Wednesday, October 31, 2007
A Happy Halloween - Addams Style, Anyone?
"All-Hallows' Eve
in the Addams Mansion..."
A tongue-firmly-in-cheek analysis
by Luminous me!
The classic show "The Addams Family" was always perplexing to the more inquisitive minds among the viewership (or those who just like to nitpick a lot) as to what was the exact nature of the Addamses... Were they warlocks and witches? Average ghouls? Vampires (minus the bloodlust - Morticia sure looked like a vamp though!) or something else - maybe even something worse...?
No one ever got a satisfying answer - as the characters' creator, Charles Addams, never supplied one before passing on...
The fact is, it is relatively easy to assess what an Addams Family is - to me it is, anyways! I place myself in the shoes of the great Charles Addams and I see it all very clearly: his is an enlightened point of view, whether it is about the macabre, life itself or simply within the context of the microcosm he weaved for himself there, at his creative whim and fancy really...!
The Addams Family, hence, is nothing more and nothing less than people closely based upon different aspects of their creator's personality - and they, like he, are finely-attuned to the reality of Life and Death... They all know that death is NOT the end and that life is to be lived without a care, for nothing really matters aside from doing to others as you would have them do to yourself... In the Addams Family's innocence and lack of malice (I am, of course, discounting Tuesday here... Oh, no, sorry - that's Miss Weld! I mean Wednesday - and her bizarre playtime habits with her bro Pugsley... I shudder at the thought of what she might have done to baby bro Pubert if the series had continued...! But I digress...) and in the *joie-de-vivre* displayed by most all -even Lurch at times- one can only get that profound life-affirming lesson, on the spot...! The Addamses are even outright joyous when they are reminiscing about departed relatives, all to be found buried in their backyard cemetery... A family remains a family even in death; and they know that all too well! No silly fears of a loved one coming back to cause you harm here, as was the case in old folklore oftentimes; for there is only genuine unconditional love in this ghoulish family! What a fine example to us all...!
Indeed, Charles Addams had it right once again in this regard too: the only evil relatives to be found are those who join the family through an ill-conceived dalliance of some kind - or very distant cousins with hidden or not-so hidden agendas, like Vlad!
Mr. Addams had it all figured out, I tell you! ;)
The Addams Family -in all its incarnations- was nothing less than a tightly-united clan composed of wide-eyed individuals - just like Charles... and me! Ahh - I wish my own family was so ODD...! Aye, indeed, I can tell you right here and now that I definitely would trade my so-called uncle Mario or even uncle José for an uncle Fester ANY DAY OF THE WEEK - AND THRICE ON SUNDAY! ;)
Now - about ALL HALLOWS' EVE more specifically...The Addamses, in keeping with the tone set by their usual antics, trivialized the thing - as well it should be too for it is anything BUT a significant "holiday"... Still, one immediately sees the obvious clash between the world of the living and the realm of the dead on this date (and the following couple of dates, namely the Day of the Dead and All-Souls Day... When's All-Saints' Day again? *lol*)
The fact of the matter is - the living and the dead are never truly separated, ever.
Life and Death are ONE - and there still is the other reality of Good and Evil that co-habitate in BOTH phases of our souls' pilgrimage BACK TO OUR CREATOR-GOD...
And THAT my friends is the BATTLE OF EVERMORE!
Forevermore... until God Decides to End it once and for all,
that is.
But that was never the concern of the lighthearted, feel-good (even if in a morbid way) devil-may-care Addams Family; so we can leave it for another day...
and another blog as well! ;)
In the meantime - as Morticia herself would say...
"Have a Happy Ha-lloween!"
Labels: The Addams Family (too-doo-doo-doo)
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