The Appeal of Wednesday Addams

Wednesday Addams
Wednesday Addams. By Milla-Maria Ilo.

Ever since the adaptations started coming out from the 1960’s to this day, The Addams Family kept gaining in popularity and their audience grew throughout the years. It wasn’t just the humor and the weird atmosphere that got people hooked, it was just how original, unusual and extraordinary the characters and their lore were at the time. They were a stark contrast with practically everything that was ordinary on their first appearance—the Addams family was the definition of ‘unordinary’, ‘weird’ and ‘peculiar’. To this day, they still remain odd, but are still very much loved.

Wednesday Addams in Addams Family Values.
Wednesday ‘smiling’ in Addams Family Values (1993).

Though The Addams Family went through several reruns over the years, from movie adaptations to animated ones, not all the characters have been subjected to drastic changes personality wise to match the general state of mind of the world. Their personalities, the atmosphere they bring around themselves and other ‘normal’ people are features that make them quite unique in the fans’ eyes. Their own quirks are what set them all apart from the rest of the world, but also from each other: while Gomez and Morticia seem to find odd joy in reveling about their shared ‘unhappiness’ although they’re clearly happy together could be quite puzzling, their daughter Wednesday’s personality could be perceived as even more… off-putting. After all, Wednesday Addams’ character just isn’t the typical and conventional female character that could be found in movies, TV shows, comics, cartoons and other pieces of media.

Wednesday Addams
Wednesday at Camp Chipewa in Addams Family Values (1993).

Wednesday Addams can be seen as the epitome of ‘unconventional’. One of the most unconventional female characters there is, because she checks all the boxes and is the opposite of ordinary. Depicted as cute and sweet-natured because of her young age, she serves as foil to her parents’ weirdness, but when her favorite hobby is raising spiders as pets instead cats, dogs or hamsters, it is quite baffling. When she also indulges in morbid activities that would scare other children to death, drive them away or disturb adults who aren’t Addams, such as electrifying her brother Pugsley in an electric chair in the 1991 movie or trying to guillotine her youngest brother Pubert in the 1993 sequel, Wednesday is quite… terrifying. But somehow, her near sociopathy coupled with her appearance as a young girl makes her strangely endearing. And what’s endearing to the public is precious.

But really… what actually constitutes Wednesday Addams’ appeal that still seems to be relevant to this day, despite the creation of plentiful other female characters that may be deemed just as good and entertaining as the adorable, yet frightening, Wednesday? What actually does set her apart from different female characters just as unconventional as she is?

‘Simple and Cute’ Sometimes Trumps ‘Complex’ & Vice Versa

Wednesday Addams
Dear Wednesday Addams and her infamous headless doll of Marie-Antoinette.

Upon analyzing Wednesday Addams from all angles in the earlier adaptations, her character’s personality is depicted as one of the most simple there could be. Despite having a rather disturbing hobby that includes raising unconventional pets and owning a headless doll of Marie-Antoinette (which is rather interesting, considering this was the exact same way she died. Could she be fascinated by the guillotine and think of it as a form of art?) that Pugsley guillotines per her request, Wednesday actually sounds quite… ‘normal’. As normal as she could be while being born in the strangest family there could ever be in the world. In fact, her earlier version of the 1960’s sounds like the least unconventional and weird character out of all the Addamses. Her own quirks don’t measure up to her parents’ and brother’s—maybe it was because she was the youngest of the family and that her acting just like them at only age six would be frowned upon and would turn people off right away?

The fact that Pugsley sees no problem in beheading dolls in the 1960’s adaptation and that disturbing trait was never abandoned in order to keep him in character in later adaptations was already controversial at best. It would be incredibly concerning in a normal environment and in any ordinary family, but considering how the Addamses were all brought up and their nature, Pugsley was just being in character. So was Wednesday’s version from the later adaptations. Both children reflected the context of their environment and would have actually felt out of place, had they been depicted as similar to ‘normal children’ who didn’t have the same upbringing.

Wednesday Addams
Isn’t she adorable-looking?

