The Addams Feminists
A trans-adaptational comparison of the characters and narrative of
The Addams Family (1964-1966) and The Addams Family (1991)
in their respective time frames from a feminist perspective.
Thesis for the Master Media Studies: Film Studies at the University of Amsterdam
Figure 1: The Addams Family (The World of Chas Addams)
Name Judith Ritsema Student Number 11924098
Word Count 21,967
Supervisor Dr. Catherine Lord
Second Reader Dr. Tarja Laine
Table of Contents
Introduction: Constructing a Field: The Addams Family in Different Times from a
Feminist Perspective 5
I.1 (Contemporary) Feminism and the Addams Family 5
I.2 Theoretical Framework: Studies on Character, Feminist Film and TV, and Narration and
the Addams Family Adaptations 8
I.3 Analysing Character, Narrative, and the Influence of Contemporary Waves of Feminism
in the Addams Family Adaptations 13
I.4 Preliminary Conclusion 15
Chapter 1: Unruliness, Sexuality, Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender Roles in the
Characters of the Addams Family 17
1.1 Introduction: How Characters Are an Important Factor That Contribute to the Feminist
Message of the Addams Family Adaptations 17
1.2 The Reversal of Doane’s Gendered Construction of Emotion and Rationality in The
Addams Family (1964-1966) 19
1.3 Playing with Gender Roles and Masculine and Feminine Traits in The Addams Family
(1964-1966) 22
1.4 The Lack of Gender Roles in Wednesday and Pugsley in The Addams Family (1964-
1966) 24
1.5 Creating a Platform for Feminism Using Unruly Women and the Carnivalesque in the
Addams Family Adaptations 25
1.6 The Portrayal of Sexuality in The Addams Family (1991) 27
1.7 Masculine and Feminine Interests and a Feminist Upbringing in The Addams Family
(1991) 29
1.8 Conclusion: Balancing Femininity and Masculinity While Reversing Traditional
Techniques 31
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 2 Chapter 2: The Feminist Elements of Story, Narration, and Plot and Analysed in the
Addams Family Adaptations 34
2.1 Introduction: The Distinction between Story, Narration, and Plot and Their Effects in
Terms of Feminism in the Addams Family Adaptations 34
2.2 Gender Role Models and Power Dynamics in The Addams Family (1964-1966) 35
2.3 Gender Division of Plot-Driving Characters and Narration in The Addams Family
(1964-1966) 37
2.4 The Representation of Marriage, Sexuality, and Desire in the Addams Family
Adaptations 38
2.5 Powerful Positions for Female Characters in a Male-Centred Story in The Addams
Family (1991) 40
2.6 Hetero-Normativity and Repression of Homoerotic Subtexts in The Addams Family
(1991) 43
2.7 Conclusion: Female Plot-Driving Characters Placed in a Male-Narrated Story 44
Chapter 3: The Development in Narrative and Characters in The Addams Family
Adaptations during Different Waves of Feminism 46
3.1 Introduction: Establishing Changes between the Two Addams Family Adaptations and
Placing Them in Their Respective Waves of Feminism 46
3.2 Character Development, Complexity, and Continuity in the Different Addams Family
Adaptations 47
3.3 Allegiance with and Commitment to the Addams Family Characters 50
3.4 Agency and Disregard for Gender Roles and Power Dynamics in the Character of
Wednesday Addams 51
3.5 Morticia Sexuality: Now and “Later” 55
3.6 Conclusion: Feminist Characters Tailor-Made for Their Time 58
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 3 Conclusion: Strong Feminist Characters in a Carnivalesque Setting Protesting Gender
Roles, Celebrating Female Sexuality, and Advocating Representation of Women On
Screen 60
C.1 Analysing the Addams Family Series (1964-1966) and Film (1991) and Establishing Its
Feminist Platform through the Carnivalesque 60
C.2 The Reversal of and Protesting Against Gender Roles and the Binary Division
between Masculinity and Femininity 61
C.3 Desire, Women’s Sexuality, and Homoerotic Subtexts in the Addams Family
Adaptations 63
C.4 Commitment to the Addams Family Characters and Their Feminist Message 65
Bibliography 67
Appendix 1 71
Images 71
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 4 Introduction Constructing a Field: The Addams Family in Different Times from a Feminist Perspective
I.1 (Contemporary) Feminism and the Addams Family
Feminism has recently taken on a new form, birthing its fourth wave. This new wave has found its platform online, with the internet and social media working as its main means of communication (Cochrane). As the second wave fought for sexual liberation as well as better economic standards and job opportunities for women, the third wave used the improved status gained during this wave to fight for equality among men and women from different races and classes, taking an intersectional approach, as well as continuing the work they considered unfinished from the second wave (Brunell and Burkett).
The fourth wave does not necessarily fight for new feminist principles compared to the third wave, as it is largely based on it, but it is considered a new wave due to their new approach of campaigning, which happens mostly online (Chamberlain 11-12). The question as to how it is possible that certain prejudices still exist in contemporary society seems to be the driving force behind this fourth wave (Chamberlain 115). The movement is associated with campaigns such as ‘Campaign4Consent’, ‘No More Page 3’, ‘Counting Dead Women
Project’ and ‘#EverydaySexism’, which raise awareness for and fight against sexual harassment and violence against women. Fourth-wave feminists aim to give a voice to minorities and raise awareness about a broad spectrum of feminist issues on an intersectional level (Cochrane).
Due to the rise of social media, new kinds of celebrities have started to emerge, such as YouTubers. Carrie Hope Fletcher is one of these YouTubers, as well as a passionate feminist. In 2017 she toured the UK and Ireland as Wednesday Addams in The Addams
Family: The Musical Comedy Tour, recording much of the rehearsal and preparation process and the tour itself for this role and sharing it on her YouTube channel
(“ItsWayPastMyBedTime”). Seeing her performing as Wednesday Addams on stage, it
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 5 triggered a thought process connecting this feminist actress and the character she was portraying to online articles and fan posts on social media calling Wednesday their “spirit animal”, Morticia and Gomez’s marriage “Couples Goals” and “The Best Marriage Ever”, The
Addams Family (1991) “awesome(ly) [sic] feminist”, and Morticia Addams a “Feminist Queen
Who Has It All” (Delayrium; Lohr; Kasulke; Waldron; Garis). This drove me to investigate whether research had been done into the Addams Family adaptations from a feminist perspective.
Upon initial research, it seemed most of the research done on the Addams family adaptations from a feminist perspective was often only a couple of pages long, lacking significant depth. For example, in O’Dell’s June Cleaver Was a Feminist!, one page is dedicated to an analysis of Morticia from a feminist perspective, yet this analysis remained superficial, as it mostly consists of observations rather than a well-structured argument.
Hardly any TV or film theory has been considered or referenced (55).
In most cases, the Addams family adaptations were mentioned or used as part of a case study on a different film or TV series or in an encyclopaedia entry, meaning that, to my knowledge, no in-depth research has been done on the Addams family adaptations as a case study in themselves.1 The article that has come closest to considering The Addams
Family (1964-1966) from a feminist perspective is “The Monster Within” by Morowitz, which studies The Addams Family (1964-1966) and The Munsters (1964-1966) in order to see what these TV series tell us about the way the traditional American nuclear family was perceived in the mid-1960s. This article, however, does not consider key feminist film theories, such as
Mulvey’s male gaze theory, or Rowe’s work on the unruly woman, as Morowitz has placed her focus on the social constructions within the series’ narrative and characters. This has left
1 See for example: O’Dell (55), “Media Representations of Feminism” (748), Chopra-Gant (73-77), and
Green (21, 29-30).
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 6 the media studies field with a gap concerning this profoundly popular fictional family, as no one seems to have taken up the Addams family adaptations as an individual case study from a feminist perspective.
As I am a feminist myself, representation of women in media, gender roles, and women’s sexuality are important topics to me. This made me wonder how this fictional family which has been around for over eighty years ‘performs’ in terms of these topics. Feminism in film is a topic that has attracted my interest ever since I started studying film, and I was keen to see if an analysis of a ‘classic’ such as the Addams family could be used as an example that advocates a feminist perspective regarding these topics. Combining this with the fact that feminism has recently started its fourth wave, it seems significant to research how The
Addams Family (1964-1966) and The Addams Family (1991) perform in terms of representation of women, gender roles and women’s sexuality compared to their respective waves of feminism, being the second wave for the series and the third wave for the film, and whether the ideals conveyed in both adaptations have changed due to the time difference of almost 30 years between the two different texts.
In this thesis, two different adaptations2 will be analysed, being the The Addams
Family (1964-1966) series and the The Addams Family (1991) film. The reason these two adaptations were selected is that they are different media from two different times. The series is the first moving image adaptation made based on the more than 150 single-panel comics drawn by Charles Addams, which were in part published in the New Yorker between
2 I am using the word adaptation to describe the “adapted texts” as Linda Hutcheon prefers to call them, in this case the films and series based on the Addams Family comics as drawn by Charles
Addams. Among the criteria to qualify as an adaptation, according to Hutcheon, are acknowledging that the text is derived from another work, and it must borrow from the other text in order to pay homage to or prevent the old text from being forgotten (35).
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 7 1938 and 1988, and therefore ideal to use in a comparison, as much of the characters’ personalities of the Addams family has been determined during the development and making of this series. The film was selected because it is the first film that came after the 1964 series with a new cast.3 I decided not to include the animated adaptations and the Canadian The
New Addams Family (1998) in order to keep the scope manageable in terms of size of the corpus as well as fields to be studied, since animation studies requires a separate skillset and background knowledge to analyse. The musical adaptations of the Addams family are not included in the corpus for same reasons. By using both the original series as well as the first film adaptation with a new cast, a clear comparison can be made between the different media, the difference between the characters, and the different time frames in which the adaptations were made in context of their respective waves of feminism. This way, insights can still be gained on the characters in the context of their respective time frames and the difference between the adaptations while keeping the scope of the research manageable.
I.2 Theoretical Framework: Studies on Character, Feminist Film and TV, and Narration and the Addams Family Adaptations
It seems hardly any research has been done in the field of character studies from a feminist perspective, leaving a gap in the academic field regarding studies related to narration, literature, film, television, and theatre, amongst others. Most feminist character studies which have been conducted are case studies on popular contemporary characters such as Bella
Swan (Twilight) and Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games), or on well-known classical female protagonists from the works of key authors in literature such as Shakespeare or Jane
Austen. However, I have not been able to find feminist character studies on the development
3 The Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977) film was made for television and included almost the entire original cast from the 1964 series.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 8 and evolution of a fictional female character across multiple media adaptations. Moreover, hardly any research has been done concerning the Addams family and its different adaptations across multiple media. To my knowledge, none of the studies about the Addams family have considered a feminist perspective in their research, apart from the aforementioned passages in other researches which were not specifically focused on the
Addams family adaptations.
I chose two Addams family adaptations because this particular fictional family has spawned many different adaptations over the span of the past eight decades. It is one of the most well-known fictional families and has influenced multiple generations for many years.
This means that the insights from this research are likely to appeal to many people. This research aims to give insight into what it is that draws different media to this fictional family, and to what extent these popular adaptations make use of feminist storytelling techniques or fall victim to the objectification and misrepresentation of women. It would be interesting to see if a set of characters that has managed to stay popular and which has been adapted into different media through the years could be considered feminist, as well as the potential influence that these characters might have on their predominantly young audiences.
This thesis will focus on multiple aspects of feminist film and television theory in relation to the two Addams family adaptations. First and foremost, the use of the male gaze as explained by Laura Mulvey will be considered. Other feminist film studies include Mary
Ann Doane’s work on the rational male versus the hysterical female, male versus female- driven narration, different power dynamics between men and women in films, and representation of women on screen. Other studies relevant to this thesis are Jason Mittell’s work on narrative complexity and transmedia storytelling, Murray Smith’s work on alignment and allegiance with characters, and the writings from Mieke Bal and Uri Margolin on narrative and characters.
Feminist film studies is a relatively young field which emerged in the 1970s (Smelik
1). Mulvey’s theory based in psychoanalysis on the male gaze has been highly influential.
This theory explains the techniques used in films to objectify women, these techniques often
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 9 consisting of extra-diegetic mechanisms such as point-of-view shots from the male lead’s perspective. Mulvey explains the voyeuristic tendencies stemming from patriarchal values which have engrained themselves into film. By close-reading both the series and the film, the use and implications of the male gaze will be thoroughly analysed and considered in relation to the objectification of onscreen female characters, as well as the reframing of the male gaze as a powerful feminist tool, rather than a product of patriarchal values which have been instilled in mainstream films. This will shed light on the maker versus the bearer of the meaning in the two adaptations, and the way the gaze has been used in order to shift power dynamics between the different on-screen characters.
Mary Ann Doane researched female characters in the 1940s woman’s films in The
Desire To Desire: the Woman’s Films of the 1940s. Unlike Mulvey, Doane placed the accent of her studies on intra-diegetic elements such as the dynamics between male and female characters, finding that women’s stories were often told through a framework constructed of male reason, making the female lead come across as hysterical, emotional, and irrational.
