Gothic delirium with Wednesday Addams
Wednesday Addams, the devilish daughter of the famous Addams Family, never ceases to fascinate. Once a mere secondary character, even a mute one, she has now become the star of a series directed by Tim Burton. A successful series, moreover, which is already calling for a sequel. Let's relive, with horror and hilarity, the origins of Wednesday, the youngest Addams.
The origins of a Charles Addams cartoon
In 1938, the cartoonist Charles Addams (using his pseudonym Chas Addams to sign his work) rebelled against the puritanical image of the perfect American bourgeois family conveyed by the media. He began publishing a series of cartoons in "The New Yorker" magazine, featuring characters who were not perfect: macabre, egotistical, strange, even frightening, and borderline psychopaths.
Funnily enough, none of these original characters had names. What's more, they appeared one after the other, and it was only later that their creator turned them into a real family, very abnormal and very endearing.
Gradually, the characters came to be known as the "Addams Family", in reference to the author.
The youngest daughter, later known as Wednesday, is a pre-adolescent girl with long black eyes. But she never speaks, it's the other characters who talk to her or about her, while she rages about getting a reward at school, or her mother tells her to poison her brother to get revenge.
Wednesday gets her name
An American television series was created for the Addams Family in 1964. The names of the main characters were revealed, including Morticia Addams the mother, Gomez the father, Pugsley the brother, and Wednesday the little sister played by actress Lisa Loring. Yes, here she is the little sister, more cute than naughty, but already showing a penchant for horror with her eight-legged pet and her decapitated Marie Antoinette doll.
So where does this rather bizarre name come from? In the story of this TV series, the parents chose this name for their daughter in reference to a popular song called "Monday's Child". It's a sort of nursery rhyme, in which we learn the character of each child according to the day they are born in the week. And for our heroine, "Wednesday's child is full of woe". Something to interest Addams parents...
The emblematic Ricci
In the 1990s, considered by many film fans to be the best decade of the 9th art, two films about the Addams Family hit the big screen: The Addams Family in 1991 and Addams Family Values in 1993. These two films, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, really cemented the image of the Addams Family in popular culture.
And it was the young actress Christina Ricci who won the casting call and took on the role of Wednesday during filming. Compared to the other actors, her role is totally secondary in the first film. She impresses with her disturbing presence and her black, black humour. Ricci's Wednesday is the little sister, totally inexpressive, always trying to torture or murder her brother Pugsley... With her black plaits and oversized forehead, she looks like she's come straight from hell. But she manages to develop a strange charisma, especially with her habit of always saying what's on her mind without a filter.
In the second film, because of the impact of her character, Mercredi gets more screen time and action. In particular, she and her brother go on a holiday camp... which turns into a disaster.
Mercredi evolves and becomes more human
In 2019, the Addams Family will be the subject of a feature-length animated film. It was directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan. Here, Wednesday feels she is becoming different from her family and is bored with her dark and sarcastic life. She seeks to discover the world and to be like "normal" people... She ends up becoming dark again, but with more human features, and accepting her difference as something quite Addamesque.
This film and its 2021 sequel lay the foundations for a more human and modern Wednesday, one that will receive its own series.
The successful series
Eager for successful ideas, Netflix decided to produce a TV series centred on the character of "Wednesday Addams". The 8 episodes of the first season of this TV series were broadcast on streaming from November 2022.
And if you too are a fan of Jenna Ortega's character or Tim Burton's productions, don't hesitate to browse our geek shop for Wednesday Addams goodies, such as figurines or even "The Thing" key rings.