La Ron S. Readus
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How Gay is Wednesday's Nevermore Academy? (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2022-12-21 21:00:03 +0000 UTCThis video is sponsored by Skillshare
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Readers, I feel like I need to clarify a couple of things before we get into the nitty-gritty of today’s lesson considering the subject matter.
Did I enjoy Netflix’s Wednesday? Yes.
/Considering how she’s gained an incredible fan base since Addams Family Values and has been heavily revered in modern media since said film, seeing Wednesday in this solo outing that highlights the highs and lows of her character was heavily entertaining as much as it was thought-provoking./
That doesn’t mean the show is without flaw, nor does it mean it doesn’t deserve criticism, because it TOTALLY does.
Those who HAVE watched the show know the type of criticism I’m talking about, but for those who haven’t, just know that it involves a couple of characters in the show that are (points at skin)
The reason why I’m not talking about it in THIS video however, is because the way those characters are depicted in this show is something that isn’t just limited to Wednesday.
/And as much as I wanna talk about it, I feel compelled to talk about it ALL. Not just how it’s displayed in a single series/
Which means yes, that’s probably gonna be a video essay I’ll be working on in the future
But for now, there’s something specific that I wanna talk about when I initially watched Wednesday for the first time.
/And while Wednesday herself definitely plays a role, the very nature of Nevermore Academy and the characters surrounding it -- both morally good, bad and grey -- also helped me piece certain allegories together regarding queerness./
Not only through Wednesday’s association with it through the ties established with previous Addams Family movies and the like...
But also how it naturally contrasts with the POV of others and how the very plot of the season unfortunately resembled and predicted the real-life circumstances that recently occurred. Let’s begin.
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Hey, Readers. La’Ron here. Offering you analysis and perspective on your favorite bits of geek and pop culture media
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Nevermore Is Gay
This is just one fact that’s just...not up for discussion.
Like, knowing what I know of how the modern-day interpretation of the Addams Family thanks to the two live-action movies of the 90’s, I highly anticipated Nevermore being an allegory for a safe haven for LGBTQIA+ youth
Now I explain it in my video regarding everyone’s favorite Addams Family villain Debbie Jellinsky...
But while The Addams Family evolved beyond being the weird macabre family that every “normal” family raises an eyebrow at initially envisioned by creator Charles Addams, we eventually received the allegorical connection of The Addams Family to that of it being a rebellion of conservative family values that were initiated in the Reagan administration and pushed as “traditional” as a form of control...
/Thanks to writer Paul Rudnick sprinkling in a bit of that connection in the 1991 film when he was hired to iron out the kinks in the script, and then just going all out with it when he was hired to write the entirety of its 1993 sequel Addams Family Values/
And, as you can imagine, that rebellion of republican familial control also included the inclusion of queer individuals, whether they were shunned by their birth families, or developed a found family as a result.
There’s also the fact that to a certain extent, the very members of Nevermore Academy -- students and staff alike -- literally are a concept that for the longest time ostracized individuals across the world related to in one way or another: Monsters
While Universal Studios helped solidify monsters and supernatural creatures as cinema staples with the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon...
/The likes of queer people have always seen these forces that were meant to be translated as villainous, dangerous or offputting according to the gaze of societal standards, and relate to being hunted, shunned, disowned and revolted by others for the various reasons they see themselves in the “outcasts” in question./
And as you can imagine, as time passed and certain creatives told highly acclaimed stories that allowed them to share why they associated themselves with the creatures in question...
What started off as stories that helped spread the propaganda of xenophobia, the shaming of people afflicted with disease -- sexual or otherwise -- and disrespecting the natural habitats of animals both during and after colonization, are now replaced with the modern monster tales with both the subtle and blatant queer tones and nuance that we have today.
So considering that, it’s only NATURAL that Nevermore has vampires, that they have werewolves, that they have gorgons, and they have sirens. Because all of those creatures are already HEAVILY regularly associated with the likes of queerness.
And combining this already rich history of associating the type of characters one would find at Nevermore to queerness with what Paul Rudnick has added to the tapestry of The Addams Family franchise with Addams Family Values, the association is pretty much immediate.
