THE GOTHIC PRINCESS OF THE ADDAMS FAMILY “WEDNESDAY” FROM TIM BURTON
Cinema Writer/Film Critic Efe TEKSOY; wrote the horror, comedy and fantastic series “WEDNESDAY” for America’s Los Angeles based Internet Newspaper @alaturkanews.
A DARK NARRATOR
Based on the classic work The Addams Family by American cartoonist Charles Addams, known for its dark humor and spooky characters, the spin-off adaptation Wednesday is directed by Oscar-nominated master director Tim Burton. In the production, starring the young star actress Jenna Ortega; Academy, BAFTA and Tony Award-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones plays the mother Morticia Addams, and the veteran actress Luis Guzmán plays the father Gomez Addams. The soundtrack of the series, which was released on Netflix, belongs to the famous Oscar-nominated composer Danny Elfman, who has been composing the songs and music of Tim Burton movies for years and is famous for the soundtrack of The Simpsons. The iconic character Wednesday Addams takes its name from the lines in an old English nursery rhyme, Monday’s Child. We see that the series focuses on Existentialism, that is, the Philosophy of Existentialism, within the framework of the character depicted in a dark and gothic way, and we also see that the character of Wednesday acts in line with certain purposes. French Existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century, changed the course of western philosophy with his thoughts. He broke new ground in his field with his revolutionary approach in his masterpiece book Being and Nothingness, which represents the last great “Phenomenological Ontology” experiment in terms of philosophy history. In this great philosophy book; It challenged all previous assumptions about the individual’s relationship to the world and left its mark on the era, forcing the reader to confront the fundamental dilemmas of human freedom, choice, responsibility, and action. Sartre; “If it is true that human-reality announces and defines itself by the ends it pursues, a study and classification of these ends becomes inevitable.” he states that it is a part of absolute subjectivity as the transcendent and objective limit of purpose. Unable to hold on to any school and unable to make friends due to her unconventional character, Wednesday enters Nevermore Academy and, as always, takes the easy way out with her attempts to escape from school. But thanks to his mother, Morticia, and the headmaster, Larissa Weems, he matures and develops psychologically, giving his friends, school, and himself a chance. French writer and philosopher Voltaire, known as the leading philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, deeply influenced the development of European civilization with his masterpieces of civil rights and freedom thought and shed light on a new age. His work The Ignorant Philosopher, in which he confronts the views of thinkers such as Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz, is the dawning discovery of what we know about the world, what we can know, and what practical effects this knowledge should have on our lives. Voltaire; “Let’s not go beyond the limits of our own existence; Let’s continue to examine ourselves as best we can.” he puts forward an existential argument. In Wednesday, (just as Voltaire mentioned in his work), she does not go beyond the limits of her own existence and shows a great personal development.
TOPIC OF THE SERIES
Wednesday Addams, a smart, cynical and melancholic member of the Addams Family, goes from adventure to adventure investigating a series of murders while making new friends and enemies at Nevermore Academy.
The creators of the series; American producer Alfred Gough and Australian-British producer Miles Millar.
Stars; Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzmán, Gwendoline Christie, Riki Lindhome, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday, Jamie McShane, Hunter Doohan, Percy Hynes White, Georgie Farmer, Naomi J. Ogawa and Christina Ricci.
GOTHIC PRINCESS WEDNESDAY ADDAMS
The main plot of the series; It focuses on the adventures of Wednesday Addams at Nevermore Academy, an extremely dark portrayal of an essentially eerie and melancholic character. However, in the following chapters, the story shifts towards the detective-crime genre, with some mysterious murders being committed. Although Wednesday Addams extraordinary personality was initially found to be strange by those around her, it is seen that she was later adopted by her friends and accepted by similar personalities. One of the first female philosophers of her time, 17th century English philosopher Anne Conway; her book titled “The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy” deeply influenced the Age of Enlightenment with her radical and unconventional ideas. It also has an extremely important place due to its influence on the German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz, one of the three greatest defenders of the Rationalism movement (along with René Descartes andBaruch Spinoza). In Conway’s work; “All things are one by virtue of their primary substance or essence, and are like parts of the same body.” She states that like-minded people love each other. We see that the character of Wednesday is like everyone else and is accepted by her interesting friends, who are like her, despite her different personality and appearance, just as Conway stated.
TRAPED SPIRIT “WEDNESDAY”
A dark and depressive character, Wednesday Addams presents a melancholic and negative type of personality. Known as the Romanian philosopher and Rhetorical Synthesiser of the 20th century, ‘E. M. Cioran’ is generally known for his metaphysical, lyrical and extensive meditation writings. Written at the age of 23 and following in the footsteps of philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche and Ludwig Wittgenstein, his first book, On the Heights of Despair, has been described as the “Keystone” of his entire philosophy and paradoxically portrays dark, existential despair. Cioran for the melancholic state; “Because his qualities are poetic rather than active, he exhibits a kind of measured delicacy not seen in deep sorrow (hence more common in women).” He states that due to the blurriness of the situation, melancholy may take different forms according to the individuals. In Wednesday Addams character, we see a different kind of melancholic mood (as Cioran mentioned in his words).
NEVERMORE ACADEMY
Nevermore Academy takes its name from “Nevermore” in the poem “The Raven” by the classical writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe, one of the important figures of the American Romantic movement in literature. Also the name of Ophelia Hall (where Wednesday stayed at Nevermore Academy), It is named after Ophelia, the name of Morticia’s sister from the original Addams Family TV series. Filming of the series took place in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. And the lead actress, Jenna Ortega, learned to play the cello for the show . The comedy, horror and crime genre series Wednesday, released on Netflix, is a spin-off production that fans of the clasic cult series “The Addams Family” will enjoy.
EFE TEKSOY
REFERENCES
Jean-Paul Sartre, Varlık ve Hiçlik: Fenomenolojik Ontoloji Denemesi (Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology), translate. Turhan Ilgaz ve Gaye Çankaya Eksen, İthaki Yayınları press, 2021
Voltaire, Cahil Filozof (The Ignorant Philosopher), translate. Berna Günen, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları press, 2020
Anne Conway, En Kadim ve Modern Felsefenin İlkeleri (The Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy), translate. Ferit Burak Aydar, Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları press, 2020
Cioran, Umutzuzluğun Doruklarında (On the Heights of Despair), translate. Orçun Türkay, Jaguar Kitap press, 2019
