[It’s not surprising that the Black characters
in Wednesday don’t feel like there was any intention behind their
Blackness.]
[[link removed]]

PORTSIDE CULTURE

I LOVED SEEING BLACK CHARACTERS IN WEDNESDAY — BUT THEY DESERVED
BETTER  
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Kailynn Johnson
December 2, 2022
Refinery29
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_ It’s not surprising that the Black characters
in Wednesday don’t feel like there was any intention behind their
Blackness. _

, PHOTO: COURTESY OF NETFLIX.

 

Wednesday Addams [[link removed]], like
so many other characters from the cinematic past, has been reimagined.
Netflix’s new original series,_ __Wednesday_
[[link removed]]_,_ debuted last week and
the eight-episode saga follows the only daughter in the Addams Family
(created by Charles Addams in 1938) as she navigates Nevermore Academy
and the secrets that come with it. While burgeoning scream
queen Jenna Ortega
[[link removed]] sports
Wednesday’s signature pigtails and dance moves, the character now
has a Kubrick stare and her own twisted storyline. 

The 1991 fantasy comedy _The Addams Family_
[[link removed]] and its 1993
sequel _Addams Family Values_
[[link removed]] (with Christina Ricci
[[link removed]] as
Wednesday) were a bit before my time so my knowledge of the Addams
Family universe consists of ABC Family’s 30-second movie marathon
promos and Instagram nostalgia accounts, I didn’t know what to
expect going into Netflix’s reimagining. However, after a
Thanksgiving break binge-watch, the show exceeded my expectations,
leaving  me, and so many other viewers (it has quickly become the
platform’s most-watched series
[[link removed]])
hungry for more.

This thirst for more led me to social media to partake in the
discourse surrounding the show. While my TikTok feed
[[link removed]] was filled with comparisons
of Wednesday throughout the years and the cast’s behind-the-scenes
moments, people were also sharing valid critiques and hopes for the
show’s future — specifically when it comes to the show’s Black
characters
[[link removed]]. TikTok
[[link removed]] user @aiyanaishmael
[[link removed]] recently went viral
for a short video
[[link removed]] about Bianca
Barclay,
[[link removed]] played
by Joy Sunday
[[link removed]].
The video was narrated by the popular TikTok sound, “love a Black
woman from infinity to infinity.” The video is sitting at 44.6K
likes and it’s proof that fans love the character, but the comments
indicate that viewers want more Bianca content in the future such as a
comment made by @queermessiah
[[link removed]] saying, “Her and her mom
better be the main storyline of s2.”

“

As a Black woman and a fan of supernatural stories, I was excited to
see Black representation in _Wednesday,_ but I was also wary of the
way these Black characters would be perceived.

”

We first meet Bianca while Wednesday’s roommate, Enid Sinclair
[[link removed]] (played
by Emma Myers [[link removed]]), is giving
a _Clueless_ [[link removed]]-esque
introduction to Nevermore’s social scene. Enid informs Wednesday
that Bianca is a siren and “the closest thing Nevermore has to
royalty” and sets her up to be the show’s resident mean girl. It
isn’t until Wednesday and Bianca face off in a fencing duel that we
see that Bianca may not necessarily be the main villain of the show,
but it’s quickly established that she’s a thorn in Wednesday’s
side. This scene insists that Bianca needs to be knocked down a peg,
as Wednesday calls her a “self-appointed queen bee,” and states
that, “Interesting thing about bees: pull out their stingers, they
drop dead.”

Bianca wins their first battle, but Wednesday succeeds in somewhat of
a coup d’état after she defeats Bianca in Nevermore’s annual Poe
Cup
[[link removed]].
We are soon given Bianca’s backstory, which began to paint her as a
more complex character. Bianca has a hard time trusting people and
their intentions, and she’s dealing with a troubled past. Her real
name is Brandy Jane, and she “sirened” her way to Nevermore in
hopes of seeking refuge from her mother’s cult-like business. Her
past issues resurface when her mother surprises her with a visit
during parent’s weekend.

In the end, Bianca ends up helping Wednesday, and proves that she was
actually meant to serve as a perfect match for the titular character.

[Joy Sunday as Bianca Barclay, Gracy Goldman as Gabrielle in episode
105 of Wednesday]

PHOTO: COURTESY OF NETFLIX.

We are in a renaissance of reboots
[[link removed]].
These reimaginings can elicit dueling emotions: excitement or
trepidation. On one hand, revisiting the past can serve as an
opportunity to present a classic story in a more imaginative way. In
the case of _Wednesday,_ for example, the Addams are a Latine
family
[[link removed]],
and we get to see Wednesday as a fully-formed individual, as opposed
to solely being reduced to the part she plays within her family.

These spinoffs have often taken the opportunity to include more
diverse characters in their storylines. As a Black woman and a fan of
supernatural stories, I was excited to see Black representation
in _Wednesday,_ but I was also wary of the way these Black
characters would be perceived. While Bianca’s character has
generally been viewed as a favorite among fans, it makes me a bit
apprehensive that these creators would be responsible for expanding
Bianca’s storyline (yes, I’m hoping for a full deep dive into her
mother’s “cult.”)