Recently, Gozde Onaran has been working on a dissertation using Doane’s theory, arguing against her original findings. Onaran argues that there are instances where women are portrayed as irrational and hysterical, but are still able to have agency in these films, whereas
Doane argues that women in these films do not. The dynamics between male sanity and female insanity and the gendered framing of rationality and emotion will be explored in the different adaptations, as the characters in the two texts are usually considered anything but
‘normal’ and ‘sane’. By linking this phenomenon of the rational male vs. the hysterical female to representation of gender roles, I intend to highlight the implications of which characters are considered ‘normal’ in the Addams family adaptations produced by the framing of the characters’ narratives within other characters’ frames of reason.
In addition, Doane’s theory will be linked to the gaze as explained by Mulvey in relation to a woman’s desire. Looking at the character of Morticia in the film adaptation especially and her position in relation to the gaze, the implied role of her character will be analysed as well as the influence this position has on her agency.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 10 Amy M. Davis has written a book on representation of women in Disney films, and devoted one chapter to “Film as a Cultural Mirror”, analysing the influence of representation of gender roles and marriage on screen on young members of the audience. She explains that children from a very young age on are aware of and recognise gender roles (30). This underlines the importance of the proper representation of onscreen division of gender roles in the adaptations.
Jean-Anne Feltey and Kathryn M. Sutherland have published a research on representation of women in feminist films, taking an intersectional approach. They outlined three different types of power dynamics between men and women, being ‘power-over’,
‘power-with’ and ‘power-to’, and looked at the demographic of the female characters placed in these different power positions. They have found that there is serious underrepresentation of non-white female characters in positions of power, as well as masculinisation and/or sexualisation of female characters who are in powerful positions. Using the findings of this study, the sexuality and masculinity of the female characters of the two adaptations will be analysed, as well as the power dynamics between male and female characters. Not only will this help differentiate between seemingly and truly feminist characters of both genders, it will also help shed light on the representation of different women as onscreen characters.
Kathleen Rowe Karlyn’s work on Unruly Women explains that comedy and laughter are used as a tool to turn discomfort into political commentary (20). Rowe disagrees with
Mulvey, who claims women are merely “bearer[s] of meaning” (Rowe 21; Mulvey 7). She argues, instead, that female characters can call attention to topics and causes important to them by using their onscreen visibility (21). As they assert themselves to “lay claim to their own desire” (Rowe 21), unruly women achieve what the women studied by Doane fail to be able to do. Considering Rowe’s work on the unruly women in context with the adaptations’ genre, and specifically comedy, the possibility to use laughter as a corrective tool for feminist purposes can be recognised in the Addams family adaptations. The carnivalesque elements of the Addams family adaptations will be considered in relation to this text as well as to genre, and their function will be closely examined in relation to its possibly feminist function.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 11 The analysis of the extent to which the female characters from the two adaptations can be considered unruly will aid in determining in which ways their characters serve as commentary against patriarchal values.
The field of character studies has sadly been mostly neglected by scholars. The few existing theories on fictional characters are usually part of narrative studies, and hardly any research has been done into how to study fictional characters. The theories I shall use in this thesis are the works of Jason Mittell, Mieke Bal, Uri Margolin, and Murray Smith.
Jason Mittell’s work on narrative complexity will play a big part in explaining the differences and continuities between the two different adaptations. His book Complex TV will help determine the balance between the different transmedia adaptations and their importance in the Addams family canon as a whole, as well as the narrative techniques used to maintain continuity in characters across different actors and adaptations, such as “major kernels” and “minor satellites”4. Moreover, he explains the development characters go through over the course of a TV series, and the aspects required to keep the viewer engaged to these characters. His theoretical framework will help explain the complex relationship between the series and the film, and aid the explanation as to how the characters have changed and evolved over time.
Murray Smith’s theory on ‘alignment’ and ‘allegiance’ is well known among film scholars, and complements Mittell’s work well, supporting it with in-depth explanations as to why viewers root for certain characters. Uri Margolin and Mieke Bal are literature scholars, and, therefore, their theories on character have to be translated to film and television studies before they can be used in this research. However, their theories on the continuity and differences between characters from different adaptations and the way they are linked and constructed will definitely help build a solid theoretical foundation for this thesis.
4 These terms will be explained later on in this thesis.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 12 Theories on narration and storytelling span across multiple disciplines, among which literature studies, TV studies, and film studies. Mittell’s work on the complexity of narratives will help analyse the different narratives of the two adaptations. Moreover, Mittel’s theory on narrative complexity will help explain the intricate structure of continuity between the TV series and the film in addition to explain the multiple storytelling techniques used across the adaptations. Moreover, his theory on transmedia storytelling will be translated to this case study in order to understand how the two stories interact and relate.
As mentioned before, hardly any research has been done into the Addams family adaptations, and they have been left out of feminist film and television studies altogether.
Therefore, I intend to combine different feminist film studies in order to analyse the sexualisation, objectification, and representation of the female onscreen characters and gender roles in the two adaptations. Through a close analysis of the male gaze and the framing of rationality in a male perspective, I set out to find ways in which these traditionally patriarchal constructs can be reframed and reused as powerful feminist tools by adapting them to fit these new aims. Linking Rowe’s theory on unruly women to Doane’s and Mulvey’s work as well as to the adaptations’ genre, a deeper understanding of the function of comedy, laughter and unruliness of female characters as tools of the feminist agenda will come forth.
As the two different adaptations are considered in relation to their contemporary waves of feminism, the differences in characters as well as narratives can be explained.
Mittel’s work on narrative complexity will help with understanding the differences and continuities between the two adaptations’ narratives and characters, explaining how even though the adaptations are made in different political contexts – thus serving different purposes – their continuity is maintained.
I.3 Analysing Character, Narrative, and the Influence of Contemporary
Waves of Feminism in the Addams Family Adaptations
The aim of this thesis is to determine to what extent the characters of the Addams family and their narratives in the 1964 series The Addams Family and the 1991 film The Addams Family
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 13 can be perceived as feminist in terms of representation of women, gender roles and women’s sexuality, and how the characters and narrative change over time across different cross- media adaptations. By attempting to answer this question, I intend to gain insights in multiple areas.
Firstly, identifying the different feminist elements in the narrative, onscreen characters, and the way these are framed and used for a feminist purpose, taking into consideration factors such as sexuality, objectification of female characters and representation of women and gender roles on screen. In addition to this, I intend to closely analyse the changes in characters between the different adaptations and the influence the times in which they have been produced have had on the different interpretations of these characters. Again, Mittel’s work on narrative complexity will help explain and analyse the differences and continuities between the characters and narrative of the two adaptations.
Lastly, this thesis will be an attempt in serving as an example for a method to thoroughly analyse characters from a feminist perspective. By drawing from different fields such as film and television theory, I aim to contribute to the field of character studies and in this way provide a method for a feminist analysis of fictional film and television characters.
As the field of character studies in film and television studies is relatively small, I will both be drawing from character studies in the field of literature as well as from fields in film and television studies other than character studies. By combining fields and concepts such as narrative theory, character theory and TV seriality, I hope to construct a solid theoretical framework which will help analyse the characters of the different The Addams Family adaptations. By first performing a close reading of the series and the film, I want to establish patterns and recurring themes in the two adaptations as well as point out interesting developments and differences between the two. By then tying these to the theoretical foundation built from these different fields, a thorough analysis can be made and conclusions with a solid foundation can be drawn.
The first chapter will focus on the characters in the different adaptations, using
Mittell’s, Bal’s, and Margolin’s theories on fictional characters and tying them to Mulvey’s
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 14 male gaze, Doane’s work on the gendered framing of rationality, and Rowe’s unruly women, amongst others. Moreover, a close-reading of both the series and the film will be conducted in order to explain the different ways in which the characters are portrayed, along with possible implications that elements such as camerawork, costumes, and sound design make concerning the characters’ personalities and relationships.
The second chapter will place its focus on the narrative of both the series and the film, distinguishing story, narration and plot. By looking into representation, male versus female-driven storytelling, and writings on narratives by scholars such as Porter Abbott and combining these with several theories on feminist film and television, I will attempt to analyse to what extent the narratives of these different adaptations support proper representation of women on screen, women’s sexuality and criticising gender roles. Genre, too, will be considered in this chapter in order to analyse the implications the genre has on the narrative and the way this influences the meaning of the narrative.
The third and final chapter will compare the two adaptations in terms of a feminist message as well as determine the extent of continuity versus change in the different characters. Mittel’s narrative complexity will feature in this chapter concerning the transmedia storytelling, the use of serial versus episodic narratives, and the use of conditional seriality in order to explain continuity errors between the two adaptations. These concepts will be translated to analyse the TV series as linked to the film, rather than just the TV series and the film separately, considering the TV series and the film together as continuous narrative in itself rather than two separate narratives. This chapter will also serve to place the series and the film in the context of their respective time frames and the corresponding waves of feminism, viewing how these adaptations function as products of their time.
I.4 Preliminary Conclusion
I do not expect the adaptations to be entirely void of anti-feminist elements. I do, however, expect a complex construction of different intra and extra-diegetic elements, relying on
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 15 character, narrative, genre, and storytelling techniques, to work together in order to subvert expectations and create a feminist message in a subtle way.
As I am familiar with the characters of Morticia and Wednesday Addams, a presence of strong female characters is to be expected in both adaptations. I suspect they will qualify as unruly women by the standards of Rowe, which will help with both the representation of women on screen as well as with creating a environment and platform in which it is possible to criticise the status quo. As Gomez is not the stereotypical man-of-the-house character, I expect his character to contribute to the criticising of the norms in society in a subtle yet effective way.
Though I expect the adaptations to have strong characters which contribute to the representations of women on screen and object to traditional gender roles and celebrating women’s sexuality, the narrative seems more conservative at first glance. The question of which male and female characters will take up key roles in the progression of the story, and the perspective from which the story is told, will help determine whether the narrative aids or weakens the feminist tone of the adaptations.
As the two adaptations are made almost thirty years apart, differences in characters as well as in their approach to integrating a feminist message into their medium can be expected. It is likely that the series is more careful and toned-down compared to the film in terms of, for example, female sexuality. It would be interesting to see if the characters have remained consistent and whether, as time progressed, the adaptations have changed in order to fit their contemporary feminist waves. Overall, a feminist undertone is expected in both adaptations, though likely the film will be less subtle about this standpoint than the series, as society in the 1990s was more open to such a message than it was in the 1960s.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 16 Chapter 1 Unruliness, Sexuality, Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender Roles in the Characters of the Addams Family
1.1 Introduction: How Characters Are an Important Factor That
Contribute to the Feminist Message of the Addams Family Adaptations
To quote one of the creators of the hit TV-series Lost: “It’s all about character, character, character…” (Lindelof qtd. in Mittell, 118). This is why, before looking at the narrative of both the series and the film, I will first take a closer look at the different characters that make up the Addams family, focusing on Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, and Pugsley. The reason for this is because the narrative lived by these characters is mostly conveyed by these characters and is influenced by the personalities of these characters. In addition, representation of different types of people as onscreen characters is an important part of feminist film and television, and is a factor that, together with elements such as narration and genre, influence the message and tone of the adaptations, thus making the analysis of characters in themselves crucial to a well-rounded research.
I will use Jason Mittell’s Complex TV, Mieke Bal’s Narratology and Uri Margolin’s book chapter “Character” from The Cambridge Companion to Narrative as the foundation for my analysis, translating them from literature studies to film and television studies where necessary in order to build a sufficient theoretical framework on fictional characters in order to analyse the characters of The Addams Family (1964-1966) and of The Addams Family
(1991) and to what extent they function as advocates in favour of abolishing gender roles, celebrating female sexuality and proper representation of women on screen.
After establishing a clear vision of the characters, the concept of unruly women by
Rowe will be considered in relation to the two adaptations. By analysing the series and the film through the framework of this article while keeping the influence of genre on the narrative in mind, the characters will be analysed in the context of their genre. This analysis will help
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 17 clarify the platform the series and film have created for themselves through the clever use of genre and unruly characters in a carnivalesque setting. The gendered framing of rationality as established by Doane will be considered too, in relation to Morticia and Gomez, as it influences the agency that certain characters have. Lastly, the adaptations will be analysed based on the male gaze as coined by Mulvey to see how the two different adaptations deal with objectification of female characters and the topic of female sexuality.
In addition to these theories, the personalities of the characters themselves, as well as their intra-diegetic interests and the relationships between the different characters, will be considered. By establishing whether these feminist film and television theories apply and in which way they are used, making apparent the implications made through the use or alteration of these techniques, and combining them with the analysis of the characters themselves, I intend to see whether the film and the series broadcast a feminist message concerning gender roles and female sexuality, as well as how well these texts perform in terms of representation of women on screen.
Before analysing the characters, it is important to define what exactly a fictional character is. However, it is a term that appears to be difficult to define; Margolin calls it “any entity, individual or collective – normally human or human-like – introduced in a work of narrative fiction” (66). Jens Eder defines it as “identifiable fictional beings with an inner life that exist as communicatively constructed artefacts” (qtd. in Mittell 118). Bal states that “[it] is not real human being, but it resembles one” (113). Between these three definitions, there is some overlap, providing us with common ground between the different scholars. They agree that a fictional character is not a real human being; it is, however, often human or human- like. Additionally, a fictional character is constructed and communicated through a work of
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 18 fiction, which is also the place where it has come into existence.5 I do not intend to argue in favour of a new, original definition of fictional characters over these established definitions, but, for this thesis, I will work with a definition which is a combination of these different definitions to create a well-rounded image of what a fictional character is. Therefore, the
Addams family characters will be analysed in this chapter as fictional, human-like beings who have an inner life, exist within a fictional world, and whose existence is communicated through said work of fiction within a framework of feminist film and television studies in order to establish the message the adaptations send out concerning gender roles, female sexuality, and the manner in which they represent women on screen.