Children are meant to represent innocence, purity and youth. They reflect their environment and upbringing, like a mirror. And although Wednesday was born in the most unordinary family, stripping her away of these attributes could have severely dampened her character. So the adaptation of the 1960’s, though it still meant to introduce the Addams Family as the representation of ‘pure weirdness’, may have had to use one of the children as foil and balance. Mixing the attributes of a child with Wednesday’s hobby of raising spiders and owning a headless doll of Marie-Antoinette turned out to be a way to create this balance between ‘normal’ and ‘weird’; since Wednesday was only six in the adaptation of the 1960’s, she retained her ‘simple and cute’ persona that could be seen as endearing despite having questionable hobbies. The headless dolls and spiders would still raise doubt and questions, but the cute and sweet personality she has still made her appear more normal than the rest of the family. Lisa Loring’s interpretation of this version of Wednesday embodied this special persona and its mildly weird quirks; compared to Morticia, Gomez and Pugsley, this Wednesday Addams is easily the most normal out of the bunch. She’s a little girl being and acting like a little girl. And yet, she can still be considered slightly unconventional as a child.

Wednesday Addams
Lisa Loring as the young Wednesday Addams from the 1960’s series.

Lisa Loring’s interpretation embraced simplicity in such a way that it easily made Wednesday the favorite out of all the Addamses. It was that particular simplicity among the weirdness shown by every other member of the family that put the spotlight on Wednesday, as it made the audience flock to her. ‘Simple and cute’ can sometimes trump ‘complex’ in a character’s case, whether they’re male or female. For example, a comparison can be established between two unconventional female characters that have merit and are loved because of their personalities. As different as they are both presented and interpreted in their adaptations, the idea of comparing these two characters might help in understanding one’s appeal in this day and age among all other female protagonists. Lisa Loring’s interpretation of Wednesday Addams showed this balance between ‘normal’ and ‘weird’ by being sweet, probably because her character was meant to feel like the most normal out of the bunch.

Wednesday Addams
Wednesday and Pugsley looking so adorable.

Compared to Pugsley, who’s louder, so much more enthusiastic and more outgoing with his quirks, the 1960’s version of Wednesday Addams is almost too normal for their environment. She smiles, she’s cute, she’s so sweet that it can lead people to wonder if she really is Gomez and Morticia’s child. Her cuteness and simplicity made her appear and feel too normal, despite her headless dolls and pet spiders.

Whereas Wednesday Addams is easily analyzed as ‘simple and cute’, Lisbeth Salander’s character can be categorized as ‘complex’; the differences between her and Wednesday are just too big to ignore, as both are unconventional in their own rights and way. The late Stieg Larsson created a female protagonist that defies the norm in the Millenium series of books in every category. Lisbeth can be seen as edgy, but her being socially outcast, her flaunting of social norms, her erratic demeanor and understandable acts of violence, gothic style, tattoos and facial jewelry intrigue people even more. In a certain group of people, she certainly wouldn’t go unnoticed, as she’d be the most socially unapproachable person. Noomi Rapace’s interpretation of Lisbeth Salander in the first Millenium movie was an excellent visual of her descriptive appearance in the book, because she is meant to surprise and catch off guard as an unconventional protagonist who defies the norm.

Noomi Rapace
Noomi Rapace interpreted Lisbeth Salander, a very damaged woman whose awful background turned her into a socially outcast woman. The similarity between her and Wednesday Addams only stems from the fact that they’re both unconventional characters that work in their respective contexts.

Lisbeth’s personality is also another factor to take in, given that is one of the main things that makes her different from Wednesday. Rather closed off, introverted and extremely reserved due to a traumatic upbringing, she doesn’t form bonds so easily. Making friends is extremely hard for her. She, as a matter of fact, isn’t easy at all. She’s emotionally and mentally damaged, but manages. Earning her trust would take a lot of time and patience—which was what Mikael Blomkvist has done. She has morals as well and stands for justice (or her kind of justice), demonstrated by the fact that she bested her tutor and rapist Nils Bjurman by filming him having his way with her whilst she was restrained, taking revenge with torture and tattooing the truth about him on his stomach. It had been vicious, but justified; the fact that Lisbeth didn’t take the tempting opportunity to kill him for what he’s done to her, when she definitely could have, highlights her firm stand about domestic violence perpetrated against women.

But despite her issues, she does try to live, as it was shown in the first movie adaptation thanks to Noomi Rapace’s interpretation. She does have few friends she came to trust over time. Mikael Blomkvist’s character is one of the very few whom she gets close to and allows to get close to her. She even had a brief relationship with him, though it had taken time to build up because of her demons. And this is actually encouraging for someone like Lisbeth, considering the awful background she has.

