Tim Burton’s ‘Wednesday’ Was Hit With Criticism For Its ‘Racist’ Portrayal Of Black Characters
Netflix’s latest smash hit Wednesday is a fun and creepy show based on those familiar Addams family characters, starring Jenna Ortega as the titular teen and directed by Tim Burton in his first-ever TV series.
While many were excited that the series chose to honor Charles Addam’s original characters by casting a Latina in the title role, others are upset about the alleged undertones in the series. Most of the Black actors in the series portray bullies or villains, like Wednesday’s school rival Bianca Barclay or Lucas Wilson, the son of the corrupt mayor. The mayor, a Black man, also owns “Pilgrim Land” in the series, which was definitely a…choice.
Laughed out loud when the Black guy in WEDNESDAY said "my dad owns Pilgrim World" after she said only a sicko would make a theme park about religious zealots responsible for mass genocide, lmao OK buddy!!
— Bolu Babalola & (@BeeBabs) November 27, 2022
Me trying to badly to push pass the racist and anti-Black undertones in the Wednesday Addams Netflix show. Like whoever thought making the Black man as the owner of a pilgrim amusement park is literally going to HELL.
— Jada (@jada178) November 26, 2022
also speaking of wednesday why is there a whole anti-colonialism plot but the literal “pilgrim world” is owned and promoted by a Black man? and why does white lady morticia tell that man “men like you have no idea what it’s like not to be believed” ??? tim your days are numbered
— abby (@wabbywebb) November 30, 2022
the Wednesday show is extremely fun but….Tim Burton’s racism definitely shines through. idk what the solution is for this. i doubt they’d ever drop him.
— not your belldandy (@briarhoes) November 29, 2022
Unfortunately, Burton has been criticized before due to the lack of diversity in his films. The director has made over 35 movies, though Wednesday is the first to have a person of color as the lead. Samuel L. Jackson confirmed that he had spoken to Burton about his casting choices when he appeared in 2016’s Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children.
“I had to go back in my head and go, how many black characters have been in Tim Burton movies?” Jackson said at the time. “And I may have been the first, I don’t know, or the most prominent in that particular way, but it happens the way it happens. I don’t think it’s any fault of his or his method of storytelling, it’s just how it’s played out.”