While Tim Burton and Jenna Ortega have received immense praise for Netflix WednesdayNot all fans feel the same. Criticism is split between fans who see the series as a fun and fresh take on the ghoulish teen and those who think it doesn’t do the franchise justice. Wednesday Addams ventures into uncharted territory with psychic powers, a love triangle, mom issues, and shutdown.
Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday Addams is Mexican-American and is the focal point of a murder mystery.
While Wednesday first materialized in the cartoon series, the first and younger live-action version was portrayed by Lisa Loring in 1964. But the character gained pop culture notoriety when portrayed by Christina Ricci in the addams family films. Ricci’s role cemented the ghoulish teenager as an icon many fans believed could not be topped.
But upon hearing that Netflix would be developing a live-action TV series, fans were skeptical. Wednesday Addams is quirky and it’s not easy to imitate his personality without emotions from him. There was hope from the hand of Tim Burton, and with Jenna Ortega in the lead role. Having been compared to her character her entire life, Ortega seemed to fit the bill perfectly.
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from netflix Wednesday gives the gothic teen a new feel, and one fans of the story have never seen before. Instead of family, she is the sole focus as she attends Nevermore Academy for dropouts. Wednesday is intrigued by the secrets of the school and the large number of local murders.
The series has apparent differences from the original franchise, such as Wednesday’s bangs, her aloof attitude towards others, her psychic powers, and her broken relationship with her mother and family. But Wednesday stuck to popular characters, like Thing. But among the rave reviews, some fans feel that Netflix Wednesday It didn’t 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 unequivocally cold, she is sure of who she is and doesn’t care about people’s feelings when she tells them the truth. On Reddit, fans felt the series was lackluster and strayed too far from the crux of who the character is.
“Probably unpopular, but I think Netflix did a very poor job of adapting the material. She’s hostile to her family, which doesn’t make sense. The whole magic/visioning thing is also absolutely pointless and unnecessary. So they removed Wednesday’s key feature: In the movies, she was witty and dark and spoke blunt, absolute truths that people choose to ignore, but Netflix chooses to make her annoying instead of her,” one fan said on Reddit.
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The fan further explains that Wednesday’s inherently ugly attitude towards her family put them off. In the franchise, Wednesday had a tacit understanding with his mother, Morticia. But in the Netflix series, Wednesday almost despises his mother and refuses to live in her shadow. He is sometimes not too cordial to Thing, and only shows true emotional coercion when he is on the brink of death.
The Reddit fan shows his distaste for the Netflix series by saying, “My daughter is a big fan of Wednesdays based on movies, but Netflix Wednesdays are just lazy botched writing.”
Fans feel Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ followed the same boring teen drama tropes
While Wednesday had a little romance story in Addams Family Values, the character does not satisfy the lovey-dovey affection. In the Netflix series, fans see Wednesday trying to navigate a love triangle between Xavier and Tyler. At the same time, the Nevermore setting creates a mix of teen drama. There’s queen bee Bianca, her dilemma with her ex, the school cliques, and more.
One fan expressed disgust saying, “Why does Wednesday have bangs? Why is Pugsley a scared child? Why don’t Gomez and Morticia have chemistry? Why is Wednesday the typical teenager who doesn’t want to be her mom? The new Wednesday may not be for everyone.”
A fan on Reddit admits that Netflix Wednesday found it “boring.” They candidly admit that Tim Burton should have done a different project for the franchise.
“I mean, I understand that it’s hard to adapt this character into a TV series (actually, no, it’s not, there’s literally already an Addams Family TV series). This looks like a mix of Harry Potter and a typical high school melodrama with a gothic flair. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but…they should have let Tim Burton revamp the original 1960s series,” the fan explained. “Much more potential than just relying 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, rather than explicitly shown/explained to the viewers.”
The Netflix series may not be for all die-hard fans.
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