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ysabetwordsmith) wrote2023-03-30 01:27 am
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2023-03-30 01:27 am
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Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 14: Wednesday's Quirks
This installment discusses some of the quirks about Wednesday Addams in Wednesday.
Here is the character study:
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 1: Introduction
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 2: Ethnicity & Linguistics
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 3: An Outcast
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 4: Thoughts and Feelings
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 5: Relationships
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 6: Solitary Accomplishments
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 7: Trust and Betrayal
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 8: Connected Characters
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 9: Enid Sinclair
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 10: Eugene & Morticia
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 11: Thing
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 12: Tyler Galpin
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 13: Xavier Thorpe
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 14: Wednesday's Quirks
See also:
Wednesday TV Series (The Addams Family) Overview
Wednesday Addams is sensory-avoidant. This is common among people with subtle senses, such as her psychic visions, because their brains feed them extra information. Thus they often need to tone down other input to avoid overload. It's also common across multiple types of neurodiversity. This is one of several reasons why many fans read Wednesday as neurovariant, often autistic. Most importantly, autistic fans identify with her and see her that way. However, she could be some other flavor -- lots of neurovariant folks have some conglomeration of oddities that don't add up to any "official" diagnosis, and that's okay too.
Wednesday: "I’m not about to confess to my brother that I’ve recently been plagued by visions. They come on without warning, and feel like electroshock therapy, but without the satisfying afterburn."
-- 31 Thought-provoking Quotes by Wednesday Addams (NETFLIX)
Wednesday also seems to have acute senses in general. For instance, she not only has a keen sense of smell, she has trained it thoroughly enough that she can identify unusual scents even in a complex environment. In this regard, she resembles a professional perfumer. Another strong possibility is that Wednesday may have a widened hearing range. After all, it would be hard to learn how to sing at ultrasonic pitch without being able to hear it. This would correlate with her avoidance of modern technology, much of which is very noisy at that range. Now technically, these are superpowers, not sensory disorders. If your senses are extra-sharp, accurate, and usable then that's a superpower. If they are distorted or inaccurate, then that's a disorder. Local-Earth lumps those things together, which absolutely does not help with resolving sensory issues, because the two subtypes often have different solutions for the problems they face. Wednesday can use her sharp senses, but they probably still cause challenges for her, like making her prefer a minimalist environment. Plus, her trained nose and ultrasonic singing are concrete canon points, not fanon. These are skills she developed by devoting time and effort to cultivating innate gifts, using the resources she did not devote to the usual social pursuits.
"I knew it! Hello, Thing."
Thing tries to scurry away, but Wednesday grabs him as he grips the bed frame. Wednesday is able to tug him off and holds him, glaring at him, "Did you really think my highly trained olfactory sense wouldn’t pick up on the faint whiff of neroli and bergamot in your favorite hand lotion?"
-- "Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe" Part Four
Bianca Barclay: What are you? Alto, soprano or just loco?
(Wednesday opens her mouth, the glass breaks...)
Bianca Barclay: Huh? What was that?
Wednesday Addams: A note only dogs can hear.
This quote comes from a TV series ‘Wednesday’. The scene where this moment comes from is from Season 1 Episode 2, with the title of ‘Woe Is the Loneliest Number’
EDIT 4/1/23 -- See also my story "Something About Her Scent."
Wednesday notices something interesting about Enid.
Wednesday has touch aversion. She avoids hugs and most other physical contact. (Just because it needs to be said in this society: It is totally okay to hate hugs and avoid them; and it's not okay for people to pick on you about that. You don't owe anyone the use of your body.) This conflicts with Enid Sinclair, who is a sensory-seeker with high skin hunger and a love of bright colors. Wednesday doesn't object to many things that bother other touch-averse people, like scratchy embellishments on clothes; or even things that bother ordinary people, like getting covered in red paint. (I would have scratched my hide off in that ball gown. Though actually, it looks a lot like the prom dress my mother bribed me into; mine just had all the embellishments pointed away from my skin.) Her issues focus primarily on interpersonal touching. The only example that doesn't seem to bother her is Thing crawling all over her; he routinely perches on her shoulder. For some touch-averse people, certain types of touch or certain people are tolerable while others are not. On the bright side, this series has spawned numerous T-shirts, buttons, and other social-alert wearables printed with her standoffish, hug-free quotes and images for the benefit of the many people who agree with Wednesday on this topic. So at the end of Episode 8, when Wednesday actually hugs Enid back, that's a great big deal.
