand out, when played by both Lisa Loring and Christina Ricci, is that she is essentially a wide-eyed innocent girl with a few disturbing or sociopathic tendencies… That’s why the adults around her (other than her parents who encourage her behavior) never know if she’s a good little girl, or a bad one; but they’re willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, because she seems so innocent. Although Jenna Ortega is only twenty years old, and is a very cute/pretty actress… She has a sort of “jadedness” that goes against what makes the character so mysterious. Namely, her ability to seem normal, happy, optimistic and well-adjusted, most of the time; and like a “little demon” the rest of the time. Therefore, when Lisa Loring threatens to guillotine her Marie Antoinette doll; or Christina Ricci tries to electrocute her brother, Pugsly, it has a unique impact because you don’t exactly know if Wednesday is the kind of child/person you can trust. If she’s angsty, annoyed, and depressing all the time… It sort of takes the innocence out of her. Like, you never suspect she’s just a kid who “doesn’t know what they’re doing” or “doesn’t understand the difference between right from wrong,” because she has weird parents, or is probably a child sociopath… So instead all you’re left with is a quirky kid, who does quirky things, and likes quirky things, for quirkinesses sake. Like a Goth kid who doesn’t understand The Gothic Movement in Art, Gothic poetry, or where their aesthetic comes from (Ironically, Christianity and more specifically, Catholicism.) That takes the character from being a possible sociopath, but with innocent and playful motives; to someone who is bitter and vengeful, but without the obvious playful innocence that defined the character. (More importantly, this version of Wednesday seems ridiculously intent on constantly **asserting** what a dark/quirky misfit she is, rather than the quirkyness/darkness just coming out, naturally, as a part of her personality. What I liked about both Lisa’s and Christina’s renditions, is that they understood Wednesday’s intelligence and precociousness, but also that she’s essentially an insane airhead; and it’s that contrast between being evil and adorable that makes the character likable. Even the newest CGI cartoon version of the Addams Family understood that about the character, and portrayed her well, by making her essentially a normal kid with some abnormal interests. I even liked when they flipped it around, for example, showing Wednesday “rebelling” against her parents by liking unicorns and the color pink.) I feel like the opening credits to the 60’s TV series, where Wednesday, Grandma, and Uncle Fester are just staring into space like soldiers with PTSD, seemed sort of “out of character” in that older series… But at the same time, that’s who Wednesday is: a normal kid, but with a few screws loose, which make her cluelessly sociopathic. That’s why the character can’t (and doesn’t) work as a “feminist icon”, “powerful woman,” or “girl boss” because you can’t romanticize the character, in that way, without also romanticizing anti-social and even murderous tendencies. Wednesday is an anti-hero, not a hero. She’s an indifferent antagonist, technically a lovable nut job, not Nancy Drew.
I think there’s also something feminist about having a female character who gets to be a lovable nut job in the way a male character normally would, but I think once the feminist angle gets extended beyond that it just becomes clunky and preachy
I don’t normally comment but this review was good and instead of just repeating what everyone keeps saying about how good the acting was and how they didn’t really include the family much you delved deep into the reasons why it didn’t quite work for you. And most of all I LOVE that you did not go for the “it’s a bad show period” approach some other TH-camrs take.
As I watched the first episode I realized by the end of the episode I felt like I forget it was about a character from adams family. They could have just called this "nevermore academy " and created a whole new character
To me, the thing about putting Wednesday in a school full of outcasts didn't make her look normal. It actually makes her look weirder since she was an outcast even among outcasts. And the thing about the lesson in the end, after watching the show I understood it more like her learning to form good relationships rather than her learning to be normal. Those two ideas can overlap in some aspects so I get where you're coming from.
The problem with reversing the roles where Wednesday is the normal one while the world around her is Weird is you HAVE TO HAVE HER REACT TO THE WIERDNESS AROUND HER, but in the show, she doesn't. Take Men In Black for example, the 1st movie worked because Jay was reacting comedically to his new surrounding while the 2nd and 3rd movie, he was so accustomed to the alien world that everything just felt bland and repetative. Imagine what would happen if you get a snarky mean girl and place her with other snarky mean girls? The same would be true when you put a weird girl in a weird school.........NOTHING!
🐸☕Exactly it would be like the movie 🎬Mean Girls but Cady would be just one of the Mean Girls instead of sabotaging them from within.. She would just be one of "The Plastics"❗👎🏽
The 90’s movie where Uncle Fester gets married nailed it. But you have more characters instead of focusing it all on one so it worked better. Otherwise they can’t be the status archetype. It’s also harder to make it work for several episodes as opposed to a movie. This is why movies are just qualitatively better than shows usually.
@@Tania-rg7jp Wrong. You can have only 1 character in a movie such ast Castaway or The Martian and yet it becomes compelling to watch because of how they react to a situation or environment that is alien to them and the same goes when we watch movies Alive, Hang Over or Ocean's Eleven where we see a group of people navigate their way in unfamiliar situations that we relate to as the audience. Imagine dropping Bear Grylls in a dessert island your not going to be engaged as much since you know he will survive where as if you drop Paris Hilton in a desert island, you will be curious what she will do to survive. NOW imagine that desert island as a Weird school for monsters and you drop a Weird girl(Bear Grylls) in that school, would you care what happens to her?
I had reservations about watching this but you've actually given me a few points to ponder. I found the series to be alright, wished Wednesday was a little darker and more generous with those biting macabre one liners. I honestly think they should have had more episodes. The resolutions came too fast. Wednesday did lose a little of her uniqueness being in a school full of the supernatural... instead of the supernatural being just the norm only in her extended family. It was worth the watch. I'm definitely not the target audience but there were some really good scenes.
I totally agree about wishing the show had more episodes. It felt like they had enough plotlines to spend at least twice as much time with these characters and this world. I'm really hoping the next season will double down on what worked and maybe lose some of the less interesting elements (kind of like Umbrella Academy did).
I think this was my opinion too.. this was made for the teens of today and we're just old I think. No shady one liners or just dark in general and throw dua lipa playing at one point and I was like oh.. ok.
I did feel like it was rushed and not satisfying at all which was odd to me as each ep is 50 min long and the show has 8 ep. Then I remembered how they dragged out so much of the main plot with basically no progress until the last ep and what points they brought in random plot lines like the boat race. The pacing is so bad
You're just a curmudgeon ! Just kidding, I just love that word. I need to get a t-shirt with it on it to wear when I go up to the VA Hospital. curmudgeon curmudgeon curmudgeon
Yeah, giving an Addams Family show the same moral that made me hate Grease was a bold decision. And I feel like they made Wednesday into an essence of a Mary Sue. She's impulsive and stupid throughout the entire series, but they play it like she's done brilliant detective and anyone who she wrongs simply forgives her with no effort on her part
This is my first time viewing your channel, and I appreciate your professionalism. Actually, people who are gothic, alternative, or metal are still treated rudely. I'm an adult now, and people still tell me I have RBF, and they assume you're evil or think you need to dress a certain way. I'm still followed by cops in the store when I shop, and I've been harassed when I dress full-blown goth in person. So you can still do "A Family with an Addams Family Style" and it would hit the mark. She was still perceived as the odd one out at school. It seemed odd to me that they kept bringing up the fact that she's a snarky goth girl; if they were truly a school of kids like her, then all of the students should have been in a subculture. I'm not saying they have to be as spooky as The Addams Family, but I was hoping for an updated version of the humor from the 1960s version, which is also my favorite version aside from the comics.
My school is actually doing a play on that Addams Family musical and even I was appalled! Wednesday falling in love is just so out of mind for me, and after seeing the original movies, it doesn’t follow the same ring. Wednesday wouldn’t beg to be normal, she wouldn’t care.
Woww he absolutely nailed that analysis. I couldn’t quite put my finger on all the things that bothered me about the Netflix series, but he outlined everything perfectly, and brought it to light with perfect examples and facts ! 🙌🏾
A week ago I actually actively searched for negative reviews for Wednesday because I have the same opinion as you and I thought this show slaughtered everything that The Addams were. I'm actually glad I found someone on the internet that sees the problem with this show because up to a point I started thinking that I am the odd one because I don't like what they've done to The Addams
acting good, plot meh, and too much gen-z pandering is basically what happened with the show. the fact that the show is lecturing the audience that wednesday is "toxic" plainly shows that the writers totally disregarded or outright missed the satire that is each member of the addams family, and in this case, wednesday in particular. it's like taking the simpsons characters out of the context of humor and complaining that moe is "toxic".
i was ready to skip this review because i saw others that bashed on the show for no real good reason, just to not be part of all the people who love the show (myself included) i am glad i let my curiosity made me watch the review, as you actually understand the appeal of the Addams and what made them loved by so many for so long. still love the show deeply, i respect your opinion, but i agree that they need to improve some part to make the show better and evolve to become event bigger and better.
About a year ago i watched the Addams family even tho I’ve known about them for awhile it was finally on Netflix so i thought I’d give it a watch and i enjoyed it so much because of the dark elements mixed in with humor. I watched the Addams family values weeks ago and again it’s that humor in the movies that gets to me. What I love about the Character Wednesday is how she is surrounded by normal people who find her weird and she doesn’t care. With the Wednesday Netflix show I was excited to see to Jenna play her and what the show would be about but i got so bored with how the plot just kept dragging and how it felt very cliche. I loved Jenna’s Wednesday but the school she was in didn’t bring out what was weird about her because she was surrounded by other weird people. Addams Family Values when they go to the summer camp with all the rich white blonde kids and Wednesday and poc or nerdy kids were the outcast However Wednesday never changed to fit in which is what I love about her. The whole Pocahontas play was a beautiful display of the underdogs fighting back. I understand that this show revolved around Wednesday but i feel it would have been better if she wasn’t in school with teens with abilities Aswell.
I also noticed that the "a monster murders the citizens in a small town" "main character solves murder case" and "well.... classic bad cgi boring monster" is kinda all the plot had to offer. Though I REALLY lived for Wednesday and her attitude, I really had fun watching and didn't focus so much on the plot. And that's the main point for me to stream a series, I have to be entertained while watching. I admit Wednesday carried the show alomst entirely alone but she did a good job at it so it's okay. And once again I love her kind of character so she immediately got a plus from me. On a side note I haven't watched any other Addam's content so I can't judge about their history and stuff but maybe I will watch the other stuff when it's on Netflix.
I absolutely agree. Wednesday and her attitude were fun, and the moments where the show focused on that were some of the best. I'd have give the show a glowing review it it had just focused on Wednesday and her classmates. I really wonder why the show felt like it needed a monster mystery anyway. It's probably the show's weakest element, and takes up half the runtime. In terms of the other Addams Family content, I'll add that several episodes of the original series are available free, legally on TH-cam. If you want a good starter, "The Addams Family Goes to School" is a pretty fun introduction.
@@shayla106oh boy they sure are not like other families tho. This that happened in season one makes for a story arc that probably give satisfaction in next season do you know what I mean?
I'd like the show to be a series of vignetttes of Wednesday believing she was going to be the outcast again, but realizing she's the normal one, but overarching narratives and teenage drama take precedent, I guess
That would be interesting! I'm a huge fan of episodic television anyway, so that would be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Netflix loves their season-long stories...
@@whatever3145 Wow. Seems I came out condescending af. Sorry about that. I actually like Buffy, Smallville, Skins, Euphoria, I even enjoy Riverdale… to a point (all of them with good and bad moments regarding teenage drama). I meant the teenage drama, imho, dragged Wednesday. Not because teenage drama is inherently bad, but because it’s been poorly handled here. Anyway, I just watched Shawn’s video about giving the show a second chance, and I’m inclined to do just that
Love all the backstory you provided. I don't know if it was the animated movie that started it, but it seems like that version of Wednesday has kind of caught on with some girls in the past few years. I don't have any real reason to back this up, but I am wondering if this show owes much of its existence to the whole Netflix Sabrina "reimagining" thing.
Thanks! It's interesting that the character of Wednesday has found such mainstream success. It kind of reinforces the idea that, if the Addams Family were real, they'd probably be accepted by today's society without too much bother.
Just another case of the Entertainment Industry destroying a beloved Franchise, as is their current mission in life. They hate anything Nerdy or Geekish and strive to destroy it.
That's awesome! If Wednesday gets a second season, I hope I'll come around on it. There are some really interesting concepts that could be really fun to explore.
Wednesday is an angsty teenager. Even loving families go through their angsty stages- as someone who’s lived through with my own kids and now with my grandkids currently can attest. The part that doesn’t work for me is Catherine Zeta-Jones’ portrayal of Morticia- Lucius Hoyos as Gomez is quite good, though there is little chemistry between him and Zeta-Jones. But I can chalk that up to how the rebellious Wednesday is seeing them and the last thing a teenager wants is seeing her parents all over each other. I really like the series so far. As for “destroy” - any of the old cartoons and further iterations are still available for perusal by anyone who doesn’t care for the new. And I submit that this accusation is hurled at EVERY new iteration of ANY beloved work. I remember when people were accusing “Under the Dome” the series had “destroyed “ the original and Steve King said something along the lines of “No it hasn’t. The book is still there and can be read any time!” In other words I’m in disagreement with your premise. Your review- well, it has its merits.
I agree with Natural Wtchcraft. And I can practically quote episodes from the series from the ‘60’s. Sure I noticed Wednesday and her parents aren’t speaking, I credited that to being a teenager. Even Morticia mentioned it. Her family still adores her. Like most rebellious teens, she’s going through a phase.
Finally! A review with common sense. Everybody has been applauding Wednesday as the greatest cinematic masterpiece 😒. That's the problem with today's writers: they don't understand! Studios are hiring the least talented absolute lowest bidder to handle old IPs
Here is the thing, The Addams love each other alot, and are into weird stuff. Pugsley in the 60s is the more delinquent one of the children and swings from chubby evil doer to curious about the most common people interest. So Pugsley is the best suited for a plot of normal vs weird comming of age story. Wednesday could be the most balance one if they returned her to be the youngest of the two children. The Children could have a self realization arc something their parents doesn't and will never get. The Addams are a clan of socially good hearted bimbos, incredibly rich that wants to do good and share their interest. You could make The rest of The Addams extended family a bunch of contracultural snobs so the main family is in the middle: too willing to share with people with different walks of life and with strange hobbys for the average joe.
