By Tim Gamble
Between Shadows and Light.
Between Shadows and Light.
I am a life-long fan of The Addams Family shows and movies, including the new Netflix show Wednesday. I binged watched season 1 of the Netflix show again over the holidays, and realized how many traits and skills that Wednesday has that would come in very handy in survival situations, and especially when facing down tyranny.
This article is the first in a three-part character study delving deep into Wednesday Addams, revealing the dark, quirky, and macabre ways she might contribute to survival scenarios.
Psychological Resilience:
- Emotional Stoicism: Wednesday's ability to remain unfazed by situations that would distress others provides a form of psychological resilience. Despite the fact that her fellow students at Nevermore Academy consider Wednesday's rather extreme stoicism to be weird and creepy, her stoic nature means she can keep a clear head in scary or dangerous situations, when others may not.
- Dark Humor: Her use of dark humor could serve as a coping mechanism, helping to maintain morale or deflect fear in dire circumstances. (Besides, I share her dark sense of humor!)
Adaptability:
- Comfort with the Uncomfortable: Wednesday thrives in environments and situations that others would find uncomfortable or even horrifying, suggesting she could adapt to extreme or unusual conditions where others might fail.
- Curiosity About Death: Wednesday's fascination with death and the afterlife might make her less fearful of life-threatening situations, allowing for more rational decision-making.
Unconventional Knowledge and Skills:
- Fascination with Torture and Pain: While macabre, her knowledge of historical torture methods and devices translate into an understanding of human anatomy or pain points, useful for both self-defense and first aid in unconventional ways.
- Interest in Poisons: Her interest in poisons could be pivotal in survival scenarios for identifying toxic plants, understanding antidotes, or even using this dangerous knowledge defensively.
Physical Skills:
- Agility and Stealth: In the original series, in the Addams Family Values movie, and in season 1 of Wednesday, Wednesday demonstrates great agility and stealth in her dance performances. which would be useful for evasion or moving silently in a survival context, as well as in many self-defense scenarios.
- Archery and Fencing: Throughout the various Addams Family shows and movies, Wednesday is shown to have rather extreme skills with both archery and fencing. Either could be put to excellent use for self-defense, and archery for hunting as well.
Social Skills:
- Influence and Manipulation: Wednesday's dry wit and understanding of human psychology allow her to influence people and manipulate situations to her advantage, which can be crucial in survival scenarios where alliances or misdirection are necessary.
- Unpredictability: Wednesday's unpredictable nature could serve as a deterrent or advantage in confrontational situations, making her hard to anticipate or counter.
- Loyalty to Family: Despite the tensions with her Mother shown in Wednesday, Wednesday always maintains a fierce loyalty to her family, especially her brother Pugsley and her Uncle Fester. This could also manifest into a strong sense of community or team cohesion in a survival group, ensuring loyalty and support in crises.
Creative Problem Solving:
- Unique Way of Thinking: Wednesday not only thinks outside the box, she lives her entire lifeoutside the box. Her extremely unique ways of thinking helps her to see connections and patterns that most people would miss.
- Inventiveness: Her approach to problems, often involving the macabre or the bizarre, shows an unconventional but inventive problem-solving mindset. This could lead to unique solutions in survival situations, like repurposing items in ways others wouldn't consider.
Practical Applications:
- Situational Awareness: Wednesday's awareness of everything that is going on around her, and her ability to focus her OODA loop in even the scariest or most chaotic situations, is quite impressive and indicates that she is a natural at this extremely important survival skill. For a deeper understanding of Situational Awareness and the OODA Loop, see my article by the same name over on the Dystopian Survival website (article link).
- Basic Skills: Wednesday's interests in all things dark and macabre might translate into practical skills like knot-tying (from binding "victims" or making hangman nooses), or mechanical, locksmithing, and clockwork skills (from her fascination with old, intricate devices including torture devices).
While Wednesday Addams might not be portrayed in traditional survival contexts, her skills, would contribute uniquely to scenarios requiring psychological endurance, unconventional tactics, and an ability to thrive in environments others would shun. Her traits and skills lean more towards psychological survival, adaptability, and the use of knowledge in dark, unusual ways that could be surprisingly effective in the right context.
I will continue this deep dive into Wednesday Addams in at least two future articles set to be published this month. Don't miss out by subscribing for free to the email list for this website by clicking here. In the meantime, you might want to check out a similar treatment I did for Arya Stark from Game of Thrones in a recent article, Arya Stark's Survival Skills (article link) over on the Dystopian Survival website.
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