by\nEllen Huang<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m\nof the opinion dark humor saves lives. There\u2019s some catharsis in being able to\njoke about darker things in life, almost as if laughter helps us fear a little\nless. The Addams Family<\/em> is bursting at the seams with dark\nhumor\u2014 after all, it\u2019s a family of gothic people who delight in everything\nwitchy and spooky\u2014and yet I find there\u2019s something about them that is\nso\u2026wholesome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nrunning humor in the black-and-white TV series is the shock of people who\nencounter the Addams and enter their lovely home. The Addams live next to a\ncemetery, they house the most unusual pets, their children play with headless\ndolls and explosives, and they have connections with people all over the world\nthat the neighbors would consider crazy and strange. Living among their family,\nthe Addams also have a towering Frankenstein-monster-like butler named Lurch\nand a disembodied hand called Thing that helps them with the mail, both of\nwhich the Addams are very warm and appreciative to as if they no less than were\nregular people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creepiness\naside, you\u2019d also notice that their family dynamic actually looks really\nhealthy. Gomez and Morticia are very passionate, affirming, and supportive of\neach other as equals. Their children Wednesday and Pugsley work together and\nstick up for one another often. They speak very fondly of their dead family\nmembers and are always very hospitable, be it to the fuzzy creature made of\nhair Cousin Itt or to any old mortal human that comes their way. The kooky\nfamily\u2019s even comforting to watch, because they just seem to be overflowing\nwith love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Funnily\nenough, what is biblically said about love can almost all be applied to The\nAddams Family. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it\ndoes not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not\nself-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.<\/em> (1\nCorinthians 13: 4-5 NIV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nthink film reviewer Lindsay Ellis (aka Nostalgia Chick) hit the nail on the\nhead when she said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe\njoke isn\u2019t that they\u2019re cruel or bad at parenting or have any particular\ndisdain for the world at large. They aren\u2019t unkind to their neighbors or to the\nanimals, and they\u2019re deeply devoted to their children and to each other. They\njoke is that they\u2019re happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe\nAddams Family<\/em> is missing a lot of the typical sitcom tropes. There\u2019s no\nmother-in-law jokes, no arguing over who is supposed to fill what gender role;\nboth Morticia and Gomez spend roughly equal amounts of time parenting the\nchildren, and the most remarkable is the relationship between Morticia and\nGomez [. . .] usually working together. Rarely will party A keep something from\nParty B but for the most part they form little schemes together as partners.\nBoth are heads of the household and they almost never disrespect each other \u2014\nin a genre where that\u2019s usually the joke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut\nthe reason the Addams are happy is really because they exist outside of\nsociety\u2019s expectations. Gomez is a man child who plays with his trains and that\u2019s\nfine. Morticia fences with her husband and plays with weapons often. And it\ndoesn\u2019t occur to them to care what people think.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something\nthat stands out to me as really refreshing about The Addams Family<\/em> is\nthat they actually don\u2019t dramatize their weirdness like many other edgy goth\ncharacters in media. They don\u2019t compare themselves to others or get defensive\nabout who they are. They normalize. Everything they offer their confused\nneighbors is genuinely out of kindness + hospitality into their home, and their\nlived realty is that what the world thinks of them doesn\u2019t even exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No\none in their house is a burden, none of their odd friends are monsters, and not\neven the normal humans who judge them are given anything but the benefit of the\ndoubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\nsimply live, and they love unconditionally, and in doing so they show us\nanother way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nwonder if Christianity in particular is supposed to do that: show another way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nearliest Christians, being a minority so moved by Jesus that they were even\nwilling to die as believers, showed another way. In a world where family was\ndefined by long genealogy lines, they found family outside of blood, following\nChrist\u2019s example of emphasizing spiritual siblinghood (Matthew 12:48-50). They\nwere to recognize the Other as part of the same Body and no longer