Enid Sinclair: Oh. Welcome to Ophelia Hall. Not a hugger. Got it.
This quote comes from a TV series ‘Wednesday’. The scene where this moment comes from is from Season 1 Episode 1, with the title of ‘Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe’
"Not hugging is kind of our thing."
-- Enid quotes on Wednesday Netflix
23 things only people who hate hugs know
Building Trust
Four reasons why some people become ‘super smellers’ – from pregnancy to genetic differences
Healthy Vulnerability
How to practice ear training
How to Sing
SENSE OF SMELL: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR NOSE
Sensory Diet
SENSORY INTEGRATION IDEAS FOR SENSORY SEEKING BEHAVIORS
Sensory Modulation: Sensory Avoidance and Oversensitivity
Sing Smarter: 10 Great Ways to Teach Yourself to Sing
What Is Sensory Avoiding Behavior?
What is Tactile Defensiveness, or touch sensitivity?
Workout for the Nose: How to Improve Your Sense of Smell
Wednesday also simplifies her wardrobe to minimize both the need for choices about what to wear, and the stimulation from colors. It's basically a capsule wardrobe: black and white with classic (solid turtlenecks, striped tops, simple lines, trousers), romantic (large collars, ruffles, dresses and skirts), and casual (hoodies, T-shirts, slouchy overdresses, jeans) elements. Most of the interest -- and Wednesday actually has excellent style -- comes from texture or patterns. Rarely there's a bit of gray, but most of it's high-contrast pure black and white, primarily black. Again, this conflicts with Enid's candy-colored wardrobe and more bohemian decor. Another way to view their opposite aesthetics is dark academia and light academia.
"Whoa. You’re in black and white. Like a living Instagram filter."
– Ajax Petropolus (to Wednesday – Ep. 1×01)
If you love Wednesday's clothing style, let's take a closer look at how it works and how you can replicate it. One approach, or at least a starting point, is an all-black wardrobe such as this one with lace. From there, you can add lacey and pearly accessories if you're into that sort of thing. A "crazy eights" capsule has eight garments, usually but not always four tops and four bottoms. Check out these examples for summer, winter, and dressy occasions. A "common wardrobe" is a set of basic garments of the type that many people wear routinely, so they tend to be plainer, less dressy, more casual. See summer, spring/fall, and winter examples in a black-and-white palette. Wednesday isn't much for accessories, but you might like these youthful black-and-white ones. Here's an example of a French-themed wardrobe that runs very close to her style, though. If you have warm coloring yourself, then you might prefer an all-neutral capsule based on black-and-ivory instead of black-and-white. Start with some neutral building blocks, then add accent pieces. This approach also works well in packing for a long weekend. Of course, a Gothic hera also needs some suitably Gothic dresses, so consider these long and short options. Here is a wonderful set of instructions for building a personal uniform in black, white, and denim; for a monochrome look, simply use gray instead of the denim blue. Wednesday is just as much fun to dress up for a story as Enid is. (Just ignore the death glare she's giving us.) Once you know her style, it's not hard to follow along.
In fact, Wednesday takes a minimalist approach to almost everything. Her side of the room is much less cluttered than Enid's colorful mess. She writes on an antique manual typewriter instead of a computer, and she didn't even own a phone until Xavier gave her one. Clutter and electronics are too much for her. Both Wednesday's body language and her dialog suggest that overstimulation through contact or colors is not just unpleasant but actively painful for her. What sounds like hyperbole may be an honest description of how those things make her feel.
Enid: What the hell did you do to my room?
Wednesday: Dividing our room equally.
It looks like a rainbow vomited on your side.
"It looks like a rainbow vomited on your side."
-- Wednesday Addams
Morticia Addams: Please excuse Wednesday. She’s allergic to color.
Enid Sinclair: Oh, wow. What happens to you?
Wednesday Addams: I break out into hives and then the flesh peels off my bones.
This quote comes from a TV series ‘Wednesday’. The scene where this moment comes from is from Season 1 Episode 1, with the title of ‘Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe’
When they arrive in town, Enid takes Wednesday to a store called "Hawte Kewture," which is awash with pinks and blues and various bright colors. "What kind of dystopian hellscape is this?" Wednesday asks in disgust. Shopping can be stressful at the best of times, but this is an on-point response for someone who is severely allergic to color. Wednesday manages to wriggle out of her shopping trip, letting Enid run freely into the colorful store.