1.2 The Reversal of Doane’s Gendered Construction of Emotion and
Rationality in The Addams Family (1964-1966)
Gomez is portrayed as an extraverted, temperamental being who wears his emotions on his sleeve. This is a character trait prominent in every episode of the series, as Gomez’ dialogue is often delivered with great fluctuation in tone and expressive gestures. He often openly shows his attraction to Morticia. In nearly every episode there are either one or multiple instances where his character gets aroused, which prompts him to kiss her arm and work his way up to her neck and face. Gomez also supposedly has Morticia’s initials carved into his legs, another extreme gesture indicating the extent of his passion. On the flipside, Gomez is unbelievably jealous when Morticia’s ex-fiancé Rupert Styx and her childhood friend Lionel
Barker, amongst others, come over to the house.
5 This is a statement supported from a realism point of view. There is much debate about the existence or non-existence of fictional characters in the field of philosophy. For further reading: Friend,
S. “Fictional Characters”.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 19 The extremes to which his character is willing to go because of his love for Morticia is most clear in “Green-Eyed Gomez”, the episode where the childhood friend of Morticia,
Lionel Barker, comes to the house to stay over for a few days. Due to circumstance, Gomez’ character is led to believe that Morticia is having an affair with Lionel, and that she has fallen out of love with Gomez. After a couple of convoluted schemes gone wrong, Gomez comes to believe that Morticia would be happier with Lionel. This prompts him to not only be willing to leave Morticia, but to ask Uncle Fester to kill him so Morticia can truly be free to marry another man. Though this description might sound like the premise of a grim, depressing episode, it is actually set in the same comedic, light tone all episodes are made.
Taking a closer look at the separate elements of the episode itself, it reminds one of the theatre or the circus. There are rather literal references to this type of entertainment, such as Gomez holding a target sign as Uncle Fester is supposed to shoot him, or Gomez’ clothes. Without his jacket, the suspenders and the eyeliner he is wearing give him a sad- clown aesthetic. This reference grows stronger when he gets shot in the face with a water gun as he is holding a target which slowly grows droopy as it gets wet (see figure 1). Other salient references are Lurch’ and Uncle Fester’s makeup and Morticia’s dress, which could easily be worn on a theatre stage. The carnivorous plant and the set design, including a taxidermy bear, two-headed turtle, the bed of nails and a swordfish with a leg sticking out its mouth mounted on the wall, are strongly reminiscent of a freak show or a carnival. This is a look and feel not exclusive to this episode, but recurring throughout the entire series as the costumes and set design hardly change over the span of the two seasons.
More subtle references to the comedy genre are included in the sound design, such as signature sounds for the opening and closing of Thing’s box, the arrival of the mail, or the carnivorous plant’s movements. The series has a laughing track in the background, making lines such as Gomez’ request to Uncle Fester – “shoot me” – funny rather than grave. The transitions, rather than a subtle fade or a simple cut between scenes, often include spiral and other shape animations. The series is also not afraid to reuse footage or to loop it in order to lengthen the shot or to create a comedic effect. These factors, combined with the
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 20 soundtrack, which is upbeat and energetic, make that the The Addams Family series does not look necessarily sophisticated or sleek, but rather radiates a happy energy and the feeling that the series does not take itself too seriously, placing its focus on entertainment value rather than technological or cinematic innovation and sophistication.
Throughout the episode as well as the entire series, the actors’ facial expressions are rather grand, almost theatrical. The attention is drawn to the characters’ emotions through the use of medium close-ups, allowing the viewer to clearly read the characters’ facial expressions. The actors’ expressive faces emphasise their emotions and help convey them even more strongly to the viewers (see figures 2, 3 and 4 for Gomez theatrically going from laughter to a worried expression).
While Gomez on the one hand is a very extraverted, expressive character who displays extreme emotions, Morticia comes across as very calm and rational. Whenever
Gomez gets angry or upset, her character is generally calm and composed, mediating between her husband and the problem at hand. This reminds one of the scenarios as described by Doane from the women’s films in the 1940s. As excessive emotion and passion are seen as “madness” (62), there is a doctor in the film who needs to cure the female character from this madness, and interpret what she is feeling, and solve the problem accordingly (54).
Morticia and Gomez seem to be in a gender-bent construction of that doctor-patient relationship. Where Gomez loses focus because he gets aroused, or is about to do something impulsive due to extreme anger or fear, Morticia takes up the same role as the doctor in the 1940s women’s film does, reasons with him calmly and cures him of his extreme emotions. This way, Gomez’ emotions are framed within Morticia’s rational framework, granting her agency. Furthermore, this reversal of roles challenges the stereotypical gender roles of the rational male versus the hysterical female, as Gomez is now portrayed as overly emotional and Morticia as the voice of reason. By placing Morticia in this position which is usually reserved for a male character, the series grants a female character
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 21 agency and influence over a male character while challenging gender roles at the same time without man-hating, which is a criticism feminism often gets (Feltey and Sutherland 620).
1.3 Playing with Gender Roles and Masculine and Feminine Traits in The
Addams Family (1964-1966)
Morticia and Gomez’ marriage may seem traditional is some aspects, yet is unique when looked at from up close. Gomez is the ‘breadwinner’ of the household, and Morticia is a stay- at-home mother. The reason why breadwinner is in quotation marks is because Gomez is hardly ever shown working, and has a record of being terrible with money.6 Gomez is a defence lawyer, yet the one time in the series he is shown practising his profession, his methods are so idiotic the judge questions his credentials. On top of this, he himself admits that he has “run every business he owned into the ground” (“The Addams Family in Court”) and brags on occasion about how he has sold stock which afterwards has skyrocketed in worth. Morticia is portrayed as the stay-at-home mother and is on multiple occasions called
“the perfect hostess” by Gomez. Yet she takes up only a small portion of the household chores since their butler Lurch does most of these. She is, however, shown as the caring mother, often addressing the children directly and kissing the children good night, more so than Gomez. This is not to say that Gomez character is not shown as a caring father, on the contrary, but that aspect of his character is less prominent as a consistent element of his personality than the mother-aspect of Morticia’s character.
When examining Morticia’s character further, she is often portrayed as not only calm, but caring. She hand-feeds her carnivorous plants, worries about whether they get enough moonlight, knits a significant amount of clothing for family members, and is often shown
6 The family is never in real financial trouble as they can rely on their massive family fortune which presumably has built up over the course of generations.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 22 worrying about others. And because her knitting and caring for plants, combined with small actions such as fetching things when people need them, are repeated often, her caring side is emphasised throughout the course of the series. Whenever Gomez gets distracted,
Morticia redirects his focus to the matter at hand, which often is helping out a friend or family member in need. Though it may not be the image of the traditional caring maternal figure,
Morticia is portrayed as a loving, caring mother nonetheless.
The series has kept certain male and female stereotypes in place, while simultaneously breaking those expectations as well. While Morticia’s character, in addition to being a caring mother, has some stereotypical female hobbies, she often beats her husband at fencing and skeet shooting (though with crossbow and apples), and has skinned a hippo in the past. All of this is shown as if normal and effortless, and, more importantly, Gomez’ response is always enthusiastic and never bitter or embarrassed. He always responds proudly to his wife’s achievements rather than surprised at her abilities. The interplay in their personalities between embracing masculine and feminine traits while simultaneously also fully embracing traits traditionally ascribed to the other gender makes for well-rounded characters that play upon both traditional and unconventional portrayals of how husband and wife should behave.
By placing these multi-faceted characters in traditional gender roles, and then dismantling said gender roles, the The Addams Family series manages to strike a balance between the conventional and the ridiculous. Portraying Gomez as the breadwinner who is terrible with money and Morticia as the stay-at-home mother who does hardly any work around the house, the series comments on the absurdity of these stereotypical gender roles without explicitly saying it out loud.
Moreover, they are well-balanced characters – as they both depict feminine and masculine traits and interests – living in an unconventional but balanced relationship. For the time frame in which the series was first aired, their marriage was possibly the most equal marriage on TV (Astin). All decisions are discussed and both Morticia and Gomez openly voice their opinions on the matters at hand. Though it must be said that occasionally Gomez
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 23 holds power over Morticia, Morticia on the other hand also holds power over Gomez. Neither
Gomez nor Morticia have absolute authority over their spouse. Their relationship is an example of good onscreen representation of a feminist relationship being a relationship where man and woman are equals, as well as it being a great contribution to the diversity in representation of women and the relationships they live in.
1.4 The Lack of Gender Roles in Wednesday and Pugsley in The Addams
Family (1964-1966)
Wednesday and Pugsley, Morticia and Gomez’ children, have far less screen time than their parents, yet the intra-diegetic storytelling surrounding these two characters is important to consider in this context. In the pilot episode, Wednesday is shown with her doll, which has been decapitated by her brother upon her own request. This is because she wanted her doll to look like Marie Antoinette. Over the course of the series, her character is shown to have an interest in strong female figures, such as Mary Queen of Scots and Marie Antoinette.
Though her fascination might in part stem from her interest in decapitation, it shows that she has far more knowledge of strong female historical figures than the average six-year-old.
This is indicative of an upbringing which places importance on education and significance in female historical figures which are sometimes pushed to the background in regular education.
Wednesday’s character, too, is a mixture of more feminine and more masculine traits.
One the one hand, she is shown to have a doll, wear a dress, and have long braids in her hair. On the other hand, she takes a great interests in breeding her own pedigree of pet spiders, has a skull for a piggy bank, and punches a boy in the face who insulted her family, all things often considered to be more masculine than feminine interests and behaviour. It must be said that Pugsley is mostly shown as interested in traditionally more masculine hobbies, such playing with model trains (which belong to Gomez), as well as talking to foreigners over the radio and building a computer together with his father.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 24 When comparing the siblings, Wednesday is portrayed as more bookish and interested in learning and mastering the fine arts such as painting and playing the piano, whereas Pugsley is more technically inclined and interested in physical activities such as digging tunnels and joining the boy scouts. Both enjoy proper education which is partially taught by their grandmother, and no distinction is made between who is taught how to dance and who is taught about the French Revolution. Both of them are taught the same knowledge and skills, and it is left up to the children to develop themselves in the areas that take their preference. This way, the series argues in favour of a parenting style that allows children to choose their own way without forcing them into certain gender roles. This equality between
Wednesday and Pugsley is not only positive in terms of representation of a healthy balance between differently-gendered siblings, but also a good example of onscreen representation of what female characters can do when they are allowed to develop themselves free of constraints. This onscreen relationship and upbringing could possibly have a great influence on younger audiences, as children from a very young age onwards are aware of gender roles
(A. Davis 30).
1.5 Creating a Platform for Feminism Using Unruly Women and the
Carnivalesque in the Addams Family Adaptations
Rowe’s work on the unruly woman explains that, in settings where the normal rules do not apply, such as during carnival, women are able to comment on the existing gender roles in place without being scrutinised for them as afterwards everything would be restored to normal (N. Davis qtd. in Rowe 21). The Addams family household, much like a carnival, is far from a normal setting. As described before, their household as well as the series itself contain elements reminiscent of the circus, the theatre, and a carnival. By combining elements from these places which seem to operate on rules outside of what society deems
‘normal’ and placing them in a comedic setting, the The Addams Family series has created a platform where the characters can comment on existing gender roles and stereotypes without being scrutinised for it. A platform is created in the same way in the The Addams
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 25 Family film, as it maintains the same feel as the series, being set in the Addams family mansion, the characters wearing clothes that stand out in a crowd and their behaviour and interests still exceptional and theatrical. The use of comedy and disorder in the carnivalesque narrative is a very suitable manner with which to criticise the status quo (Bakhtin 166-167).
Taking Morticia as a character and measuring her against the characteristics of an unruly women, she most certainly qualifies as one. Rowe describes unruly women not knowing their “proper place”, talking in an inappropriate manner or too much and expressing dominant behaviour (28). Morticia is beneath Gomez in neither the film nor the series – which would be her “proper place” according to patriarchal rules (28) – but instead is in an equal relationship with Gomez. In the series, Morticia is occasionally shown telling family members what to do, and in the pilot episode she ‘dares’ interrupt Mr Hilliard on multiple occasions during the same conversation. In the film adaptation, Morticia’s dominance is conveyed in a more subtle manner, for example in the graveyard scene where she tells Gordon through subtext that the Addams family will punish those who dare take advantage of them (The
Addams Family 1991).
Granmama Addams is another clear example of an unruly woman. Even though she is a side character in the series, her presence is prominent in the episodes she features in.
Unlike what is expected of elderly women, which is to be quiet and invisible, she has a strong presence and a loud opinion, and on one occasion even proudly proclaims she voted in 1906 and did not let a lack of women’s suffrage stop her (“Gomez the Politician”). Granmama’s onscreen presence contributes to both the protesting of the current state of affairs as well as representation of women on screen, as older female characters often reside more in the background and are not unruly like she is.