It also seems to me that in the 60s tv series with how they were so genuine and accepting of others and their community while others were so fearful and judgmental of them simply because they are odd implies that in order to be a good person you need to be a “freak” because acceptable society is not made up of good people.
i just finished binge watching this serie's and i had some fun with it but it did indeed have some weird moment where i was like, she would never do this because adams family but now the writers are trying to normallize the adams family while making the rest of the world look weird and insane
I personally didn't know the addams family before watching wednesday. I agree that they failed with the family, at first I thought she had a terrible childhood since they named their daughter after the day of woe/suffering... However I think she herself makes sense. Jenna her facial expressions are great and she did well to make her a strong and badass girl who doesn't care about the society's standards/ acts by her own moral compass. She makes it hard for anyone to see through her unshown emotions, but still cares for her friends and protects them. The final lesson learnt for her is also that she has to watchout for other peoples feelings and be less egoistic, like how the hand wants respect, xavier wanted to be trusted/not deemed as the monster without good reason and bee boy should not have been left alone on the dance evening. The mystery school is kinda cool, you get thrown into this world without knowing whether smartphones or werewolves are normal and only learn about the actual setting through conversations. I hope they keep it up for season 2 and focus less on the family and more on what other kind of people are on the school/ the school history, since she is also connected to it through her ancestor, somehow. Well her vision power, I wish the show would be more of a good written crime series, since the visions were said to be not trustable but have been correct at all times anyway, like the fact that her vision with tyler being the hyde might have been wrong and she was actually just going insane. I mean the plot was obvious but it was still a possibility that she was just insane :P
I completely agree about Jenna Ortega. She did a great job with a really difficult part. Even though I didn't enjoy the show, I hope the show gets a second season because I'd love to see more of her in this role. Yeah, I did simplify the moral a bit in my summary. I agree that, based on her actions over the course of the season, Wednesday needed to acknowledge her shortcomings and her mistakes. But I can't help feel that it was such a strange moral, to make the weird oddball be the character who had to change herself. In terms of the monster mystery, I just wish that Wednesday had done more detective work and gotten fewer clues from visions. I liked the scene where she snuck into the morgue, and I love the image of her standing in front of a bulletin board, filled with clues. If she'd cracked the case with her intelligence and investigative abilities, I think I would have enjoyed the show a lot more. (I also would have liked it if Wednesday's roommate had been more involved, almost like Sherlock Wednesday's version of Watson.)
Even though I like Jenna ortega as Wednesday, I don't like how the writers written wednesday. They written wednesday as a rebellious edgy teenager who has conflict with her parents. Even though the addams family are caring and compassionate in the original roots
It's funny to me how much I both agree and disagree with you. I totally and completely agree that no one on staff understands the Addams Family. They don't understand the heart of the Addamses is that they are not "outcasts," and that by making them label themselves as such, they destroy the inclusivity the Addams Family created by treating everyone the same and expecting the same in turn to an acceptance of differences, and that this is the way the world should be. They understand Wednesday as reinterpreted in the '90s. But the understand no one else. The worst was Gomez. I will admit, I never like Guzman's look, but I still watch the show hoping for Gomez's charm and joie de vie. His energy and excitement that John Astin created, and Raul Julia also brilliantly executed. Guzman is a flaccid milquetoast. I have no idea why he was cast other than the fact he was Hispanic, because he clearly does not get the character. Watching Gomez has always made me happy because he's happy. And it would also make a great foil for the '90s-style Wednesday they were serving because it's an extreme extrovert versus an extreme introvert. This Gomez made me sad and disappointed, and offered no contrast or complications for Wednesday. Catherine Zeta Jones was meh as Morticia. I don't know if it's her fault or a combination of the fact that she was paired with Guzman as her main acting partner, or if it's because the writers fundamentally misunderstand not just the Addamses, but other things like the legal process, and so she sounds dumb when they get into the whole Gomez killed someone issue. Pugsley and Fester don't get enough time for me to really have an opinion. Thing was a Thingie as ever. And I did like that he seemed to be using actual sign language at times (I don't know sign language, but I think that would be a good thing for expanding his ability to communicate). I'd argue that Wednesday's one line in the '90s film has nothing to do with admitting difference. The Addamses are fine with always being dressed for a party. They would probably agree that they favor funeral attire not because they're different, but because it's good, it's cheerful, etc. Anyway, to go back to the problem of Wednesday, the biggest problem is that Wednesday is not put with a community of like-minded people. But she is. But she isn't. Contrast the boat race, where the Sirens get help from one of their kind, and the purple hooded guys build a decapitating series of axes they can use against other students. It's very Addams Family. They're not cheating, and decapitation is just a hazard of their world that some might even enjoy. Now contrast that with the rain of "blood" at their dance. Kids who were part of the Addams's world would have kept dancing, for example. A rain of blood is nothing to them. More than that, it's fun. Or Bianca being upset with Wednesday torturing a suspect. She shouldn't have even blinked. Not because he was supposedly a "normie" which I hate, so I'm going to use townie from now on, but because this is normal and perfectly acceptable behavior in their world. If it isn't, Wednesday actually is a psychopath and doesn't belong at any school. Wednesday should fit in here, with introversion being the main thing keeping her from wider participation. But the show doesn't let her fit in. And that is why I'm okay with the friendship arc they tried to do with Wednesday and Enid, though I think it would have been more interesting if the main friendship pairing were Wednesday and Bianca because their relationship based on mutual respect and talent is more interesting than an extrovert forcing an introvert to be her friend. Her friendship arc with Eugene was also more interesting because she felt bad for failing at something, and that did give her an emotional tie to him to begin the friendship. Wednesday should be making friends. The show just kind of sucks in the set up for it by making her not fit at school that's supposed to be for her, rather than treating her like an introvert in that world who just needs to be a little bit more social. Because in a show about her, Wednesday is going to need somewhere to grow. The 1960s show even did an episode of her trying to be more mature like her mother as an attempt at growth. Speaking of which, I'm not into the Morticia vs. Wednesday plot. Wednesday is more prudish toward her mother than the 1960s TV censors, which was never part of her character, and makes no sense where she picked it up. She also seems to be afraid Morticia is trying to make a mini-version of her, but we see none of that. Morticia has always been a loving and supportive mother who accepted her children even when they did weird things like want to be boy scouts. It's very odd that she'd try to force anything on Wednesday, or that Wednesday would worry about that. Though the perfect Morticia that's presented to us at the school doesn't match the Morticia Frump that was displayed on the TV show before she fell for Gomez: Withdrawn and shy, who blossoms when given love. It's a very odd contrast and makes the conflict feel wrong. Let's see, I think the only thing left to cover is the law. I don't know WTF was going on with Gomez was a murderer, but got away with it plot line. I don't understand why he didn't stand trial the first time. It was pretty darn clear, and while I suspected he was actually a distraction for Tish, I didn't see the issue. Arrest him. Try him. Have him plead self-defense. He gets off because it was self-defense. And he gets to be disappointed about not getting to honeymoon with Tish in jail, or some such story. Arresting him at a later date doesn't change the self defense as a valid defense matter. Or you could put Tish in jail and do the same thing. And that's not the only place where the writers don't seem to understand how the legal system works, and it makes for bad writing. Though that's not an Addams issue, that's an overall writing issue. They're great a quippy dialogue, they're bad at plot. Mmm... and that's just about everything other than being mildly disgusted at the Addams's stealing (Thing and Fester) when they're Elon Musk wealthy with billions to burn and never had issue paying for things before that I recall. Remember, they wanted to pay more taxes, not less. Anyway, I'll leave off. I thought Jenna Ortega was phenomenal as Wednesday. And pretty much everything else around her was either bland or sucked. But she's impossible not to watch.
as far as the law goes, i wrote that off to being the adams' being an affluent family paid people off before it even went to trial. Just like they did for Wednesday when she threw the pirranahs in the pool
@@pcguru3096 I would have been okay with that to some degree, except that it shouldn't be coming back and Gomez being re-arrested. Also they have piles of money, and enjoy being in jail, so fighting the legal battle would have been more in character. Also, actual murder is waaaaay harder to rug sweep than a personal injury of a nonvital component (it was only one testicle, so he can even still have kids). Especially when the town is inclined to be against you, and would turn on the cops if they just let you go. And especially when you have such a clear case of self defense. I was also a little bit upset that they didn't tell Wednesday this. It was "you're moving schools so they don't press charges" not "We had to pay them $xx million dollars so they wouldn't press charges, and we're moving schools to protect you." And them just being so stupid about it calling it murder. And then they let Gomez go despite the fact that it was still him who appeared to have killed the kid. Yes, he was poisoned. But he seems to have died from a stab wound and a fall. The fact that he was poisoned beforehand, they never actually proved it had any baring on anything. It was like the writers thought they were being clever, but that's not how things work. Like, at all. So I would have been willing to let the Wednesday thing slide as money. But the writers just kept being dumb about law.
@@jenniferhanses7064 it seems like you wanted the show to go in the direction of CSI: Nevermore when Gomez getting arrested was a B plot that tied into the A plot. Any further delving into the specifics of Gomez being arrested and sent to trial would have taken away from the story they were trying to tell. We were given enough plausible information to explain why this was swept under the rug. Neither Nevermore, nor the Gates family wanted what happened to go public so they settled things out of court. also the mayor who was sherif at the time paid off the coroner to falsify the autopsy
Wow, thanks so much for your comment! I think you make a lot of really good points! In terms of Gomez, I feel like Guzman wasn't given very much to work with. There are moments where he plays Gomez as a clueless dad who's pushed around a bit by his wife, which... I guess is an interesting take. But most of the time, he's saddled with a decades-old mystery that's not the best showcase for him. I feel like Morticia had the same issue. Any time Catherine Zeta-Jones would try to define her character, they'd force her to play out this plotline from her past that, whether or not it passes legal muster, was just kind of dull. I totally agree about the show not being able to decide on how strange Nevermore Academy should be. On the one hand, they flinch at stuff like the red paint raining down on them. On the other hand... there literal werewolves walking around! I also share your opinion about wishing Bianca and Wednesday would have been paired up more. The fact that they wait until episode 5 to flesh out Bianca's backstory is one of the show's biggest missteps. And yeah, the legal and logical issues with the the Gomez/Morticia murder mystery are pretty big. And aside from everything else, the whole plot was just unnecessary. It's so easy to imagine the exact same season-long plot without tying it into Wednesday's parents. Then you'd also get more time to spend with Wednesday's schoolmates. One last point of agreement: You're absolutely right, Jenny Ortega was fantastic.
@@pcguru3096 Actually, I would have preferred they scrapped the plot with Gomez and Morticia if they couldn't write it properly. It did nothing for any of the characters. And you can't settle murder out of court. You can settle the civil suit for damages out of court, but the government takes an explicit interest when you kill someone and cannot be called off.
I really appreciated how you gave backstory to this! I watched Wednesday without ever watching the original Addams family shows, but always understood who she was as a character and felt there was something off with the Netflix version, so this really gave me perspective. Amazing review! New subscriber :)
One thing that doesn't make sense is a person thats obssessed with serial killer and doing devious things would try to figure out and stop one???wouldn't she like that and probably be even more into the person behind it
exactly. I think the reason earlier version of Addams Family have worked is because they are meant to be seeing the world exactly opposite of how an average person would, and they say a lot of really immoral and evil and crazy things, but it's funny because it's not meant to be deep. Addams Family kinda stops working when you try to get into the character's thoughts, because then their views get a little too real and are wayyy too problematic to be portrayed, and it's not funny anymore.
This is exactly what I said about the show! She literally tried to kill her classmates with piranhas in the first 5 minutes of the film. There’s a part where her parents tell her that they don’t want her to get an attempted murder charge on her record and she responds with “That would be terrible. I’d be a failure. Everyone would know I didn’t get the job done.” And there’s even a part where she openly admits to a rumor that she killed two kids at her previous school and took pride in it. They literally dig up and defile someone’s grave in the show and Wednesday and Morticia treat it like a bonding experience. With all of this combined, and mixed with previous Adams Family adaptations, it just doesn’t make sense that she would care about stopping a serial killer. I could see her being a “fan” but not having the desire to stop them. It’s very contradictory to her character and that is what took me out of the show.
Why can’t a person obsessed with murders and serial killers try and solve one? For someone as intelligent as WEDNESDAY I’d think that she would find great fun in the mind twisting mystery and she would also love to be the ‘winner’ the one who solved it.
I don’t see the problem??? And I don’t really agree with your opinion. The whole video had no point and it keep showing old movies and show it’s all over the place.
Thank you! My biggest gripe with the show was the friction *created for the adaptation between Wednesday and her family. I also didn't care for this cheapening for the sake of your 100th iteration of a supernatural teen drama. I also thought it was a stretch that they wanted me to believe that in a school full of creeps, monsters, and the peculiar Wednesday is supposed to be unique.
Been driving me nuts that my spooky inclined friends are fawning over this show. They took a really interesting character and goth icon and told her she needed to be more normal to fit in. xP Thank you for articulating this.
Things evolve 🤷🏻♀️loved the show can’t wait for season 2. The reason they’ve lasted this long, in my opinion, isn’t the same gimmick they had in the 60s/70s. That worked in the 60s/70s with society and the humor of the time. The 90’s movies were explosive in the 90s because of the social climate of self acceptance (the 90s were all about being proud to be weird) and reinvention of the characters. The animated movies were made predominantly for children so I mean, not really Kubrick here but it did introduce children to the Addams family. The series is a natural evolution of the family in 2022, if you tried to copy and paste the originals over and over again it would flop. It just would. I love that Wednesday is a combination of her predecessors while also being Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday proper. Good video!
I also feel like it more accurately portrays a family in a healthy way.. Wednesday learns more about herself, boundaries, and relationships. Actually getting to know those things on a deeper level and not just as a know it all child prodigy (which she still IS just not absolutely perfect). It is hard as is to navigate and learn about the world, yet it is even harder to do so as Wednesday Addams! She is not the same child we saw, she is growing, and will change. Nobody stays the exact same as they were as children. And with a child changing so does the relationship with the family change... it is only natural - even within the "unnatural" Addams family.