-- Best Wednesday Addams Quotes
Seeing people talk about Wednesday and how she doesn’t like touch when they clearly don’t know what it’s like to be touch-starved or touch-averse is kind of rough and makes me think that I’ve had enough internet for the day (at 11AM).
3 Ways to Be a Beautiful Goth Girl -- wikiHow Fun
8 Reasons Successful People Wear the Same Clothes Every Day
15 Must-Have Items for a Boho Chic Wardrobe (Plus 45+ Outfit Ideas)
15 Must-Have Items for a Classic and Timeless Wardrobe (Plus 45+ Outfit Ideas!)
20 Reasons Why a Capsule Wardrobe is the Solution to Downsizing Clutter
25+ Outstanding Benefits of Living a Minimalist Lifestyle
The Daily Uniform: The Ultimate Way To Simplify Your Mornings
Dark Academia
Dark & Light Academia: Subculture On A Student Budget
Dissecting Wednesday's Style: 9 Key Looks from the Netflix Hit Series
How to Build a Minimalist Capsule Wardrobe?
How To Create A Personal Uniform + Simplify Your Style
How To Dress Like Netflix’s Wednesday Addams and Where to Shop Her Looks
How To Make Your Room Look Like Wednesday Addams’ – Or Enid’s
Light Academia
Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ Addams Outfits Are Actually So Easy to Re-Create
Shop Your TV: Enid Sinclair
Simplicity, productivity, and the personal uniform.
Wednesday Addams’ Outfits Are A Master Class In All-Black Styling For The Modern Day
'Wednesday' Production Designer Shares Secrets Behind Wednesday and Enid's Fantastical Attic Dorm Room
What are the benefits of a Capsule Wardrobe?
What Is Addamscore? Netflix's 'Wednesday' Is Inspiring a Goth-Chic Home Design Trend
What Is Minimalism?
Here is the character study:
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 1: Introduction
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 2: Ethnicity & Linguistics
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 3: An Outcast
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 4: Thoughts and Feelings
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 5: Relationships
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 6: Solitary Accomplishments
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 7: Trust and Betrayal
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 8: Connected Characters
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 9: Enid Sinclair
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 10: Eugene & Morticia
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 11: Thing
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 12: Tyler Galpin
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 13: Xavier Thorpe
Meta: "Why I Love Wednesday Addams" Part 14: Wednesday's Quirks
See also:
Wednesday TV Series (The Addams Family) Overview
Wednesday Addams is sensory-avoidant. This is common among people with subtle senses, such as her psychic visions, because their brains feed them extra information. Thus they often need to tone down other input to avoid overload. It's also common across multiple types of neurodiversity. This is one of several reasons why many fans read Wednesday as neurovariant, often autistic. Most importantly, autistic fans identify with her and see her that way. However, she could be some other flavor -- lots of neurovariant folks have some conglomeration of oddities that don't add up to any "official" diagnosis, and that's okay too.
Wednesday: "I’m not about to confess to my brother that I’ve recently been plagued by visions. They come on without warning, and feel like electroshock therapy, but without the satisfying afterburn."
-- 31 Thought-provoking Quotes by Wednesday Addams (NETFLIX)
Wednesday also seems to have acute senses in general. For instance, she not only has a keen sense of smell, she has trained it thoroughly enough that she can identify unusual scents even in a complex environment. In this regard, she resembles a professional perfumer. Another strong possibility is that Wednesday may have a widened hearing range. After all, it would be hard to learn how to sing at ultrasonic pitch without being able to hear it. This would correlate with her avoidance of modern technology, much of which is very noisy at that range. Now technically, these are superpowers, not sensory disorders. If your senses are extra-sharp, accurate, and usable then that's a superpower. If they are distorted or inaccurate, then that's a disorder. Local-Earth lumps those things together, which absolutely does not help with resolving sensory issues, because the two subtypes often have different solutions for the problems they face. Wednesday can use her sharp senses, but they probably still cause challenges for her, like making her prefer a minimalist environment. Plus, her trained nose and ultrasonic singing are concrete canon points, not fanon. These are skills she developed by devoting time and effort to cultivating innate gifts, using the resources she did not devote to the usual social pursuits.
"I knew it! Hello, Thing."
