Netflix's new hit series Wednesday has shaken up the world and reignited a love for the iconic Addams Family. Fans love Jenna Ortega's interpretation of the Addams' eldest daughter, Wednesday, for a variety of different reasons. Her apathetic nature, dry humor, her obsession with death and all things dark and dreary are just a couple of things Ortega expertly brings to the screen.
For decades, the goth subculture has claimed Wednesday Addams as a member of the community, and Jenna Ortega continues to make the Addams daughter the Queen of Goths in the Netflix series. From attending Nevermore Academy -- a school directly inspired by goth icon, Edgar Allan Poe -- to performing an iconic dance sequence inspired by goth nightclubs, here's how Wednesday Season 1 successfully captures goth subculture.
The History of Goth Subculture, Explained
Although goth is largely a music based subculture, its aesthetic is rooted in the dark and romantic literature of writers like Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe. These authors create an eerie atmosphere of dread and unease meant to unsettle readers in their pieces like Frankenstein and "The Tell-Tale Heart." Gothicism is concerned with themes like death, decay and eternal romance, and goths express this darkness in their visual and sonic style. Popular goth musical artists like Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees, Bauhaus and The Cure all use dark and bold makeup, black clothing and flashy jewelry. They also sport big, teased out hair to stand apart from other music subcultures and define their darkness. Their songs are often dark, both lyrically and compositionally, with song titles like "Bela Lugosi's Dead" and "Prayers for Rain."
The goth subculture is as vast as it is dark, allowing for goths to experiment with their style and expression. Over time, the subculture has changed to reflect the current eras and incorporate trends from the mainstream. Cinema has been responsible for some of these transformations. Films like The Crow, Edward Scissorhands and Queen of the Damned have shed light on a subculture often looked down upon from the mainstream culture. Some of cinema's most famous goth characters are Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice (played by Winona Ryder), Allison Reynolds from The Breakfast Club (played by Ally Sheedy) and, of course, Wednesday Addams played by both Christina Ricci and Jenna Ortega in the past few decades.
How Netflix's Wednesday Captures the Goth Subculture
Since the inception of The Addams Family in the 1930s, the oddball family has come to represent several different things about American society. Aside from their obvious detour from mainstream society, the Addams clan's deviation runs deeper. The relationship between the family members -- especially between Gomez and Morticia -- highlights the flaws of a typical nuclear family. During the 20th century, mainstream media often portrayed families as people who didn't like each other, with tropes like the nagging wife and distant father. Wednesday's character is also unique in her portrayal of a teenage daughter, as she is uninterested in many of the stereotypical things most girls are shown to like.
Wednesday's gothic nature is also vital to her character. Aside from her black and white attire and moody attitude, her obsession with all things dark and dreary sets up her interactions with people outside of her family. She is uninterested in the gossip at Nevermore until terrible things start happening. Unlike her brightly dressed and in-the-moment roommate Enid (Emma Myers), whose happy personality serves to contrast Wednesday's, Wednesday is the epitome of what goth is. She's obsessed with death, prefers being alone and has a dark sense of humor.
Netflix's Wednesday ties her gothic nature in with more modern elements of the subculture. Her wardrobe features platform creepers and boots, as well as gorgeous black pieces of clothing. Most notable is Wednesday's goth dancing, which Jenna Ortega said is directly inspired by Siouxsie Sioux and video footage of goths dancing in the 1980s. Wednesday's gothic influences and sensibilities give Wednesday an eerie and macabre atmosphere that is key to The Addams Family franchise, while introducing audiences to a character that is goth both visually and internally
Wednesday is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.