Would it have been improved if Wednesday had been a realistically matured version of the Wednesday from the 1960s sitcom? She was actually a nice kid then, but a monster in the movies.
growing up in the early 00's nickelodeon would run the 60's sitcom at night so when i think of the addams family, that's where my mind goes. I categorized this show in my box of "i like it because i like the characters but the plot is really bad", along with mdzs, orange is the new black, stranger things, etc. i think sometimes people think of a concept and try to write the story afterwards, like trying to write a verse around a chorus in a song.
I think the family is an allegory for being open minded to people of different cultures who are fully functioning despite being frighteningly different. Despite how odd they were they were still loving and community involved.
I actually like the Addams Family movies. They're properly adapted for the "attitude era" of the 90s. The third Addams Family movie breaks my heart though. Tim Curry and Darryl Hannah were great casting but it was destroyed by terrible production. Netflix tried to turn The Addams Family into Harry Potter and threw in teen angst that no one asked for.
I liked the show, but I didn’t know about the history of the Addams family and the portrayals. Also, the series felt like if you put the Harry Potter books into an AI generator and told it to make it about Wednesday Addams.
I think Wednesday shouldn’t have had this love interest character. She’s not about high school drama, but Netflix always wants some kind of drama. She would’ve been the voice of reality and she could’ve made fun of the system! Why is she put in the “goth girl who desperately needs a boyfriend” position? I’m not saying she has to be ace, I just think she wouldn’t have a partner from high school drama
It kind of confused me when kraskton attacked the school with magic while screaming about outcasts and devil magic, it is like seeing black Hitler making a speech about murdering the lesser races, and no one acknowledge the weirdness there. Also, why did no one fight back, they all got super powers, and they just ran when that crazy guy ran around, he was a boring villian and was killed too easily for main villian. They should have given Tyler more personality and made him the main villian, also have his whole crush on Wednesday explained, because he suddenly became evil with no explanation beyond, killing people is fun, I am kind of surprised Wednesday didn't just shrug, isn't she talking about murder and such all the time.
Wait... I though it was a public concensus that wednesday is NOT a good show. I am honestly shocked by people saying that its... good?? The script its a MESS. Its cliché, its absolutely cringey, most of the time it doesnt make any sense (the random story of gomez and the other kid that got killed wtf was that about)... And the acting?? Jenna Ortega is fine, but the rest of the cast?? Catherine Zeta Jones and Luis Guzmán (who absolutely butchered the og charisma that Angelica Houston and Raul Julia brought to the characters) were almost unbearable to watch, as were Gwendoline and Christina Ricci. Its just a basic ass show, bad writing, bad acting, bad directing. You know whats missing (apart from the basics of a decent show)? THE CAMP. The 90s addams movies were the epitome of camp, everything was ridiculous but in a GOOD way, in an ironic, smart and fun way dude. i just feel like this is such and unloved show by its creators. Tim Burton didnt even care enough about the Addams to honor their essence.
I WORSHIP the original TV series, and I love the first two 90s movies. But yes, they have gone in the WRONG direction in the 21st century. Let the Addamses be the lovable weirdos who are still very much good PEOPLE at the heart of it!
i actually enjoyed the show, but tbh i was surprised at the beginning when the family thought that wednesday has a problem & their relationship isn't good. i actually loved her character, but yes you are right to what you said that them being an addam, they have their own beliefs that made them funny & lovable. pugsley looked very helpless too, which was never him. he needed to be mischievous because he has always been one.
I see Addams family as people who have very strong and logical moral code, it just doesn't match the "normal" one. Addamses are not cruel or evil in a sense that they don't do things that they see as cruel or evil, according to their own moral compass they are good guys. And Wednesday is just the same, she is fully Addams. For me this series failed to show that, though it totally had the potential. Take Tyler vs Wednesday, for example. Tyler is cruel and evil because he believes that killing people is wrong, cruel and evil and STILL enjoys it. Wednesday, on the other hand, starts the show with trying to kill like a dozen of school boys, but she doesn't see herself as evil because in her worldview bullying is very-very wrong, while hurting bullies is not. Her first conflict with Bianca happens exactly because Wednesday thinks she is bullying Rowen. So why on Earth she is instantly ok with Tyler being ex-bully (there is nothing in her gloomy philosophy that suggests that she believes in redemption, only in punishment and revenge) or with this bully guy from town being Enid's date for the ball? It would be much more interesting to take Wednesday's twisted but coherent moral code and her ability to live according to it and contrast it with Tyler and Laurel who accept standard moral code but violate it because they are the bad guys. And this issue continues throughout the whole plot. Like take the school itself. They have a competition where it's ok to try to kill people (axes on canoe, etc.), they have vampires there, but everyone, literally everyone freaks out when the blood starts raining from the ceiling? To sum up, the show deliberately picks a well-known and beloved story about people having a solid alternative life philosophy that doesn't match with the standard one and fails miserably to deliver this story. Jenna Ortega is the sun, the moon and all the stars, though, she is wonderful)
I can't believe they made Wednesday a tween highschool show... it would've been 100× better if it was a comedy show about Wednesday torturing the other students or smth
Thank You ! You covered the subject very well ! I remember when the first TV show aired & you really covered many points that even I had no idea of ! Keep up the good work ! Peace
I feel like your primary thesis is pretty flawed. The Addams family isn’t supposed to be ONE thing. And while I agree that they made for incredible satire at a time when that was something strongly valued in media, I can’t help but feel like you’re trying to make a case for them to try to return to that state despite something in the Netflix series clearly hitting something that many people like.
If you have any other aspects of the show you want to share, please do. Here's my take on what is most bothersome about the show, as entertaining as it was: 1. Family Conflict/Rebellion Wednesday is depicted as basically the epitome of emo, punk, and goth children in the last 20 years. She's rebellious, she doesn't want to follow in her parents' footsteps, and most importantly, she doesn't give a single F what other people think of her (which is problem #2 in this essay). The love that was palpable within the Addams family, one that tied every strange character together in a sense of unity and understanding, is no longer there. Her teenage years are finally here, and she's not giving a single F about it. In fact, you sense that she is hurt in some way, but they don't explain anything about that, so you're left to guess what in the world Morticia and Gomez, who loved her so deeply, could have done to make her turn against them so badly. To make matters worse, Gomez is depicted as a suspect for murder! This is an example of my problem #3. 2. Anger/Angst This is what My Chemical Romance, Green Day, Avril Lavigne, and all those artists basically promoted, and it's something most of us love. However, because this is such a hackneyed concept and outlet of emotional release, it's like a p*rn scenario we've watched multiple times and then there's yet _another_ video based on that same premise. This sort of personality is almost always fueled by some sort of past hurt, betrayal, or just anger at the world, so there is almost always a reason for the angst. Wednesday seemingly has no reason, and that reason is not provided to us, especially not regarding her family. We have edge lords, so Wednesday would be an edge lady. Her edgy, angsty one-liners certainly made us laugh, but that was it. And that's all we're given. She constantly defies authority to the point of pugnacity, puts her newfound friends in danger, and seeks validation for her beliefs, especially on the premise of her visions making her crazy. Gaslighting at its finest! This is one of the only things that makes us root for her - to see her win, because everything that happens in the show only puts her in the worst light possible. This is my problem #4. 3. Disconnect from Original Addams Family Satire or Universe As Shawn said, this isn't as bad as the first two issues I mentioned, but it still leaves us a bit flat, "giving us nothing." The classic satire and irony that was central to the original TV show's theme is mid at best in this show. A couple of the movies still kept this humor in their scripts, but because this show was basically all about Wednesday, Jenna had to carry the whole show. Plus, as Shawn said, the whole world of Nevermore was right up her alley with everything and everyone being an anomaly or weird (even though it was basically an offbrand Hogwarts). It's like Lavagirl swimming in lava - you expect it and there is no dissonance. However, that dissonance is what makes Addams family humor and satire so satisfying. Shawn said that the abnormal is normal for the Addams family and that is 100% true. So that's the second strike against the show in this regard. For example, the original masochistic Wednesday probably would have felt little to nothing about being stabbed; in the show, however, you could see a mix of fear and regret in this version's eyes. All those days of playing with knives, seeing who could last longer on the wheel of death? Down the drain. Plus, Thing is basically a dead hand with stitches. Would the original Wednesday cry over a dead hand if she plays with death herself? No, it's not logical. Same applies to Gomez's scandal with Garrett Gates' death. Death was something the Addams family played with, not be horrified at, and I would assume it would be the same during their backstory. 4. Wednesday's Constant Dislike or Abhorrence of Other People and Their Lives It's telling that Wednesday alludes to Machiavelli, because that's exactly whom she acts like. Subterfuge, manipulation, obsession. She uses people for her goals and basically tosses them aside when she doesn't need them. That's some _major_ character devolution if you ask me! The sweet little girl who was oddly obsessed with spiders and torture methods is no longer with us. They killed her and replaced her with a sadistic, Machiavellian, egotistical Karen clone who cannot be stopped because her intelligence and wit always shut her opponents up. Even her own parents cannot escape her wrath as she is a _tormenta_ that will never die - literally. This Elphaba-Glinda pairing was obviously going to lead to "Glinda" getting hurt. And all the friends she made at Nevermore evidently mean nothing to her (until the very end when she finally develops as a character). She will always dislike what they like simply because she is not like anyone else. Remember when she taught Lurch how to dance? Now she evidently hates the thought of dances and is simply there with an ulterior motive. All of this causes not only us as the audience to strongly dislike her, but also everyone around her to dislike her. Besides her wit and intelligence (which there was obviously a loophole in) as a reason for us to root for her, we also root for her because everyone is turning against her and "she must be vindicated!" These are both _very_ shallow reasons for us to side with her. 5. The CGI.
I'm someone who watched the two movies, but not much else. So I enjoyed Wednesday for what it was for the most part. The only complaint that popped out of my mind that I felt was "too annoying" was that the family felt too antagonistic towards each other, especially Wednesday and Morticia. I felt it was better when they all got along, like I felt like that was part of the point.
They straight up ruined the Addams family, they made it seem like they were all broken and not close. This is a complete opposite of who they are because the Addams are actually living happy healthy family despite all the odds
One thing that I disagree with in your analysis is the idea that the 90s movies changed the formula for the franchises comedy, and the reason I disagree stems from a quote from Charles Addams himself. I'm going to paraphrase, but when asked his opinion on the 60s sitcom, Charles Addams said that he hardly watched it, because even though it was entertaining enough and well made, the characters didn't feel like his, and that their sitcom counterparts were "only about half as evil" as he'd always envisioned them. In Charles Addams' mind, the joke wasn't necessarily that the Addams family was completely unaware of their lack of normalcy, but that even though the were content to mingle and try to get along with normal society, they were even more content to be themselves, even if it meant being willfully defiant against normal society, and occasionally, even cruel. In character descriptions written by Charles Addams he describes them as "jolly (in their own way)" and "fiercely loyal", but also as "devious", "contemptuous", "criminal", and "sometimes deadly" That's why we got jokes like the Addamses pouring boiling oil on Christmas carolers in the original comic strips. If anything, the version that deviated from that characterization of the family as a whole was the 60s sitcom, and the 90s movies did a slight course correction. Honestly, character wise I think the most drastic deviation the 90s movies made from the comics was making Wednesday specifically the most overtly deadpan and sarcastic, because her original character description labels her as "delicate and sensitive". But, I think this change made her a more interesting character. Subsequent adaptations seem to take that course correction too far though, and forget that, again, even though the Addams family revel in their abnormalcy to the point of sometimes being mean spirited, they *don't* /always/ know what seperates normal and abnormal , and *are* usually happy to interact with normal people, as long as it doesn't involve other people trying to force their versions of normal onto them. They also forget that the Addams family's strongest quality is that they are, well, a good family. They are *always* happy to be together. There seems to be some kind of push to have Wednesday in particularl break away from her family, because she's a teenager, and that's... just what teenage girls do... I guess. But that goes against the subversion that the Addams family was meant to portray in the first place. I think a coming of age story about Wednesday finding some independence from her parents, or interests outside of what her parents are in to could work. But only if that story doesn't come at the expense of showing the Addams family as a truly loving and healthy family.
It’s painful to watch. She’s the “key to everything” she’s perfect in every way and she’s “not like other girls”. She’s a boring Mary Sue who throws out a funny line occasionally
In the netflix show when she says "we're different, you and me.. we're original thinkers; outliers in this incessant cesspool of adolescence.. we don't need these inane rights of passage to validate ourselves"... that was IT for me. This wasn't an Addams family adaptation, this was just another cringy edgy show catering to cringe edgy millennials and Gen-Zs who think they're above the rest of us "lowly normies" just because they have social anxiety. A lot of guys and girls at my workplace who sleep on their jobs are now acting like they're too "whacky" and creative for this job after watching this show and it is simply painful to listen to them whine 🤮
I love your style of making videos! The puppet works surprisingly well lol he's (you are?) really cool. Found your channel looking for some Wednesday content and I really enjoyed this video, really made me want to watch your other stuff as well!!
Another part of the joke was that the Addams family were genuinely happy as a family. The Addams family are the only TV family that didn’t show a family that hated each other. Gomez and Morticia loved each other dearly compared to all the other shows where the parents hated each other.
Well not the 1960s I mean they loved each other but other 1960 tv couples also loved each other, however 1960 Morticia and Gomez were the first tv couple to show they have a sex life without obviously showing the actual sex and I think they were the first 1960s tv couple to sleep in the same bed while other couples slept in separate beds
Finally. I thought I was going crazy when everyone else kept praising it. All I kept thinking was "This isn't the Addams Family and I don't think the creators realize that."
Yeah
It is Wednesday, and not The Addams Family. I think that’s what they’re trying to do. That’s why they tried to insert some bizarre character growth.
@@heijimikata7181 But Wednesday is part of the Adams family, if she isn't that's not Wednesday anymore.