Wednesday Addams

With this small breakdown of Lisbeth Salander’s character, she and Wednesday only share one trait—their unconventionality. But that’s where the similarities stop, as shown in the movie adaptations for both characters. The differences between them stem from the opposite childhoods they had; while Wednesday’s family sure is the epitome of weird, there’s no sign of abuse and they were reveling in their ‘unhappiness’ (which is their version of happiness). Lisbeth nearly drowned in the abusive family she was born in, due to her father’s sick nature, and got out severely damaged to the core. As fascinating as she is despite her horrific background because she has exceptional qualities and hasn’t turned evil, sometimes ‘cute and simple’ trumps ‘complex’ for valid reasons.

It might stem from the fact that Wednesday’s character is a child that people can follow throughout all movie adaptations, depicted as this cute little girl wearing pigtails. She looks innocent, but doesn’t try to hide her personality that must have been influenced by the unordinary upbringing, although Wednesday was never abused like Lisbeth was. Child Wednesday is happy throughout the movie adaptations in her own way, adult Lisbeth is… managing. Their stories are just too different at this point. Lisbeth’s story starts when she’s established as an adult, still damaged but going forward, and Wednesday’s keeps on going as a child. The takes on the two characters would be just as different, despite the common unconventionality they share.

Some people would prefer Lisbeth over Wednesday, others would favor Wednesday over Lisbeth. And both characters are fine the way they were created and portrayed in the adaptations, which is why people love them. No need to change them.

Psychologically Connecting with Wednesday

Whenever a movie or a book is being released, what people are looking for is a plot that is both entertaining, logical and original. If the story is engaging, this is already a good thing, but what would be even better? If the characters were just as fascinating as the story and in tune with the themes used by the storytellers. The construction of a character depends of the author’s perception of them, how they actually fit in the universe and lore they’ve come up with, and how they get to develop and evolve.

While the plots for the Addams Family are mainly family life-driven with some interesting adventures on the side with other characters, being able to focus on the main ones in order to understand them more is an important aspect of any story. Since they were some of the most unconventional fictional characters ever created, each member of the Addams must have been created with a specific goal in mind.

Wednesday Addams
What are you thinking, Wednesday?

What drives them to be the way they are portrayed? What compels them to be so unconventional and abnormal? How are they able to think and live the complete opposite way of all ordinary people and revel in their daily life? How do they manage to strike us psychologically and emotionally speaking?

With Wednesday’s character, the changes were very surprising when the movies from the 90s came out. She went from being and acting as the sweet-natured girl who seems harmless and so adorable to this darker and sociopathic personality that makes her stand out even more in the family. In fact, the calm and almost phlegmatic front she always shows might actually hide multi-faceted sides that would never be observed in a child. Just being stared at by these dark, unblinking eyes would either get anyone uncomfortable or extremely curious, because there’s no real way to know or guess what Wednesday might be thinking. Interestingly enough, as Christina Ricci’s version is more comic-accurate, her aged up character somehow gains more depth with these tendencies; while Wednesday still is a little girl, she manages to spark intrigue in the viewer’s mind. Her behavior and her manners make her both hard to read and too intriguing, which is already enough to have people curious about her.

Wednesday Addams as a child seems cloaked in mystery, a dark one that is in line with the whole Addams Family. Despite the movies from the 1990s painting her in a new light and making her more pronounced, she still seems so… unattainable. The 1990s version of her character is enticing, especially because of these sociopathic tendencies that make her shine. She seemed to have evolved so much and so rapidly that it sounds like viewers have missed important parts of her childhood. Smarter and more observant than she’d let anybody think, the fact that she doesn’t reveal much sparks some desire to learn more about Wednesday Addams. Is Wednesday Addams really a child? Because she sure doesn’t act like one sometimes…

Wednesday Addams
Just what is going on in her mind?

Wanting to know more about her thought process might actually help people in connecting with her character more easily. Psychologically and, probably, emotionally speaking. Although, unraveling Wednesday might come with unpleasant results: some characters like her might be better off with mystery still shrouding them, which is one of the reasons people like them. Because they don’t know much besides her sociopathic tendencies, what she already shows in the movies may be more than enough. Christina Ricci’s portrayal helps in appealing to her, because of this unconventionality she exudes so easily.