Thing tries to scurry away, but Wednesday grabs him as he grips the bed frame. Wednesday is able to tug him off and holds him, glaring at him, "Did you really think my highly trained olfactory sense wouldn’t pick up on the faint whiff of neroli and bergamot in your favorite hand lotion?"
-- "Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe" Part Four
Bianca Barclay: What are you? Alto, soprano or just loco?
(Wednesday opens her mouth, the glass breaks...)
Bianca Barclay: Huh? What was that?
Wednesday Addams: A note only dogs can hear.
This quote comes from a TV series ‘Wednesday’. The scene where this moment comes from is from Season 1 Episode 2, with the title of ‘Woe Is the Loneliest Number’
EDIT 4/1/23 -- See also my story "Something About Her Scent."
Wednesday notices something interesting about Enid.
Wednesday has touch aversion. She avoids hugs and most other physical contact. (Just because it needs to be said in this society: It is totally okay to hate hugs and avoid them; and it's not okay for people to pick on you about that. You don't owe anyone the use of your body.) This conflicts with Enid Sinclair, who is a sensory-seeker with high skin hunger and a love of bright colors. Wednesday doesn't object to many things that bother other touch-averse people, like scratchy embellishments on clothes; or even things that bother ordinary people, like getting covered in red paint. (I would have scratched my hide off in that ball gown. Though actually, it looks a lot like the prom dress my mother bribed me into; mine just had all the embellishments pointed away from my skin.) Her issues focus primarily on interpersonal touching. The only example that doesn't seem to bother her is Thing crawling all over her; he routinely perches on her shoulder. For some touch-averse people, certain types of touch or certain people are tolerable while others are not. On the bright side, this series has spawned numerous T-shirts, buttons, and other social-alert wearables printed with her standoffish, hug-free quotes and images for the benefit of the many people who agree with Wednesday on this topic. So at the end of Episode 8, when Wednesday actually hugs Enid back, that's a great big deal.
Enid Sinclair: Oh. Welcome to Ophelia Hall. Not a hugger. Got it.
This quote comes from a TV series ‘Wednesday’. The scene where this moment comes from is from Season 1 Episode 1, with the title of ‘Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe’
"Not hugging is kind of our thing."
-- Enid quotes on Wednesday Netflix
23 things only people who hate hugs know
Building Trust
Four reasons why some people become ‘super smellers’ – from pregnancy to genetic differences
Healthy Vulnerability
How to practice ear training
How to Sing
SENSE OF SMELL: HOW TO TRAIN YOUR NOSE
Sensory Diet
SENSORY INTEGRATION IDEAS FOR SENSORY SEEKING BEHAVIORS
Sensory Modulation: Sensory Avoidance and Oversensitivity
Sing Smarter: 10 Great Ways to Teach Yourself to Sing
What Is Sensory Avoiding Behavior?
What is Tactile Defensiveness, or touch sensitivity?
Workout for the Nose: How to Improve Your Sense of Smell
Wednesday also simplifies her wardrobe to minimize both the need for choices about what to wear, and the stimulation from colors. It's basically a capsule wardrobe: black and white with classic (solid turtlenecks, striped tops, simple lines, trousers), romantic (large collars, ruffles, dresses and skirts), and casual (hoodies, T-shirts, slouchy overdresses, jeans) elements. Most of the interest -- and Wednesday actually has excellent style -- comes from texture or patterns. Rarely there's a bit of gray, but most of it's high-contrast pure black and white, primarily black. Again, this conflicts with Enid's candy-colored wardrobe and more bohemian decor. Another way to view their opposite aesthetics is dark academia and light academia.
"Whoa. You’re in black and white. Like a living Instagram filter."
– Ajax Petropolus (to Wednesday – Ep. 1×01)
If you love Wednesday's clothing style, let's take a closer look at how it works and how you can replicate it. One approach, or at least a starting point, is an all-black wardrobe such as this one with lace. From there, you can add lacey and pearly accessories if you're into that sort of thing. A "crazy eights" capsule has eight garments, usually but not always four tops and four bottoms. Check out these examples for summer, winter, and dressy occasions. A "common wardrobe" is a set of basic garments of the type that many people wear routinely, so they tend to be plainer, less dressy, more casual. See summer, spring/fall, and winter examples in a black-and-white palette. Wednesday isn't much for accessories, but you might like these youthful black-and-white ones. Here's an example of a French-themed wardrobe that runs very close to her style, though. If you have warm coloring yourself, then you might prefer an all-neutral capsule based on black-and-ivory instead of black-and-white. Start with some neutral building blocks, then add accent pieces. This approach also works well in packing for a long weekend. Of course, a Gothic hera also needs some suitably Gothic dresses, so consider these long and short options. Here is a wonderful set of instructions for building a personal uniform in black, white, and denim; for a monochrome look, simply use gray instead of the denim blue. Wednesday is just as much fun to dress up for a story as Enid is. (Just ignore the death glare she's giving us.) Once you know her style, it's not hard to follow along.