I grew up on the 90s movies. Couldn't get into the Netflix show. The Addams to me are macabre, endearing and fun. The Netflix series leans too heavily into teen angst. Also, hate to say it, but Morticia looks awful; Catherine's cosmetic work is distracting.
@@heijimikata7181hove you even watch Wednesday?
The thing that bothers me about the Wednesday series is the conflict between Wednesday and her parents. The best thing about the Addams Family is that they always love, accept, and support each other. It's what keeps me coming back to every new adaptation, and without it the show feels kind of soulless.
I think it’s cuz now Wednesday is a teenager , and we never saw the character in her teen years and how that can change the dynamic even if it’s not permanent , cuz that’s an aspect they stay on in interviews “we never saw Wednesday as a teen “
It’s because she’s a teenager. Even the most loving children are evil as teenagers.
@@Tarikkb Be that as it may, the teenage rebellion stereotype is a bland, overused stereotype. Presenting Wednesday as a teen in the same bland way other teen/parent relationships are presented is the most uncreative choice possible, and doesn't seem true to the characters.
If it were me, I think I'd have kept the original Morticia Frump personality, where she's shy and withdrawn to start with, and blossoms when she starts dating Gomez and feels value. This would also mean including Ophelia Frump, her sister whom she was overshadowed by. Let Wednesday find out what a shy and timid person her mother was, and set herself up in contrast to that as "I have never been a wilting wallflower. I've always known my worth" and have that be the conflict between them: The fact that she doesn't need the same lesson her mother did, but her mother is assuming because they're both introverts that that is the problem.
Or set up the contrast with her father. Gomez Addams (when played properly, and not by Guzman) is one of the most joyously extroverted characters in television. Let him not get things like introverts needing more alone time, or that his daughter is not introverted in the same way his wife was, and so he thinks he just needs to encourage her. Let Gomez take his daughter places and embarass (no, scratch that, we're talking about Wednesday) discomfort her by starting conversations with random strangers. As someone who is an introvert born to an extroverted father, this was always the most awkward thing ever, and had nothing to do with us not loving each other, and everything to do with very different temperaments.
These would be the places I see potentials for parent/child strife. Wednesday shouldn't suddenly fear Morticia is controlling, and her father shouldn't suddenly be a pale ghost of himself.
Every family, regardless of being a normal one or a kooky, spooky, chilly, hilariously freaky family like Addams there’s always parents-children conflict esp when kids hit puberty.
That’s how life is, normal, spooky or even pilgrim or alien.
Yeah, I agree. It also felt like the show never really decided what Wednesday's relationship with her parents was, or how it got that way.
Yeah I think it’s weird how in Wednesday there’s dysfunction in the family. She didn’t want to go to her mum for advice? The joke is that Wednesday would ask her mum the most outrageous thing and they act like it’s normal (like asking her mum for gunpowder or knifes and her mum wouldn’t bat an eye)
I have no idea why they added that dynamic. It doesn't add anything of value to the characters or affect the plot.
@@justmeesh9148 doesnt even make sense. Morticia would never act like that
Not to mention her parents had NO chemistry. Their younger selves were so much more believable, and yet we’re supposed to believe these two worship each other??
Cause teens get rebellious lol
@@justmeesh9148 realism doesn't add anything? Really??
my main issue was that the show didnt feel like the addams family and instead felt like a show that they wanted to make but they wanted something to fall back on incase that it failed
it doesn’t feel like watching an addams family at all it feels like watching a goddamn disney show
Wednesday had more depth. When she says “The God of my people have spoken and have said do not trust the pilgrims. Especially Sarah Miller.” I felt it in my soul! The writing was so clever and so deep and unexpected it still holds up but it’s natural.
@@ama200 Literally!
It’s become politicized like every other fucking IP 😆
It’s almost like.. the show was called Wednesday because… it was made to be about Wednesday and not the Adam’s family… wow!!
I feel like the closest Wednesday got to understanding the Addams Family was the scene where she watches Legally Blonde as if it’s a horror film and loves it. It was the one part that didn’t feel soulless to me
It’s always the little moments like:
-Wednesday being delighted about being covered with blood while everyone else was horrified.
-Wednesday and Pugsley fishing with grenades.
Otherwise it didn’t feel like the Addams Family. Or even Tim Burton.
I think the message was less that 'she needs to be more normal' and more she needs to appreciate the people in her life that care for her, instead of taking advantage of them and disregarding their feelings. Imo
she is very normal is modern standards today though so it seems a bit like an ongoing issue as presenting her as weird.
Well...I liked the old version better
the problem is that in order for them to show her emotional growth, they made her do things completely out of character. she shouldn’t have to be expressive to show emotions/ gratitude, when her natural state is showing no emotions. she shouldn’t have to hug someone/ physically show her appreciation of them, when she has been established to hate physical affection. and she shouldn’t have to be weirdly forced into a romance despite showing no romantic interest in anyone (but that's a different conversation tbh)
it would have been a much more affective message to have her retain these traits of herself, while also having her see those who care for her as equals. her changing her traits to be more “normal” just shows the viewer that THAT was apart of the problem, when it wasn’t.
the problem should have gone both ways: wednesday learns to be friends with people out of genuine care rather than using them for personal gain, and everyone else learns to not try and force wednesday to act a certain way to please themselves.
(sorry for the long paragraphs)
@@lordlandcandlestick3010 but wouldn't teen Wednesday be somewhat different ? we've only ever seen her as a child . Her traits were still there .
@@ThatClassicGirlXO i am talking about teen wednesday/ the tv show wednesday specifically. i’m talking about how her “abnormal” traits in the beginning of the show change towards the end of it to appease her friends
Most people I have discussed the show with who actually like the show can't answer 1 simple question. "what actually did you like about the show?" because everyone is obsessed with the character not really the story or where the story is leading towards. Their answers are always "omg im in love with Wednesday" but that's it that's where it ends
The show is really only good for Jenna imo
I enjoyed the asthetics for the most part, but yeah, since this is a heavily character-motivated story there isn't much to enjoy outside of Wednesday and Ortega's performance. The story is basic, and it would have been cooler if they hadn't resolved everything by the end of the first season. The dialogue is pretty funny, and well-delivered. Thing was well-used. There aren't many things to focus on other than Wednesday because the show is taking that character (rather, the 90s reinvention of that character) and placing her in a atypical (but not entirely original) world to bounce off of, play off it, propel the events of it. The show ends with Wednesday because her presence is the most important element of it
is that not an element of the show?
So?
@@mustang8206 ikr!
i finished the series a couple days ago and the best way to describe it, is a fan-fiction meant for another character
Wednesday was for me just like a Monster High type of thing, I would see this plot in a Monster high movie( a kids-ish movie) but they just decided to just destroy the Addams Family with it
Both of the main writers wrote in monster high
@@PlasticSinks that explains a lot
@@_.giuliaa._77 Ikr
The moral isn't that she needs to care what people think, but that she'd be happier if she connected with the people who accept her for who she is. It goes out of its way to teach Wednesday that she is part of something bigger than herself and that she doesn't have to isolate. Nobody asks Wednesday to change, they just care about her and want her to acknowledge that she cares for them.
She would lose what makes her “Wednesday Addams” as a character. Wednesday is supposed to be perfect, manipulative, and always on top of things…
I get that it would be great to see her change, but her changing simply because plot demands it is painful to watch… she was clearly manipulated by Enid… I would’ve thought Wednesday could handle trifling emotions like that…
@@markalbarracin2011 i kinda disagree im sorry. Because the more u interact with other people the better u get to know urself. U can not fully know your full potential if u dont interact or have friends. I think Wednesday is more stronger than ever than she was before. Ik shes already strong even alone but i think we get to see her greater potential whilst interacting with other people
I like the messaging but I just think it was a little lost in delivery
@@CaulkMongler I don't even think it's a matter of messaging. She's the protagonist. If she doesn't grow and change the story will be stagnant. It is possible to have a never changing protagonist, but this isn't the genre for it. That's SpongeBob. And even he has arcs
As someone who has struggled to connect with people, I definitely relate with this interpretation. I think a central theme is reconciling your weirdness (and the guarded-ness that often comes with it) with a culture that increasingly accepts weirdness. Shawn's definitely on the right track with the bit about how this change reflects a change in our social norms. This really is a 21st century interpretation of the Addams family, and I actually think a true-to-the-source interpretation would fall flat these days. The 60s sitcom is very camp, and we love it for that. But camp doesn't play with the current target audience. The last thing we need is a goth Big Bang Theory.
I also don't think it ruins Wednesday as a character, as much as it grows her. All the other members of the family are just as oblivious to their oddity as always. But they seem to be confined to their own little world for the vast majority of the time. Yes, Gomez and Morticia went to the same school...30 years ago, but Wednesday is currently the only one interacting with the modern world. It's a culture shock and it changes people. And it's relatable to viewers who have ever felt out of step with the world around them, which is essentially everyone who would want to watch it in the first place.
I think I just struggle with the character of Wednesday as a whole, not just because it’s not very Addams like but also because she’s quite judgemental, and has a disdain for anything that’s different to what she deems as good or acceptable.
Like when she first meets Enid, she grimaces at the colour in her room, and refuses to hug her. She also says later on, “it looks like a rainbow vomited on your side of the room”.I feel like the original Wednesday Addams would’ve found the amount of colour weird, but wouldn’t be disgusted by it, or mean about it.I also don’t get why someone as outcasted, and unique as Wednesday is, wouldn’t be embracing of someone who’s equally strange and different like Enid.
The conception of her character also just seems a bit confused. Like she’s a typical teenage girl in the sense that she “hates” her mum, and is coming up against the usual teenage life experiences e.g. complicated love interests, starting a new school etc;But then she’s unimpressed, and cynical of everything around her, and can’t seem to let go and have fun-like a teenager would.
Wednesday also never seems to be happy Unless she’s doing something wildly morbid like grave digging. Even her own birthday she doesn’t enjoy,and instead of being appreciative of the surprise birthday party that was thrown for her (which makes her character seem ungrateful).She reminisces on a past birthday party, she only liked because got to hit a piñata filled with spiders-which is again wildly morbid.
Something about Wednesday only being able to enjoy things that are wildly morbid, makes the character feel forced and unrealistic.Sort of like a cliche, one note depiction of an Addams family member, rather than a fully fleshed out character.Her character would feel a lot more believable if she liked some regular teenage stuff, alongside the grotesque and strange things.
Exactly
I was so distracted by the neck beard 😭. Why does a puppet have a neck beard 💀
This put to words something I've been thinking about all week since I watched it. If Wednesday's values and morals line up with everyone else's than what is the point of her character? She obviously believes murder is wrong throughout the show so it makes her quips and edgy one-liners feel more like a teen trying to be quirky than a teen who has a fundamentally different sense of right and wrong.
And then at the end, it felt less so that she solved the mystery but that there was literally no one else left alive to accuse. She accused so many people, eventually she was gonna be right.
All that said, I really enjoyed the show while I was watching it and it had a nice charm to the acting and cinematography that I really appreciated.
This 100%
I agree! The storyline to me was a bit off
Absolutely agree
What confused me and just stuck the entire time was how in the very very beginning, it’s established that she WAS trying to straight up kill those people in the pool. (I.e. the “Attempted murder” thing) so why is she seen suddenly really against murder of any kind? Where did that come from? Especially through the whole Gomez story beat,, she was SO hung up on “oh no my OWN FATHER was a murderer” when she actively went out of her way to try to kill those guys in the first five minutes of the series.
I really did enjoy it, but it had a lot of loose ends, and just like he was saying, I don’t like how she just had a lot of things handed to her (along with the whole “visions are often wrong” being drilled into our head but hers aren’t??? She just interpreted them wrong.) And how did she just randomly accuse Laurel I still don’t know.
I watched the trailer and I wouldn’t watch the show. But I was still wondering what it was like. Ty
The thing that annoyed me the most was that Wednesday was rude to everyone for no reason and I could not for the life of me understand why anyone liked her. I liked her one liners, but in context they just made no sense. For example wgen she starts fencing against Bianca and just whips out the "queen bee" dialogue, without having met Bianca, let alone talked to her. I found it to be confusing, because if I walk up to a stranger and say: " I bet you think you're all that, but jokes on you I'm gonna rule this show now" that would just be confusing, weird and irritating to that person. I couldn't empathize with Wednesday, even though Ortega was really great in the role, because her behavior made no sense
I thought Wednesday said the queen bee dialogue because Bianca started it with the whole "let the psychopath in the school" line. Bianca hasnt met Wednesday either but was mean to her first coz of the rumors.
Wednesday Addams is not a warm, loving, Friendly character it’s not a damn shock that she wasn’t a nice character and most of the folks in the series started with her she just finished it you might need to watch a another series because you can’t be serious.
@@babygirla5717 you mad
Agree! I find it weird that Wednesday out of nowhere just said smth along the lines of 'someone who knit wont be able to handle me' towards the therapist when they only just met??
Also the way she is unnecessarily rude towards Enid when they first met simply because she is girly/cheerful doesn't sits right with me, bcs Wednesday might be blunt but she is not a bitter person like this...
No, she wasn't. She was Wednesday. Morbid, straight to point and honest. Wednesday is cynical in nature. Even in movies she was like that.
They wanted to make a Monster High show and had rights to the Addams Family.
So they just made a Monster High show with a Addams Family paint job over it.
🤣
Honestly, that sounds about right.
And because many girls are e-girls and obviously this show would get a lot of attention from those weirdos.
I found myself confused with Wednesday’s motivations in the first episode. We establish that she’s willing to throw piranhas in a pool of people, and she is hinted to have killed two people and that she does not care for anyone or anything. But then all of a sudden she gets visions of the kid dying in the woods and then wants to save him?? I thought she didn’t care about people. She was also in the middle of an escape that would have benefited her, and I feel like the real Wednesday would’ve gone with the escape and not cared. I get they were trying to redeem her character, but the point of her character is that she’s non-redeemable, and we like her for it. I also wondered why Wednesday even cared to find a monster or the mystery because it doesn’t seem like it would be something she would care about. I was more interested in the first episode story of trying to escape the school than the murder mystery. Also, the school itself just rubs me the wrong way. I don’t know why they decided to throw in werewolf kids and vampires and weird stuff like that. Also, I was confused with the parents for being upset with Wednesday for the piranha thing. I feel like they Adams would be proud of that. It felt like the parents were normal and Wednesday was a problem when the whole family has always been strange, And Wednesday’s conflict with her mom made no since. I just went on a rant, but the show kind of irritated me.
