The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a television series and the creation of the American cartoonist Charles Addams . As a satirical, somber version of the ideal of the perfect "American nuclear family " with an inverted typical aesthetic sense and lifestyle, the Addams are an eccentric family who take pleasure in everything grotesque and macabre and never realize that other people consider these things bizarre or bizarre feel scary.
Addams' cartoons in " The New Yorker " magazine enjoyed great popularity from the 1930s onwards. Addams stood out for his morbid humor, and over the years the various bizarre people and creatures who lived in a huge, rotting Victorian mansion became recurring characters.
The figures
The names and characterizations as well as the designation "Addams Family" were not created until the first film was made. They remained nameless within the single-image gags created by Charles Addams. However, Charles Addams was present when the name was given and had a say.
The Addams are descendants of a very long line of witches , ghouls, and other outcasts from society. The family that cartoons, films, and series are about is just one of the surviving branches of the Addams clan. Many other "Addams Families" exist all over the world. They love to be in their cemetery, burying people and animals alive or dead, and torturing others in a variety of ways.
Gomez Alonzo Lupold Addams studied law to become a lawyer but rarely practices, taking absurd pride in losing his cases. He is rich through a legacy and substantial investments (including gold mines and oil fields, he also speculates on the stock market ), but seems to place little value on money; he seems to be proud of financial failure. Gomez is of Spanish descent and loves smoking cigars and depicting train accidents with his model railroad. Though the head of the family, he is the most naive and childish member of the family, gifted with a brief attention span and endless optimism.
Gomez is married to Morticia A. Addams (nee Frump), a vampirist woman who wears only long black robes, is known for her dark beauty and seduces Gomez by speaking French. Both are still very interested in each other after many years of marriage. She also comes from a long line of abnormal, freak, eccentric, and madmen. Her favorite flowers are roses with their heads severed. In contrast to Gomez, she is less playful and places more value on the fact that everything in the family is right. In the TV series, she has a giant carnivorous plant called Cleopatra.
Gomez and Morticia have two children, Pugsley and Wednesday . Wednesday ( English Wednesday ), whose middle name is Friday ( English Friday ), was originally a quiet, somewhat miserable child, filled with suffering. In the television series, she was portrayed as a friendly, fun kid who is very well connected to his pet spider, Homer. Her favorite toy is her Marie Antoinette doll , which she has beheaded and which she often shows off to visitors. The films that followed gave her a serious and callous personality with morbid humor, periods of melancholy at times, and a constant urge to hurt or, if possible, murder her brother (for example, she is shown putting him on an electric chair buckles and is about to flip the switch). She often carries out her murder plans, but Pugsley never dies. The Addams seem immune to their own toys.
For his part, Pugsley is either utterly forgetful of the suffering his sister is trying to inflict on him or a naive supporter of it. On his first appearance, Pugsley (originally known as puberty) was described as the diabolical, malicious, pranked neighbor kid. In the television series he became the older brother and handcrafted genius who u. a. invents a disintegrator, even if his brilliance was lost in the films in which he appears below average intelligent. In the TV series, he has an octopus named Aristotle as a pet.
The Addams drive a car that looks like a combination of a convertible , a Mercedes and a hearse . Their ( pseudo- Latin) family motto is “Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc!”, Which freely translated means something like “We prefer to eat those who try to conquer us!”.
The venerable Addams family live in a rundown Victorian mansion with a garden that is a mixture of cemetery and swamp . The manor house is full of unusual decorations and oddities like a swordfish nailed to the wall with a human foot in its mouth and a polar bear fur in the hall that hums when careless visitors step on it. The rooms are more like dungeons and the playroom is a torture chamber.
In the film "The Addams Family in a Crazy Tradition" Morticia and Gomez have a third child named puberty . This looks very similar to his father - he even already has a mustache . Like Pugsley, he survived all of his siblings' assassinations unscathed. He seems to be able to breathe fire .
Other family members who live with Gomez and Morticia include Uncle Fester ( English : Uncle Fester) and Granny. In the original TV series, Fester was Morticia's uncle, and therefore actually not an Addams, even though he often calls the family name his own (in one episode, Fester reacted confused when someone asked his last name, implying that he forgot it). In all other cartoons or live action films, Fester was Gomez's older brother and thus uncle of Wednesday and Pugsley. Uncle Fester can light up light bulbs in his mouth . In the television series, he is portrayed as a bit insidious and has significant problems finding a suitable bride. He also likes to experiment with explosives - a hobby he likes to share with Pugsley.
Granny the grandmother is only in the 1960s animated and live television series Gomez's mother. In all other representations she is Morticia's mother. To this day, their exact relationship is treated somewhat vaguely. Granny loves wrestling with alligators in the basement and reading gloomy forecasts from dead animals. Occasionally she climbs around on strange houses. She has gray wild hair and often wears a brown robe.