Other characters that have been created are sometimes better off the way they already are without having origins or being explained, because people love and adore them the way they are. In their eyes, they’re perfect. Joker, as extremely insane and despicable as he is for all his actions in the Batman comics, movies, animated movies and video games, is perfect the way he is. People manage to connect with him, understand him no matter how utterly insane he is, because what he shows through crazed-fueled actions and words is more than enough. Yet, as insane and overwhelming as he is, Joker is a complex character that is very well-written and never misses to leave a mark, on everyone. Does he need to have origins so his fans can psychologically and emotionally connect more with his character’s mindset? Not necessarily. His lack of identity in many issues and movies is part of his mystery – part of the reason why fans love him and don’t care about his origins. It might destroy the image that people have of him and his character might lose its incredible appeal.

The Joker
Does the Clown Prince of crime really need to be explained in any origin story? Isn’t he perfect the way he is, being a John Doe that even Batman cannot identify?

It might be the same with Wednesday Addams’ character. Because she’s so unattainable as a child with this phlegmatic, calculating and observant front, the mystery she’s shrouded in defines her appeal. People want to know more about her because the 1990s movie adaptations don’t seem to show much, yet make viewers even more curious. Wednesday’s character is thus open to more development and depth, without having to understand how and why she came to be this sociopathic so soon in her life. Just like Joker, isn’t she fine the way she is?

Shall the Dark Personality Fade?

Wednesday Addams
Wednesday setting fire to Camp Chippewa with a smile! This version of Wednesday is darker, more unsettling. And she’s still cute somehow!

In more recent adaptations of The Addams Family, a noticeable change in Wednesday’s personality could be observed in the 1991 movie adaptation and this one could actually be considered as ‘drastic’. While Wednesday was less weird than her parents and older brother Pugsley in the earlier adaptations, she’s never displayed tendencies that are near sociopathic; she became darker in the 1991 movie, which is seen through Christina Ricci’s interpretation of Wednesday. This is, apparently, a more comic-accurate version of Wednesday Addams in the 1991 movie adaptation and its sequel Addams Family Values (1993). Would it be safe to assume that the darker version of the character could have shocked the society of the 1960’s back then? Probably. After all, a malevolent child with sociopathic tendencies would scare off potential watchers and wouldn’t be as loved as she is in this day and age. Lisa Loring’s interpretation of Wednesday sure helped people in warming up to her, until the darker and comic-accurate version could be played by Christina Ricci.

Wednesday’s popularity might be the reason she’s earned an oncoming show on Netflix with Jenna Ortega interpreting her, as a grown-up. The premise sounds interesting enough: a teen Wednesday Addams will be attending high school to ‘master her psychic powers’, stop a ‘monstrous killing spree of the town citizens’ and ‘solve a supernatural mystery that affected her family twenty-five years ago’. The schedule sounds quite packed and hectic for grown-up Wednesday, but still interesting enough to entice curiosity among fans of the Addams Family. Watching her on a show centered around her life only would be certainly interesting, as the plot seems to deviate from the usual ones from the previous movies. Would she feel different now that she’s aged? Would she keep her sociopathic tendencies or shed them to mingle more easily with the rest of her future classmates at school? If she did, then she wouldn’t stand out anymore. Her dark personality has always been what made her so unique despite her young age, so getting rid of it would turn Wednesday Addams into… an ordinary teen.

Wednesday in the 2019 animated movie
Wednesday in the 2019 animated movie. This is the movie where she displayed a rebellious trait towards her family, expressing curiosity towards the outside world and wanting to explore it.

The new challenge of this Netflix series rests on the quality of the plot and Jenna Ortega’s acting as Wednesday. Even though it would make people curious as to see how she’d navigate through life as a high school student on her own, they’d probably wonder if her mindset would eventually change to adapt to her new environment; as she’d spend a lot of time at her new school, surely Wednesday would begin to show signs of change. Splitting her time between her home and school has been shown to have an impact on her, as seen in the 2019 animated movie The Addams Family: Wednesday first came back home from a day at the mall with Parker, Margaux Needler’s neglected daughter, with a bright pink unicorn hair clip on. The stark contrast between Parker and Wednesday was so striking that it was a no-brainer when they became friends. That little bit of rebellion against their family’s influence from the favorite gothic girl was quite… unexpected and definitely surprising to say the least, because Wednesday loves her family so much that her running away and leaving them is extremely unlikely. Curiosity about the world outside of her family home is expected and comprehensible, but running away from them?