I interpreted it more as Wednesday wanting to solve the mystery herself. She is a character who enjoys being in control of all outcomes and being the one to decide when and how to inflict pain. If you notice, she cares more about the mystery than who gets killed. The only death she seems particularly disturbed by was thing, and he didn’t die. Lmao
Totally feel you, bro, it makes no fuckin sense in the wrong way, because whats lovable about the addams family is that they are the only ones that make no sense and they are ok with it. But in this case there is no logic at the very core of the character construction and at the conflict that is created for them. Total garbage of a show, like everything burton's touched for the last 20 years, he shouldnt be allowed to produce any more screen material no more.
Actually Wednesday was never that brutal in any of the original shows. In original series and comic she was freaking out people, but she never had any bad intentions to anyone. First time she was portraited as dark as you claim is in the 90s and in very specific modern interpretation of it.
I personally think the monster investigation story was weak too and especially the "super powers" of Wednesday. Including how she got tricked so easy to mistake the monster. From all variations of Wednesday during the existance of Addams there is only one factor that never changes, she is ultra smart. It is something in the comics, it was in the 60s movie, it was the same in cartoons and in the 90s interpretation too, why she needs super powers to figure out what happens when she is suppose to be the smartest person in the school.
@@juanmanuelmendozalopez8610don’t you think that’s a bit harsh? The avatar games are dumpster fire, but JC made avatar 2. That’s a win
She wanted to save him because he reminded her of pugsley are you ignorant
Biggest issue is the students being sometimes being dark vs being normal. I would expect the dance scene to be something they would enjoy, like them using axes in the boat scene. Wednesday always felt like an outsider in her own family tho.
Yea that’s another thing; this show has serious tone issues.
Dude I agree when I first heard of nevermore academy I thought it would be a space where Wednesday would fit right in. Like could you imagine Wednesday is talking about how she tried to kill some teens with piranhas and some kid in the background is like "Hey I did that too. We should friends, my name is X"
I haven't watched it, my issue is not everything needs reboots, remakes and redos. I love rewatching "The Addams Family" it was funny, eerie, whimsical, and warm. Too many times the remakes never achieve the same level of entertainment and it feels forced.
So what is wrong?
@@vim2339 for me the “The Addams Family Value” Mortia and Gomez is a masterpiece. In “Wednesday” show, they might look like the cartoon counterpart of The Addams but the chemistry they’re giving is not matching.
Not much doesn't seem forced these days. Kinda weird. I wonder what happened.
It was basically Harry Potter 😂
@@MarieParks18 That version of the Adams is a Reboot lol.
What a fantastic, level-headed review.
It criticizes what it needs to, praises what should be praised and contextualizes the issue.
There is a youtube's series called Adult Wednesday Addams which I think you would like to see, portrayed by Melissa Hunter. The episodes are really small, tend to have about 3 minutes each and show and adult version of Wednesday trying to live her life, get a job, buy some groceries.. But, for example, since she's an Addams and all, after a match on a dating app you'll see her during the first date when she's dry and disappointed saying "you don't look at all like the pictures you posted..." and the guy is sort of disgusted and reply "yeah, those pics were taken during halloween, did you really think I was like that?". Give it a try, the acting is really fun.
I just checked it out, and you're right, that's fantastic! What's especially interesting is how it finds so many targets for mockery in the 21st century world. If they're ever going to modernize the full Addams Family, I'd love it if it looked like this.
Thanks for the recommendation!
@@ShawnBRyanVideos The fact that you like that garbage goes to show a lot about your oppinion. Its absolute dogshit hahahaha
I love AWA! :)
@@ShawnBRyanVideos Looks like netflix and the ip owners cancelled her, and will do the same with good ideas. Hope someone sees the potential she had to keep good stuff coming.
The way she handles the cat callers is my favorite
Wed and pugs are equally sadistic yet cute. They are supposed to be funny or “kooky”. I think Jenna carried the whole damn show. But they are very family oriented and Wednesday is ideally just supposed to be unordinary. Not cruel. They are horror/comedy not gore.
Precisely. It sounds like this show took the aesthetic of the Addams and made the priority while not really getting the actual writing part of the characters. Or at least shouldn't have been tied to Addams Family at all and just be its own thing
My issue is that they could’ve called this series anything. It didn’t have to be “ the Addams Family” or Wednesday show. This girl could’ve been her own character with her own story.
I agree. It didn't help that for some reason her school was full of inhuman kids whilst she isn't one, she could have been an energy vampire or something?
Technically it was😊
I do agree, her element doesn't fully suit her character though that doesn't mean its bad
Technically speaking ppl would of easily point out there some what of a rip off from a character like Wednesday Addams in an alternative timeline of that so. Let alone the hand
But IT IS her show
Thank you for this. I personally am so upset with this show...and it's not a bad show at all! It just strayed so far from what Addams Family is all about. The movies, Musical and tv show have literally been my comfort watches for so long because they are hilarious and make me happy. This show had so much potential but ultimately was just so souless and depressing...not the kind of thing I want from Addams Family. Whoever said this should have been a show separate of TAF universe, I completely agree. It's not bad, it's just not Addams Family. Felt more like a really violent version of Monster High.
Yeah it’s a good show they should’ve just not used the adams family
the musical also kinda whack but yk
@Rat Person yeah lmao but I like it
What I’d love to see is a version of Wednesday not unlike the sitcom, for the most part she’s a regular kid who does typical kid stuff but would also just casually crank the dial up to 11 with a second’s notice whilst remaining innocent & childish.
Ha! Yeah, in some ways it's almost funnier to see a normal kid acting weird occasionally than it is to see a character who's always weird all of the time.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos Make her nearly(emphasis on nearly) indistinguishable from the other kids at first & even let the audience doubt whether they’re watching the right show until she just casually says something devastating & then you’ll know; That’s Wednesday alright!
THIS
Most people now thinks of the Addams as the 90s versions. Most with Wednesday being dry, witty and having violent tenancies.
I miss the sitcom version. Kind, caring but kooky. They all were. Yes, people got scared off but that was the charm to it.
How I would have pictured her as a teen would be, still be somewhat kind and look out for people but act against people who are put off and outright mean to her or her family. The beginning bit with the piranhas was believable for me.
Say when she's sharing the room for the first time. Have her offer like a dead plant or something to go on the other side to show appreciation for being her roommate or something.
I was also expecting her to contact Morticia through the glass ball but that was never used. Forgot they even gave it to her honestly because of that 'all teenagers have a rebellious phase' thing. The family were always close and despite everything was always very healthy with each other. Sure, there were nicks in that like with Pugsly joining boy scouts but as well they were concerned for him being like everyone else.
When Wednesday said about the time she cried, I could get that. But remember she also cried in the sitcom cause of a book where the Knight killed a dragon when she went to school for the first time and her family complained about it.
But point stands, I wish they used more of the sitcom version instead of going very into the 90s version or heaven forbid the new animated one.
My personal opinion of Tim burton is that he likes to make out that he’s the patron saint of weirdos, but that doesn’t usually go more than skin deep. His comments on black people show this.
Also, when adapting material, he often fundamentally misunderstands its core and gives us a lesser version but with cool visuals. Eg his take on Alice in wonderland shoes that he simply doesn’t understand what makes the original so good. Like the Addams family, Alice isn’t supposed to be particularly emotional or have relatable characters. It’s a surreal, trippy, and absurd work that uses nonsensical humour to satirise and completely overturn the conventions of Victorian society. And that’s what makes it so amazing. Like with Wednesday, burton tried to give Alice some emotional depth by making it a more straightforward logically-based story. But you can’t do that without completely undermining the very premise of the work. For all his airs of being weird, he actually sees things in a very straight way
this
Exactly. I keep thinking about the fact that i really just didn't want a "deep" version of Addams Family... all the weird emotional stuff in this ended up just making it really depressing and hard to watch.
god yeah this is such a good comment- tim burton really likes to try to paste new narratives over the stories he adapts without really considering either why the source material worked or why the narrative he wants to portray does. i also think he rides on his aesthetic coattails a little too much. i also didn't like the corpse bride, though, so maybe i'm a bad goth.
👀He wrecked/ruined/destroyed Alice in Wonderland❗👎🏽
I agree 100% with you and was going the same the same thing. However, I don’t think Lewis carol’s intention with Alice was only to challenge the Victorian society. He wanted to explain through an allegorical story the journey and purpose of human consciousness. The fall of Alice through the rabbit hole is identical to the gnostic myth of Sophia. Maybe he also wanted to question Victorian conventions, rationality and normality but the absurd jokes and characters weren’t there for their own sake, they have a meaning
The "thing" is, it's not about the family. It's about Wednesday and how she doesn't fit in anywhere. She is still that same loving character and its seen throughout the show at how she cares, especially about Eugene, Enid, Thing and even the whole school because she was willing to die to save it. But she's also a teenager going through all the normal teenage angst. I loved the show as I have since childhood.
Literally what i was thinking
Eugene is a typical corny character
@@shadow_hillsgrandma8224 ok?
Thank you
@@shadow_hillsgrandma8224 but one special enough that Wednesday kept going to the hospital to see him and talk to him. She was also worried about him when he went off alone. She cared because he was her friend. He's the Xander to her Buffy like Enid is her Willow...or in Enids case Oz.
I can’t believe that I’m literally watching a puppet talk to me about the Addams family
This was the smartest review I’ve watched recently. You are sooo right! It pains me to agree with you because I wanted to love this show as I do love Jenna Ortega. But I found myself grabbing for my phone as I watched the show.. it didn’t keep my attention because of the lack of that genius, mystery, endearing naïveté that the original show had.
Thanks for your very nice comment! If nothing else, I think Jenna Ortega did an amazing job in this (very difficult) role. Hopefully a second season might come up with a story that showcases her performance a little better.
And I hope Tim Burton write a screenplay and the story for season 2
The story was good. What do yall want? Write your own fan fiction not everything is for you
that last part is your opinion, many would disagree and say it did have all those things.
@@luanaastralis9991 I’m sincerely happy for you that you enjoyed it. As I said I really wanted to love it. I might try it again- it just didn’t engage me the way I thought it would. I might try it again. Is there something about it that you think I should be more aware of? Something that you loved about it?
personally i feel like the new wednesday series works pretty well by itself and works well along with the 90s movies even though the "i hate my parents" plot did throw me off. but comparing it to the original comics and the 1960s show i can see how the new series doesn't work.
She does not really hate her parents tho, they just going through a spot in life which Children and Parents tend to do.
We have Netflix Archie series which totally nothing like the comic... And it's not safe for kids to watch 😂
She doesn’t hate them, she hates affection. That’s very different. She doesn’t want to go to a different school and follow in their footsteps. She explains that her parents understand her and made her bdays memorable which shows an appreciation for them. She’s dealing with specific situations that she doesn’t enjoy surrounding her parents (going to their same school)
But I feel like that's exactly why it works. The Adams family expresses love for each other In morbid ways. Wednesday taking revenge on kids For bullying her brother is exactly what she would do, Despite telling him she hates him
how different is it?
Oh gosh. I feel so spooky when all i see is good review and anyone who dare to disappoint all get brutally attack even tho its just "opinion".
The promo is everywhere. All youtubers say only good things about it all over the world.
The promo budget must exceed the production one.
As someone who really enjoy adam family watch it so many time thru the year. I felt the same.
They are just disagreeing with what he says without being rude. I haven’t seen any “attacks” so far.
@@m7iniklol97 because you haven't said anything counter culture.
Something that makes Wednesday stand out, when played by both Lisa Loring and Christina Ricci, is that she is essentially a wide-eyed innocent girl with a few disturbing or sociopathic tendencies… That’s why the adults around her (other than her parents who encourage her behavior) never know if she’s a good little girl, or a bad one; but they’re willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, because she seems so innocent.
Although Jenna Ortega is only twenty years old, and is a very cute/pretty actress… She has a sort of “jadedness” that goes against what makes the character so mysterious. Namely, her ability to seem normal, happy, optimistic and well-adjusted, most of the time; and like a “little demon” the rest of the time. Therefore, when Lisa Loring threatens to guillotine her Marie Antoinette doll; or Christina Ricci tries to electrocute her brother, Pugsly, it has a unique impact because you don’t exactly know if Wednesday is the kind of child/person you can trust. If she’s angsty, annoyed, and depressing all the time… It sort of takes the innocence out of her. Like, you never suspect she’s just a kid who “doesn’t know what they’re doing” or “doesn’t understand the difference between right from wrong,” because she has weird parents, or is probably a child sociopath… So instead all you’re left with is a quirky kid, who does quirky things, and likes quirky things, for quirkinesses sake. Like a Goth kid who doesn’t understand The Gothic Movement in Art, Gothic poetry, or where their aesthetic comes from (Ironically, Christianity and more specifically, Catholicism.) That takes the character from being a possible sociopath, but with innocent and playful motives; to someone who is bitter and vengeful, but without the obvious playful innocence that defined the character.
(More importantly, this version of Wednesday seems ridiculously intent on constantly **asserting** what a dark/quirky misfit she is, rather than the quirkyness/darkness just coming out, naturally, as a part of her personality. What I liked about both Lisa’s and Christina’s renditions, is that they understood Wednesday’s intelligence and precociousness, but also that she’s essentially an insane airhead; and it’s that contrast between being evil and adorable that makes the character likable. Even the newest CGI cartoon version of the Addams Family understood that about the character, and portrayed her well, by making her essentially a normal kid with some abnormal interests. I even liked when they flipped it around, for example, showing Wednesday “rebelling” against her parents by liking unicorns and the color pink.)