The family has a roommate in the shape of a severed hand, called " ice cold hand " ( Thing T. Thing ). It often does normal, everyday tasks like collecting the mail or the newspaper, although it is less of a pet and more of Gomez's childhood friend. Originally only available in a box, it finally became "mobile" through the movies and scuttles through the villa on its fingertips.
The Addams also have a tall, bad-tempered butler named Lurch . Morticia and Gomez call him with the help of a bell train in the form of a gallows rope, which makes the whole house tremble with a cracking gong, whereupon Lurch usually appears out of nowhere and growls: "You rang the bell?" He's very slow and taciturn; in the New York cartoons he was mute . Most of all, he likes to play classical music on the harpsichord .
Gomez also has a hairy cousin named It (sometimes itt ) who visits the family frequently. He is famous for his all-round talent and his stories of women outside the family. In the second Addams movie, he has a wife named Margret and a child named What. Other guests include Morticia's older neurotic sister Ophelia (played by the same actress as Morticia on the series) and Morticia's mother. The Addams also have a ton of eccentric cousins who are featured on the series but never featured. A running gag is that Morticia often sews a sweater that has a large number of limbs .
The essence of the Addams
The exact nature of the Addams is never known. They all seem to share a pact with the occult and the supernatural. Uncle Fester is often portrayed as some kind of mad scientist and Grandma a fortune teller and witch, but these activities do not explain the Addams' apparent supernatural nature. The foods they eat are inedible or even utterly lethal to ordinary people, and there is also this family interest in self-destructive activities, such as walking across minefields or chopping themselves in half off a sharp pendulum to let. This of course also makes up part of their mystique .
The Addams are a close-knit and loving family. Morticia and Gomez are permanently infatuated, and it drives Gomez insane in a positive way when she speaks French. She sometimes calls him "Bubele", to which he reacts by kissing her arms intensely. They are both very concerned about the welfare of their children. While they all share an obsession and an interest in death, dying, and other barbaric and macabre topics, the Addams aren't bad people (in some episodes of the television series, Gomez is willing to donate large sums to charity, to the amazement of the already disturbed visitors) and usually confine their gruesome activities to their own families (unless, of course, their visitors enter the home with bad intentions). In recent films, the idea is sometimes played with the idea that the family consists of satanic murderers with bodies buried in the house and that staying with them for too long can lead to a kind of "contagion". It must be said that Charles Addams designed his characters as a satirical mirror for society and not necessarily as heroic figures or even role models.
Most of the Addams neighbors are not very understanding. Within the surrounding community, the Addams are considered strange and dangerous and are actually not deported for their money. Both series and movies deal with outsiders trying to understand, exploit, and "correct" the behavior of the family and end up frustrated and scared of the things that amuse the Addams. The Addams, on the other hand, represent exactly the opposite and are often shocked and frightened by the activities of their fellow human beings.
Although the Addams are often described as solitary, they are not. Even if they have little interest in the modern, they do not find their taste strange, since they generally assume that the majority of society shares them. Occasionally, the series features guest characters who share the Addams' tastes, implying the existence of an entire subculture of people with the same inclinations. This can also be seen in some of Charles Addams' cartoons. In contrast, the Addams find things like daisies, chocolates, boy scouts, laughter and other values traditionally considered “good” to be strange, if not downright disturbing. In contrast, Gomez, Morticia and Wednesday often pursue bizarre leisure activities such as sword fighting, dueling, archery and executions with a French guillotine.
Media history
- The Addams Family first appeared in the form of a cartoon in the newspaper "The New Yorker" in 1938 , conceived and drawn by Charles Addams (also Chas Addams).
- After the television became aware of the cartoons, a television series was produced that ran from 1964 to 1966. The Addams Family had competition from The Munsters series , which aimed at a similar black humor. According to the survey, the Munsters were more popular with the audience, but managed to make fewer remakes afterwards.
- This was followed by a cartoon show (1973) and a Halloween reunion (1977)
- In 1991 the first feature film by the Addams Family was released under the direction of Barry Sonnenfeld , followed in 1993 by the direct successor "Addams Family Values" (see below). A planned third feature film failed due to the death of actor Raúl Juliá (Gomez).
- From 1992 to 1995 a new cartoon show ran.
- In 1998, the film "Addams Family - And the dear relatives" ( Addams Family Reunion ) was released directly on video, in the same year the series " The New Addams Family " started, which was canceled the next year after two seasons with 65 episodes .
- On Youtube there is a series "Adult Wednesday Addams" which deals with an adult Wednesday who moved out of home.