Bianca’s characterization reminds me of Monet de Haan
[[link removed]] (played
Savannah Smith) from the first season of the _Gossip Girl
[[link removed]]_ reboot.
[[link removed]] As
someone who grew up in the era of 2008’s 
[[link removed]]_The Clique
[[link removed]]_, it satisfies my inner
child to see Black women as queen bees. Bianca isn’t nearly as nasty
as Monet, but both characters have mothers that play into the way they
navigate the world, while also constantly working to maintain their
place at the top. While season 2 of _Gossip Girl_
[[link removed]] recently
premiered, and we’re starting to see more of why Monet is the way
that she is, I can’t 100% put my faith in the fact that Bianca’s
story will be fully explored in future installments.

_Wednesday_ was created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, co-directed
and executive produced by Tim Burton (he also directed four of the
eight episodes). The creators have been criticized for their portrayal
of not only Bianca, but of other Black characters such as Lucas
Walker, (Iman Marson). Critics have taken issue with the fact that
both characters are portrayed as “bullies
[[link removed]].”
There have also been complaints raised against  the fact that
Lucas’ father, Mayor Noble Walker, (played by Tommie Earl Jenkins),
owns Pilgrim World
[[link removed]] (a theme
park that is exactly as it sounds — it’s more than a little
strange to have a Black man own an homage to murderous colonizers).
While these critiques are valid, they offer a primitive review of the
show and its characters (both Bianca and Lucas help Wednesday in the
end). The concerns over the show’s portrayal of Black characters
have brought up past comments by Burton about the inclusion of Black
characters in his work. 

“

The Black characters in _Wednesday_ don’t feel like there was any
intention behind their Blackness.... they feel like they weren’t
written to _be _Black, just to check a diversity box so Burton
wouldn’t have to deal with questions about the show’s lack of
it. 

”

In a 2016 interview with Bustle
[[link removed]],
Burton defended the fact that his past projects have been extremely
white by saying, "things either call for things, or they don’t,’
when asked about diversity. The quote gets so much worse. “I
remember back when I was a child watching _The Brady Bunch_ and they
started to get all politically correct, like, OK, let’s have an
Asian child and a black,” he said. “I used to get more offended by
that than just — I grew up watching blaxploitation movies, right?
And I said, that’s great. I didn’t go like, OK, there should be
more white people in these movies.” Burton’s quotes were
referencing his film_ __Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar
Children _
[[link removed]]in
which the sole Black character, played by Samuel L. Jackson, is also a
villain. The quotes give us a glimpse into the way Burton has
approached Black characters in the past – that it’s offensive to
him to include nonwhite people in his stories and that he apparently
thinks his movies are the white equivalent of the Blaxploitation
genre. It’s not surprising then that the Black characters
in _Wednesday_ don’t feel like there was any intention behind
their Blackness
[[link removed]]. As
much as I loved seeing them included, they feel like they weren’t
written to _be _Black, just to check a diversity box so Burton
wouldn’t have to deal with questions about the show’s lack of
it. 

There’s nuance to the discussion surrounding Blackness
in _Wednesday _because for so long, having significant Black
characters in supernatural stories was all I ever wanted to see. My
earliest introduction to the world of the supernatural was not through
a telekinetic prom queen covered in pig's blood, nor was it from a
teenager that slayed vampires. Believe it or not, my earliest segue
into supernatural lore was through Raven Baxter (played
by Raven-Symoné [[link removed]]) one
of Disney Channel’s famed fashionistas and the main character
of _That’s So Raven_ [[link removed]].
While I would get my weekly dose of Raven and her comical navigation
of the world as a Black girl with visions, I sought after a world
where these ideas were at the forefront, with minimal comedic
undertones. This led me to the classrooms of Hogwarts and the homes on
Fear Street. While these gave me my supernatural and thrilling fix, I
rarely saw myself in any of the main characters, even if Hermione was
known to have “bushy hair.” When I do get to see myself in Black
supernatural characters, they are still leaving something to be
desired. 

I was introduced to Rochelle (played by Rachel True
[[link removed]])
in _The Craft_
[[link removed]] years
after Raven, but even then she’s seen as a force that turned against
the film’s main character, Sarah. It can be argued that her
storyline, while groundbreaking at the time, the movie still does her
dirty. We know that Rochelle is dealing with a racist mean girl named
Laura (played by Christine Taylor), and that after casting a revenge
spell, her hair starts to fall out. We see Laura approach Rochelle at
a party after losing her hair, and it is somewhat implied that she may
offer her an apology, however that’s about where Rochelle’s story
ends. Rochelle and Bianca are from different generations and yet, they
are both Black girls in supernatural worlds who deserve more than what
we got… so far.

Despite her slightly disappointing story in season 1, Bianca serves as
a beacon of hope for Black girls in supernatural stories. There’s
still time to get it right (I have high hopes for the upcoming
film _Darby and the Dead_
[[link removed]] about a Black girl who
can see ghosts). While it hasn’t been confirmed
that _Wednesday_ will return for a second season, I hope that the
fan reaction shows creators that there is an intense demand for
thoughtful and thorough storylines for Black characters in
supernatural stories. Dare I say there’s demand for full
installments featuring them as main and titular characters, and not
solely as forces that work against the protagonists while we wait with
bated breath for the promise of a season 2.

UNPACKING THE BLACK CHARACTERS IN WEDNESDAY ON NETFLIX

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DECEMBER 2, 2022, 7:03 AM
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UNBOTHERED
[[link removed]] • ENTERTAINMENT
[[link removed]] • THE LATEST
[[link removed]] • TV SHOWS
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WRITTEN BY KAILYNN JOHNSON
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PHOTO: COURTESY OF NETFLIX.

* black representation
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* NETFLIX
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* Wednesday
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* The Addams Family
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