I feel like the opening credits to the 60’s TV series, where Wednesday, Grandma, and Uncle Fester are just staring into space like soldiers with PTSD, seemed sort of “out of character” in that older series… But at the same time, that’s who Wednesday is: a normal kid, but with a few screws loose, which make her cluelessly sociopathic. That’s why the character can’t (and doesn’t) work as a “feminist icon”, “powerful woman,” or “girl boss” because you can’t romanticize the character, in that way, without also romanticizing anti-social and even murderous tendencies. Wednesday is an anti-hero, not a hero. She’s an indifferent antagonist, technically a lovable nut job, not Nancy Drew.
I think there’s also something feminist about having a female character who gets to be a lovable nut job in the way a male character normally would, but I think once the feminist angle gets extended beyond that it just becomes clunky and preachy
I don’t normally comment but this review was good and instead of just repeating what everyone keeps saying about how good the acting was and how they didn’t really include the family much you delved deep into the reasons why it didn’t quite work for you. And most of all I LOVE that you did not go for the “it’s a bad show period” approach some other TH-camrs take.
The show is called Wednesday not The Addams Family
he did said that tho
I’d imagine if there is more season the family may play a bigger role
he did it was a bad show, and he clarified that IT IS
It’s a bad show. Periodt.
As I watched the first episode I realized by the end of the episode I felt like I forget it was about a character from adams family.
They could have just called this "nevermore academy " and created a whole new character
They would but they want to draw in Addams family fans
To me, the thing about putting Wednesday in a school full of outcasts didn't make her look normal. It actually makes her look weirder since she was an outcast even among outcasts. And the thing about the lesson in the end, after watching the show I understood it more like her learning to form good relationships rather than her learning to be normal. Those two ideas can overlap in some aspects so I get where you're coming from.
The problem with reversing the roles where Wednesday is the normal one while the world around her is Weird is you HAVE TO HAVE HER REACT TO THE WIERDNESS AROUND HER, but in the show, she doesn't. Take Men In Black for example, the 1st movie worked because Jay was reacting comedically to his new surrounding while the 2nd and 3rd movie, he was so accustomed to the alien world that everything just felt bland and repetative. Imagine what would happen if you get a snarky mean girl and place her with other snarky mean girls? The same would be true when you put a weird girl in a weird school.........NOTHING!
🐸☕Exactly it would be like the movie 🎬Mean Girls but Cady would be just one of the Mean Girls instead of sabotaging them from within.. She would just be one of "The Plastics"❗👎🏽
great point
The 90’s movie where Uncle Fester gets married nailed it. But you have more characters instead of focusing it all on one so it worked better. Otherwise they can’t be the status archetype. It’s also harder to make it work for several episodes as opposed to a movie. This is why movies are just qualitatively better than shows usually.
@@Tania-rg7jp Wrong. You can have only 1 character in a movie such ast Castaway or The Martian and yet it becomes compelling to watch because of how they react to a situation or environment that is alien to them and the same goes when we watch movies Alive, Hang Over or Ocean's Eleven where we see a group of people navigate their way in unfamiliar situations that we relate to as the audience. Imagine dropping Bear Grylls in a dessert island your not going to be engaged as much since you know he will survive where as if you drop Paris Hilton in a desert island, you will be curious what she will do to survive. NOW imagine that desert island as a Weird school for monsters and you drop a Weird girl(Bear Grylls) in that school, would you care what happens to her?
MIB3 is nice though.
I had reservations about watching this but you've actually given me a few points to ponder. I found the series to be alright, wished Wednesday was a little darker and more generous with those biting macabre one liners. I honestly think they should have had more episodes. The resolutions came too fast. Wednesday did lose a little of her uniqueness being in a school full of the supernatural... instead of the supernatural being just the norm only in her extended family. It was worth the watch. I'm definitely not the target audience but there were some really good scenes.
I totally agree about wishing the show had more episodes. It felt like they had enough plotlines to spend at least twice as much time with these characters and this world.
I'm really hoping the next season will double down on what worked and maybe lose some of the less interesting elements (kind of like Umbrella Academy did).
I think this was my opinion too.. this was made for the teens of today and we're just old I think. No shady one liners or just dark in general and throw dua lipa playing at one point and I was like oh.. ok.
I did feel like it was rushed and not satisfying at all which was odd to me as each ep is 50 min long and the show has 8 ep. Then I remembered how they dragged out so much of the main plot with basically no progress until the last ep and what points they brought in random plot lines like the boat race. The pacing is so bad
@@PlasticSinks Yeah, I feel like pacing is one of those elements of storytelling that very few makers of streaming shows have really mastered.
You're just a curmudgeon !
Just kidding, I just love that word. I need to get a t-shirt with it on it to wear when I go up to the VA Hospital.
curmudgeon
curmudgeon
curmudgeon
Yeah, giving an Addams Family show the same moral that made me hate Grease was a bold decision. And I feel like they made Wednesday into an essence of a Mary Sue. She's impulsive and stupid throughout the entire series, but they play it like she's done brilliant detective and anyone who she wrongs simply forgives her with no effort on her part
This is my first time viewing your channel, and I appreciate your professionalism. Actually, people who are gothic, alternative, or metal are still treated rudely. I'm an adult now, and people still tell me I have RBF, and they assume you're evil or think you need to dress a certain way. I'm still followed by cops in the store when I shop, and I've been harassed when I dress full-blown goth in person. So you can still do "A Family with an Addams Family Style" and it would hit the mark. She was still perceived as the odd one out at school. It seemed odd to me that they kept bringing up the fact that she's a snarky goth girl; if they were truly a school of kids like her, then all of the students should have been in a subculture. I'm not saying they have to be as spooky as The Addams Family, but I was hoping for an updated version of the humor from the 1960s version, which is also my favorite version aside from the comics.
My school is actually doing a play on that Addams Family musical and even I was appalled! Wednesday falling in love is just so out of mind for me, and after seeing the original movies, it doesn’t follow the same ring. Wednesday wouldn’t beg to be normal, she wouldn’t care.
Woww he absolutely nailed that analysis. I couldn’t quite put my finger on all the things that bothered me about the Netflix series, but he outlined everything perfectly, and brought it to light with perfect examples and facts ! 🙌🏾
A week ago I actually actively searched for negative reviews for Wednesday because I have the same opinion as you and I thought this show slaughtered everything that The Addams were. I'm actually glad I found someone on the internet that sees the problem with this show because up to a point I started thinking that I am the odd one because I don't like what they've done to The Addams
Thank you! Finally someone who really understands the Addams Family
Yeah but the show was about Wednesday, not the family
acting good, plot meh, and too much gen-z pandering is basically what happened with the show.
the fact that the show is lecturing the audience that wednesday is "toxic" plainly shows that the writers totally disregarded or outright missed the satire that is each member of the addams family, and in this case, wednesday in particular. it's like taking the simpsons characters out of the context of humor and complaining that moe is "toxic".
i was ready to skip this review because i saw others that bashed on the show for no real good reason, just to not be part of all the people who love the show (myself included)
i am glad i let my curiosity made me watch the review, as you actually understand the appeal of the Addams and what made them loved by so many for so long.
still love the show deeply, i respect your opinion, but i agree that they need to improve some part to make the show better and evolve to become event bigger and better.
About a year ago i watched the Addams family even tho I’ve known about them for awhile it was finally on Netflix so i thought I’d give it a watch and i enjoyed it so much because of the dark elements mixed in with humor. I watched the Addams family values weeks ago and again it’s that humor in the movies that gets to me. What I love about the Character Wednesday is how she is surrounded by normal people who find her weird and she doesn’t care. With the Wednesday Netflix show I was excited to see to Jenna play her and what the show would be about but i got so bored with how the plot just kept dragging and how it felt very cliche. I loved Jenna’s Wednesday but the school she was in didn’t bring out what was weird about her because she was surrounded by other weird people. Addams Family Values when they go to the summer camp with all the rich white blonde kids and Wednesday and poc or nerdy kids were the outcast However Wednesday never changed to fit in which is what I love about her. The whole Pocahontas play was a beautiful display of the underdogs fighting back. I understand that this show revolved around Wednesday but i feel it would have been better if she wasn’t in school with teens with abilities Aswell.
I also noticed that the "a monster murders the citizens in a small town" "main character solves murder case" and "well.... classic bad cgi boring monster" is kinda all the plot had to offer. Though I REALLY lived for Wednesday and her attitude, I really had fun watching and didn't focus so much on the plot. And that's the main point for me to stream a series, I have to be entertained while watching. I admit Wednesday carried the show alomst entirely alone but she did a good job at it so it's okay. And once again I love her kind of character so she immediately got a plus from me.
On a side note I haven't watched any other Addam's content so I can't judge about their history and stuff but maybe I will watch the other stuff when it's on Netflix.
I highly recommend the original show and the 90s movies.
I absolutely agree. Wednesday and her attitude were fun, and the moments where the show focused on that were some of the best. I'd have give the show a glowing review it it had just focused on Wednesday and her classmates.
I really wonder why the show felt like it needed a monster mystery anyway. It's probably the show's weakest element, and takes up half the runtime.
In terms of the other Addams Family content, I'll add that several episodes of the original series are available free, legally on TH-cam. If you want a good starter, "The Addams Family Goes to School" is a pretty fun introduction.
@@ShawnBRyanVideos Thank you!
The original series is available for free on TH-cam.
As someone who enjoyed the show, I do hate the fact that it is uncharacteristic for Wednesday and her parents to not get along.
Parents and children have bumps in the road growing up t, this is not unusual.
@@weneedcriticalthinkingAnd that’s the problem. The Addams are not supposed to be like other families.
@@shayla106oh boy they sure are not like other families tho. This that happened in season one makes for a story arc that probably give satisfaction in next season do you know what I mean?
I'd like the show to be a series of vignetttes of Wednesday believing she was going to be the outcast again, but realizing she's the normal one, but overarching narratives and teenage drama take precedent, I guess
That would be interesting! I'm a huge fan of episodic television anyway, so that would be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Netflix loves their season-long stories...
@@ShawnBRyanVideos And overestreched, of course
Yes. It's a show about...teenagers. watch the other ones if you don't like that ffs
@@whatever3145 Wow. Seems I came out condescending af. Sorry about that. I actually like Buffy, Smallville, Skins, Euphoria, I even enjoy Riverdale… to a point (all of them with good and bad moments regarding teenage drama). I meant the teenage drama, imho, dragged Wednesday. Not because teenage drama is inherently bad, but because it’s been poorly handled here. Anyway, I just watched Shawn’s video about giving the show a second chance, and I’m inclined to do just that
Watch Adult Wednesday. It's everything you wanted.
I don’t think Tim Burton understands any of the things he adapts
Love all the backstory you provided. I don't know if it was the animated movie that started it, but it seems like that version of Wednesday has kind of caught on with some girls in the past few years. I don't have any real reason to back this up, but I am wondering if this show owes much of its existence to the whole Netflix Sabrina "reimagining" thing.
Thanks! It's interesting that the character of Wednesday has found such mainstream success. It kind of reinforces the idea that, if the Addams Family were real, they'd probably be accepted by today's society without too much bother.
Just another case of the Entertainment Industry destroying a beloved Franchise, as is their current mission in life. They hate anything Nerdy or Geekish and strive to destroy it.
I’ve been a fan of all of the different Addams Family interpretations, and I loved Wednesday.
That's awesome! If Wednesday gets a second season, I hope I'll come around on it. There are some really interesting concepts that could be really fun to explore.
Wednesday is an angsty teenager. Even loving families go through their angsty stages- as someone who’s lived through with my own kids and now with my grandkids currently can attest.
The part that doesn’t work for me is Catherine Zeta-Jones’ portrayal of Morticia- Lucius Hoyos as Gomez is quite good, though there is little chemistry between him and Zeta-Jones. But I can chalk that up to how the rebellious Wednesday is seeing them and the last thing a teenager wants is seeing her parents all over each other.
I really like the series so far.
As for “destroy” - any of the old cartoons and further iterations are still available for perusal by anyone who doesn’t care for the new. And I submit that this accusation is hurled at EVERY new iteration of ANY beloved work. I remember when people were accusing “Under the Dome” the series had “destroyed “ the original and Steve King said something along the lines of “No it hasn’t. The book is still there and can be read any time!”
In other words I’m in disagreement with your premise. Your review- well, it has its merits.
Me too
@@ShawnBRyanVideos it was nice as a separate show but when u put it with everything else it makes no sense, the cgi wasn’t great either
I agree with Natural Wtchcraft. And I can practically quote episodes from the series from the ‘60’s. Sure I noticed Wednesday and her parents aren’t speaking, I credited that to being a teenager. Even Morticia mentioned it. Her family still adores her. Like most rebellious teens, she’s going through a phase.
Finally! A review with common sense. Everybody has been applauding Wednesday as the greatest cinematic masterpiece 😒. That's the problem with today's writers: they don't understand!
Studios are hiring the least talented absolute lowest bidder to handle old IPs
Mmmmmmmmm the show is amazing
@@vim2339 exactly
@@vim2339 mmmmmmmmmm tell it the person that made this video.
@@vim2339 it’s ok nothing special. It felt like another cw show with slightly better acting.
@@AC-cb8we why you
Lying a cw show ???
Here is the thing, The Addams love each other alot, and are into weird stuff. Pugsley in the 60s is the more delinquent one of the children and swings from chubby evil doer to curious about the most common people interest. So Pugsley is the best suited for a plot of normal vs weird comming of age story. Wednesday could be the most balance one if they returned her to be the youngest of the two children. The Children could have a self realization arc something their parents doesn't and will never get. The Addams are a clan of socially good hearted bimbos, incredibly rich that wants to do good and share their interest. You could make The rest of The Addams extended family a bunch of contracultural snobs so the main family is in the middle: too willing to share with people with different walks of life and with strange hobbys for the average joe.
It also seems to me that in the 60s tv series with how they were so genuine and accepting of others and their community while others were so fearful and judgmental of them simply because they are odd implies that in order to be a good person you need to be a “freak” because acceptable society is not made up of good people.
i just finished binge watching this serie's and i had some fun with it but it did indeed have some weird moment where i was like, she would never do this because adams family but now the writers are trying to normallize the adams family while making the rest of the world look weird and insane
I think we should stop dancing around the point that they turned the Addams family into a shitty CW teen drama.
