Label volunteer, Viera White, let’s us in on all there is to know about Netflix’s most recent hit ‘Wednesday’.
Tim Burton is a legendary filmmaker known for his gothic aesthetic and dark-themed films. Burton has very unique and particular film designs, focusing on melancholy colours and dark lighting to create an eery mood in his productions, giving it more of a horror genre feel. This unique style that stands out from other producers, makes use of high and low lighting contrast which reflects onto characters and the events playing out. His distinguishable style means Tim Burton has been highly acclaimed, receiving awards such as Best Director and Best Animated Film – showing how well known and appreciated he has come to be.
Burton’s most recent work is ‘Wednesday’ a spin-off show based on ‘The Addams Family’ which follows Wednesday Addams as she is sent to a boarding school. Wednesday is sent to a school of outcasts and deals with a newfound psychic ability, as well as becoming involved in a series of mysteries surrounding the school.
‘Wednesday’ has already received a lot of attention; in less than a month since it was released, it had already received two Golden Globe nominations. Jenna Ortega adapts a distinctive acting style to portray Wednesday’s closed off and dark demeanour – in interviews, she comments how Burton directed her to minimise her blinking and stare people down.
Burton has been praised for highlighting The Addams Family Latina heritage, casting Hispanic characters who match the original Addams Family description instead of white-washing the characters – Ortega has Mexican heritage, and her heritage reflects onto her character and allows wider representation of the characters.
The Addams Family has a gothic theme to it, past productions have dark comedy elements that portray the weird and thriller aspects of the family – ‘Wednesday’ continues to do this as it explores Wednesday’s cold and reserved nature in the modern world of teenagers and social norms. Wednesday is different to the people around her, but she doesn’t let this affect her behaviour which highlights her family background and shows how different her parents are to most. Wednesday’s incapability to hold and maintain friendships shows her upbringing and off-putting personality.
Tim Burton does an excellent job of holding the original charisma of The Addams Family, while adapting it to modern society and bringing in issues that they may not have had to deal with in the past.
Altogether ‘Wednesday’ has been highly successful for Tim Burton, it has been the number 1 show watched on Netflix for 2 months and has almost a billion hours viewed. These viewing indicate a high interest towards the show, although no season two has been announced yet I wouldn’t think it is long before it will be announced. ‘Wednesday’ is a diverse, engaging, and thrilling show that shows Wednesday Addams struggle to adapt to normality in a complex teenage society. I think it is an enjoyable watch and would recommend this to anyone looking for a comedic, murder mystery show.
Edited By: Rachel Cannings (Head of Culture and Entertainment)
Design By: Sarim Mangi (Head of Design)
