Don’t push Wednesday and Enid into the closet!
I binge-watched Wednesday on Netflix during the long Thanksgiving weekend, and while the show was entertaining as expected, I was a tad disappointed when Wednesday Addams and Enid Sinclair did not end up together as a couple.
Now, Wednesday Addams is already an icon for oddballs and misfits. Over the decades, she has also emerged as a gay icon of sorts, mainly due to her complete indifference towards how other people perceive her.
In a recent interview to Out Magazine, Crystal Methyd, a participant in Ru Paul’s Drag Race, says, “Wednesday Addams is a queer icon because at her core, she revels in being an outsider,” adding, “She stands up for marginalized groups and faces bullies with an unflinching calm that any queer would be proud to emulate.”
Now, one could argue that Wednesday isn’t canonically gay. But Enid isn’t a character in the comics, so she can be whatever the writers make her. And to an extent, they do her justice in fleshing out her character as more than just the roommate and best friend of the protagonist. Enid is vibrant, yet vulnerable. With her ability to stand up to a parent (who tries to send her to a conversion therapy camp, albeit for late-blooming werewolves) and her rainbow mop, even in wolf form, Enid already has the makings of a gay icon!
Enid has her own journey of self-discovery in a show centered around Wednesday, who is a teenage girl with a dour disposition, morbid tastes and a revulsion to color. They start out as roommates, a duct tape carefully marking their sides of the room which each reflect the girls’ vastly different personalities.
The show is replete with many carefully framed scenes where Enid appears on her side of the room with her bright stained-glass window behind her, and Wednesday with a color-averse one in the background. Not to mention one scene where Enid’s jumper’s colors are the same as the lesbian flag.
While Enid unabashedly scatters her Power Puff Girl energy, Wednesday, slowly and reluctantly, warms up to her, admitting in an internal monologue how she doesn’t enjoy solitude as much anymore, when the friends hit a rough patch. The way Enid helps Wednesday navigate high-school life, and even accompanies her on her sleuthing expeditions, despite the imminent threat to her own life, serves as a brilliant foundation for a potential love story born out of a deep, meaningful friendship.
Enid’s friendship eventually warms Wednesday’s cold heart, and makes her feel secure enough to hug somebody willingly for the first time.
Honestly, Wednesday’s relationship with Enid had more depth, and that hug at the end had more warmth, than the tepid chemistry both girls had with any male suitors. This is not to pull down Ajax, Tyler or Xavier, all of whom have important roles to play in taking the story forward. But in this coming-of-age teen-drama, when you go looking for chemistry, you find it to be the strongest between Wednesday and Enid.
Which is why, it’s disappointing to see the show creators waste such an opportunity. It is particularly heartbreaking to see Enid, the human manifestation of a rainbow, being forced into a closet, even while the story uses gay metaphors, and even mentions a conversion therapy camp (albeit for werewolves) to describe her journey.
It is almost as if the show runners are saying, they would accept a young woman was a werewolf, but not a lesbian! This reminds me of the Colorado Springs shooter’s father who was more concerned about his son’s sexuality when he discovered he had opened fire inside a gay night club.
Wednesday could have been the show to help normalize sexual attraction and love between two young women, without being preachy. People could be open to change; they just don’t like being told that what they believe is wrong. Instead, a smarter move is to write an organically queer love story that blossoms from a friendship between two people as different as chalk and cheese, and let the audience root for them.
And people are already shipping them hard online with ship names like #Wenclaire trending (though I’m partial to #Wenid myself).
When you see love, you cannot deny it. Wednesday could have been a much-needed breath of fresh air amidst growing homophobia. Wonder why the show creators shied away from the opportunity, even though Netflix has a plethora of queer characters, playing significant roles in multiple shows on its platform…