I personally didn't know the addams family before watching wednesday. I agree that they failed with the family, at first I thought she had a terrible childhood since they named their daughter after the day of woe/suffering... However I think she herself makes sense. Jenna her facial expressions are great and she did well to make her a strong and badass girl who doesn't care about the society's standards/ acts by her own moral compass. She makes it hard for anyone to see through her unshown emotions, but still cares for her friends and protects them. The final lesson learnt for her is also that she has to watchout for other peoples feelings and be less egoistic, like how the hand wants respect, xavier wanted to be trusted/not deemed as the monster without good reason and bee boy should not have been left alone on the dance evening.
The mystery school is kinda cool, you get thrown into this world without knowing whether smartphones or werewolves are normal and only learn about the actual setting through conversations. I hope they keep it up for season 2 and focus less on the family and more on what other kind of people are on the school/ the school history, since she is also connected to it through her ancestor, somehow.
Well her vision power, I wish the show would be more of a good written crime series, since the visions were said to be not trustable but have been correct at all times anyway, like the fact that her vision with tyler being the hyde might have been wrong and she was actually just going insane. I mean the plot was obvious but it was still a possibility that she was just insane :P
I completely agree about Jenna Ortega. She did a great job with a really difficult part. Even though I didn't enjoy the show, I hope the show gets a second season because I'd love to see more of her in this role.
Yeah, I did simplify the moral a bit in my summary. I agree that, based on her actions over the course of the season, Wednesday needed to acknowledge her shortcomings and her mistakes. But I can't help feel that it was such a strange moral, to make the weird oddball be the character who had to change herself.
In terms of the monster mystery, I just wish that Wednesday had done more detective work and gotten fewer clues from visions. I liked the scene where she snuck into the morgue, and I love the image of her standing in front of a bulletin board, filled with clues. If she'd cracked the case with her intelligence and investigative abilities, I think I would have enjoyed the show a lot more. (I also would have liked it if Wednesday's roommate had been more involved, almost like Sherlock Wednesday's version of Watson.)
Even though I like Jenna ortega as Wednesday, I don't like how the writers written wednesday. They written wednesday as a rebellious edgy teenager who has conflict with her parents. Even though the addams family are caring and compassionate in the original roots
That is my problem with the addams family now
It's funny to me how much I both agree and disagree with you.
I totally and completely agree that no one on staff understands the Addams Family. They don't understand the heart of the Addamses is that they are not "outcasts," and that by making them label themselves as such, they destroy the inclusivity the Addams Family created by treating everyone the same and expecting the same in turn to an acceptance of differences, and that this is the way the world should be. They understand Wednesday as reinterpreted in the '90s. But the understand no one else.
The worst was Gomez. I will admit, I never like Guzman's look, but I still watch the show hoping for Gomez's charm and joie de vie. His energy and excitement that John Astin created, and Raul Julia also brilliantly executed. Guzman is a flaccid milquetoast. I have no idea why he was cast other than the fact he was Hispanic, because he clearly does not get the character. Watching Gomez has always made me happy because he's happy. And it would also make a great foil for the '90s-style Wednesday they were serving because it's an extreme extrovert versus an extreme introvert. This Gomez made me sad and disappointed, and offered no contrast or complications for Wednesday.
Catherine Zeta Jones was meh as Morticia. I don't know if it's her fault or a combination of the fact that she was paired with Guzman as her main acting partner, or if it's because the writers fundamentally misunderstand not just the Addamses, but other things like the legal process, and so she sounds dumb when they get into the whole Gomez killed someone issue.
Pugsley and Fester don't get enough time for me to really have an opinion. Thing was a Thingie as ever. And I did like that he seemed to be using actual sign language at times (I don't know sign language, but I think that would be a good thing for expanding his ability to communicate).
I'd argue that Wednesday's one line in the '90s film has nothing to do with admitting difference. The Addamses are fine with always being dressed for a party. They would probably agree that they favor funeral attire not because they're different, but because it's good, it's cheerful, etc.
Anyway, to go back to the problem of Wednesday, the biggest problem is that Wednesday is not put with a community of like-minded people. But she is. But she isn't. Contrast the boat race, where the Sirens get help from one of their kind, and the purple hooded guys build a decapitating series of axes they can use against other students. It's very Addams Family. They're not cheating, and decapitation is just a hazard of their world that some might even enjoy. Now contrast that with the rain of "blood" at their dance. Kids who were part of the Addams's world would have kept dancing, for example. A rain of blood is nothing to them. More than that, it's fun. Or Bianca being upset with Wednesday torturing a suspect. She shouldn't have even blinked. Not because he was supposedly a "normie" which I hate, so I'm going to use townie from now on, but because this is normal and perfectly acceptable behavior in their world. If it isn't, Wednesday actually is a psychopath and doesn't belong at any school. Wednesday should fit in here, with introversion being the main thing keeping her from wider participation. But the show doesn't let her fit in.
And that is why I'm okay with the friendship arc they tried to do with Wednesday and Enid, though I think it would have been more interesting if the main friendship pairing were Wednesday and Bianca because their relationship based on mutual respect and talent is more interesting than an extrovert forcing an introvert to be her friend. Her friendship arc with Eugene was also more interesting because she felt bad for failing at something, and that did give her an emotional tie to him to begin the friendship. Wednesday should be making friends. The show just kind of sucks in the set up for it by making her not fit at school that's supposed to be for her, rather than treating her like an introvert in that world who just needs to be a little bit more social. Because in a show about her, Wednesday is going to need somewhere to grow. The 1960s show even did an episode of her trying to be more mature like her mother as an attempt at growth.
Speaking of which, I'm not into the Morticia vs. Wednesday plot. Wednesday is more prudish toward her mother than the 1960s TV censors, which was never part of her character, and makes no sense where she picked it up. She also seems to be afraid Morticia is trying to make a mini-version of her, but we see none of that. Morticia has always been a loving and supportive mother who accepted her children even when they did weird things like want to be boy scouts. It's very odd that she'd try to force anything on Wednesday, or that Wednesday would worry about that. Though the perfect Morticia that's presented to us at the school doesn't match the Morticia Frump that was displayed on the TV show before she fell for Gomez: Withdrawn and shy, who blossoms when given love. It's a very odd contrast and makes the conflict feel wrong.
Let's see, I think the only thing left to cover is the law. I don't know WTF was going on with Gomez was a murderer, but got away with it plot line. I don't understand why he didn't stand trial the first time. It was pretty darn clear, and while I suspected he was actually a distraction for Tish, I didn't see the issue. Arrest him. Try him. Have him plead self-defense. He gets off because it was self-defense. And he gets to be disappointed about not getting to honeymoon with Tish in jail, or some such story. Arresting him at a later date doesn't change the self defense as a valid defense matter. Or you could put Tish in jail and do the same thing.
And that's not the only place where the writers don't seem to understand how the legal system works, and it makes for bad writing. Though that's not an Addams issue, that's an overall writing issue. They're great a quippy dialogue, they're bad at plot.
Mmm... and that's just about everything other than being mildly disgusted at the Addams's stealing (Thing and Fester) when they're Elon Musk wealthy with billions to burn and never had issue paying for things before that I recall. Remember, they wanted to pay more taxes, not less.
Anyway, I'll leave off. I thought Jenna Ortega was phenomenal as Wednesday. And pretty much everything else around her was either bland or sucked. But she's impossible not to watch.
as far as the law goes, i wrote that off to being the adams' being an affluent family paid people off before it even went to trial. Just like they did for Wednesday when she threw the pirranahs in the pool
@@pcguru3096 I would have been okay with that to some degree, except that it shouldn't be coming back and Gomez being re-arrested.
Also they have piles of money, and enjoy being in jail, so fighting the legal battle would have been more in character. Also, actual murder is waaaaay harder to rug sweep than a personal injury of a nonvital component (it was only one testicle, so he can even still have kids). Especially when the town is inclined to be against you, and would turn on the cops if they just let you go. And especially when you have such a clear case of self defense.
I was also a little bit upset that they didn't tell Wednesday this. It was "you're moving schools so they don't press charges" not "We had to pay them $xx million dollars so they wouldn't press charges, and we're moving schools to protect you."
And them just being so stupid about it calling it murder. And then they let Gomez go despite the fact that it was still him who appeared to have killed the kid. Yes, he was poisoned. But he seems to have died from a stab wound and a fall. The fact that he was poisoned beforehand, they never actually proved it had any baring on anything. It was like the writers thought they were being clever, but that's not how things work. Like, at all.
So I would have been willing to let the Wednesday thing slide as money. But the writers just kept being dumb about law.
@@jenniferhanses7064 it seems like you wanted the show to go in the direction of CSI: Nevermore when Gomez getting arrested was a B plot that tied into the A plot. Any further delving into the specifics of Gomez being arrested and sent to trial would have taken away from the story they were trying to tell. We were given enough plausible information to explain why this was swept under the rug. Neither Nevermore, nor the Gates family wanted what happened to go public so they settled things out of court. also the mayor who was sherif at the time paid off the coroner to falsify the autopsy
Wow, thanks so much for your comment! I think you make a lot of really good points!
In terms of Gomez, I feel like Guzman wasn't given very much to work with. There are moments where he plays Gomez as a clueless dad who's pushed around a bit by his wife, which... I guess is an interesting take. But most of the time, he's saddled with a decades-old mystery that's not the best showcase for him.
I feel like Morticia had the same issue. Any time Catherine Zeta-Jones would try to define her character, they'd force her to play out this plotline from her past that, whether or not it passes legal muster, was just kind of dull.
I totally agree about the show not being able to decide on how strange Nevermore Academy should be. On the one hand, they flinch at stuff like the red paint raining down on them. On the other hand... there literal werewolves walking around!
I also share your opinion about wishing Bianca and Wednesday would have been paired up more. The fact that they wait until episode 5 to flesh out Bianca's backstory is one of the show's biggest missteps.
And yeah, the legal and logical issues with the the Gomez/Morticia murder mystery are pretty big. And aside from everything else, the whole plot was just unnecessary. It's so easy to imagine the exact same season-long plot without tying it into Wednesday's parents. Then you'd also get more time to spend with Wednesday's schoolmates.
One last point of agreement: You're absolutely right, Jenny Ortega was fantastic.
@@pcguru3096 Actually, I would have preferred they scrapped the plot with Gomez and Morticia if they couldn't write it properly. It did nothing for any of the characters.
And you can't settle murder out of court. You can settle the civil suit for damages out of court, but the government takes an explicit interest when you kill someone and cannot be called off.
I really appreciated how you gave backstory to this! I watched Wednesday without ever watching the original Addams family shows, but always understood who she was as a character and felt there was something off with the Netflix version, so this really gave me perspective. Amazing review! New subscriber :)
One thing that doesn't make sense is a person thats obssessed with serial killer and doing devious things would try to figure out and stop one???wouldn't she like that and probably be even more into the person behind it
exactly. I think the reason earlier version of Addams Family have worked is because they are meant to be seeing the world exactly opposite of how an average person would, and they say a lot of really immoral and evil and crazy things, but it's funny because it's not meant to be deep. Addams Family kinda stops working when you try to get into the character's thoughts, because then their views get a little too real and are wayyy too problematic to be portrayed, and it's not funny anymore.
Fr 😂😂 and for someone who takes pride in her work, all she ever did in the show was fail and lose 😂😂
This is exactly what I said about the show! She literally tried to kill her classmates with piranhas in the first 5 minutes of the film. There’s a part where her parents tell her that they don’t want her to get an attempted murder charge on her record and she responds with “That would be terrible. I’d be a failure. Everyone would know I didn’t get the job done.” And there’s even a part where she openly admits to a rumor that she killed two kids at her previous school and took pride in it. They literally dig up and defile someone’s grave in the show and Wednesday and Morticia treat it like a bonding experience. With all of this combined, and mixed with previous Adams Family adaptations, it just doesn’t make sense that she would care about stopping a serial killer. I could see her being a “fan” but not having the desire to stop them. It’s very contradictory to her character and that is what took me out of the show.
I just thought she’s violent with a somewhat working moral compass, fair game to those who’s offended her and don’t touch those who didn’t
Why can’t a person obsessed with murders and serial killers try and solve one? For someone as intelligent as WEDNESDAY I’d think that she would find great fun in the mind twisting mystery and she would also love to be the ‘winner’ the one who solved it.
Netflix has been ruining a bunch of stuff lately 💀
I don’t see the problem??? And I don’t really agree with your opinion.
The whole video had no point and it keep showing old movies and show it’s all over the place.
Thank you! My biggest gripe with the show was the friction *created for the adaptation between Wednesday and her family. I also didn't care for this cheapening for the sake of your 100th iteration of a supernatural teen drama. I also thought it was a stretch that they wanted me to believe that in a school full of creeps, monsters, and the peculiar Wednesday is supposed to be unique.
my anxiety won't let me focus because all i can think about is how cramped the puppeteer's hands must feel after making this video
Been driving me nuts that my spooky inclined friends are fawning over this show. They took a really interesting character and goth icon and told her she needed to be more normal to fit in. xP Thank you for articulating this.
Things evolve 🤷🏻♀️loved the show can’t wait for season 2. The reason they’ve lasted this long, in my opinion, isn’t the same gimmick they had in the 60s/70s. That worked in the 60s/70s with society and the humor of the time. The 90’s movies were explosive in the 90s because of the social climate of self acceptance (the 90s were all about being proud to be weird) and reinvention of the characters. The animated movies were made predominantly for children so I mean, not really Kubrick here but it did introduce children to the Addams family. The series is a natural evolution of the family in 2022, if you tried to copy and paste the originals over and over again it would flop. It just would. I love that Wednesday is a combination of her predecessors while also being Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday proper. Good video!
Agree 💯
I also feel like it more accurately portrays a family in a healthy way.. Wednesday learns more about herself, boundaries, and relationships. Actually getting to know those things on a deeper level and not just as a know it all child prodigy (which she still IS just not absolutely perfect). It is hard as is to navigate and learn about the world, yet it is even harder to do so as Wednesday Addams! She is not the same child we saw, she is growing, and will change. Nobody stays the exact same as they were as children. And with a child changing so does the relationship with the family change... it is only natural - even within the "unnatural" Addams family.
