Wednesday Addams is coming to stream thanks to Netflix. Wednesday, due out later this year, tells the story of the Addams’ eldest daughter. And as if that wasn’t enough, she will be played by horror movie star Jenna Ortega. To make this main course in the Netflix catalog more juicy, the program will be directed by Tim Burton. It will also feature a lavish cast led by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman. And a special appearance by Christina Ricci.
Wednesday of course this is great news for the fans.. But much more, if you add to this that the series will pay homage to the original comic, not the movie saga. This would allow the production to explore the influence of the characters and their universe on pop culture. At the same time, go through all the curious things that are part of the mythology around the world, created by Charles Addams for the New Yorker. Elegant, sinister and charming, the Addams were the first real attempt to incorporate some perception of the dark into conservative American culture.
But what has been the Addams Family’s journey through entertainment in recent decades? From series, blockbusters, plays, unsuccessful video sequels, video games to animated duology. The characters have been reimagined almost every decade. We leave you with the hottest facts that pop culture’s most idiosyncratic family has bequeathed to film, TV, music, and now streaming. An inheritance of great value and importance.
Once upon a time there was a curious family
The Addams Family began its journey into pop culture as an animated comic that was part of New Yorker between 1938 and 1964. Signed by Charles Addams, it was gothic american dream. One that also had rare social depth and a peculiar way of understanding darkness and horror.
The work was composed of black-and-white vignettes, but drawn in ink and long linework, giving it a rare, timeless air. At first, the story focused only on a stylish married couple who never parted from their dapper black outfits without the presence of Wednesday and Pugsley. Both discussed politics, culture, theater and shortly thereafter cinema in ominous and almost always confusing terms. The peculiarity is that these were not strips of vignettes, but unique panels of rare beauty and detail.
Since 1965 Wednesday and Pugsley became part of the familyalthough they still didn’t have a name. In fact, not a single member of the family had it, and they were referred to only as “father”, “mother”, “son” and “daughter”. Cause? For author Charles Addams, the cartoon was “a silent window into a sinister world”.
It was the series released in 1964 that required the inclusion of names. When production began to develop, the author was asked what name he wants to give his creations. And in the midst of an exchange of ideas that lasted six months, they found the right ones. By the way, as an interesting fact for fans, Wednesday’s middle name is Friday.
The Addams Family has gone beyond The New Yorker.
Director Tim Burton will likely decide to dive into the world of the Addams Family after Wednesday. And do it through the rest of the publications that its author made, since the comic was no longer part of New Yorker. Among them is a collection Dear Dead Days: A Family Album in 1959, the most extensive, detailed and containing all sorts of eccentric data. For example, Addams’ footnotes about the family’s sleepless hours, a shopping list, and a detailed overview of his family’s travels.
Some of this material was included in the 1964 series. It was also part of an investigation into two films released in the 1990s. Actually, Addams Family Values (1993) by Barry Sonnenfeld, some compilation details survive.
The environment is even weirder than you thought
Charles Addams was very passionate about his work. By adding and removing strange details, his universe became more and more strange. In 1964 and before the comic went out of print, the author included a conversation between his characters that confused readers. In a brief dialogue between the Addams spouses, it is mentioned that Wednesday has six fingers.
But that’s not the only data that Charles Addams contributed to the nineties series. He also noted that the family’s daughter had a “sinister yet brilliant personality”. And that she no doubt imagined that perhaps growing up she would look much like her mother. This extreme came into Barry Sonnenfeld’s Addams Family Values (1993) when Wednesday (Christina Ricci) becomes more like her mother. Additionally, it was used in the 2019 animated version directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan.
Source: Hiper Textual
