Wednesdays in real life

I imagine that, unless you live in a bunker, you have already heard of Wednesday, the daughter of the Addams family, played by Jenna Ortega and directed by Tim Burton in the most celebrated Netflix series of recent times. So much so that it has become the most watched production in English in a week in the history of the platform, a fact that is especially relevant as it is a youth proposal.

That is to say: it seems that this story has moved all the young people of the world at the same time. But what does the new Wednesday Addams have that connects so much with the teen universe? What distinguishes her is that her behaviors are out of the norm and that she suffers bullying for it. Up to here it could be one of many high school stories, but Wednesday is not willing to change, nor to put up with her aggressors. Unlike, she accepts herself as she is and defends herself from those who hurt her, which makes her an example to millions. “I like being a well-fortified island surrounded by sharks,” she says. “I like to take risks. Socialize not too much,” she assures. Or: “I don’t bury axes. I sharpen them”. Wednesday has the difference but also the power.

But, “how many Wednesdays in real life are victims of bullying?” Occymoron asks on Twitter. And he continues: “We romanticize the differences because we see them in a series but then, if we see them on the street, we point them out and harass them.” Indeed, in real life, Wednesday would be having a much worse time than in fiction. As much as all the groups that have made it a symbol. Thus, when the particular Wednesday dance of Lady Gaga’s Bloody Mary became a Tik Tok trend, there were many (especially women) who claimed Wednesday as an autistic icon and denounced that a dance idolized in fiction would have been Outcast in real life. “You only like Wednesday Addams as a concept, not as a person,” denounced the young @tree.alesh on Tik Tok.

Instead, “gifted from the bunch” defended another point of view on Twitter. “I don’t see a single trait of autism in Wednesday.” And she added: “They are telling you from minute one of the series that it is highly capable. The main theme of her is her remarkable synthetic thinking and her emotional dyssynchrony. And she speaks solely with sarcasm and metaphors. And almost at the same time, El Español claimed that Wednesday is actually a girl with ADHD. Although the truth is that it doesn’t matter if Wednesday is ADHD, gifted, autistic or simply a teenager in transition. Because what this character teaches us is that beyond any label, what distinguishes someone who suffers is her pain.

Thus, Wednesday reminds us how many of the people who suffer bullying (or exclusion) face the same explanations that this character has received: “It’s because you’re autistic”, “it’s because you’re ADHD”, “it’s because you’re highly capable” , “it’s because you’re gay”, “it’s because you’re different…”. But it’s a lie. Harassment is not the response to a symptom but rather a pathology as widespread as it is consented to. We lack the social recognition of pain, our own and that of others. We are educated to deny differences and damage while life, as Wednesday knows, hurts everyone. Nothing is going to be easy (and much less in an institute). So it’s a relief that someone has the courage to admit it, even if it’s a psychopathic girl who has a severed hand as her best friend.