In fact, Wednesday takes a minimalist approach to almost everything. Her side of the room is much less cluttered than Enid's colorful mess. She writes on an antique manual typewriter instead of a computer, and she didn't even own a phone until Xavier gave her one. Clutter and electronics are too much for her. Both Wednesday's body language and her dialog suggest that overstimulation through contact or colors is not just unpleasant but actively painful for her. What sounds like hyperbole may be an honest description of how those things make her feel.
Enid: What the hell did you do to my room?
Wednesday: Dividing our room equally.
It looks like a rainbow vomited on your side.
"It looks like a rainbow vomited on your side."
-- Wednesday Addams
Morticia Addams: Please excuse Wednesday. She’s allergic to color.
Enid Sinclair: Oh, wow. What happens to you?
Wednesday Addams: I break out into hives and then the flesh peels off my bones.
This quote comes from a TV series ‘Wednesday’. The scene where this moment comes from is from Season 1 Episode 1, with the title of ‘Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe’
When they arrive in town, Enid takes Wednesday to a store called "Hawte Kewture," which is awash with pinks and blues and various bright colors. "What kind of dystopian hellscape is this?" Wednesday asks in disgust. Shopping can be stressful at the best of times, but this is an on-point response for someone who is severely allergic to color. Wednesday manages to wriggle out of her shopping trip, letting Enid run freely into the colorful store.
-- Best Wednesday Addams Quotes
Seeing people talk about Wednesday and how she doesn’t like touch when they clearly don’t know what it’s like to be touch-starved or touch-averse is kind of rough and makes me think that I’ve had enough internet for the day (at 11AM).
3 Ways to Be a Beautiful Goth Girl -- wikiHow Fun
8 Reasons Successful People Wear the Same Clothes Every Day
15 Must-Have Items for a Boho Chic Wardrobe (Plus 45+ Outfit Ideas)
15 Must-Have Items for a Classic and Timeless Wardrobe (Plus 45+ Outfit Ideas!)
20 Reasons Why a Capsule Wardrobe is the Solution to Downsizing Clutter
25+ Outstanding Benefits of Living a Minimalist Lifestyle
The Daily Uniform: The Ultimate Way To Simplify Your Mornings
Dark Academia
Dark & Light Academia: Subculture On A Student Budget
Dissecting Wednesday's Style: 9 Key Looks from the Netflix Hit Series
How to Build a Minimalist Capsule Wardrobe?
How To Create A Personal Uniform + Simplify Your Style
How To Dress Like Netflix’s Wednesday Addams and Where to Shop Her Looks
How To Make Your Room Look Like Wednesday Addams’ – Or Enid’s
Light Academia
Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ Addams Outfits Are Actually So Easy to Re-Create
Shop Your TV: Enid Sinclair
Simplicity, productivity, and the personal uniform.
Wednesday Addams’ Outfits Are A Master Class In All-Black Styling For The Modern Day
'Wednesday' Production Designer Shares Secrets Behind Wednesday and Enid's Fantastical Attic Dorm Room
What are the benefits of a Capsule Wardrobe?
What Is Addamscore? Netflix's 'Wednesday' Is Inspiring a Goth-Chic Home Design Trend
What Is Minimalism?
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You're welcome!
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I fully agree with not owing anyone your body. I remember being a little kid and my parents making me kiss my grandmother on the lips and not caring one bit that it bothered me.
Thoughts
No one style works for everyone -- and notice that Wednesday's striking personal style actually combines motifs from several famous styles.
I rarely wear dresses or skirts of any kind, pretty much only for a fancy occasion or something like a Renaissance faire, and short ones only for erotic purposes.
>> I fully agree with not owing anyone your body. I remember being a little kid and my parents making me kiss my grandmother on the lips and not caring one bit that it bothered me.<<
Well, that's disturbing. :/