WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Wednesday season 1!Wednesday’s title character repeats the iconic Thanksgiving speech given by Christina Ricci’s Wednesday Addams in Addams Family Values (1993). While the character has been around since the 1930s, Christina Ricci’s portrayal of Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and its 1993 sequel looms large over the rest. While Jenna Ortega’s flawless depiction of a more humane Wednesday Addams adds another layer of emotional complexity to the character, Tim Burton’s Wednesday still pays homage to the deadpan wit, homicidal fixations, and socially-conscious monologues of Ricci’s version.
The greatest callback to Addams Family Values in Wednesday is when the title character gives a speech (in German) about America’s whitewashing of history in reference to the pilgrims’ colonization. Ortega’s Wednesday Addams tells visitors of Pilgrim World that the fudge they’re eating was made by oppressed indigenous people, with the amusement park simply whitewashing history by ignoring the crimes of the pilgrims – implying the exploitation and genocide of Native Americans. This scene repeats a clever speech made by Ricci’s Wednesday in the Addams Family Values movie, as she ignored the script to her camp's Thanksgiving play by declaring that pilgrims stole Native Americans’ land, forced them onto reservations, and oppressed them for generations to come.
Why Pilgrims Were So Important In Wednesday Season 1
While Addams Family Values and Wednesday are not technically Thanksgiving-set projects, the criticisms around Thanksgiving play roles in very important scenes of both. Addams Family Values’ Thanksgiving scene was meant to call out the ignorant values of the movie's Waspy counselors and other campers. Meanwhile, Wednesday season 1’s pilgrim fixation connected to the Tim Burton TV Show’s themes of prejudice, bigotry, and the dangers of ignoring cruel histories in the context of outcasts and "normies."
Similar to how pilgrims were responsible for the genocide and prejudice against Native Americans in real life, Wednesday season 1’s pilgrims sought to eradicate outcasts and instill generational hatred against supernatural beings. Joseph Crackstone settled in Jericho back in the 1600s, where he seemingly stole the land of teenage Wednesday Addams’ ancestors and other outcasts. Crackstone then made it his mission to cause mass genocide against outcasts, yet Jericho residents continue to idolize him and suppress criticisms about his crimes and bigotry. Considering such controversies still apply to the celebration of Thanksgiving and figures like Christopher Columbus in real life, Jericho’s pilgrim obsession and whitewashing of history is familiar in Netflix’s Wednesday.
Why Wednesday's Pilgrim Speech Is The Perfect Callback To Addams Family 2
Wednesday season 1’s pilgrim speech is one of the Netflix show’s most specific callbacks to the 1990s Addams Family film series. Considering Christina Ricci boasts the most iconic portrayal of Wednesday Addams, it was inevitable that Wednesday would include nods to her version of the character – especially since Ricci plays the villain in the Tim Burton show. Unlike her anti-pilgrim 1993 Addams Family Values character, Christina Ricci’s role in Wednesday is a bigoted pilgrim-loving fanatic. Wednesday thus cleverly flips the character values of Ricci’s roles, with the change also better separating Ricci from her Wednesday Addams portrayal and allowing Jenna Ortega to properly take over the character.
Not only does the speech remind audiences of the keen political satire of The Addams Family movies, but Wednesday’s pilgrim criticisms also unite the themes of the franchise in regard to calling out bigotry and discrimination. The Addams family is seen as bizarre and frightening for their macabre and supernatural dispositions, but “normies” find them the spookiest when exposing overt prejudices and hypocrisies. Christina Ricci and Jenna Ortega’s empathetic Wednesday Addamses unapologetically defend outcasts, with Addams Family Values’ Thanksgiving play and Wednesday’s pilgrim scene being perfect examples of this character trait.