Was it a contradiction her character truly needed? Seeing her act this way was actually surprising, because her decision to leave her beloved family behind and giving in to her sudden rebellious side might have been too much. Her love for her family is unconditional, so the idea of Wednesday just leaving home—her safe haven—was quite contradictory. Wednesday’s dark personality is her essence to the core, which is what attracted fans to her like a moth to a flame. But since it’s also been shown and proven that she loves her family too much to abandon them, the twist in the 2019 animated movie is even more shocking. After having watched all adaptations featuring the Addams Family, is it possible to believe that Wednesday would willingly abandon her family?

Wednesday in the 2019 animated movie
The pink unicorn hair clip that nearly gave Morticia a high.

With all this in mind, it begs the question as to how this new Netflix show will portray Wednesday as a teen. Especially as a student in an environment she might be more familiar with. If Nevermore Academy truly is the same high school described and mentioned in the WEBTOON Nevermore and the school Wednesday will attend or a similar one, then Wednesday wouldn’t have any problem being herself. She’d fit right in. The supernatural theme of Nevermore fits more with the Addams Family’s nature and quirks than any normal high school. Wednesday would probably be able to bloom, nurtured by the teachings of Nevermore Academy, and her appeal as a teen might also help her gain new fans.

Who knows? The Netflix series will just have to come out so people can watch and judge.

What do you think? Leave a comment.

Posted on by
Writing isn't just a form of escapism for me. It's a passion, just like gaming.

Want to write about Film or other art forms?

Create writer account

66 Comments

  1. I watched the ’93 Addams family movie as a kid, and I quite enjoyed her in that – I found her over-the-top dark humor appealing. I hadn’t realized that she’d started out so young in her original appearance, and in some ways I think I prefer the slightly older version.
    As a teen, however, I’m not so sure.

  2. Adult Wednesday, the unauthorized YouTube series unceremoniously cease-and-desisted, has been enthusiastically appreciated by so many of us. She deserves a mention here.

  3. This does express the axiom that nature tends to hug and return to the medium rather well.

  4. She’s basically a goth …. who unlike most teenage goths, lives with a multi generational family of goths.

    • My wife has been wearing the Wednesday look since the early 90s.

    • I feel like now there has to be multi generational families of those inclined to gothic subculture. The modern gothic subculture started in the early 80s, so the teenagers and young adults of that time could be grandparents by now.

  5. My daughter looks like Wednesday Addams.

    • Marques
      0

      So does mine, but only when she’s grumpy! As she’s twelve years old and in lockdown, that’s most of the time right now. I must remember to tell her that she’s the height of fashion, that’ll REALLY annoy her…

  6. If you’ve never seen it, it is well worth watching “Adult Wednesday Addams” on YouTube. No, it’s not “adult” in the sense you’re thinking, but a mini-series of her as a 20/30-something dealing with everyday life… in her own unique way.

    • Adult Wednesday addams is brilliant. I believe she was stopped from doing more episodes by the estate of Charles addams. Its definitely a version that would be good to make a official series.

  7. The original Addams Family US Tv show (1964 -66) was way ahead of its time.

    • The family originally appeared in Charles Addams cartoons, often for the ‘New Yorker’. His other work is equally brilliant.

    • Gabrielle
      0

      I loved it as a child, one of the best things on TV, great theme tune, the later movies seemed a bit of a let down in comparison.

  8. The entire Addams Family are heroes of non-conformity, against boring normality.

    • Franklin
      0

      The very idea of Gothic / alternative style becoming ‘mainstream’ and being picked up by ‘influencers’ and ‘brands’ irritates this fat old nonconformist no end. Can’t we oddballs have anything, anything at all without the cool kids (who not so long ago were mocking our refusal to fall in line) appropriating and co-opting it? They can wear the clothes, pretend they like the music… but they will never understand the real meaning of not fitting in, of being bullied everyday for being different and yet embracing it anyway because we couldn’t conform if we tried and even if we wanted to.

