Undoubtedly Wednesday has turned out to be one of the most popular shows on Netflix; it is an addition to the Addams Family franchise. This show has taken many references from the previous Addams Family show.
Jenna Ortega, as Wednesday, has played a role of a teenage moody goth girl with dark elements to her character. Wednesday is sent to Nevermore Academy by her parents to keep her out of trouble and to make some friends. Soon enough, she finds herself caught up in the middle of a murder mystery and decides to unravel the puzzling web.
Wednesday’s character has taken up a lot of inspiration from the famous writer and goth icon Edgar Allan Poe.
Edgar Allan Poe’s Unconventional Life
Edgar Allan Poe was one of the earliest American writers and poets. He was critically acclaimed for his work of short stories, novels, and poems. He gained fame for his dark, macabre tales of horror, practically inventing the genre of Gothic Literature. Poe became orphaned at a young age after his mother died of tuberculosis and his father abandoned the family. After a few years, he lost his wife, too, and had a life filled with tragedies.
Poe’s death, shrouded in mystery, seems pulled straight from the pages of one of his own novels. It is still unclear what exactly led up to the untimely demise of the author in the year 1849, with several diseases and reasons proposed as to what caused his sudden death.
Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic Influence Over Wednesday
Edgar Allen Poe’s work and life greatly inspired the show’s theme and the lead character’s dark side. Netflix’s show Wednesday displayed the references in the show’s first episode.
“Nevermore,” the academy that Wednesday is sent to, its name has been directly drawn from Poe’s poem “The Raven” (Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”). Additionally, in the second episode, the students compete in the school’s annual Poe cup competition. Teams must draw inspiration from one of Poe’s works in this competition. Finally, the school’s secret society, the nightshades, has a defender by a statue of Allan Poe holding a raven which invokes the claustrophobia of Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.”
Wednesday introduces the macabre overtures of writer Edgar Allan Poe. It presents him as one of the outcasts of society; they position him as a worthy figure of respect for the other students at the school.
