BENGALURU: Cynical, quirky and extremely straightforward. It is not for nothing that Wednesday Addams, the fictional character from the Addams Family, was quite unique from her school, Nevermore Academy. Many actors portrayed Wednesday Addams, but it was Jenna Ortega’s portrayal as the title role in Netflix’s show Wednesday that has taken the internet and social media by storm. Owing to the popularity of Wednesday on OTT and social media, Netflix has announced season 2 of the series.
The craze has caught onto many young fans in the city. Although Ortega’s Wednesday dances her night away at Nevermore Academy’s school dance to Goo Goo Muck by The Cramps, it’s Lady Gaga’s line ‘Dance Dance Dance With My Hand’ (Bloody Mary) that has pushed them to deck out and make reels with hook steps. For example, 17-year-old Tanya Shankar watched the series multiple times and could not resist hopping on to the trend. “I watched the dance and heard the song several times before it became popular. When it became a trend, I thought I should also try it out because I love Lady Gaga,” says Shankar, who also sang the song in her reel.
While shooting the reel, some of the things she paid attention to was Wednesday’s signature stare. “She has a particular stare where she bends her head down and looks at you from that angle. I just tried to get into her mood. I have some collared shirts and thought of trying it,” she says.
When RJ Punitha Acharya tried to do it along with her daughter Aarya Sriram, she wanted to do it as a home video. So she opted for a black dress for both of them and went with the flow. “Aarya has been part of many dance reality shows where she has had to learn complicated steps in two days. So when I showed her the steps, she immediately picked it up. Now, as the video has become so popular, I wish I had paid more attention to the looks,” says Acharya.
Beauty and fashion blogger Deena Pinto feels that more than the look, the best way to channel Wednesday Addam is to get the mood right. However, it cannot be denied that the show did put the spotlight on goth fashion. “Wednesday Addam brought back goth fashion. No make-up, two braids and the all-black look. Of course, the dance became quite popular, but she has brought back wearing lacy frocks and dresses with Peter Pan collars,” says Pinto, adding that the bigger message is not being affected by anybody’s judgements or opinions.
Fun fact about Wednesday
Addams Family members first appeared in The New Yorker cartoons in 1938 and were unnamed. When the characters were adapted for the 1964 television series, American cartoonist and the creator of
the characters, Charles Addams named Wednesday based on the Monday’s Child nursery rhyme line ‘Wednesday’s child is full of woe’.
The hook step from the web series Wednesday, continues to take the internet by storm and the buzz has gripped the city. Many Bengalureans are creating their own version of the dance step while a few are reimagining the song as well