      • No. Capitalism will commodify anything and everything, including non-conformist and even explicitly anti-capitalist movements, stripping away all aspects of radicalism and leaving nothing but an empty aesthetic.

        See the hippy movement, punk movement, LGBTQI and BLM movements, etc.

  9. Have you ever seen Wednesday Addams and Greta Thunberg together? It’s a pigtail thing.

  10. Hendrix
    0

    I had the gothgirl phase myself as a teen but sometimes I see kids taking it so far. Every year I’ll see at least one poor boy in all black, fingerless gloves, long thick leather coat sweating and pale green face in 30c sunny weather looking like he’s about to die.

  11. Wednesday Adams’s Thanksgiving dark monologue is a true classic. We dress all in black and watch it every year on the holiday while the turkey roasts. There’s something irresistibly irreverent yet sweet while subversive and smart about Wednesday. I’d like to skip rope with her in our black tulles and braids.

  12. Cheyanne
    0

    What happened to Christina Ricci, brilliant young actress, haven’t seen her in anything for ages.

    • A quick glance at her CV on Wikipedia confirms that she has stayed extremely busy in recent years, involved in several recent movies, Broadway and off-Broadway, and at least one TV series.

  13. A grown-up Wednesday Adams would pretty much be the perfect human.

    • That sounds wonderful, until you consider how such a woman deals with power.

      • A small price to pay for a cynical, witty, disecerning, anti-social woman.

    • You don’t remember what Wednesday did to her boyfriend in the end then?…..

      ‘I’d scare him to death’.

      Still, you’d be in awe of her while she was doing it.

      • i think the dynamic between morticia and gomez is the best romance in the world. by the end of it wednesday’s boyfriend has started to get the right idea and is calling wednesday by some of the sorts of names gomez uses when addressing morticia.

        it’s a very powerful metaphor. and it’s true – eastern and darker cultures have a much stronger type of womanhood. i have often felt, in recent times, while watching femen and some of the mad sexist women even the guardian graces their pages with, that some of the most dominant eastern gender-egalitarian women need to give lessons, in the west, to women, on how to make themselves equal, rather than what a lot do – which is to get caught in ignorant responses to sexism which are themselves sexist.

        eastern women definitely need to lead the world on morality.

  14. Stephanie M.

    So glad to see Wednesday made the lineup, and I can’t wait to see her as a teen. I’m especially intrigued at the idea of a person that “normal” people think of as dark and sociopathic, saving them from a beast on a killing spree.

  15. 64bitdreaming

    I love Wednesday, they really butchered her character in the 2019 film. I’m really hoping that the new series will capture some of her original appeal

  16. There’s a humorous Youtube series on her as a grownup – Adult Wednesday Addams.

    • That series is comedic genius. Created by Melissa Hunter, who also plays a spot-on Adult Wednesday. Hunter’s original postings were shut down by the Addams estate over copyright infringement. But you can still find clips online.

  17. nobody is as beautiful as the original tv character morticia, and no one will ever be as cool as the original gomez. the kids in that version were very sweet. political commentary in those days seems to have been less intense, less precise, much more free and much more daring. the original gomez is a genius of comedy in “eerie indiana” also – in “the world of stuff”, a shop.

    not in a million years would i consider marilyn munroe a scratch on morticia addams the original. i guess there must be people who see the world the other way around entirely.

  18. Both Addam’s Family films were beautifully dark and had the perfect pitch of real comedy and the macabre. A real Sonenfeld gem, the morbidity and darkness of the Cohen brothers must have rubbed off on him.

    One other scene that sticks out is in the first film when Wednesday and Pugsley are performing a kind of butchered version of Hamlet in a school play. The tone is jarring as it shifts from bright young faces singing happy songs to a Shakespearian sword fight.

    The dialogue is delivered so well by Ricci, and the special effects blood sprays all over the audience. She starts coughing and spluttering as she dies and says “Sweet oblivion, open your arms!” before lying still on the stage. The horrified audience looks on in silence as Gomez and the rest erupt in applause.

    Unbelievably perfect. That’s why I love The Addams Family.

  19. holloway
    0

    Wednesday, one of the heroes of my childhood.. (maybe that’s where things went a bit sideways)

  20. I finally realize why the Adams are so casual about murder, electrocution, stabbing assault etc. They’re basically indestructible.