let\ndifferences divide them (Galatians 3:28). In a world of hierarchy and\noppression, they were motivated by hope and provided for each other, even to\nthe point that \u201cthere was not a needy person among them, for as many as\nowned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold<\/em>\u201d\n(Acts 4:34 NRSV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christians\nwere eyed suspiciously for their chosen community, their delight, for their\ndangerous hope, for believing anything was higher than their emperor. People\njudged them for their weird ritual of claiming to eat a body and drink blood\n(perhaps there is danger in literalism) and rumor would spread that Christians\nwere a cult, cannibals, rebels, troublemakers. Was it some kind of joke, how they\ncaused a scene in their nonviolent protests such as turning the other cheek\nwhen backhandedly slapped, or giving their cloak also when demanded for their\ncoat, or running an extra mile when forced to go one mile? Why did they see\nhumanity where they didn\u2019t have to? In fact, in an 8th century description of\nChinese Christianity, engraved as a Xi\u2019an stele inscription, Christians were\nknown for their unusual ways of not keeping slaves, but regarding all men,\nregardless of high or low status, as equals. (Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nearly Christians, being an actual minority (much different than today), lived\noutside of societal expectations. They didn\u2019t hunger for power but acted as if\nthey didn\u2019t need it. They were grounded in a culture of loving the neighbor and\nthe stranger, a faith in the unseen, a delight despite darkness, and a\nrepurposed symbol of resurrection out of what used to be an execution device.\nThey laughed without fear of the future. They declared where,<\/em> O Death, is your sting?<\/em>\nThey would become even more undignified than this. They were to be known for\ntheir peculiar ways of loving even their enemies, believing greatness is found\nin the one who is a servant to all, and fearing no death for their liberated\nway of thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nthe film The Addams Family Values<\/em>, even when the Addams are all\nhooked up to electric chairs by the villainously entitled Debbie Jellinsky, who\nyells, \u201cSo long, everybody! Wish me luck!\u201d the Addams are prepared to even wish\nher good luck (killing them). It\u2019s ambiguous, but I\u2019d like to think this is\nbecause they already knew that it wouldn\u2019t kill them. (Other interpretations\ninclude that they sympathized with their enemy, loved their enemy the entire\ntime. After all, they later bury her in the family graveyard).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Granted,\nwe are mortal human beings, and it isn\u2019t best advised to actually be oblivious\nto the rest of the world (especially during a pandemic!). Maybe in these days, we\nactually should hold a healthy fear and responsibility for affecting others\u2019\nlives. Maybe rejoicing about the afterlife isn\u2019t the only faithful response to\ndeath. Maybe we can hold space for negative emotions about abusive enemies. Yet\nall this can be true while looking at things another way. All while living into\nan inclusive, redefined family dynamic such as that of the adoptive, hopeful,\ndiverse kin\u2014dom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\njoke is that they\u2019re happy.<\/em> They don\u2019t need power, they\ndon\u2019t need to be in the majority, they don\u2019t need a spirit of dominance nor\nconformity. They\u2019re living as they\u2019re created, and they\u2019re happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nfeel our progressive \u201cintrovert church\u201d Christ Kaleidoscope can be that kind of\nlight. Where love is patient, love is kind; it does not boast, nor envy, nor\ninsist on its own way. It does not dishonor, keep record of wrongs, nor rejoice\nin wrongdoing. We honor everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\nif love couldn\u2019t run out? What if there was room for anyone to be family? While\njustice and prophecy will win out, what if the powers that kill the body but\nnot the soul were not to be feared? (But please wear a mask, the Addams would\nprobably encourage that kind of mysterious look while saving lives still\nanyway). What if we were happy<\/em> being the inclusive outsiders?<\/p>\n\n\n\n And\nperhaps in doing so, as Madeleine L\u2019Engle would say, we\u2019re \u201cshowing a light\nthat is so lovely that [people] want with all their hearts to know the source\nof it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Ellen Huang I\u2019m of the opinion dark humor saves lives. There\u2019s some catharsis in being able to joke about darker things in life, almost as if laughter helps us fear a little less. The Addams Family is bursting at the seams with dark humor\u2014 after all, it\u2019s a family of gothic people who delight in everything … Continue reading Faith & Entertainment Series | The Joke is that They\u2019re Happy: The Addams Family & Unconditional Love<\/span>