THE ADDAMS FAMILY: A LESSON IN VINTAGE VALUES
When I was growing up, the fictional woman I admired the most, was Morticia Addams. If you think about it, she lived the American Dream. She had a daughter that was her mini-me. She gave her husband the male heir that so many coven and she was a woman of means. Most importantly, her relationship with her husband was and still is “couple goals.” Did you know, The Addams Family, was originally a comic strip that originated in the 1930s? Maybe because it was made in a time where family was truly everything, that you can still learn some core lessons from their fictional lives.
To know 1960s America through the lens of broadcast television was to witness the best and the worst of times of a countries’ transitioning ideas. There was a war we didn’t understand, taking away our young men. Racial tension that displayed an anger so great children were being slaughtered like cattle, and the President couldn’t survive an assassination attempt. Ironically, that same apparatus that was presenting these traumatic scenes was somehow also teaching us how to be more accepting and embrace our differences.
As a Christian based country America wasn’t always welcoming to the ideas of witches, middle eastern lore (genies), or households where the women didn’t hold a traditional role. Somehow between September 1964-1965, mainstream television did just that. Bewitched debuted the day before the Addams Family and I Dream of Jeannie premiered exactly one year to the day later. Although all three shows highlighted new concepts to the American public, Samantha, and Jeannie although they had powers didn’t hold an equal position to their men.
Morticia used the power of femininity not to lead her family, but to contribute to it. Her husband loved her intelligence and found solace in her wisdom. She spoke French to calm and enchant him. Her pet name for him was Bubeleh, which was German in origin. Some considered Gomez weak or a simp. Early American television husbands didn’t display open affection towards their wives. Gomez actually was a great husband, awesome father, doting nephew, great employer, and a man of means. For anyone who has ever ran a household, we are completely sympathetic to what it must've cost to maintain a mansion with an adjacent cemetery attached.
The Addams Family many adaptions has seen it go from a comic strip to television series into a movie franchise. The running theme through it all is the family’s values, which reminds us to:
-Embrace not only your own differences but those of others. As long as no detriment is involved.
-Don’t hurt others just because they are different from you. More than likely you are just projecting your own insecurities.
-Know that being different can be scary to others, don’t let that be the reason you respond in aggression or anger, or sometimes at all.
-Accept that everyone is not going to like you so love yourself.
The vintage values learned from the Addams Family are still relevant to this day. Applying some or all of them can lead to a fulfilled life with strong connections.