  21. Let me tell y’all something, Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams and Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams, that can never be duplicated. These women made it very hard for anybody else to play these character, and for that they will always be one of my favorite family to watch.

  22. Really liked this celebration of such a charming and enigmatic character (Wednesday Addams). So much there, and so refreshingly outside typical roles offered to young girls and women in mainstream society. No wonder her popularity grows and grows and grows!

  23. Netflix needs to hire the woman who did the adult Wednesday series and make a full show

  24. I really like the Addams Family. It’s a wonderfully ‘ooky’ concept that oozes with charm, whimsy and character.

  25. Senorita
    0

    I liked how Wednesday smiles (in the 90s films) reminds me of the joker and Jeff the killer had a baby

  26. Christina Ricci… One of the most underrated actrices in history. I mean… C’mon… What a performance! I will love that character till the day I die.

    • Beaucephalis

      She embodied Wednesday Addams so well… she gave a stellar performance in the movies! Ah, wished we’d see her more…

  27. nostalgia
    0

    Wednesday’s little violent outbursts are what made my child hood. Watched the Addams Family almost every week for a year.

  28. Actually i didnt watch this addams family. And this writing in detail perfection urges me to watch and then come back and read again.
    Thankyou for the article.

  29. Not having grown up celebrating Thanksgiving, this is one of my major cultural touchstones for the holiday. Great movie, one of those times the sequel out does the original.

  30. I love Wednesday Addams with all my heart.

  31. She inspires me to always embrace my morbid sense of humor.

  32. Christina Ricci is the best at playing Wednesday Addams

    I also love Wednesday’s intelligent, sarcastic, never smiling attitude in all the movies.

  33. I generally don’t like reboots, but I did enjoy Christina Ricci’s iteration of Wednesday. However, I watched the Addams Family quite a bit as a kid and loved it because it was different, unconventional. So while the reboots have their moments, I have to agree that nothing compares to the original black and white TV series. Today, as someone said, goth is a bit boring being attributed to “emo” kids with too much time on their hands, or trying too hard to be different and “edgy.” When this aired in the 60s it really was a step away from the norm, in a cool, unexpected way.

    I must check out the Adult Wednesday. Now that sounds like an interesting premise that has been well done. Thanks to those that mentioned it!

  34. Both of the original films still hold up well.

  35. Estrella
    0

    Wednesday Addams – the only American who spoke the truth about what was done to the natives.

  36. When I grow up I wanted to be Wednesday.

    • Likewise, Wednesday is literally the Heroine that I inspire to be the most like! 🕸️🕷️

  37. Cristina Riccci’s Wednesday + Winona Ryder’s Lydia = 10yrs old me falling into gothic girls.

  38. I have always been a fan of the Christina Ricci version of Wednesday. I saw her a lot like I saw myself in a way. I was never a girly girl and I did not see the point in conforming to the status quo.

  39. I love Wednesday Addams as a character! This articles is great. I
    did not know that Netflix was making a new series, I hope it is good. I cant wait for it to come out. Thanks!

  40. Absolutely iconic character.

  41. Wednesday Addams is indeed a terrific character. But each family members bring their own spice to the Addams’ flavor. One of my favorite is Morticia Addams. She does deserve her own article 😉

  42. Wednesday is def the first face you would think of when someone said Addams Family

  43. Joseph Cernik

    A good article, well written. I enjoyed the Netflix series, first season, on Wednesday, your article added to providing a perspective on the show.

  44. This might be an unpopular opinion, seeing as the new tv show appeals to the mainstream quite a bit, but I really appreciated the melding of her character with literary figures like Poe and Sartre – this whole gothic/existentialist angle really appealed to my darker side.

  45. Really interesting dive into the Wednesday Adams character. I recently watched the Tim Burton Netflix series and loved it.

  46. This was a great post, well-written 🙂

  47. This was a great article! I never realized that Wednesday Adams had been remade so many times over the years. It’s very interesting to see the maintained traits that have been carried through every adaptation–the somber but steady outsider persona. Though it is also fascinating to see how each adaptation tries to balance these strong traits within the different angles of retelling that they all take.

Leave a Reply to Marques Cancel reply