/Intentional or not, Wednesday’s Nevermore Academy was great way to use “outcasts” as the series calls them as a great way to provide allegory for queer youth seeking a safe space for them to freely be themselves in a world filled and ruled by “normies,” just like Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters in the X-Men branch of the universe of Marvel Comics being a safehaven for mutants among humans also became an allegory for queer people and people of color seeking refuge in a world filled with and ruled by cis straight white folk./
Y’know, in case you needed another comparison that provides the same context
This makes it a lot easier for the subplots of the supporting characters that are featured in the show to be seen through a queer lens
/Characters like Wednesday’s roommate and eventual bff Enid Sinclair, a werewolf that has yet to wolf out like her older brothers and having to deal with her mother wanting to send her to a werewolf version of conversion therapy after the school year is done in order for her to do so/
/Even Bianca Barclay, Nevermore’s resident mean girl and Wednesday’s self-appointed rival, is a Siren who wants to separate herself from the toxic control of her mother and the hinted-at abuse of her now-stepfather and make a name for herself in a place she feels safe in./
The arcs of both of these characters are capable of being expanded upon and resolved in multiple ways outside of what Wednesday provides, sure. But because of Nevermore’s capability of equating the life of the outcast with the association of real-life queer struggles, said arcs and developments can be made easily more relatable and compatible to them.
Now all that’s left is to not just rely on allegory and get some ACTUAL queer representation underway, but we’ll talk about that in a minute.
So yeah. The way Wednesday frames Nevermore Academy as it being a safe space for “outcasts” in a “normie” town like Jericho, definitely helps emphasize the relationship that The Addams Family franchise as a whole already has with its queer fanbase, and those who associate the queer relatabilities to the very stories that play out within its halls.
The thing is, if Nevermore’s gay...
Then So Is Its Principal.
The dynamic between Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday and Gwendoline Christie’s Principal Larissa Weems, personally, was my favorite.
Like, I’d be lying if I said I had Larissa pinned from the start; I’m gonna be quite honest with you.
Obviously she was meant to play foil for Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday regarding being an obstacle getting in the way of her solving the mystery surrounding Nevermore Academy and its relationship with the town of Jericho...with a few backstory beats that were borrowed from one of the most famous incels to graduate from House Slytherin.
It’s fine. I’m ALSO a Slytherin; I’m allowed to make that read.
/So when everything begins to unfurl regarding the overarching plot of the town of Jericho’s founding father Joseph Crackstone, we can start to see Larissa’s role a bit clearer than initially intended when it comes to not only being an outcast herself, but how she reflects certain real life standpoints when it comes to the aspect of queer allegory her character represents./
The audience is initially made aware of this in the season’s third episode, “Friend or Woe.”
/When Wednesday has another vision -- this time of Jericho’s past through the point of view of her ancestor Goody Addams -- she learns about the town’s founding father Joseph Crackstone, and all the atrocities he happily committed against “outcasts” in the name of God/
Which, y’know...on brand for them.
Now I feel like it’s unnecessary for me to list the real life comparisons to this fictional colonizer and other individuals like him in real life who have gleefully committed hate crimes against queer people, people of color, and any other individual who doesn’t fit the cis het white standards established.
Besides, I already have plans to do a real life comparison in the next segment, and I need that one specifically to stand out.
But one thing I’m sure we were ALL satisfied to see happen in that episode...
/Was Wednesday and Thing collaborating to melt Crackstone’s statue in the middle of the town’s Outreach Day celebration, and Wednesday satisfactorily playing the cello in the midst of the chaos./
Now I know what you’re thinking; what does this have to do with Principal Weems?
Well, that’s a real simple question to answer, and we get said answer in the same episode when we see how eager Principal Weems is to use Outreach Day to establish solidarity between Nevermore Academy and the normies of Jericho.
/We learn that their patronage to Jericho covers the town’s essentials, and Weems personally contributed to Mayor Walker’s election campaign in order to establish said relationship./
/So you can only imagine how she felt during the ceremony when the statue of Crackstone is set on fire at the end of the day./
But the point I’m initially trying to make, happens when Weems and Wednesday discuss things AT the end of the day, when she rightfully suspects Wednesday of the statue’s destruction.
