Who would have thought that the girl who was so popular last year lived in a gloomy cemetery, loved to play death games, and loved all dark things?
Wednesday Addams, the horrible and lovable goth idol in pop culture history, was remade by Netflix last year, turning Wednesday into a synonym for cool girls. If you're new to this girl, excuse me, she's been cool for 85 years!
● The First version of Wednesday was born in 1938
In 1938, cartoonist Charles Addams used comics to conceive a bizarre family in The New Yorker. Wednesday is the daughter of this family, wearing a black dress and two braids, gloomy and weird.
● Charles Addams and Wednesday
According to Charles, Wednesday beheads dolls, keeps spiders and octopuses as pets, likes playing pranks, hates being a top student, and often plays in a park in the middle of the night.
The official persona is this: She is a serious child, plain dressed, poetic and imaginative, not much taken seriously, with occasional tantrums and six toes on one foot.
However, the seemingly most insignificant child in the famous Addams family unexpectedly became the most popular among the audience and achieve immortality on the screen.
Since the 1930s, in every era, there was a new Wednesday came to life. What remains unchanged is that she always uses her weirdness to challenge people's stereotypes of girls.
Today, I want to talk about four of them with different styles. Which version do you like best?
The original Dark Sweetheart
● Wednesday in 1964 was only six, and she was good at ballet and judo
In 1964, the live-action version of "The Addams Family" was first broadcast on ABC TV, produced by Charles Addams. Wednesday made her first appearance, which opened the way for alternative girl idols on the screen.
As the first Wednesday in film history, her version is somewhat too "normal." She is like a candy that makes people irresistible to her lovely smile and innocent eyes, following her into the weird world of Adams, and then frightened defenselessly.
●Her favorite severed head doll
● The butler named Lurch can't get a girlfriend, so she teaches him to dance
At that time, Wednesday had few scenes and was portrayed to be cheerful. In that year's Halloween special, Wednesday dressed up as a witch and went out to scare people but was told by her neighbors that there were no witches worldly. Her dream shattered, and she ran home crying.
Charles Addams once said that this version of Wednesday is only half as evil as in the comics. Because the TV industry was very conservative about female characters at the time, Wednesday's pranks, also unusual pets and hobbies, were already a headache for TV stations.
The most famous goth girl
● Wednesday in 1991
In 1991, Christina Ricci created the most classic Wednesday on the screen. The most dangerous person in the family, depicted by Charles Addams, was finally able to release her nature.
Sweetheart was gone, and sadism made an appearance. The girl is ruthless, clearly loves and hates, doesn't like to smile but torture, and loves to play the death game of murdering babies. She is exceptionally clever and inner-directed. She doesn't try to please anyone or care about rules.
In the 1990s, the plots of female characters in TV series were almost always in love and marriage and finally went to a fairy tale ending. But Wednesday firmly despises love, abandons marriage, and does not waver for anyone, which might be the most horrible part of this version of Wednesday, and also became a beautiful nightmare of that era.
Wednesday has never been so dark but charming, shocking the audience at that time. Actress Christina Ricci also said it feels great to play someone who doesn't have to please others!
Frankenstein of the New Century
● Wednesday in 2019 returned to the look in comics
In 2019, MGM released the animated film "The Addams Family," which jumped directly from the old comics to the 21st century, and the character design has changed a lot. This version of Wednesday has excellent grades, high intelligence, a friendly personality, and a strong sense of justice.
● Wednesday punishes the bully
In the original comics, Wednesday is a miniature mother, but in 2019, only she can decide what kind of girl she wants to be. Therefore, to be in line with the contemporary era and solve the philosophical proposition of "who am I" faced by youngsters, Wednesday tries to provoke her parents and does something that scares the whole family.
● Wednesday wears a pink dress for a beauty contest
When family conflicts intensify, Wednesday runs away from home. In a new time and space, family love suffocates her. Visibly, how to be themselves in love is a big problem for girls in the new century.
A contemporary dance icon
● Wednesday conquered the audience with dance in 2022
In 2022, Tim Burton directed the new version of "Wednesday," which won the top ratings of the Netflix English series at the end of the year. On TikTok, everyone imitated her outfit, makeup, and even her weird dance steps.
This version of Wednesday is good at fencing, playing the violin, and writing. She never blinks and has a distinct antisocial personality. After all, stubbornness, single-mindedness, and persistence are the common characteristics of all great men, of course, also of serial killers.
However, for a moment, I couldn't tell whether this was the youngest daughter of the Addams family or a mini version of Detective Sherlock.
The new Wednesday is no longer the only geek in the school. She enters a "heterogeneous" exclusive school and becomes classmates with vampires, werewolves, and sirens. She also solves the mystery of the monster killing. However, the following scene is not so pleasant.
Wednesday, never influenced by emotion, not only has bangs but also is more human. I watched her struggle with the parent-child relationship, friendship, and love triangle. I have to sign that Wednesday can't escape youth!
"Wednesday" is no longer a comedy for the first time in film history. Tim Burton deliberately softened the conflict and focused on the consequences of her lack of human feelings. Wednesday suddenly has shortcomings.
She learns to grow up in her mistakes, to shed tears for her family, and to accept the embrace of her friends, she is no longer a lone ranger, but this does not seem to be the essence of the original, so it has become the most criticized place: This is not Wednesday, but the youth campus heroine who has changed her Halloween look.
To speak frankly, this kind of Wednesday is more like an idol, perhaps because her weirdness is originally an irony to stereotypes. But in this era, everyone's acceptance and tolerance have become higher. And weirdness has become normality.
Over so many years, Wednesday's existence was to tell everyone "What girls don't have to do." Yes, Wednesday is weird, but she never thought anything wrong with her weirdness. Even better, more and more people thought so, too.
Well, which version of Wednesday do you like best? Tell me in the comments!
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