Wednesday Addams vs. Thanksgiving

When is preaching not preachy?

Preachy storytelling is off-putting. A story can improve a sermon, but a sermon seldom improves a story.

That said, it’s entirely possible to convey a message about a real-world issue without blatantly preaching to the audience. It’s not easy, and results have varied over the years. Star Trek was often great at exploring complicated issues, and Doctor Who has gotten it both right and wrong at different points during its modern era. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law recently demonstrated how easily a message can feel like an on-the-nose direct lecture, but Fraggle Rock was a master class in how to teach life lessons in an entertaining manner.

Let’s add another example to the mix, a movie that shows a different way to avoid preachiness: Addams Family Values.

Remember when Wednesday Addams led a revolt during a summer camp’s Thanksgiving pageant? For many, that’s the main thing they remember about this 1993 sequel.

In the scene, Wednesday and Pugsley pretend to play nicely with everyone as the pageant begins, with Wednesday going so far as to fake an uncharacteristic smile to aid the deception as she portrays “Pocahontas” (an amusing way to demonstrate the camp counselors’ ignorance). But then she drops the mask of politeness and delivers a speech about the historical mistreatment of Native Americans, and she leads the camp outcasts—armed with torches and flaming arrows—in a revolt against the popular kids and counselors.

So why does Wednesday’s Thanksgiving message work? Simple: There’s a lot more going on beneath the surface, and the focus remains firmly on Wednesday’s storyline.

For a good chunk of the movie, Wednesday and Pugsley have been forced to attend this overly cheery summer camp, which is entirely at odds with their Addams Family Values. The counselors and popular kids attempt to break their individuality and mold them into happy little clones of themselves.

Try as they might, the Addams kids can’t escape this sunny hell into which they’ve been cast. The more they resist, the more the counselors tighten their grips, going so far as to force them to watch Disney movies to shatter their willpower.

At this, her lowest point, Wednesday devises a new strategy, which we see play out in the above clip.

The earlier scenes set up the subtext for Wednesday’s Thanksgiving speech. As she talks about wrongs done to Native Americans, she’s indirectly saying, “I’m still me, and you will not control me.”

The historical angle adds some authenticity to her words, but it’s ultimately a way for her to say what she needs to say without actually saying it—a mark of strong screenwriting. Plus, the scene is genuinely funny as it offers up family-friendly dark humor (an essential ingredient for any Addams Family script). It’s all just so delightfully over the top.

And the subtext is baked into the scene from the very beginning. The popular girl is acting friendly as she makes condescending remarks about Native Americans, but this condescension is really directed at Wednesday, Pugsley, and all the other unpopular kids. The girl’s ostensibly kind behavior is saying, without saying it, “I’m better than you losers.” Even the incorrect use of Pocahontas conveys information about who the counselors are.

Wednesday’s phony smile as “Pocahontas” communicates so much about the lengths she’s willing to go to win her battles. And when she lights the match and finally smiles for real, that smile tells us how just how important her values and individuality are to her. It’s a smile with substance.

If Wednesday’s whole arc in this movie had centered on her concern about the mistreatment of Native Americans, then this scene would have felt flat and on the nose. Likewise, if the movie wanted to relay a feminist message and showed only men and boys trying to pressure Wednesday into conformity, and it all led to Wednesday giving a speech about the mistreatment of women and girls, that also would have felt flat and on the nose, and we likely wouldn’t remember the scene so fondly all these years later.

No, instead, the screenwriters landed on a clever way to connect Wednesday’s arc with a serious real-world issue, leading to great irreverent humor and a satisfying conclusion to the character’s storyline.

I have no idea whether the writers set out to spread awareness about Native American issues or if they simply thought, “Hey, wouldn’t it be fun and kooky to turn the Thanksgiving story on its head during this Addams Family movie?” And I shouldn’t know. That means they did their jobs well. The writers put the story first and disappeared behind the characters.

And, sure, you can use this scene as a springboard to discuss historical inequities. Go for it. It’s more likely to work because it’s such an entertaining, well-crafted scene.

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, as a wise woman once sang.

But what about the new show?

Yes, I did watch the new Wednesday series on Netflix, and it’s good fun. It’s basically a plot-heavy CW series with extra polish. Jenna Ortega is every bit as fantastic in the role as Christina Ricci was in the ’90s. Her performance elevates the show beyond the standard teenage fare it otherwise might have been. And Thing, a purely visual character, excels in the sidekick role.

One episode includes a nod to the classic Thanksgiving scene. While it’s nowhere near as satisfying as its predecessor, it works well enough as a nostalgia-flavored character moment. It’s not about lecturing the audience—it’s about showing who Wednesday is, as her speech and actions are uniquely hers.

The series seems aimed more at teenagers, and it features many of the usual high school tropes (cliques, bullies, unsubtle messages about being yourself, etc.). But I still had fun watching it, which should be the main objective of any Addams Family show.