Rowe explains that the most rebellious behaviour a woman can portray is to “lay claim to her own desire” (21). This is something that has been observed by Doane as an unacceptable concept as well. She explains that it is unacceptable and wrong for a woman to display passion and to have the desire to be the object of the male gaze (Doane 62; 42).
Rowe describes “looseness” in relation to sexuality as a character trait of an unruly woman.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 26 Yet, in the film adaptation, Morticia is highly aware of her own sexuality, the effect of which will be discussed in the paragraph below.
1.6 The Portrayal of Sexuality in The Addams Family (1991)
Morticia and Gomez’ passionate love is prominently present in the film. The cuckoo clock shown at the very beginning of the film has, instead of a bird ‘cuckooing’ the hour, Gomez kissing Morticia’s cleavage. The married couple also kisses abundantly in the middle of an auction house.
At the start of the film, Morticia and Gomez are shown in the bedroom together.
Gomez’ character is staring at his wife while she is asleep. This reminds one of the male gaze as explained by Laura Mulvey; Morticia is looked at by her husband for visual pleasure.
However, even though Morticia is objectified by her husband on a regular basis, she appears to enjoy this impulsive, sexual side of her husband. When she wakes up, she talks to Gomez about the sexual encounter they had the night before, describing him as “unhinged” and “a desperate, howling demon.” That line is followed immediately by Morticia telling Gomez: “do it again.” This is evidence that Morticia has a desire to be objectified. Moreover, Morticia appears to enjoy Gomez’ sexual impulses. This means that instead of being powerless against the male gaze, Morticia’s character embraces it and enjoys it.
In addition to this, sexuality in female characters is often used in order to please the male characters as well as the male audience. In this case, however, Morticia thoroughly enjoys her sexuality and openly shows this as well. She is not conventionally beautiful nor is she there merely for Gomez’ pleasure; she consciously chooses to be in this voyeuristic position and enjoys it. This construction of mutual gazing as well as the female character consciously placing herself in the position to be looked at are a strong mechanic which breaks with the traditional sexist portrayals of female characters.
Usually, men place meaning onto the female character, as the neutralise their fear of castration by objectifying her. Instead, Morticia chooses to actively assume the position of object of the gaze, thus taking control and giving her own meaning to the gaze, motivated by
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 27 her own desires instead of the male’s desires. Though Mulvey argues that women cannot use their onscreen position for their own agendas, I, like Rowe, disagree (Rowe 21). Morticia chooses to take up this highly visible position motivated by her own desires. Not only does that allow her to place meaning onto the gaze and her own person, but it also allows her to use this visibility to serve as an example of a strong woman who enjoys her sexuality and is not afraid to show it. This is a telling example of contributing to breaking “[the] patriarchy with the tools it provides” (Mulvey 7). As Mulvey argues, by tempering with pleasure language and expectations, a way out of the oppression can be found. But instead of breaking apart the original meaning of the gaze itself, Morticia has taken the gaze and bent it to fit her own goals and desires, making this patriarchal tool a feminist weapon instead.
Considering Morticia’s appearance in this context, it seems to be full of contradictions.
Charles Addams’ original description describes her as a “ruined beauty” (Addams). Morticia is portrayed with her eyebrows relatively high-arched and thin, and her eye make-up grim.
Her eyelashes are full to keep her relatively attractive. Her eye shadow is shaped into long wings on her eyelids which reach onto her temples, accentuating the sharp angles in her face. The cheekbones on her face are very sharp, making her cheeks appear hollow, giving it a ghost-like appearance. Combined with her bright red lips and nails, her face is an interesting juxtaposition of both conventionally attractive and unattractive features, ultimately giving the viewer the illusion that she was once pretty, yet those days seem to have passed
(see figure 5).
Though her face is not conventionally attractive, her wardrobe keeps to more traditional standards. Even though the style of her dress is not an item that has ever been in fashion, the silhouette created by it is. Morticia’s character wears a form-fitting gown, which hugs her curves and accentuates her small waist (see figure 6). Therefore, much like her facial make-up plays with conventionally attractive and unattractive traits, her entire appearance does, too. Where her face is more a portrayal of her “ruined beauty”, her body still conforms to conventional beauty standards.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 28 1.7 Masculine and Feminine Interests and a Feminist Upbringing in The
Addams Family (1991)
In the film, both Morticia and Gomez’s characters are shown to have multiple intra-diegetic hobbies. Morticia is shown gardening and playing the violin, neither of which are considered to be particularly masculine. Gomez’ character, on the other hand, is shown practicing a wide array of hobbies, among which golfing, chess, sword fighting and playing with his model trains. These are all activities traditionally described to be more masculine. On the other hand, Gomez also practices gymnastics and dancing, though both are used in order to displaying masculinity as they are about strength and endurance. It seems that their hobbies and their personalities are meant to form a contrast between masculine and feminine traits.
By on the one hand having Gomez portray himself as masculine and Morticia as feminine through their hobbies and appearance, and on the other hand reversing their traditional roles in terms of personality, the film plays upon the traditionally prescribed gender roles. This way, it draws attention to these gender stereotypes without explicitly criticizing them; it shows the audience that they are not as strict as they are traditionally believed to be.
Wednesday and Pugsley have less screen time than their parents in the film, yet they do have strong personalities which resonate through the entire story, even when they are off screen. For example, preceding the school play, Wednesday’s teacher discusses
Wednesday’s role model with Morticia. She picked her aunt Calpernia for the assignment, a woman who was burned as a witch in 1706, who danced naked in the town, and enslaved a minister. Though the morals of the heroin can be considered dubious to say the least, it seems Wednesday seems to have a tendency to admire women with strong character who are not afraid to act on their impulses and occupy positions of power. This could point towards an upbringing by her parents that encourages her to look for female role models who are not afraid to express themselves freely and fight for the things they want in life, and are not afraid to stand up to the status quo. The fact that the heroine’s moral compass seems to be broken is not of import, as the Addams family are not a family who understand the outside
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 29 world’s view of what is morally right or wrong. This, in turn, means that in the context of the
Addams’ household, the encouragement and acceptance of Wednesday’s choices of role models is evidence of an upbringing which encourages role models of all genders, as well as an upbringing motivating Wednesday to be strong, confident, and to fight for what she wants.
Staying with the character of Wednesday, she has a strong personality which is evident from her composure to her actions. In the film, she is approximately ten years old.
She is introduced in the opening sequence holding a crossbow, aimed at the apple in
Pugsley’s mouth, who is strapped to a chair. She is quite clearly the person in control in this scenario. She calmly tells him that he should stay calm as she “know[s] what [she’s] doing,” then takes aim at her brother with her crossbow, firing her arrow without a moment’s hesitation. This ten-second excerpt from the film is very telling for Wednesday’s character.
She is extremely confident of her own abilities, even with her brother’s life on the line. Her overall body language shows she is very controlled, both in terms of her movements as well as her emotions. “Calm” and “composed” are the words to use to describe her personality.
For her age, she seems to be too calm, even.
On the other hand, there is Pugsley, an enthusiastic, energetic boy who is easily excited but also disorganized and easily panicked. Though both Wednesday and Pugsley are unique characters, they seem to resemble their parents in several ways. Wednesday is calm and composed like Morticia, and Pugsley is enthusiastic and wears his emotions on his sleeve like his father. This way, Wednesday and Pugsley break the traditional role division described by Doane as well, the same way their parents do, advocating the abolishment of gender roles by addressing them in the carnivalesque setting of the film by reversing them.
Concerning their hobbies, there is not a lot of information to draw upon from the film.
Rowe describes one of the character traits of an unruly women to be androgyny. Granted,
Wednesday’s appearance looks highly feminine as she has long braids and wears a dress.
Her hobbies, however, give her more of an androgynous personality. Wednesday is shown to have an interest in death, crossbows, sword fighting, and mutilation, and Pugsley is shown to enjoy causing car-crashes and sword fighting as well. These are all hobbies traditionally
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 30 considered more masculine, yet both Wednesday and Pugsley practise them. It is interesting to note, though, that even though Wednesday’s character seem to enjoy more masculine hobbies in favour of traditionally more feminine hobbies, it is not the case that Pugsley enjoys more ‘feminine’ hobbies over the more ‘masculine’ pastimes. However, Wednesday clearly takes pleasure in pastimes which are usually reserved for male characters, making her tamper with the division of gendered stereotypes, especially as her appearance and personality have a stark contrast in terms of gender expectations.
One last thing to note about Wednesday’s character is that she is portrayed as smart.
For example, she is shown reciting historical facts to Uncle Fester, but it is the way she recites these facts that is important. She does not tell him enthusiastically what she was taught recently, but instead challenges him to ask about a certain historical topic, proving her knowledge in return. This is an indication that Wednesday is a smart girl, but not only that;
Wednesday is smart and she is well aware of it. This kind of certainty of herself is present throughout the entire film. It is a sense of indestructible self-confidence that she radiates in every scene, because of this kind of behaviour combined with her eerily calm personality.
By placing Wednesday in juxtaposition with Pugsley, the contrast between the two characters is amplified. This makes Wednesday not only seem more calm and composed, but also more confident. Wednesday’s confidence on screen could function as a role model for young female viewers, but not only that. Given the fact that she is quite the unusual ten- year-old, she also brings added diversity in terms of representation. By having Wednesday appear on screen, young girls in the audience have a new role model to look at alongside the many clichéd, innocent, sweet girls often portrayed in films.
1.8 Conclusion: Balancing Femininity and Masculinity While Reversing
Traditional Techniques
The Addams Family (1964-1966) and The Addams Family (1991) have managed to build a platform for a feminist message by adapting carnivalesque traits into their aesthetic. By placing themselves in the comedy genre, they have chosen to comment on the status quo
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 31 using humour and laughter, both powerful tools that can be used without coming across as grave or glaringly obvious.
Morticia, Wednesday, and even Granmama qualify as unruly women by Rowe’s standards, though all for different reasons. Where Granmama is old but overtly present,
Wednesday has an androgynous personality combined with a feminine appearance. Morticia is the most unruly of the three, portraying dominant behaviour, talking excessively and in an inappropriate tone, and fully enjoying her sexuality. This gives the adaptations not only a broad spectrum in terms of representation of women based on age and personality, but also in terms of different aspects of the patriarchal rules the characters object to by behaving opposite to what those rules prescribe.
It seems that the creators of both the show and the film intentionally juxtaposed feminine and masculine traits and hobbies in the characters of the show. This has led to reversal in traditional roles and patriarchal constructions, while still maintaining feminine and masculine traits in female and male characters respectively. By playing with the balance between femininity and masculinity between the different characters as well as within the different characters, both the series and the film comment on traditional roles and stereotypes in place without directly addressing or criticising them.
The reversal of gender roles regarding rationality and the display of emotions as described by Doane also contributes to the criticism of these stereotypes. In addition, and possibly even more importantly, by placing Gomez’ character in the rational framework of
Morticia, the series has granted her with agency where most female characters are left powerless.
The film provides Morticia with agency elsewhere, as it has managed to not only undercut the original meaning of the male gaze, but allowed Morticia to place her own meaning onto the gaze as well as herself, turning it into a tool working for the feminist agenda rather than the patriarchy.
It must be said that, in terms of intra-diegetic interests of the Addams family members, the film was less concerned with breaking stereotypes, though it played with the
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 32 gender expectations of Wednesday’s character very cleverly. Throughout both adaptations, an interplay between masculine and feminine interests and character traits can be found, allowing the characters to address traditional gender roles in a clever yet subtle way as well as providing proper onscreen representation of both male and female characters, as the family members all have complex, intricate personalities which are reminiscent of real human beings.
In short, both adaptations manage to protest the patriarchal rules which are in place in a subtle yet effective way, thanks to the well-rounded characters of the Addams family which all consist of a well-balanced set of masculine and feminine character traits that are placed in a carnivalesque setting, while repurposing traditionally patriarchal constructs and tools into feminist weapons to advocate women’s sexuality, representation of women on screen, and the eradication of gender roles.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 33 Chapter 2 The Feminist Elements of Story, Narration, and Plot and Analysed in the Addams Family Adaptations
2.1 Introduction: The Distinction between Story, Narration, and Plot and
Their Effects in Terms of Feminism in the Addams Family Adaptations
Where the first chapter mainly focused on the characters of the Addams family, this chapter will focus its attention on the narrative7 in which the characters are placed, the way these stories are told and the role and influence the different characters have in these narratives.
Three different concepts will be taken into account, being story, narration, and plot. The story is that what is being told: the overall message of the text (Bal 5). This includes everything that the film and series are actually about; the events that happen both on and off screen.
The plot is the actions which have been selected and placed in sequence in order to tell the story (Porter Abbott 43). The narration is in the way in which the story is told (Porter Abbott
39), and in film and television, that includes both intra-diegetic as well as extra-diegetic elements such as camerawork, genre, characters, and soundtrack.
The stories of both the series and the film will be closely examined. The principles and beliefs integrated into the story and the message that is sent to the viewer will be analysed through the same framework of feminist film and television theories as the previous chapter in order to see to what extent the adaptations argue in favour of women’s sexuality and proper representation of women on screen as well as protest existing gender roles.
In addition to this, the plot of the two adaptations will be analysed. By scrutinising which parts of the story are shown and which are left out, priorities in terms of implied
7 I am using the term “narrative” as the product that is the story, plot and narration combined.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 34 importance will become clear regarding whether male or female characters and storylines are perceived as more important by the filmmakers. Moreover, analysing the plot will indicate which characters are most important in furthering the plot, revealing the extent to which characters have agency in the narrative.
