I absolutely loved and was perhaps a little obsessed with the Addams Family growing up. I particularly enjoyed the 1991 and 1993 movies starring Christina Ricci, Angelica Huston, and Raul Julia. In high school I owned a T-shirt which featured a cartoon Wednesday Addams and read “On Wednesdays I Wear Black.” I enjoyed musical theater and could sing the entire soundtrack of Broadway’s “The Addams Family Musical.” My mom even designed an Addams Family themed birthday party for me featuring treats she made named after the various characters. Although I enjoyed watching all the characters, I was particularly drawn to Wednesday Addams, Gomez and Morticia’s daughter. Her humor and line delivery were immaculate, and her style was impeccable. To me, the Addams Family movies were already perfect. So admittedly, when Netflix first announced their plans to create a show called “Wednesday” a reboot of the popular 1964 Addams Family series by Charles Addams starring the famous Addams daughter, I was skeptical.
Surprisingly, the day “Wednesday” dropped on Netflix, I started watching and was immediately hooked. I enjoyed many of Tim Burton’s (the director of “Wednesday”) previous works including “Corpse Bride” and “Sleepy Hollow.” However, “Wednesday” stands on its own while fitting in nicely with Burton’s gloomy and dark but kid-friendly portfolio. The set design and cinematography are absolutely stunning in lush blues and black lighting. The screenwriting is witty, and the pacing of line delivery was basically flawless. The plot, if a little predictable, still enticed me to play every subsequent episode. However, the absolute star of the show is Wednesday Addams herself played by Jenna Ortega. I had seen a couple of Ortega’s previous works including in one of my favorite Netflix series called “You.” I found her character in “You” to be good, but not particularly memorable. Comparatively, there could not have been a better casting choice than Ortega as Wednesday. Her stoic stares and her deadpan humor were exactly what I had always loved in the character, and Ortega delivered. There are differences between Ricci’s 1991 version compared to Ortega’s version of the character, particularly in their interests and emotional struggles. Fortunately, these differences only added further depth to the character rather than detract from Charles Addams’ original vision.
However, Netflix’s “Wednesday” gave the character what she had been missing and what should have been so crucial to Wednesday’s character: her Latinidad. Instead of previous renditions of the Addams Family which have ignored their Latinx identity, Netflix’s “Wednesday” embraces it. Honestly, I as a half Mexican-half Puerto Rican have never felt more represented on screen than watching Jenna Ortega play Wednesday Addams. Ortega herself is three quarters Mexican and one quarter Puerto Rican. “Wednesday” makes subtle references to Wednesday’s Latinx but specifically Mexican heritage through several references including mentioning the Mexican holiday, “Día De Los Muertos.” What “Wednesday” did so well where other production’s attempts at Latinx representation have failed is not falling into stereotypes. A recent Popsugar article by Cristina Escobar explains this well by stating that current young Latinas are portrayed in the media as bubbly “go-getters’’ and as girls who are constantly having to overcome sexist barriers to achieve their dreams. Additionally, Escobar mentions how many of these shows also often have a quinceañera scene (a traditional Latinx party for a girl’s 15th birthday). Instead, “Wednesday” does not feature either of these tropes and gives Latinx goth and introverted girls a time to shine and to be celebrated for who they are and the interests they have.
As someone who grew up feeling ashamed for not fitting the stereotypes that exist for Latina girls such as being loud, feisty, and fiery, “Wednesday” offers a reprieve to Latina’s everywhere that we should never feel obligated to meet others’ expectations of our ethnicity. I am looking forward to seeing how Netflix continues to explore Wednesday’s Latinidad in season two and I am excited to see what kind of mysteries Wednesday finds herself getting into.