Why Some Fans Feel Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ ‘Botched’ the Original Charm of the Franchise and Its Characters
While Tim Burton and Jenna Ortega have received immense praise for Netflix‘s Wednesday, not all fans feel the same. The reviews are divided between fans who see the series as a fun and fresh take on the macabre teen and those who think it does not do the franchise justice. According to some Netflix fans, a closed-off Wednesday Addams ventures into uncharted territory with psychic powers, a love triangle, and mother issues.
Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday Addams is the focal point of a murder mystery
While Wednesday first appeared in the cartoon series, Lisa Loring played the youngest and first live-action version in 1964. But the character gained pop culture notoriety when played by Christina Ricci in The Addams Family movies. Ricci’s role cemented the macabre teen as an icon and one that many fans believed could not be beaten.
But upon hearing Netflix would develop a live-action TV series, fans were skeptical. It’s not easy to mimic the peculiar Wednesday Addams’ emotionless persona. However, there was hope for the project in Tim Burton’s hands and with Jenna Ortega in the leading role. Having been compared to Wednesday her entire life, Ortega seemed like the perfect fit.
Netflix’s Wednesday gives the goth teen a new feel and story fans have never seen before. Instead of the family, she is the sole focus as she attends Nevermore Academy for outcasts. Wednesday is intrigued by the school’s secrets and the local slew of murders.
The series has apparent differences from the original franchise, like Wednesday’s bangs, her standoffish demeanor toward others, her psychic powers, and her broken relationship with her mother and family. But Wednesday stuck to the popular characters, like Thing. But among the rave reviews, some fans feel Netflix’s Wednesday did not do the franchise justice.
Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ showed a much more ‘annoying’ version of the character
Wednesday Addams is a complex character to bring to life. She is unmistakably cold, secure in who she is, and does not care for people’s feelings when telling them the truth. On Reddit, fans felt the series was lackluster and swayed too far from the crux of who the character is.
“Probably unpopular but I think Netflix did a really poor job in adapting the material. She is hostile to her family which doesn’t make sense. The whole magic / having visions thing is also absolutely useless and uncalled for. So they took away Wednesday key feature: in the movies she was witty and dark and spoke absolute blunt truths that people choose to ignore, but Netflix choose to make her just annoying instead,” said one fan on Reddit.
The fan further explains that they were turned off by Wednesday’s inherently ugly attitude toward her family. In the franchise, Wednesday had an unspoken understanding with her mother, Morticia. But in the Netflix series, Wednesday almost despises her mother and refuses to live in her shadow. She is not too cordial at times with Thing, only showing true emotional duress when he is on the brink of death.
The fan on Reddit shows their distaste for the Netflix series by saying, “My daughter is a huge Wednesday fan based on the movies but Netflix Wednesday is just botched, lazy writing.”
Some fans feel Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ followed the same boring tropes of teen drama
While Wednesday did have a small romance story in The Addams Family Values, the character does not cater to lovey-dovey affection. In the Netflix series, fans see Wednesday try to navigate a love triangle between Xavier and Tyler. At the same time, the Nevermore setting creates a mix of teen drama. There’s the Queen Bee Bianca, her dilemma with her ex, the school cliques, and more.
The new Wednesday may not be for everyone. One fan expressed distaste by saying, “Why does Wednesday have bangs? Why is Pugsley a scared boy? Why do Gomez and Morticia have no chemistry? Why is Wednesday a typical teenager who doesnt want to be her Mom?”
A fan on Reddit admits Netflix’s Wednesday found it “lame.” They truthfully admit Tim Burton should have done a different project for the franchise.
“I mean, I get that it’s hard to adapt this character to a TV series (actually, no it’s not, there is literally already a TV series about the Addams Family). This just seems like a mismash of Harry Potter and a typical high school melodrama with a veneer of gothism. I can’t believe I’m writing this but……they should have just let Tim Burton revamp the original series from the 1960s,” explained the fan. “So many much more potential than just hanging on one character. The Addams Family is best when the whole family is included and things like magic, other species of beings (scales, werewolves, etc.), etc. are hinted at versus being explicitly shown/explained to the viewers.”
The Netflix series may not be for every die-hard fan. However, Wednesday appears to have found an audience to make it one of the streaming service’s most popular shows.