Television series
In 1964 there was a television series with actors playing characters from Addams' cartoons called "The Addams Family". The 30-minute episodes were broadcast in black and white in two seasons. The series wasn't particularly successful when it first aired, but became hugely popular as it rerun. Today Sony Pictures Television owns the rights to the episodes produced by ABC. Actors were John Astin (Gomez), Carolyn Jones (Morticia), Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester), Ted Cassidy (Lurch), Blossom Rock (Granny), Lisa Loring (Wednesday) and Ken Weatherwax (Pugsley).
A second Real Series, " The New Addams Family, " produced and shot in Canada, ran in the 1998-1999 season on Fox Family. Most of the episodes were remakes of the original series, although the plot had to be rewritten to reflect the new relationships between the characters and the slightly more macabre versions of Wednesday and Pugsley. John Astin (Gomez in the original series) returned here as "Grandpa Addams" (Gomez 'grandfather, a character introduced in the third film) in certain episodes of the series. The series of the nineties was aimed at a younger target audience, which is reflected in less black humor, many sound effects and many music recordings.
Theatrical adaptations
In the 1990s, this concept was carried over to three films, " Addams Family " (1991), " The Addams Family in Crazy Tradition " (1993) and " Addams Family " (1998). The films used a much more grotesque humor that sought to preserve the spirit of the original Addams cartoons. The English original title of the second film "Addams Family Values" is a play on words with the standing concept of "family values", ie the values that were regarded as ideal of society in the USA in the 1960s . The Addams appear to be the exact opposite of what the term actually meant (in fact, the Addams flaunt many of these values and are, after all, a tightly knit, loving family). The third film was released directly on video and takes place between the actions of the two films, as Fester is not yet present with the family and the adolescent baby.
Animation
Two animation offshoots and a guest appearance in another animated series were also produced by "Hanna-Barbera Productions".
The Addams Family first appeared as cartoon characters in the third episode of Hanna-Barbera's "The New Scooby-Doo Movies", "Scooby-Doo Meets the Addams Family" (aka "Wednesday Is Missing") First aired September 1972 on CBS . Four of the original cast members (John Astin, Carolyn Jones, Jackie Coogan, and Ted Cassidy) vocalized in the special that the Addams had in a secret with the Scooby-Doo troop. The characters were drawn by Charles Addams according to the specifications of the original comics. After the episode aired, fans wanted more cartoon adventures with the Addams, and Hanna-Barbera was happy to hear it.
The first own cartoon series ran from 1973 to 1975 on Saturday mornings on NBC . Unlike the original series, this series sent the Addams out onto the streets in a Victorian-style motorhome. This series brings changes to the family structure: Fester is now Gomez's brother and Grandma Morticia's mother (although the old relationships were reused in the 1977 television movie to be consistent with the original series). Although Coogan and Cassidy got their roles back, Astin and Jones did not. Her roles were re-cast with Hanna Barbera speakers Lennie Weinrib as Gomez and Janet Waldo as Morticia, while none other than eight-year-old Jodie Foster provided the voice of Pugsley. Here, too, the figures were drawn by Charles Addams according to the specifications of the original comics. A season was produced that was broadcast twice in a row.
The second animated series ran on ABC Saturday mornings from 1992 to 1995 after producers recognized the success of the 1991 film. This series reverted to the familiar format of the original series, in which the Addams family experienced their weird situations in their own home. John Astin reappeared in the role of Gomez, and celebrity actors Rip Taylor and Carol Channing took over the roles of Fester and Grandma. For this series, new models were used for the characters, even if they still reminded of the original comics. Two seasons were produced and reruns were broadcast in the third year. Oddly enough, Wednesday kept her macabre, brooding manner from the movies in this series, but her facial expression and body language carried the peace-joy-pancake image from the original TV series.
musical
In 2009, Andrew Lippa's musical The Addams Family was performed in Chicago .
Mobile game
There is an official mobile game for iOS and Android under the title "The Addams Family Mystery Mansion" . It is published by Animoca Brands .
Trivia
- The Duckburg figure Gundel Gaukeley is based on Morticia A. Addams.
- After the first series was canceled in 1966, the studio was found empty; an unknown person had stolen almost all of the props.
- Ted Cassidy (Lurch) received a box from which the “ice cold hands” came as a gift; Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester) was able to take one of his costumes with him.
- The child actors were pretty bad because of their age their lines read , so they were laid tells her text of appearance. As a result, Pugsley and Wednesy do not appear in all episodes and have very little dialogue .
- John Astin was a non-smoker , but as Gomez he smoked too much for his role.
- For cost reasons , several recordings were used twice within the series instead of shooting new ones (e.g. explosion of trains, Gomez's headstand)
- John Astin originally auditioned for the role of butler Lurch.
Web links
- The Addams Family (1964-1966) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Addams Family (1973-1975) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Addams Family (1991) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Addams Family (1992-1995) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Addams Family Values (1993) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Addams Family Reunion (1998) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The New Addams Family (1998) in the Internet Movie Database (English)