Summary
Jenna Ortega teased a more horror-forward Season 2 of Netflix’sWednesday, saying there’s a whole episode based off of slasher films, according to her recent interview with Comic Book Resource. As slashers are typically gory affairs andWednesdayhas a modest TV-14 rating, how bloody of an homage can the show pledge?
Wednesdaymay look to fellow Netflix titanStranger Thingsto assess how far it can push dark fantasy limits within rating boundaries. The Duffer Brothers' progressively graphic series got away with a lot of blood and horror in Season 4. CouldWednesdayseek to top it? Can it do that without upping its rating from TV-14 to TV-MA? TV-14 ratings can be quite forgiving of violence, and both shows have made compelling cases for excusing violence in many forms, even amidst spooky contexts.
Wednesday Vs. Stranger Things
What separatesStranger Thingsviolence fromWednesday’s is the atmosphere surrounding it.Wednesday, at least in its first season, plays most of the violence and gore with its tongue firmly in its cheek. Showrunner Tim Burton elects to colorWednesday’s blood with frolicking musical scores and a smirking Wednesday Addams,whom Ortega portrays with incredible nuance.
The Duffer Brothers' series played in a similar red-soaked sandbox at first, especially in the show’s first season. But, as the kids in their show aged along with its audience, the show’s themes grew more mature as well. By the most recent season ofStranger Things, horror elements were on full display with no sign of irony or undercutting murder for congenial effect.
In the first episode ofWednesday,a school of piranhas mutilate a swimmer, a disfigured head bleeds from the neck of a dead man, and a dismembered reanimated hand becomes a main character.Stranger Things, on the other hand, took a few seasons to come into its more horrific tendencies.
One of many bone-chilling sequences in Season 4occurred when Nancy (played by Natalia Dyer) explores the villainous Vecna’s mindscape. There, she discovers the tragically gruesome way in which Vecna became such a vile consort of evil. In the process, she also finds disturbing formations of bodies restrained by organic flesh webs, spilling sludge from their mouths as if they’re defecating from their faces.
In perhaps the most infamous horror sequence in the entireStranger Thingsseries, a teenage girl in Season 4 is tortured, levitated and mutilated by a monster who looks like something that could haunt the devil.
Wednesday’s Approach To Fantasy Violence
Wednesdayhas fun with all kinds of mature content throughout Season 1, even aside from gore. This includes coarse language, various drug mentions, and casual references to self-harm. It does all of this with a light heart, though. With Ortega suggesting a more integrally scary approach to Season 2,it is interesting to consider whether Burton can achieve the heights of horror accomplished byStranger Things.
In theory, Season 1 ofWednesdaycould have almost matched the carnage ofStranger Things,were it not for clever touches of eccentricity and the exaggeration of German expressionism. These elements, by design, grant Burton’s depictions of macabre and suffering a surreal quality that leans more quirky than grisly.
If certainWednesdayscenes stripped their musical accompaniment, they could go toe to toe with some ofStranger Things' boldest scares. For example, in Episode 4, ‘Woe What A Night’, a razor-clawed monster swipes at the helpless body of a young beekeeper in a manner that implies disembowelment. Despite the blood and murder taking place on screen, the scene is still placid considering its context.This is likely due to a few factors, including the cartoonish nature of its monster, the adventurous musical score, and exaggeration by the victim, who’s visibly devoid of any real suffering.
Tim Burton Knows What He’s Doing
If Burton were to subtract just one of those elements, the scene would take a drastic dive into more haunting depths. For instance, if that monster murder scene was instead paired with the music behind Vecna’s gruesome disembodiment of Chrissy inStranger Things,it would be a disturbing departure from other similar takes on violence throughout the show. Most importantly, though, it would sidestepWednesday’s spirit entirely.
Burton is surely aware of this fact, as in the same episode, a Nevermore school dance is interrupted by a torrent of blood raining from the sprinkler system. It’s intense for a brief moment, before Wednesday tastes the blood and expresses her disappointment with the use of paint as opposed to the real thing.
The scene is clearly inspired by Stephen King’sCarrie,which sees a similar display of revenge upon classmates. If Burton is to reference classic slasher films in Season 2, he will likely remain within the fringes of Wednesday as both a character and a series, using clever tricks of ambiance and execution to dull any blade’s edge.
No Matter How Season 2 Is Done, It Will Be Done Right
Wednesday Addams finds comfort in the deadly and dour aspects of life. If the show were to evoke the honest terror of hopelessness as it relates to fear and death, it would betray the show’s pathos entirely.Wednesdayas a whole is about a girl embracing her identity despite society’s attempts to homogenize her. If it wants to riff on slasher films in Season 2,it will do it in Burton’s styleand won’t be beholden to the dark fantasy expectations of its Netflix peers.
