jamesq | Thoughts on Wednesday on a Wednesday (Reply)

I've been watching Wednesday, The Tim Burton/Netflix Addams Family spin-off focusing on Wednesday Addams in !Hogwarts.

I'm digging a few choices that they've made so far (no spoilers):

Despite being focused on spooky-teens, there is very little male-gaze around it. The kids (largely played by young adults), look like their character's age, and are not sexualized. The one time I've really seen them dress up (the school dance in episode 4), no one looks slutty. This is refreshing.

After being indulged by her family and no small amount of script-immunity, Wednesday's anti-social behaviour is being called out by everyone: All of the adults in her life, all of her fellow students, random townies, are *all* saying no to her bullshit. She is facing social consequences for being mean to everyone. Hell, even Thing told her to pound sand until she apologized for taking him for granted. I'm sure that by the end of the show, she'll still be a spooky chick who doesn't suffer fools, but I'm hoping she'll at least have learned some goddamn empathy.

Her being a polymath/polyglot isn't really helping her because of her emotional immaturity.

The overall plot is genuinely suspenseful. I'm only half-way through, and aside from one major spoiler I was exposed to via the internet, I find it a compelling mystery.

As someone who kinda got over Tim Burton some years back due to him hitting the same beats over and over, this is fun. It's still obviously his aesthetic, but he really is going for a more mature take on "gifted kid goes to gifted school, hijinks ensue".