/We find out that Weems is aware of the horrible atrocities Crackstone did to outcasts during the colonization days, and we finally get Weems’s opinions. A statement on trying to right the wrongs of the past in order to better establish relations between outcasts and normies, while Wednesday brings a very relatable counter argument regarding it being merely toleration without invoking actual change/ (Nothing has changed since Crackstone. They still hate us. Only now they sugarcoat it with platitudes and smiles)
This scene acts as proof that while Wednesday represents those of us who believe we shouldn’t have to hide who we are for the sake of assimilation to the current social structure that favors normalcy, and rightfully call out the lies of bigotry and fascism and the like -- regardless of who’s offended by it...
Weemes has a more bipartisan view in regards to how outcasts are perceived by normies as well as holding reputation in high standard, even in the midst OF said bigotry and fascism
/While we see that the safety of the Nevermore students is definitely top priority when we see the lengths she goes as a shapeshifter to make everyone think Rowan Laslow is still alive in the second episode after the Hyde killed him at the end of the fist.../ (I did what I needed to do...protect its students from harm)
/It’s important to notice that the behavior she displays up until the reveal of Tyler being the Hyde being controlled by Marylin very much resembles some -- not all -- queer folk and people of color that are constantly trying to live their lives under the watchful eyes of heteronormativity and white supremacy in ways that one of the two -- or both -- constructs deem acceptable./
Meanwhile Wednesday Addams, just like her Addams Family Values variant, constantly rebels against the idea of trying to fit into the “normie” mold as an “outcast”...
/And isn’t afraid to let those who are of higher authority than her know that we shouldn’t have to fit in the mold of heteronormativity and the current standards of society in order to be deemed acceptable./ (You are exhausting, I know)
This is part of the reason why I appreciate Wednesday and Larissa’s dynamic so much. Especially after this episode.
And as I continued watching the show and see the story play out -- especially regarding the relationship between the two characters -- I started to see how much both they and the story of Wednesday season 1 continued to reflect real life struggles and situations regarding queer folk and people of color in various ways
Unfortunately however, allegory was beginning to be ALL that I saw. Even as I was waiting at the opportune times for representation to properly display itself in order to compliment it.
And that reason alone is how we get to the show’s biggest flaw (pauses). Well, ONE of the show’s biggest flaw...
Because yes. Netflix’s Wednesday has within it the means to provide a great amount of representation to tell stories of various walks of queer lives, thanks to how we can analyze it and interpret the allegories within.
But Not At Its Core
Now, I know that what I’m about to say for those of you who can kinda see where I’m going with this might make some of you a bit worried about me
After all, some of y’all who already put it together probably are watching this video going “No, La’Ron! Don’t do it! Your job security! Will someone PLEASE think of your job security!”
But I feel it needs to be said that Wednesday’s Nevermore Academy and the individuals within its walls being a brilliant allegory for safe spaces for queer people and people of color and the struggles they face among others who resent them and even among their own...
At this point in time, in the format it was presented in, should be MORE than allegory.
While yes, the life-long connection these creatures have to queerness allow us to unapologetically look at the characters presented in Wednesday with a queer lens automatically.
And because of the subject matter, lots of situations regarding what it means to be oppressed in REALITY -- both in regards to ethnicity and within the confines of sex and gender -- were allowed to be made in the show using “outcasts” and “normies” to properly depict them.
The plot point of Hydes being a type of outcast yet no longer being allowed in Nevermore after a fatal incident showing that they’re too dangerous, mirrors that of real life erasure and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals, thanks to the opinions of “loud but wrong” assholes within the community. The constant invalidation of bisexuality from fellow queer people and the exclusion of trans people from the TERF hate group the LGB Alliance are prime examples.
The reveal of Garret Gates originally being in Nevermore to spike the punch of the Raven Dance with Nightshade poison in order to kill nearly every outcast that attended back when Gomez and Morticia were students, being a plan his father told him to carry out due to his own hatred of outcasts for Nevermore “stealing” the land of their ancestor -- Jericho forefather Joseph Crackstone -- to build the school in the first place...
Reminded me a lot of the umpteenth mass shooting that happened in America in 2022 -- the LGBTQUIA+ Club Q in Colorado Springs that robbed 5 innocent queer people of their lives and left more injured -- and the shooter’s father being interviewed and spouting a sigh of relief upon learning that his son wasn’t queer before going on to admitting to encouraging his son’s violent behavior.