The narration of the story will be closely looked at as well. By establishing through which storytelling elements the story is told, the intention is to establish whether the series and the film have chosen to integrate techniques and concepts such as the rejection of marriage by Gomez to assert dominance, female characters taking a passive role in the narrative, and the curing of Morticia’s ‘hysteria’ (Neale 9; Mulvey 11-12; Doane 68). In addition to the feminist theories used in chapter one, this chapter will also consider Steve
Neale’s work on masculinity concerning the male gaze in relation to the male characters in the adaptations, with the focus placed on Gomez and Uncle Fester, and the way it deals with the homoerotic implications the gaze can have. Lastly, this chapter will also look at representation of women on screen in the two adaptations, taking the power dynamics as described by Feltey and Sutherland into consideration.
Analysing the story, narration, and plot of both adaptations though a theoretical framework consisting of the works by Sutherland and Feltey, Doane, Rowe, Neale, and
Mulvey will create insight into how these elements contribute to a feminist attitude of the adaptations towards the roles the female characters play in the narrative, the extent to which they have agency, and the adaptations’ standpoint regarding gender roles, women’s sexuality, and representation of women on screen.
2.2 Gender Role Models and Power Dynamics in The Addams Family
(1964-1966)
The premise of the pilot episode of The Addams Family (1964-1966), “The Addams Family
Goes to School) revolves around Mr Hilliard, a truant officer coming to the Addams family’s house in order to tell Morticia and Gomez their children need to go to school as per the law.
Initially, at the core of this episode’s premise is the conflict between Morticia and Gomez
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 35 since the two parents have different opinions on having the children attend school. Where
Morticia insists it will be best for the children, Gomez looks upon the matter from a more selfish perspective and wants to keep the children at home because his character has a strong emotional connection to his offspring. This suggestion is confirmed by his pacing and checking the clock, impatiently waiting for the children to come back from school and his telling Morticia: “You can’t send the children to school, I’d be lost without them!” (“The
Addams Family Goes to School”).
Morticia, however, makes the executive decision to send the children to school, despite Gomez’ begging her not to. This is an unusual situation considering the series is set in in the sixties, since women were most often not in a position to make important decisions in their households. This was the husband’s role as head of the family (H. Davis). This is a clear example of Morticia using a power-over position in order to control the situation and dictate what happens. This is remarkable, especially in the sixties, since to this day there are still few female characters in positions of authority on screen (Rowe 32). This power-over dynamic, as explained by Feltey and Sutherland, is usually assigned to female characters who are physically strong and have adopted masculine character traits (619). Morticia, however, is portrayed as skinny, without any visible muscles and has many of the traditional feminine beauty traits, such as long hair, an hourglass figure which is accentuated by her tightfitting dress and her low cleavage. Her mannerisms are feminine as well, further amplifying her traditionally feminine traits.
By challenging the conventional character traits which are usually assigned to female characters in a power-over dynamic, the series contradicts the stereotype of a strong woman requiring masculine traits, and, in this manner, points out that adopting feminine characteristics does not mean the portrayal of a weak character. By having Morticia be openly feminine and hold power of her husband in this case, the series implies that men are not always dominant over women, and women do not need to adapt masculine traits in order to gain power. By taking a masculinised ‘feminist’ character stereotype and mending it, the series takes it one step further and calls for broad representation and empowerment of
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 36 feminine character traits in onscreen characters, protesting the patriarchal beliefs that femininity equals weakness.
2.3 Gender Division of Plot-Driving Characters and Narration in The
Addams Family (1964-1966)
When looking at the gender of the characters who drive the plot of the episodes, most of the narratives revolve around male characters. Looking at the story of the pilot, for example, it seems to be centred around Mr. Hilliard’s mission to get the Addams family children to school. Mr. Hilliard is an important character in the episode, as the plot largely consists of his experiences and emotions. If he was to be a minor side character to the viewer, his experiences outside the Addams family house would be deemed irrelevant to the plot and would not be shown to the viewer. Instead, his mission and the emotional consequences of struggling to achieve that goal take up a large part of the episode’s run time. This means that his personal character arc was deemed important enough to make up a large part of the story arc of the episode.
This is most likely also due to the fact that the episode sticks to the conventions of the comedy genre, and relies heavily on humour for its entertainment value. Mr Hilliard’s responses to the Addams family, their house, and their request to return there are met with abundant laughter from the laughing track as they are set up to be comedic thanks to the stark contrast between expectations of the different characters. The close-ups of Mr Hilliard’s face give the audience a clear insight into his emotions and leave little to be questioned about whether or not Mr Hilliard is struggling with his interactions with the Addamses. This is a storytelling technique that works well thanks to the all-knowing position that the audience has been placed in. This is because the episode shows scenes of both the Addams family’s perspective as well as from Mr Hilliard’s perspective, ensuring that the viewer has knowledge of everyone’s perspective and is able to draw conclusion about possible misunderstandings and conflicts in expectations between the two parties.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 37 The conscious use of these storytelling techniques through plot and narration make it so that, in part, the The Addams Family series is indeed a comedy series, which contributes to it being a platform in which the characters are able to comment on societal norms. The laughing track is a well-known element of this genre, as well as a powerful corrective and political tool that can be used to protest certain issues (Rowe 20; 22).
Nonetheless, it is clear that Mr Hilliard’s character plays an important role in this episode’s story. Without Mr Hilliard, the episode would not have had a premise, making his character essential to the story as well as the plot. Since most episodes revolve around one or more male guest characters, the storylines for most of the episodes are thus male- centred. This is where the episode poses a contradiction as on the one hand it enables the characters in the diegesis to comment on issues such as existing gender roles, but on the other hand chooses to make most of their narratives male-centred. It must be said that the second season of The Addams Family (1964-1966) had an almost even division in male versus female-centred episode narratives, but the first season had predominantly male- driven narratives in its episodes. It is possible that the series had gained an audience for itself after the first season and therefore dared to take its feminist standpoint one step further, though this cannot be said with certainty. In the end, the fact remains that the majority of the episodes revolve around one or more male characters, meaning that the female characters are moved to the background and take up a smaller part in the narration, granting them less agency in the story.
2.4 The Representation of Marriage, Sexuality, and Desire in the Addams
Family Adaptations
A story element which is always present in both the series and the film is Morticia and
Gomez’s marriage. It often does not feature as the main focus of the episode, nor does it serve as the main focus of the film, yet it appears to be an omnipresent fact in the stories of the episodes and the film. As discussed before, Morticia and Gomez’s marriage is a telling example of a feminist relationship, but it is an example of a supportive relationship as well.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 38 As Morticia and Gomez are equals in their marriage, Morticia supports and helps Gomez, but that favour is returned in equal measure. Representation of these kind of relationships are essential, as an allegiance between men and women should be normalised and advertised in order to spread the concept (Feltey and Sutherland 624).
Another interesting aspect of their marriage is the fact that both Gomez’ character in the film as well as the series is passionately in love with Morticia, and is utterly committed to his marriage. The reason why this is interesting is because it is unusual for male characters to be extensively happy in their marriage, as it supposedly weakens their masculine power position (Neale 9). As Gomez enjoys his marriage, and, moreover, prioritises his wife by putting her needs ahead of his own, he reinforces the celebration of concepts that are considered ‘feminine’ values (Neale 9). The fact that their marriage is a common thread throughout the stories of the different Addams family adaptations and therefore gives the adaptations a consistent feminist element in the sense of the celebration of femininity as well as representation of a feminist onscreen marriage.
Morticia and Gomez’s marriage seems to be a dream marriage, meeting all the requirements to qualify a cliché-romance for overly romantic husband, loving and committed wife, and still being as madly in love and filled with passion as the time they first laid eyes on each other. Yet, as their marriage is set in the context of their household, which is perceived as ‘creepy and kooky’ by the outside world, their marriage mocks these clichés and indicates how ridiculous they truly are. This is done through the same construction as the adaptations which use comedy and carnivalesque elements to create a platform for their feminist commentary; by suspending the rules of normalcy and showing an alternative to the stereotypical ‘perfect marriage’, they implicitly protest what the majority of mainstream films portray as an ideal relationship.
As explained in the previous chapter, Morticia and Gomez’s passion is an unusual display in film, as passion is regarded as an inappropriate expression of a desire that should be repressed (Doane 62). Yet both their characters openly express their love and sexual attraction to each other, and Gomez even more so than Morticia. Moreover, where the 1940s
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 39 women’s films’ narratives were often focused on curing the woman’s mental abnormalities
(Doane 68) – such as passion – neither the film nor the series has even the slightest indication of intending to tamper with their passionate love for each other. The fact that the adaptations do not attempt to “de-hystericise” either Gomez or Morticia instills them with an implied approval of this behaviour which is otherwise considered inappropriate, celebrating female sexuality in a loving onscreen relationship that disregards traditional gender roles.
2.5 Powerful Positions for Female Characters in a Male-Centred Story in
The Addams Family (1991)
As Gomez’ character is driven to return his brother to the land of the living because he wants to ask him for forgiveness, the plot focuses on the interaction and the relationship between the two brothers rather heavily. Moreover, the question driving the premise of the film is whether or not the Addams family will find out whether the look-alike named Gordon is actually an imposter and not Gomez’ real brother – though, as it turns out in the end, he actually is. As the ‘will they find out?’ question is what keeps the suspense that has the audience stay intrigued and engaged, a large number of scenes centred around or including
Uncle Fester are required in order to keep the audience informed about his state of mind, his loyalties, and the constant confirmation that he is, indeed, an imposter. These factors make that even though Morticia and Wednesday play a significant role in the story; the film is heavily centred around the two male characters, meaning that these two female characters are reduced to supporting characters to the male leads instead of lead characters in themselves.
While the female characters are not the centre of the narrative, the roles they take up in the narrative are empowering nonetheless. Abigail Craven, Gordon’s adoptive mother and villain of the film, has placed herself in a position of power over both Gordon and Tully Alford,
Gomez’ lawyer who owes her money. The fact that she takes up an active role in the narrative and that the viewer is informed of the progress of her scheme regularly make her an important part of the plot and allow her to narrate the story in part. This is noteworthy as
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 40 women are commonly placed in roles with little agency and take up a passive role in the narrative (Rowe 32; Mulvey 11; 12). Her taking up an active position in the narrative makes her unruly, as she refuses to stay in line, allowing her to comment on gender roles by fulfilling a part that is traditionally reserved for men (Rowe 24) while contributing to a diverse onscreen representation of women.
In the course of the film, the family gets evicted from their house due to Gordon claiming ’rightful’ ownership of the house and all of their possessions. As they have to live in a motel due to the betrayal of Gomez’ ‘brother’, Gomez’ character reaches an emotional breaking point and gives up, his attitude showing that he is feeling completely defeated. He is shown watching day-time television and eating comfort food; clichés one would expect from a heartbroken girl in a romantic comedy. Gomez portrays a lack of narcissism which is usually reserved for female characters that are mentally unsound (Doane 40). Morticia, on the other hand, gives the family a motivational speech, showing that she is strong of character and a leader, ready to fight back. Morticia stepping up as a leader is another example of a female character in this film taking on a role traditionally reserved for men, letting her behaviour function as a protest against gender roles (Rowe 24). In these different reactions to an emotionally distressing situation, Morticia and Gomez’ difference in character shines through, with Morticia handling it in a calm and rational way where Gomez has a strong emotional reaction instead. This, again, is a clear example of Gomez’ emotions being framed within Morticia’s reason, reversing the gendered construction as described by Doane while protesting gender roles through the use of their carnivalesque platform (qtd. in Onaran
101).
This scene is also a clear example of the agency that Morticia’s character has in the story of the film. Even though the film, as mentioned before, is heavily centred around the two male leads, Morticia Addams’ character shares a significant amount of screen time in numerous scenes throughout the film with the male characters. In these scenes she often provides the viewer with relevant information, but more importantly, also is of great influence on the other characters in the narrative. As she often takes on the role of taking care of
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 41 Gomez, be it directly or indirectly, she is the supporting force behind him that keeps his character going throughout the film. Not only does she motivate the entire family as described in the aforementioned scene, she convinces Gomez to go to therapy, knows when to keep her distance and take care of the children in order to give him space, or goes out to an agency in order to apply for jobs so she can provide for the family while Gomez is too emotionally distressed to do so. Her assertiveness and disregard for traditional gender roles is a recurring feminist element throughout the film.
The climax of the film is centred around the rescue of Morticia from the grasp of the villains of the story, a conflict that manages to snap Gomez’ character out of its defeated state in order to save his wife from the peril she is in. At first glance, this situation appears to be a classic example of the age-old damsel in distress cliché. Morticia is chained up by the villains, incapable of doing anything against the torture they subject her to. Her character, however, has an uncommon reaction to the torture she is being subjected to; whereas the norm dictates that characters scream in pain and possibly cry out for help, the character of
Morticia Addams gladly undergoes the torture, and even seems to enjoy it. Clearly, there is no sense of urgency to her character in having to be rescued from the constraints of the villain, as she has experience as being the subject of torture and is familiar with her own endurance in these situations. In this scene Morticia is calling out the ridiculousness of the damsel in distress cliché in a way that is credible and true to her character, while at the same time placing herself in a position of power over the villains in this scene. This scene portrays her character as strong character and gives her agency while she is in a position where she is traditionally supposed to be helpless and powerless.