Would it have been improved if Wednesday had been a realistically matured version of the Wednesday from the 1960s sitcom? She was actually a nice kid then, but a monster in the movies.
It was absolutely trash. So sad to see . Nothing at all interesting or clever about it .
growing up in the early 00's nickelodeon would run the 60's sitcom at night so when i think of the addams family, that's where my mind goes. I categorized this show in my box of "i like it because i like the characters but the plot is really bad", along with mdzs, orange is the new black, stranger things, etc. i think sometimes people think of a concept and try to write the story afterwards, like trying to write a verse around a chorus in a song.
Im so glad your saying this... they turned the addams family into a corny stereotypical mess and nobodies talking about it.
I think the family is an allegory for being open minded to people of different cultures who are fully functioning despite being frighteningly different. Despite how odd they were they were still loving and community involved.
I actually like the Addams Family movies. They're properly adapted for the "attitude era" of the 90s. The third Addams Family movie breaks my heart though. Tim Curry and Darryl Hannah were great casting but it was destroyed by terrible production. Netflix tried to turn The Addams Family into Harry Potter and threw in teen angst that no one asked for.
Wow, I didn't expect this video to go so far into depth and it is amazing! Thank you!
It's a bad show that caught some good actors in it's web. The Addams family deserved so much better.
I liked the show, but I didn’t know about the history of the Addams family and the portrayals. Also, the series felt like if you put the Harry Potter books into an AI generator and told it to make it about Wednesday Addams.
I think Wednesday shouldn’t have had this love interest character. She’s not about high school drama, but Netflix always wants some kind of drama. She would’ve been the voice of reality and she could’ve made fun of the system! Why is she put in the “goth girl who desperately needs a boyfriend” position? I’m not saying she has to be ace, I just think she wouldn’t have a partner from high school drama
It kind of confused me when kraskton attacked the school with magic while screaming about outcasts and devil magic, it is like seeing black Hitler making a speech about murdering the lesser races, and no one acknowledge the weirdness there.
Also, why did no one fight back, they all got super powers, and they just ran when that crazy guy ran around, he was a boring villian and was killed too easily for main villian.
They should have given Tyler more personality and made him the main villian, also have his whole crush on Wednesday explained, because he suddenly became evil with no explanation beyond, killing people is fun, I am kind of surprised Wednesday didn't just shrug, isn't she talking about murder and such all the time.
Wait... I though it was a public concensus that wednesday is NOT a good show. I am honestly shocked by people saying that its... good?? The script its a MESS. Its cliché, its absolutely cringey, most of the time it doesnt make any sense (the random story of gomez and the other kid that got killed wtf was that about)... And the acting?? Jenna Ortega is fine, but the rest of the cast?? Catherine Zeta Jones and Luis Guzmán (who absolutely butchered the og charisma that Angelica Houston and Raul Julia brought to the characters) were almost unbearable to watch, as were Gwendoline and Christina Ricci. Its just a basic ass show, bad writing, bad acting, bad directing. You know whats missing (apart from the basics of a decent show)? THE CAMP. The 90s addams movies were the epitome of camp, everything was ridiculous but in a GOOD way, in an ironic, smart and fun way dude. i just feel like this is such and unloved show by its creators. Tim Burton didnt even care enough about the Addams to honor their essence.
I WORSHIP the original TV series, and I love the first two 90s movies. But yes, they have gone in the WRONG direction in the 21st century. Let the Addamses be the lovable weirdos who are still very much good PEOPLE at the heart of it!
i actually enjoyed the show, but tbh i was surprised at the beginning when the family thought that wednesday has a problem & their relationship isn't good. i actually loved her character, but yes you are right to what you said that them being an addam, they have their own beliefs that made them funny & lovable. pugsley looked very helpless too, which was never him. he needed to be mischievous because he has always been one.
I thought I was going insane when saying the exact same thing to friends and beeing told I was a downer. Thanks
I see Addams family as people who have very strong and logical moral code, it just doesn't match the "normal" one. Addamses are not cruel or evil in a sense that they don't do things that they see as cruel or evil, according to their own moral compass they are good guys. And Wednesday is just the same, she is fully Addams. For me this series failed to show that, though it totally had the potential. Take Tyler vs Wednesday, for example. Tyler is cruel and evil because he believes that killing people is wrong, cruel and evil and STILL enjoys it. Wednesday, on the other hand, starts the show with trying to kill like a dozen of school boys, but she doesn't see herself as evil because in her worldview bullying is very-very wrong, while hurting bullies is not. Her first conflict with Bianca happens exactly because Wednesday thinks she is bullying Rowen. So why on Earth she is instantly ok with Tyler being ex-bully (there is nothing in her gloomy philosophy that suggests that she believes in redemption, only in punishment and revenge) or with this bully guy from town being Enid's date for the ball? It would be much more interesting to take Wednesday's twisted but coherent moral code and her ability to live according to it and contrast it with Tyler and Laurel who accept standard moral code but violate it because they are the bad guys.
And this issue continues throughout the whole plot. Like take the school itself. They have a competition where it's ok to try to kill people (axes on canoe, etc.), they have vampires there, but everyone, literally everyone freaks out when the blood starts raining from the ceiling?
To sum up, the show deliberately picks a well-known and beloved story about people having a solid alternative life philosophy that doesn't match with the standard one and fails miserably to deliver this story.
Jenna Ortega is the sun, the moon and all the stars, though, she is wonderful)
I can't believe they made Wednesday a tween highschool show... it would've been 100× better if it was a comedy show about Wednesday torturing the other students or smth
Thank You ! You covered the subject very well ! I remember when the first TV show aired & you really covered many points that even I had no idea of ! Keep up the good work ! Peace
I feel like your primary thesis is pretty flawed. The Addams family isn’t supposed to be ONE thing. And while I agree that they made for incredible satire at a time when that was something strongly valued in media, I can’t help but feel like you’re trying to make a case for them to try to return to that state despite something in the Netflix series clearly hitting something that many people like.
The old show is posted on TH-cam and I was so happy to get the chance to watch 😍 I just wish there was more of it 👌🏻
Mate how do you only have 3k subs, this analysis was spectacular. Subscribed. Looking forward to more content.
If you have any other aspects of the show you want to share, please do. Here's my take on what is most bothersome about the show, as entertaining as it was:
1. Family Conflict/Rebellion
Wednesday is depicted as basically the epitome of emo, punk, and goth children in the last 20 years. She's rebellious, she doesn't want to follow in her parents' footsteps, and most importantly, she doesn't give a single F what other people think of her (which is problem #2 in this essay). The love that was palpable within the Addams family, one that tied every strange character together in a sense of unity and understanding, is no longer there. Her teenage years are finally here, and she's not giving a single F about it. In fact, you sense that she is hurt in some way, but they don't explain anything about that, so you're left to guess what in the world Morticia and Gomez, who loved her so deeply, could have done to make her turn against them so badly. To make matters worse, Gomez is depicted as a suspect for murder! This is an example of my problem #3.
2. Anger/Angst
This is what My Chemical Romance, Green Day, Avril Lavigne, and all those artists basically promoted, and it's something most of us love. However, because this is such a hackneyed concept and outlet of emotional release, it's like a p*rn scenario we've watched multiple times and then there's yet _another_ video based on that same premise. This sort of personality is almost always fueled by some sort of past hurt, betrayal, or just anger at the world, so there is almost always a reason for the angst. Wednesday seemingly has no reason, and that reason is not provided to us, especially not regarding her family. We have edge lords, so Wednesday would be an edge lady. Her edgy, angsty one-liners certainly made us laugh, but that was it. And that's all we're given. She constantly defies authority to the point of pugnacity, puts her newfound friends in danger, and seeks validation for her beliefs, especially on the premise of her visions making her crazy. Gaslighting at its finest! This is one of the only things that makes us root for her - to see her win, because everything that happens in the show only puts her in the worst light possible. This is my problem #4.
3. Disconnect from Original Addams Family Satire or Universe
As Shawn said, this isn't as bad as the first two issues I mentioned, but it still leaves us a bit flat, "giving us nothing." The classic satire and irony that was central to the original TV show's theme is mid at best in this show. A couple of the movies still kept this humor in their scripts, but because this show was basically all about Wednesday, Jenna had to carry the whole show. Plus, as Shawn said, the whole world of Nevermore was right up her alley with everything and everyone being an anomaly or weird (even though it was basically an offbrand Hogwarts). It's like Lavagirl swimming in lava - you expect it and there is no dissonance. However, that dissonance is what makes Addams family humor and satire so satisfying. Shawn said that the abnormal is normal for the Addams family and that is 100% true. So that's the second strike against the show in this regard. For example, the original masochistic Wednesday probably would have felt little to nothing about being stabbed; in the show, however, you could see a mix of fear and regret in this version's eyes. All those days of playing with knives, seeing who could last longer on the wheel of death? Down the drain. Plus, Thing is basically a dead hand with stitches. Would the original Wednesday cry over a dead hand if she plays with death herself? No, it's not logical. Same applies to Gomez's scandal with Garrett Gates' death. Death was something the Addams family played with, not be horrified at, and I would assume it would be the same during their backstory.
4. Wednesday's Constant Dislike or Abhorrence of Other People and Their Lives
It's telling that Wednesday alludes to Machiavelli, because that's exactly whom she acts like. Subterfuge, manipulation, obsession. She uses people for her goals and basically tosses them aside when she doesn't need them. That's some _major_ character devolution if you ask me! The sweet little girl who was oddly obsessed with spiders and torture methods is no longer with us. They killed her and replaced her with a sadistic, Machiavellian, egotistical Karen clone who cannot be stopped because her intelligence and wit always shut her opponents up. Even her own parents cannot escape her wrath as she is a _tormenta_ that will never die - literally. This Elphaba-Glinda pairing was obviously going to lead to "Glinda" getting hurt. And all the friends she made at Nevermore evidently mean nothing to her (until the very end when she finally develops as a character). She will always dislike what they like simply because she is not like anyone else. Remember when she taught Lurch how to dance? Now she evidently hates the thought of dances and is simply there with an ulterior motive. All of this causes not only us as the audience to strongly dislike her, but also everyone around her to dislike her. Besides her wit and intelligence (which there was obviously a loophole in) as a reason for us to root for her, we also root for her because everyone is turning against her and "she must be vindicated!" These are both _very_ shallow reasons for us to side with her.
5. The CGI.
I just think Tim burton really lost his touch
I'm someone who watched the two movies, but not much else. So I enjoyed Wednesday for what it was for the most part. The only complaint that popped out of my mind that I felt was "too annoying" was that the family felt too antagonistic towards each other, especially Wednesday and Morticia. I felt it was better when they all got along, like I felt like that was part of the point.
They straight up ruined the Addams family, they made it seem like they were all broken and not close. This is a complete opposite of who they are because the Addams are actually living happy healthy family despite all the odds
Exactly! Thank you for this video. It is what I had been thinking more or less, but struggled to figure out how to explain it to others.
One thing that I disagree with in your analysis is the idea that the 90s movies changed the formula for the franchises comedy, and the reason I disagree stems from a quote from Charles Addams himself. I'm going to paraphrase, but when asked his opinion on the 60s sitcom, Charles Addams said that he hardly watched it, because even though it was entertaining enough and well made, the characters didn't feel like his, and that their sitcom counterparts were "only about half as evil" as he'd always envisioned them.
In Charles Addams' mind, the joke wasn't necessarily that the Addams family was completely unaware of their lack of normalcy, but that even though the were content to mingle and try to get along with normal society, they were even more content to be themselves, even if it meant being willfully defiant against normal society, and occasionally, even cruel.
In character descriptions written by Charles Addams he describes them as "jolly (in their own way)" and "fiercely loyal", but also as "devious", "contemptuous", "criminal", and "sometimes deadly"
That's why we got jokes like the Addamses pouring boiling oil on Christmas carolers in the original comic strips.
If anything, the version that deviated from that characterization of the family as a whole was the 60s sitcom, and the 90s movies did a slight course correction. Honestly, character wise I think the most drastic deviation the 90s movies made from the comics was making Wednesday specifically the most overtly deadpan and sarcastic, because her original character description labels her as "delicate and sensitive". But, I think this change made her a more interesting character.
Subsequent adaptations seem to take that course correction too far though, and forget that, again, even though the Addams family revel in their abnormalcy to the point of sometimes being mean spirited, they *don't* /always/ know what seperates normal and abnormal , and *are* usually happy to interact with normal people, as long as it doesn't involve other people trying to force their versions of normal onto them. They also forget that the Addams family's strongest quality is that they are, well, a good family. They are *always* happy to be together.
There seems to be some kind of push to have Wednesday in particularl break away from her family, because she's a teenager, and that's... just what teenage girls do... I guess. But that goes against the subversion that the Addams family was meant to portray in the first place. I think a coming of age story about Wednesday finding some independence from her parents, or interests outside of what her parents are in to could work. But only if that story doesn't come at the expense of showing the Addams family as a truly loving and healthy family.
i think that wednesday the more she grows the more she understands that she isnt "normal" and she uses her weirdness as a pride
It’s painful to watch. She’s the “key to everything” she’s perfect in every way and she’s “not like other girls”. She’s a boring Mary Sue who throws out a funny line occasionally
In the netflix show when she says "we're different, you and me.. we're original thinkers; outliers in this incessant cesspool of adolescence.. we don't need these inane rights of passage to validate ourselves"... that was IT for me. This wasn't an Addams family adaptation, this was just another cringy edgy show catering to cringe edgy millennials and Gen-Zs who think they're above the rest of us "lowly normies" just because they have social anxiety.
A lot of guys and girls at my workplace who sleep on their jobs are now acting like they're too "whacky" and creative for this job after watching this show and it is simply painful to listen to them whine 🤮
I love your style of making videos! The puppet works surprisingly well lol he's (you are?) really cool. Found your channel looking for some Wednesday content and I really enjoyed this video, really made me want to watch your other stuff as well!!
Finally someone said the truth