These posts originally appeared on Quora. I am a die-hard Addams Family fan.
The Addams family is not evil, nor are they really considered evil by fans of the show/comic/films. They’re eccentric and…
They’re creepy and they’re kooky,
mysterious and spooky!
They’re altogether ooky
the Addams Family!
They don’t mean any true harm to others, although Morticia in the films (Addams Family Values, to be specific) wishes she had more time “to seek out the dark forces and join them in their hellish crusade.”
It’s all meant in good fun. Morbid/dark humor/gallows humor can be quite entertaining provided a person removes the stick from their hind end.
The canon of The Addams Family has been done and redone since Charles Addams first put ink to paper in The New Yorker. But despite people believing that Lurch is some kind of zombie or monster, and that Fester was some kind of non-human, it’s simply not the case. They are human, but of the aberrant sort.
Would you call someone with hypertrichosis non-human? No. Hypertrichosis types are mainly from genetic mutation[1], but that does not make the person inhuman. You can think of the Addams Family in a similar way. They are most certainly human, filled with genetic mutations and “quirks” that cause them to be forever outsiders with a morbid twist. Cousin Itt may very well have had some kind of hypertrichosis. It is never discussed. That would ruin the fun.
Thing, full name Thing T. Thing, was a bit different. Originally, he was a creature too horrible to regard—with the exception of his human hand. He could be something other than human, certainly, but he was a creature of his own, perhaps mutated, perhaps not. Thing wasn’t a severed, animated hand until the advent of The Addams Family films in 1991 and 1993. In the television series, he was simply a hand, but there was more arm of him somewhere inside the box.
But indeed, the Addamses are uniquely human.
Footnotes
Considering I’d fit right in, and the Addamses are extremely generous people, I’d gladly live there and help Morticia seek out the “dark forces and join them in their Hellish crusade.”
I’d love to go hang out in the library or maybe spend time with Grandmama in the kitchen, learning all her secrets on how to make giraffe stew so tender and spicy. I’d rather not babysit Wednesday and Pugsley—but I’d sure help them out with the guillotine or electric chair maintenance.
Fester’s cool. Maybe he could teach me that electricity trick. Also I’d be happy to have access to Lurch in case I wanted to experiment with my potions that Grandmama taught me.
Plus I mean, there’s Thing. He’s a riot.
So yeah, I’d move in with reasonable rent and enjoy having my own space in the house. Why not?
They are part of the “idle rich” elite who inherited vast sums of wealth from the many, many, many, many, many generations before them. There have been bloodthirsty pirates in their family (explained in one episode of the television show). Additionally, Gomez is an investor who can afford to lose millions without blinking an eye, so it winds up working out in his favor as he is a shareholder of many different companies.
Gomez is descended from the aristocracy (Addams), and Castilian royals [1](hence his first name). He has a network of influence at his fingertips. Furthermore, while Forbes estimates his wealth at “only” two billion, the films would demonstrate someone who has much more in liquid assets, considering the enormous vault full of doubloons and much more of great value.
Footnotes
Seeing as Raul Julia died of a stroke in 1994, it would be rather impossible for him to reprise any role, let alone Gomez Addams.
Anne Hogue-Boucher