Though the children do not play a large part in the film in terms of both screen time as well as influence on the story, it is clear to see that Wednesday has a stronger influence on the story than Pugsley. Her character has far more lines, which makes her screen presence more prominent than Pugsley’s. Moreover, whenever Wednesday is present in a scene, her character always draws attention to itself due to her eerie presence. This is exceptional, as
Wednesday often is a character that, even without dialogue and with quite a number of
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 42 people in the same frame, still manages to stand out. Having such a strong female presence on screen without placing emphasis on the character with non-diegetic techniques such as singling her out in the in the frame or having an audio-cue announce her presence on the screen, is quite a subtle yet powerful way of evening out the balance in representation in gender among characters in the film, which is necessary because the film is strongly centred around the two older male characters of the family.
2.6 Hetero-Normativity and Repression of Homoerotic Subtexts in The
Addams Family (1991)
Neale explains that two male characters cannot share a scene without subverting the male gaze that is place upon them. As the male gaze is reserved for men, male characters cannot be the object of the gaze, since that would imply homoerotic subtext to the film, a concept which mainstream cinema tries to avoid at all cost (Neale 15). Examining the narration regarding Gomez’ relationship with other male characters in the film, especially with his brother Fester, this repressing of the gaze seems to be a common concern. As Gomez meets with his lawyer in the beginning of the film, he challenges him to a duel, resulting in a scene including the throwing of rapiers, an impressive swordfight, and multiple backflips. This is a classic example of using violence in order to subvert the gaze from their bodies as objects to the battle as a spectacle.
A more complex example is the scene where Gomez and Fester perform the
Mamushka together, a “dance of brotherly love” (The Addams Family 1991). This scene contains a mixture of both feminine and masculine elements. On the one hand, Gomez and
Fester are performing a dance together, which is an activity traditionally considered to be more feminine. The two brothers dancing not only has a subtext of homosexual love, but incestuous love as well. These implications are repressed through the creation of a great spectacle consisting of sword-fighting, juggling swords, swallowing a sword, and performing gymnastic stunts exhibiting exceptional agility and strength.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 43 The fact that the film goes to great lengths in order to conceal and repress the homoerotic subtext these scenes could possibly have, combined with the fact that Morticia and Gomez’s marriage is such a prominent aspect of the narrative, makes the film exceptionally hetero-normative. The fact that the film refuses to accept a male character as the object of the gaze, yet has no problem with Morticia being the object, is problematic from a feminist perspective, as that gives the film the implicit message that it is acceptable to objectify women, but not acceptable to objectify men. This is an aspect where the patriarchal values of society have slipped into the film, and it falsely represents difference in status between men and women.
2.7 Conclusion: Female Plot-Driving Characters Placed in a Male-
Narrated Story
The narration of both the series and the film are predominantly male-centred, though the series’ second season, as opposed to the first, is almost balanced regarding male or female- centred plots. The The Addams Family film contains scenes that go to great lengths to repress any homoerotic subtext that could possibly be present. This, combined with the ever- present marriage of Morticia and Gomez, makes the film notably hetero-normative.
Yet even though the narration of the film is predominantly male, it is notable that
Wednesday is a much more present character than her brother Pugsley. Like her mother,
Wednesday has a strong screen presence which contributes to the diversification of onscreen representation of women, as well as to representation of women onscreen as a whole. Both the series and the film have allowed women to take up powerful roles in the plot, granting them agency through which they influence the story, shift stereotypes regarding power dynamics between male and female characters, and protest gender roles.
The stories of the series and film, like the plot, contain feminist elements even though they are male-centred. As Gomez’ and Morticia’s passionate marriage is a salient part of the episodes’ stories as well as the film’s, their passion and desire is conveyed clearly to the
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 44 viewer, abolishing gender roles, hate for feminine values and the expression of desire, which the status quo prescribes to film and its characters.
Therefore, despite the adaptations setting these powerful women in male-centred stories, they still provide the female characters with a platform and agency, representing different women in different roles, while celebrating femininity and sexuality. In addition, the adaptations protest both intra and extra-diegetic gender roles as female characters take up positions of power in terms of influencing the plot, as well as roles in the diegesis usually reserved for men, tipping the scales in favour of a feminist message on the level of the adaptations’ narratives.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 45 Chapter 3 The Development in Narrative and Characters in The Addams Family Adaptations during Different Waves of Feminism
3.1 Introduction: Establishing Changes between the Two Addams Family
Adaptations and Placing Them in Their Respective Waves of Feminism
As mentioned before, there are many different adaptations of the Addams family; the original comics, the American 1964 TV series, several animated series, a Canadian TV series called
The New Addams Family from 1998, several feature films, and, most recently, a musical adaptation. Over the course of these eighty years and the different adaptations, the Addams family members have undergone quite a few changes, and not only in terms of the actors portraying them.
These differences between the 1964 series and the 1991 film in both the narrative and the characters will be set out over the course of this chapter. Using Jason Mittel’s work on trans-media storytelling and narrative complexity, I aim to explain the different connections and relations between the two adaptations. In order to explain how these changes affect the viewer and how it is possible to create adaptations with an entirely new cast which are accepted by the audience, Murray Smith’s work will help provide answers on how allegiance with fictional characters is formed regardless of the actor portraying the character.
After establishing how the two Addams family adaptations interrelate and how these changes affect the audience’s perception of the characters and the narrative, the differences in characters, storytelling techniques such as the male gaze, and influence of different gendered characters on the narrative will be analysed from a feminist perspective. Using the same framework of feminist film and television theories that was used in the previous two chapters, a comparison will be made between the series and the film in terms of the extent to which they support feminist values regarding gender roles, women’s sexuality, and
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 46 representation of women on screen. Placing the adaptations in the context of their contemporary waves of feminism will help explain the differences in the feminist values they reflect as they are related to their zeitgeist, the extent to which they reflect these feminist values and the ways in which these are communicated to the audience.
3.2 Character Development, Complexity, and Continuity in the Different
Addams Family Adaptations
Firstly, the characters in the different adaptations will be closely examined. As is obvious, the characters in the TV series and the film are played by different actors. Though this change in cast was mostly born out of necessity as part of the old cast had passed away and the surviving actors had aged 30 years, it was a good way to allow the director a fresh interpretation of the fictional family. This change in cast helped separate the two adaptations from each other visually in order to establish a clear line between them. Usually, casting a different actor for a lead role is something generally unacceptable in TV series (Mittell 120).
However, due to the amount of time that had passed between the TV series and the film, as well as the fact that this was not a clear-cut sequel to the 1964 series, the recasting of the lead characters was not a problem as the film was clearly a re-interpretation of the Addams family characters.
In order to work with the same characters but with different actors in the film adaptation, it was key to find the balance between keeping the characters similar to one or more of the earlier adaptations while still having the audience recognise the director’s and writer’s personal touch (Margolin 69). Though the actors and director from the film certainly gave their own interpretation of the role to their characters, they remained based on former adaptations.
As mentioned in chapter one, John Astin, the actor who played Gomez in the TV series, had almost full liberty to fill in his character. As adaptations are based on other texts
(Hutcheon 35), Charles Addams’ original character descriptions functioned as the foundation for the characters of the Addams family in the 1964 series, including Gomez. The original
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 47 character description for Gomez as written by Charles Addams contains adjectives which mostly point in the same direction, such as “jolly”, “puckish”, “optimistic”, and “full of enthusiasm” (Addams). These are character traits upon which Astin has built his foundation for the character of Gomez, as is evident from his portrayal. His wide-eyed gaze soaks up every detail of his environment with the greatest sense of wonder (Ocker 56) (see figure 7).
Astin tells he chose to fill the character with a great joy of life (Astin), in line with the original description.8 He stated in a recent interview that, because he was the first to play the character of Gomez Addams, “there is still a lot of John Astin in Gomez’ character,” meaning that his personality which he put into the role has become part of the core characteristic of the character (Astin). This development from original character description to the first actor’s performance, to the reinterpretation of the actor after that, is a process that continues from adaptations to adaptations, merging the characters intertextually.
Not only do the performances and the characters connect the different adaptations, but references to older adaptations and the original texts are also made in the different adaptations. For example, one of the original cartoons drawn by Charles Addams (see figure
8) where the Addamses can be seen pouring a boiling cauldron on carol singers, is directly copied in the opening credits of the The Addams Family film from 1991. The film also references the series on multiple occasions, such as with the charity auction and Gomez’ interest in model trains, which was not present in the series. The series references the comics on multiple occasions, as those were the only source material available to the series to base the characters on. Through these cross-references between adaptations, an underlying foundation of characteristics and elements of the Addams family universe is
8 Astin even said that he tried to make “a source of enjoyment” out of everything on set
(Astin).
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 48 established and referred back to in order to maintain continuity throughout the adaptations, as these elements have become part of the Addams family canon.
The different Addams family adaptations, though consisting of the same characters in most adaptations, have suffered from some continuity errors over the course of eighty years.
These continuity errors include things such as family relationships; where in the 1964 TV series Uncle Fester is Morticia’s uncle from her mother’s side, Fester is Gomez’ direct brother in the film. These sort of continuity errors make it hard to determine whether the characters in the different adaptations can be considered the same.
Jason Mittel explains the concept of “conditional seriality” to be when a series decides to pursue certain storylines while neglecting others, sometimes even denying in later episodes that these happened in the diegesis (21). Taking this concept and applying it to the
1964 series and the 1991 film as a whole, I would like to propose the notion that the film uses conditional continuity: the film chooses to rely on large parts of the character traits established in the earlier texts, yet chooses to ignore others, such as uncle Fester’s family relation to Morticia and Gomez. The storylines from previous texts are referred to as a way of paying homage to them, yet are never referred to as having happened before the film itself.
The 1964 series as well as the 1991 film seem to thrive on what Seymour Chatman calls “minor satellites”, being small events that have little impact on the plot and are fairly irrelevant to the overall storyline, as opposed to “major kernels”, which cause a chain reaction with far reaching effects in the bigger narrative (qtd. in Mittel 23). These small events and quirks add a certain depth and realism to the adaptations without influencing the narratives, meaning these can remain original works (Mittel 24). The fact that these narratives are clearly not related apart from the fact that they feature mostly the same characters, yet both of them being rather successful commercially, suggests that the audience does not look for “canonical coherence” as much as an adaptation faithful to the original characters (Mittel 299). This suspicion is further confirmed by the fact that the series mostly used episodic storytelling rather than serial storytelling for most of their episodes. This means the episodes could be watched outside the context of the series without knowledge of
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 49 events which had previously occurred in the series’ narrative. Save for a few references and a couple of recurring characters, such as Mr Hilliard, the episodes’ narratives are entirely detached from each other and could be watched in random order, meaning the series relies on the characters rather than the narrative in order to attract an audience. This indicates that fans are primarily loyal to the characters of the Addams family, rather than the narratives they were part of, placing the adaptations in a positive position in terms of chance of a successful remake, as long as new adaptations stay true to the original characters.
3.3 Allegiance with and Commitment to the Addams Family Characters
The reason the audience stays committed to the different Addams family adaptations is because of their allegiance to the characters. This allegiance, as explained by Murray Smith, means that the audience is rooting for a certain character, hoping they will achieve their goals (41). The allegiance formed between the viewer and the characters is based on a moral assessment of the character conducted by the viewer, which is based on the character’s actions and mental state, combined with the context these characters have been placed in (Smith 41).
This allegiance is crucial when it comes to characters changing and evolving; in the series, for example (Mittell 134). Taking this theory and applying it to trans-adaptational change rather than intra-textual change in the characters of the Addams family adaptations, it could be argued that this works the same from the audience’s perspective when watching
The Addams Family (1964-1966) and The Addams Family (1991). Even though the characters are portrayed by different actors and display slightly different character quirks, the viewer will stick to the allegiance they have formed with said character while watching or reading a different adaptation, as long as the core values and traits of the character themselves do not change too much.
If the viewer finds that they can agree to the character’s actions or their point of view in the context of the text, they are more likely to agree to the message these characters are sending to their audience. Therefore, the feminist message broadcasted by the Addams
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 50 family adaptations is likely to be accepted by its audience, since the viewers are often already familiar with the characters before watching one of the adaptations, meaning they have previously formed an allegiance with the characters. It can be assumed that one would not choose to view another Addams family adaptation if they did not enjoy the characters in the first adaptation, making the adaptations a suitable medium through which to send possibly feminist messages. The series, for this same reason, was an effective medium for broadcasting this progressive message. Had people not enjoyed the previous episodes, they would not have continued watching the series, meaning regular viewers are more likely to accept a feminist message through the medium of the series.9 As the family has been a well- known fictional family for years, adaptations after the series have most likely been watched by an audience that was already interested in the Addams family characters, as the comics as well as the series had already gained popularity before the other adaptations were made.
3.4 Agency and Disregard for Gender Roles and Power Dynamics in the
Character of Wednesday Addams
Though a large continuity in personality of the characters can be seen, the most prominent change in a character’s personality is Wednesday’s, as in the film hers seems to have become the more extreme version of the character in the TV series adaptation. In the TV series, Wednesday was six years old, and her age was definitely reflected in her character.