Now before I continue, I MUST say that the timing of Wednesday’s release and the occurrence of this real life hate crime is 100% coincidental and I am not assuming ANYTHING of the contrary at all; it was legit a case of art imitating life imitating art that I just so happened to notice during my watch. Cool? Cool.
And while all of these associations and comparisons are incredibly important in seeing analysis and allegory play out regarding the show’s connection to queerness and queer youth fighting persecution and hate...
/The fact that the only queer couple -- that isn’t a fan ship -- present in this whole-ass story about “outcasts” trying to survive in a world where the last surviving member of an extremely bigoted normie family is resorting to the supernatural to resurrect her hate-filled ancestor back from the dead in order to commit mass genocide, is one mature lesbian couple that we only are introduced to when their son is hospitalized./
Instead, this writing team that collectively has brought us the likes of Smallville, All-American, South Hell and Sweet Valley High...
/Presents us with one budding hetero romance, an extremely messy post romantic relationship between two individuals of the opposite sex that have been nothing but problematic with each other, and a monogamy-promoting love triangle where Wednesday is being forced to choose between two male suitors./
You mean to tell me that out of all the main characters of Wednesday season 1 in this queer safe space allegory safe haven school for outcasts, filled with queer allegory outcast students, that not even ONE of them is ACTUALLY queer? In 2022? On NETFLIX? And you’re PROUD of that? WHY??
While allegory is an important tool in order to interpret art to make it personally mean something to the beholder -- and one that lots of people who consume media nowadays currently don’t like to acknowledge for the means of removing agency from those who actively seek it...
What also helps is that we as marginalized people see ourselves and our situations be accurately depicted IN said media
Yes, we have this rich history of character association when it comes to finding common ground and relatability to “the other,” and it has made both brilliant and beautiful headway into some iconic works that we have today when it comes to both allegory AND representation. Because it has been proven that both can exist in the same work and said work can still be good.
But when you only have the association of the allegory that those who came before you have placed on said creatures and scenarios while not understanding why the concepts you have come to appreciate exist in this form in the first place...
You will proceed to do what both the showrunners and the other writers for Wednesday decided to do; present only the queer allegory that comes with the subject matter you’re exploring, but basking so much in your heteronormativity while doing so that you fall short on the representation, not realizing that’s why the allegory exists in the first place.
And this is all I’m gonna say on the matter, but this can ALSO be used as evidence regarding why the prominent African American characters in Wednesday, act like they don’t know that they’re black (sips coffee)
Conclusion
While I definitely share a lot of the criticisms that many individuals also have with it, I enjoyed Netflix’s Wednesday for pretty much everything that I was anticipating enjoying it for
And if anything, seeing how well both Nevermore Academy and the very struggle that outcasts deal with in a place that is supposed to be a safehaven for them reflects the real-life struggles of queer people and people of color in a society that isn’t catered with them in mind, is mostly ironic.
Now I say ironic, because once again, we only have this association in the form of allegory. Both the easily interpreted bits of safe spaces thanks to past practices with The Addams Family franchise, and how relatability factors in when it comes to the everyday struggle of seeking various forms of acceptance
Even when the unfortunate coincidences of fictional trauma eerily reflect that of what we face in real life, it’s not intentional at the end of the day.
/In the case of how Nevermore represents a safehaven for “outcasts” that is constantly under attack by “normies'' in ways that mirror real-life places and people experiencing the same thing, despite how well the Netflix series allows one to easily interpret it as such, Wednesday was right:/ (It’s either they write our story or we do. You can’t have it both ways)
But, I digress, Readers. Your homework assignment for the day:
Write in the comment section below what you thought of Netflix’s Wednesday if you’ve seen it
Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, a film or television show you felt did a very good job acting as an allegory for a marginalized group of people that you thought would’ve been better presented if it wasn’t just made as an allegory.
Whichever question you decide to answer, I’d love to know your thoughts!
/A HUGE shoutout to my Patrons both big and small for helping make this channel possible.
Make sure you check out the card at the end of the video to join, or click the link to it or any of my affiliates in the description box below.
But until then, this is Readus 101. Class dismissed./
