The Cultural History of The Addams Family

[firecat]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/cultural-history-addams-family-180973315
Good article, but I'm just using it as an excuse to talk about my own history with it.

I credit the TV show with encouraging some of my weirdness.

I have a running list that I update every time I rewatch an episode: "Everything I needed to know about life I learned from the Addams family".

Some entries:
-When it comes to art, and appearance, de gustibus.
-Creative endeavors are important for life satisfaction.
-Question the stereotypes you learn in school.
-Bagpipes are a lovely musical instrument.
-It's ok to have a fetish but be polite about it.
-Pain sometimes feels good.
-Big vocabularies are fun.
-It's ok for men to cry.

Comments

[serene]

♥

We were talking the other day about the chicken-and-egg -- do we like Gomez and Morticia because they are like us, or are we like them because we like them?

[firecat]

How old were you when you first encountered The Addams Family? I encountered it as a pre-teen. I'm sure I was already like that, though (contrary, enjoyed asking why people think and feel certain ways, and experimenting with thinking and feeling in ways others didn't).

[snippy]

I like them because they made it okay to be like me.

[firecat]

♥

[hitchhiker]

i would like to watch that show sometime, i've heard a lot of good things about it.

[silveradept]

There's something about a show that shows responsible parenting and a couple that loves each other that makes it stick and endure, especially compared to the buffoons and bad relationships that have been a sitcom staple for decades.

[firecat]

And it's not as if there weren't plenty of sitcom-style shenanigans that went on even though the premise of responsible parenting and romantic love in marriage was maintained.

[silveradept]

Indeed. It made for a great situation where the fact that Gomez and Morticia were responsible parents and on love with each other part of how much the Addams Family was weird compared to everyone else.