She wore a dress, had long braids, and played with her dolls – though they were decapitated. Even though this young character expresses a clear interest in female historical figures who were decapitated, breeds a spider pedigree, and often states that she likes certain things because they are “nice and gloomy”, there is a childish manner about her
9 The series was cancelled after two seasons, not because it was not a success, but because the channel had decided they wanted to construct a more serious image for themselves.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 51 speech, dialogue, and mannerisms. In the one of the final episodes of the series, “Lurch’s
Grand Romance”, Wednesday tries to help Lurch out by teaching him how to dance. In this scene she shows expressive enthusiasm and energetic dancing, while encouraging Lurch, using slang words such as “swell”, “boss”, “groovy”, and “neat” (“Lurch’s Grand Romance”).
This is a strong contrast with the character of Wednesday from the film, who has grown up to the age of ten, ridding her character of any prominent childish traits. Returning to the opening scene of the film where the audience meets Wednesday, who has Pugsley strapped to a chair with an apple in his mouth, firing a crossbow straight at it after telling her brother to not be “such a baby” (Sonnenfeld). She is calm and composed, much like her
1964 TV series counterpart. Yet the 1991 film version, she comes across as more serious, and has lost her childish innocence and sweetness. This is not necessarily a shift in this character’s personality, as much as an intensification of several of her character traits. This intensification of certain aspects of her personality can be prescribed to the character age difference between Wednesday in the 1964 TV series and the character of Wednesday in the
1991 film. Due to the fact that she aged, the character of Wednesday has become more mature, losing the child-like energy and mannerisms she portrayed in the TV series.
A personality shift like this in a mature fictional character could be problematic for the viewer’s loyalty to the character. However, Wednesday Addams is a child. Children go through quite a few changes while growing up, more so than adults do. This is clearly reflected in the character of Wednesday compared to her parents, for example. Wednesday’s character changing comparatively drastically is not problematic to the audience, as her character is expected to change and develop, since viewers know young characters are often not fully formed (Mittell 137). What helps maintain the stability between the different adaptations is that a large part of the cast consists of adult characters, meaning the changes in their personality and appearance are relatively small, maintaining the resemblance between the different adaptations. This keeps it easier for the viewer to recognise the same characters while they are brought to life by different actors, easing them into a new
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 52 interpretation of the fictional family. This is part of what keeps the audience loyal to the characters while they are transplanted into new adaptations and media (Mittell 141-142).
Returning to the opening scene of the film where Wednesday shoots an apple from her brother’s head with her crossbow, it is evident that Wednesday is not the same as the average ten-year-old girl. In this scene, she is clearly the one in charge, having her male sibling tied to a chair, putting his life on the line. What is even more noticeable is
Wednesday’s composure. She is calm and confident, and seems to be almost void of emotion. The setting of this scene appears to be a parody on the classic ‘damsel in distress’, where, in this scenario, Pugsley takes up the role of the ‘damsel’ and Wednesday the role of the ‘villain’, a role usually taken by a male character. This is a reversal of gender roles regarding power dynamics not only in the intra-diegetic relationship between the two characters, but also on a technical level in respect to what roles they fulfil in the scenes, as
Wednesday takes up the role of protagonist in these scenes. On a technical level, this is a reversal of power dynamics as female characters are expected to be passive rather than active compared to the male characters of the narrative, leaving the foreground for the male characters in the film. This is a reversal of gender roles which seems to come naturally to the siblings, with the reversed gender role-division occurring several times during the film, for instance when Wednesday has decided to strap Pugsley into an electric chair to try to electrocute him. By having it occur multiple times, and in a casual setting – in the context of the Addams family, that is – the reversal of gendered power dynamics comes across as a relatively normal situation. The character of Wednesday very clearly functions as the protagonist in the scene, as Pugsley is often commanded by Wednesday and follows her orders. His character takes on a largely submissive role and often consents to Wednesday’s whims and plans – and sometimes orders – without asking too many questions.
The notion of Wednesday taking the place of the protagonist in these scenes between her and her brother is further reinforced by the camera work. In the opening scene, the camera is either pointed at Wednesday, or the scene is shot from Wednesday’s point of view or from the arrow she has fired from her position. Noteworthy is the position the camera
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 53 takes when filming Wednesday in these scenes; the camera often takes up a position below her eye level, sometimes even getting close to the floor. This perspective makes
Wednesday’s character appear bigger than she actually is, visually placing her in a position of power, towering above the audience (see figures 9 and 10). Another technique to stress
Wednesday’s importance in these scenes is the camera physically moving towards her, pulling into a close up of her face stressing her dialogue and/or the emotions displayed on her face. This, combined with the fact that her personality can be considered more androgynous and it is not as happy and girly as one would expect from an onscreen ten- year-old girl, makes Wednesday a highly unruly women that clearly breaks many stereotypes and protests these along with gender roles and existing power dynamics.
Even though the character of Wednesday does not necessarily play a big part in driving the narrative, nor does she have much screen time compared to her adult co-stars, she often takes a relatively prominent role in the scenes that she does appear in. In the scenes with her brother Pugsley, she takes the lead, but even in scenes where multiple of the lead characters – in this case Gomez, Morticia and Uncle Fester – are present,
Wednesday’s character is still shown in a separate shot without any of the other cast in it, focusing the attention on her opinion or reaction to the situation.
This is a big difference compared to the role that the character of Wednesday used to have during the 1964 TV series. In quite a number of episodes from both seasons, her character did not make an appearance. In most episodes where her character did play a role, she did not contribute actively to the narrative in the sense that the storyline of the episode would mostly be the same had she not appeared in it. The Wednesday from the 1991 film has been given a lot more agency. This shift in importance of the character, I would argue, is a step forward in the sense of female representation on screen, as the unusual character of
Wednesday is a unique character that, despite her age, manages to seize the attention of the viewer, which is an empowering position reinforced by the camera work in the film. Strong female role models are important for young girls’ self-worth (Heine et al. 427), and this is a
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 54 character young female members of the audience can look up to, leading to a sense of encouragement.
This newfound agency of Wednesday’s character, combined with the reversal of the damsel in distress cliché she acts out multiple times with her brother, are subtle yet effective ways in which the film manages to broadcast a feminist message, reinforcing female empowerment while reversing gender roles, without criticising them openly thanks to the carnivalesque setting of the adaptation.
3.5 Morticia Sexuality: Now and “Later”
During the opening scene of the 1991 film, Gomez admires Morticia as she is sleeping. A strong male gaze is present in the scene as Morticia is ‘being looked at’ by her husband, as explained in chapter two. Morticia and Gomez’ sexual urges seem to play a rather significant role in their relationship, and no effort is made to keep these urges a secret in either of the adaptations. Whereas in the original series Gomez would start kissing Morticia’s arm in a love-struck frenzy, in the 1991 film the couple is shown kissing excessively in the middle of an auction house, surrounded by a crowd of people.
There is, however, a clear difference in response between the different renditions of
Morticia’s character to her husband’s sexual outbursts. In the 1964 TV series, whenever
Morticia speaks French or calls Gomez by his pet name “Bubeleh”, Gomez grabs Morticia’s arm and starts kissing it with disregard for his surroundings and the people present. This is a recurring element, which is made more and more extreme over the course of the series.
Whereas in the pilot episode, Gomez would calmly remark what the word “Bubeleh” does to him, kissing Morticia relatively slowly and gently on her arm and neck, later on in the series,
Gomez would storm over from another room when Morticia speaks French, swiftly grabbing her arm, and kiss it up to her face with burning passion while encouraging her to speak more
French in order to arouse him even further. The staple reply from Morticia’s character over the course of the series becomes a line including the word “later”, such as “later, darling, later” or “royalty now, Bubeleh later”, drawing Gomez’ attention to the matter at hand, being
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 55 the problem that they have to solve that functions as the premise for the plot of episode.
Alternatively, Morticia also stops Gomez’ kissing frenzies by reminding him that they are not alone in the room. Gomez’ response is usually twofold: either a delayed realisation, as he has forgotten the problem at hand and who everyone present in the room is, or his being frustrated, which is then followed by him agreeing to the fact that it is indeed inappropriate to kiss his wife repeatedly at that moment as there are other things that take priority.
Even though Morticia does not reciprocate Gomez’ kisses, most of the times it is not because she is not interested, but rather because she finds there are more pressing matters at hand. Only rarely is she shown to not be in the mood for Gomez’ outbursts of affection.
The portrayal of Gomez as a hormonal animal who is unable to control his impulses next to
Morticia, who is rational and in control of her urges, can be interpreted as a caricature portrayal of the aggressively sexual male, preying on the female. Though at first glance this dynamic does strongly appear to be an undignified sneer towards men, when examining this construction more closely it is clearly not intended as blatant criticism towards male sexuality.
Rather, Gomez’ frantically kissing of Morticia is born out of love, not out of lust. Granted, his character is a fairly sexual being who is easily aroused, but Gomez’ character is portrayed throughout the series as a fiercely loyal husband who refuses to be with anyone but his wife, utterly uninterested in anyone else. Therefore, I would argue, this is rather a compliment paid towards the character of Morticia Addams, who is placed in a position of adoration. Through the alternative meaning given to this altered male gaze by the character of Gomez Addams in the TV series, Morticia is empowered, rather than objectified, as she is presented to the audience as a person who is worth dying for, and no one else can touch her status as the ultimate partner in life.
The 1991 version of Morticia in the The Addams Family film, however, is much more openly sexual than her series counterpart. Where Morticia’s character from the series would agree to be intimate “later”, Morticia’s character in the film elaborately describes ‘a wild night’ she had with her husband, after which she directly asks him to “do it again” (The Addams
Family 1991). The scene in the auction house mentioned in chapter one of this thesis, which
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 56 included passionate French-kissing between Morticia and Gomez in the midst of a crowd, is of course a graphic example of the 1991 version of Morticia’s character acting upon these sexual desires. As discussed before, the character of Morticia is subject to the male gaze in the 1991 film. However, this male gaze is vastly different from the altered male gaze the character of Morticia was subject to in the 1964 TV series. Whereas the gaze in the series did not objectify Morticia, but rather empowered her through Gomez’ altered meaning given to the gaze, the 1991 gaze most definitely does, yet on Morticia’s own terms and motivated by her own desires. Where in the 1964 series a male character altered the meaning of the male gaze placed upon Morticia, in the 1991 film, Morticia managed to take control of the gaze herself, meaning that both adaptations successfully manage to turn the male gaze – something which is used to objectify women and take away their agency, making the audience see them as objects rather than people – into something that works in the female character’s favour, turning this otherwise patriarchal construction into an empowering feminist weapon.
This difference in expression of Morticia’s sexuality makes sense when looked at from a contemporary point of view.10 When the TV series first aired in 1964, second-wave feminism had just arisen and was trying to gain ground. One of the things the second wave was fighting for was indeed equality between genders in terms of sexuality (Burkett), but this was a difficult subject, and even programs in the 1970s concerning feminism were reviewed as “alarmingly feminist in content” by contemporary newspapers (Critchley qtd. in Kay 68).
This is why it is understandable that the series took a cautious route shaping the character of
Morticia for the screen. It is commendable that the series dared to let Morticia have a sexual side at all, since this was not something a respectable female character would normally
10 “contemporary” here meaning from the perspective of the year in which the adaptation was made, not from the current year.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 57 portray back in those days. By keeping Morticia’s sexual side more subtle and decisively off- screen and mostly have it exist by referencing to it through dialogue and suggestion, the series took a moderated stance in favour of the feminist movement while keeping it acceptable to the ‘normal public’.
When the film was released in 1991, third-wave feminism had succeeded the second wave, and they were actively fighting for sexual liberation for the female gender. This was something the second wave stood for as well, but the third wave fought for women and men to be free to construct their own identities concerning gender and sexuality, including how sexually active they decided to be (Brunell and Burkett). With this knowledge in mind, the character of Morticia in the film adaptation appears to be a tailor-made role model for third- wave feminism. Fully confident in her sexuality and thoroughly enjoying it, Morticia’s character from the 1991 film adaptation is everything the third wave fought for. It makes sense for a later adaptation of Morticia to accentuate her sexual side, more so than the 1964
TV series, since the topic was no longer brand new and far less sensitive. Morticia’s character would not be perceived as scandalous or slutty in this time frame, whereas had the
1991 version of Morticia appeared in the 1964 TV series, the series would have had to deal with a lot of backlash from the general public. Therefore, the more subtly-sexual Morticia fulfilled her feminist role well in the TV series adaptation, and the more openly sexual
Morticia who enjoyed her sexuality fitted perfectly within the time frame of the third wave.
3.6 Conclusion: Feminist Characters Tailor-Made for Their Time
This chapter has compared the 1964 TV series adaptation and the 1991 film adaptation of the Addams family. As explained, the adaptations are clearly linked inter-textually by means of referencing former adaptations and resemblance between the characters in the different adaptations. This coherence through the conditional continuity between the different adaptations helps with maintaining the allegiance that viewers form while watching or reading one of the adaptations, and enables the viewer to take this allegiance with them to another adaptation if and when they choose to view another. Because of the allegiance formed with
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 58 the characters, which carries over to other adaptations, the viewer has already formed a bond with the characters of the Addams family before they started watching a second adaptation, ensuring their loyalty to the fictional family and thus openness to their ideals and messages. This allegiance makes that the feminist message sent out by the two different adaptations are received largely by a willing audience who are more likely to accept it.
