Regarding Gomez In Netflix’s Wednesday

Regarding Gomez in Netflix’s Wednesday

Little bit of background, I’ve been an Addams Family fan since 2014, when I was 16. I first fell in love with the ‘91 and ‘93 Addams Family films, and then I later fell in love with the 60s show. I was so obsessed with it, and I even used to run an Addams Family side blog (which I might resurrect, idk), so yes, I am a fan of the Addams Family!

There’s been a lot of comments regarding the casting of Luis Guzman as Gomez Addams that are… really not it. The sum of it seems to be “eww why is Gomez ugly and fat, he should be skinny/look like the 91-93 Gomez”, which is really gross for a multitude of reasons.

Firstly, the fat shaming??? The fatphobia??? I said this when people in the FB fandom fat shamed Dan Fogler/Jacob Kowalski, I’ll say it now, but anyone saying fat = ugly can fucking fight me, I’ll kick your ass right here and now. That on its own is so gross and disgusting, and anyone thinking that can unfollow me right fucking now. It’s just gross.

Whatever version you prefer, The Addams Family is a series that has always shown a healthy and loving family even though they’re not what you’d expect them to be. The Addams Family are especially shown as being very accepting and open minded; in the 93 film, when Pubert is “normal”, Gomez and Morticia are still loving parents to him even though it’s things they find abhorrent, and when they think the kids want to go to summer camp, despite being surprised and clearly not expecting it, they don’t say their kids can’t go - “if it’s what they want” kind of mindset. There’s also moments in the 60s TV show, like Pugsley joining Boy Scouts, where Gomez and Morticia don’t necessarily agree with things their children are into it, but they accept it because they want their children to be happy. If you think the Addams Family would condone fat shaming, you clearly aren’t truly a fan of the Addams Family.

Secondly, have you not seen what Gomez looks like in the original Charles Addams comics???

^You want to split hairs about “he doesn’t look like Gomez”? THIS is what Gomez Addams looked like originally.

Thirdly, I love Raul Julia as Gomez - I had the biggest crush on him for YEARS. He was an amazing Gomez, and no one is going to dispute that (hopefully). But it kind of bothers me that people are saying not only that Gomez should look only like Raul Julia, and also that people are commenting that “Gomez was skinny in those films and it was more attractive!!!” when Raul Julia was actually extremely ill with stomach cancer while making the Addams Family movies - he pushed onwards because he loved the character so much.

You can see in this interview that he’s not very well, and this was about a year before he died. So while I agree that yes, his Gomez is pretty suave and sexy, pointing out it’s because he’s skinny is… kind of weird, given the circumstances.

Quite frankly, when it comes to any version of Gomez, so long as they show how absolutely devoted he is to Morticia, I’m happy - his love and adoration for her is one of the key parts of his character, so as long as that’s shown in someway, I really don’t care if he’s conventionally attractive. The reason we love Gomez is because he’s such a wife guy and a rare example of non-toxic masculinity.

As someone who’s a huge fan of the 60s show and 90s films, I’m personally really excited to see this new show and how these characters are brought to life - who knows, maybe it might encourage a new generation to watch the older Addams Family stuff?