The changes in the female members of the fictional family, Wednesday and Morticia, make perfect sense when looked at from a contemporary point of view. Morticia’s character was adapted to the zeitgeist of the time in which the adaptation was made, making her acceptable to the general audience yet stand out by being different from the usual female characters of her time. The difference between the alternative meaning placed upon the male gaze between the two adaptations is in line with their respective frames, since, in 1964, the more conservative approach is taken by having a male character place his meaning upon the gaze, whereas, in 1991, Morticia herself alters the meaning of the gaze.
The relatively drastic change in Wednesday’s character between the TV series and the film is credible thanks to the age difference between the character’s different adaptations.
This change in character, incidentally, is a good fit for the 1991 adaptation which had room for more unconventional female characters who defied the social norms than the 1964 TV series did. By placing the more morose version of Wednesday with her strong personality in the 1991 film instead of the series, her character fit in with the tone of the film. Her bold character had the right context in which she could fully fulfil her function as a strong, female role model, whereas had she been as morose and dark in the 1964 TV series, she would have seemed out of place, coming across as an odd problem child. The TV series and film adapted themselves to their respective time frames and waves of feminism, while staying true to the original characters of the Addams family, and their feminist message was received by a generally loyal, open-minded audience.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 59 Conclusion Strong Feminist Characters in a Carnivalesque Setting Protesting Gender Roles, Celebrating Female Sexuality, and Advocating Representation of Women On Screen
C.1 Analysing the Addams Family Series (1964-1966) and Film (1991) and
Establishing Its Feminist Platform through the Carnivalesque
This thesis has thoroughly analysed the characters, narration, story, and plot of both The
Addams Family (1964-1966) and The Addams Family (1991), using a framework of theories from several different fields, such as character studies, narrative studies, and feminist film and television studies. The works from scholars such as Laura Mulvey, Mary Ann Doane and
Kathleen Rowe Karlyn formed the foundation for the feminist analysis of these two adaptations.
Close readings of the texts helped elaborate this analysis, considering both intra and extra-diegetic elements of the film and the series and the effect they had on the position these adaptations took regarding gender roles, women’s sexuality, and representation of women. The differences and effects of continuity errors have been closely examined and explained with the help of Jason Mittel’s theory on narrative complexity and Murray Smith’s theory on allegiance with characters.
An essential part of this thesis was the establishment of the fact that the Addams family adaptations used carnivalesque elements in their series and film, creating a platform for a feminist message. This meant that the normal rules of society do not apply to the world of the Addams family characters, and therefore they are able to have characters assume unusual roles, or have them behave in a non-orderly fashion, in order to criticise the status quo, using laughter and humour as a means to comment on and correct social norms and behaviours by disregarding those with which they disagree.
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 60 C.2 The Reversal of and Protesting Against Gender Roles and the Binary
Division between Masculinity and Femininity
The reversal of gender roles happens on multiple occasions in both adaptations, but also happen on different levels and through using different techniques. Morticia and Gomez’ roles in the household, for example, appearing to be the stereotypical stay-at-home mother doing household chores and the working father that provides for his family, which instead are twisted and made fun of as neither of them truly fulfils these roles. The binary division between feminine and masculine character traits is questioned through the constant blurring of lines between these two seemingly separate categories, as characters portray a mixture of both. The character of Wednesday, for example, draws attention to this nonsensical division as she portrays feminine qualities on the outside with her braids and dress, yet her personality is more masculine, creating a stark contrast between masculine and feminine traits in the same character, making her androgynous in a sense. The same goes for
Morticia, who on occasion takes up a power-over position over male characters in the narrative. Usually, women in a power-over position portray masculine character traits, yet
Morticia Addams is shown as delicate and feminine, always wearing a form-fitting dress which accentuates her feminine shape. This calls attention to both the division in feminine and masculine traits, as well as gendered power dynamics.
The construction of the overly-emotional female character framed with in the rational framework of a male character as explained by Doane is reversed between Morticia and
Gomez, as well as between Wednesday and Pugsley. This reversal between Morticia and
Gomez also grants Morticia agency, as she function as the voice of reason within the series as well as in the film, reversing gender roles in terms of plot-driving characters as well as in the intra-diegetic story world. Wednesday also takes up a position of power in the film adaptation, where she wields power over her brother Pugsley. In the scenes Wednesday’s character shares with her brother Pugsley, she takes up the role of protagonist. This is due to the fact that the camera either takes her point of view or singles her out in the frame, drawing
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 61 the attention to her character. Camera techniques such as close ups and the camera physically moving towards her in order to draw the viewer’s attention to Wednesday’s character and the details of her emotions and actions, place a sense of importance on her character. This is further emphasised by the audio cues announcing her presence in a scene, as well as with the low camera angles used to give her character an illusion of superiority, visually placing her in a position of importance and power.
Morticia, Wednesday, and Granmama Addams all qualify as unruly women as per
Rowe’s definition. Where Wednesday is androgynous in the sense that she has a feminine outside and a masculine inside, Granmama is old and decidedly present, refusing to fade into the background. Morticia is the most unruly of the three, openly sharing her opinion, interrupting male characters, placing herself in a position of power, and being very comfortable with her own sexuality. Through their unruliness, these characters all contribute to the protesting of gender roles and stereotypes in their own way, as well as showing a refreshing take on female characters and the diverse group of women they can be, and the various positions they can take on.
Morticia fulfils an important role in the narratives of both the series and the film in terms of influencing the plot, as she takes on a leader-like role on multiple occasions, and showing assertiveness and agency. This goes against presupposed gender roles of the passive female (Mulvey 11-12), which protests gender roles while it empowers the female onscreen character.
Even though the two Addams family adaptations have several intra-diegetic as well as extra-diegetic elements which contribute to the empowerment of female onscreen characters, it must be said that the narratives of both the series episodes as well as the film are heavily male-centred. Female characters, especially Morticia in both adaptations and Dr
Pinterschloss in the 1991 film, most certainly have agency and play an important part in the narrative, but the premise of the plot is not focused on their characters, but rather on the male family members of the Addams family. It could be argued that Wednesday, and Morticia especially, do play important parts in influencing the narrative, Morticia possibly even more
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 62 so than Gomez. Yet due to the fact that in the TV series it is often a male side-character who causes the premise of the plot, and the film places its focus on the brotherly relationship between Gomez and Uncle Fester, the female characters in the narrative are placed in a secondary position compared to the male characters. The female characters influence the plot, but are placed in a male-centred narrative. This limits the representation of these women as the male characters overshadow them since the narrative is told from their perspective, yet the women on screen do take up valuable and empowering positions, which is positive representation nonetheless.
C.3 Desire, Women’s Sexuality, and Homoerotic Subtexts in the Addams
Family Adaptations
The male gaze as coined by Laura Mulvey was present in both the 1964 series as well as the
1991 film, yet not with the original meaning. In the 1991 film, Morticia actively chooses to be the object of the gaze, placing her own meaning onto it, rather than her being a signifier of a meaning placed onto her by men. Morticia’s character from the film adaptation is fully comfortable in her own sexuality and openly enjoys this side of her personality. The series, rather than objectifying Morticia’s character, decides to place her on a pedestal by using the altered male gaze, which places her in a position of admiration. Gomez has placed this alternative meaning onto the gaze and amplifies this message by constantly praising
Morticia’s achievements. This same strong, supportive relationship can be seen in the film.
Such a supportive relationship is important in terms of representation of male allies on screen. Moreover, altering one of the most well-known patriarchal constructions such as the male gaze and converting it into a tool with which to send a feminist message, is a perfect example of tempering with pleasure language in order to establish a new status quo regarding desire.
Their passionate relationship and open expression of desire and sexual attraction is an important feminist aspect of the adaptations, as desire is usually frowned upon and is regarded as something that should be repressed or cured. By displaying these desires and
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 63 urges openly, and having them be a regular and recurring element of narratives of the adaptations, the adaptations protest preconceived gender roles regarding sexual desire, as well as celebrating feminine sexuality and values, as Morticia fully enjoys her sexual side without being judged for it, and Gomez is fully committed to his marriage instead of rejecting it in order to assert his male dominance.
Morticia enjoying her sexuality is something that fits in perfectly with the ideology of third-wave feminism. Whereas her character fully enjoyed her sexuality on screen in the
1991 film, a more careful approach was used in the 1964 TV series where her sexuality was hinted at, but was enjoyed off screen. This is due to the years in which these adaptations were produced, and the different approaches match up perfectly with the ideals of their respective waves of feminism. For the series that meant taking a more careful approach in advocating freedom for women’s sexuality as the second wave had not gained much ground yet, and for the film it meant openly protesting the stigma surrounding women’s sexuality as it was made during the third wave, meaning it could rely on the progress gained by the first and second wave. This difference in mentality in the different time frames also explains the difference in Morticia’s appearance between the series and the film. In the 1964 series, she is more conventionally beautiful, which makes sense as feminism was not as far along yet and convention called for attractive leading ladies on television, whereas in 1991 there was more room for unusual leading ladies as society was more liberal than 27 years before then.
It must be mentioned that the adaptations, especially the film, are exceptionally hetero-normative, as they display no non-heterosexual characters, and fiercely try to repress any homoerotic subtext that might be present in the scenes. This, combined with the fact that both the TV series and the show do nothing in terms of representation of race or different class characters, make it that even though the adaptations do contain feminist elements, they undeniably lack certain aspects of the feminist ideology as well. Where the TV series was cautious with Morticia’s sexuality, the film chose to have Morticia enjoy her sexuality openly on screen, yet both these instances are in the context of a relationship with a hetero- sexual white man. As this thesis has only studied two out of the many different adaptations
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 64 that exist based on the Addams family cartoons, more research is needed on feminist elements in the different Addams family adaptations in order to be able to fully form a conclusion on how feminist this fictional family truly is.
C.4 Commitment to the Addams Family Characters and Their Feminist
Message
The two analysed adaptations have placed there focus on the characters of the Addams family, rather than the narrative. This explains why the series used mostly episodic storytelling as opposed to serial storytelling, and why there are continuity errors between these two adaptations, as the narratives are not a coherent whole. The characters remain consistent through what I propose to call conditional continuity: the preservation of certain core characteristics and quirks while ignoring smaller traits. This resembles Mittel’s concept of conditional seriality, the pursuit of certain storylines while ignoring others, combined with
Chatman’s concept of minor satellites, which are small events which enrich the narrative yet have little impact on it. This heavy reliance on characters, rather than narrative, for coherence between the different adaptations does leave for considerable freedom regarding the writing of the narrative, since as long as the characters’ core values and traits are consistent, the narrative is open to most possibilities.
As the audience is invested in the characters more than the narrative of the adaptations, an allegiance as explained by Smith with these characters was essential.
Thanks to this allegiance, which a large part of the audience has formed with the Addams family characters, it is relatively easy for viewers to come back to new adaptations as long as the characters remain fairly consistent. The fact that viewers indeed do return to new adaptations of the Addams family is ideal for the broadcasting of a feminist message, as it will arrive at an audience willing to listen to the characters of the Addams family, as most of them have already formed an allegiance with them.
Based on the analysis of these two adaptations, I would argue that The Addams
Family (1964-1966) as well as The Addams Family (1991) went quite a long way in
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 65 incorporating a feminist message into their text. They placed the female characters in influential positions regarding the plot, and they were not afraid to comment on existing gender roles regarding power dynamics, both intra-diegetically and in terms of role in the plot. Furthermore, they addressed the issue of the binary division of masculine and feminine traits, as well as negated several patriarchal constructions, such as the male gaze and the hysterical female framed within male rationality, by either reversing them or repurposing them into a power feminist tool by altering its meaning. Both adaptations spent a considerable amount of screen time on the representation of a passionate, committed marriage, which helped celebrate female sexuality and desire, as well as contribute to the diversity in representation of relationships and question stereotypes regarding gender roles in marriage. Though the adaptations are hetero-normative and do not have elements contributing to representation of women from different races or classes, they have a considerable amount of feminist elements embedded in them that advocate values such as the negation of gender roles, women’s sexuality, and the representation of strong and diverse women on screen. And, since the adaptations are focused on the characters rather than the narrative, there is always the option of a new, contemporary adaptation advocating the latest feminist values through the same, well-known, feminist characters the world has grown to love over the past eighty years.
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Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 70 Appendix 1 Images
Figure 1: Sad Gomez with a Droopy Target (The Addams Family 1964)
Figure 2: Gomez Laughing Whole-Heartedly (The Addams Family 1964)
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 71
Figure 3: Gomez Going from Laughter to Concern (The Addams Family 1964)
Figure 4: Gomez’ Theatrical Facial Expression of Concern (The Addams Family 1964)
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 72
Figure 5: Morticia as “Ruined Beauty” (The Addams Family 1991)
Figure 6: Morticia’s Form-Fitting Gown (The Addams Family 1991)
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Figure 7: Wide-Eyed Gomez (The Addams Family 1964)
Figure 8: Original Cartoon by Charles Addams (Addams, The World of Chas Addams 71)
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 74
Figure 9: Wednesday with Her Crossbow (The Addams Family 1991)
Figure 10: Wednesday by the Electric Switches (The Addams Family 1991)
Judith Ritsema // Stu.Nr. 11924098 75