Apr 22, 2015

The Addamses


Adult Wednesday Addams was a you tube hit that I liked.  I read today that the Addams Family Estate has sent Melissa Hunter a cease and desist and You Tube pulled all the videos.  Fans immediately re-posted them, so if you google Adult Wednesday Addams, you can still watch a host of these videos.  Some of the comments I read on Facebook regarding the quarrel:

M.N.  "Some people just don't understand publicity.  They wanna hoard their ideas and allow them to collect dust.  Ignorance and stubbornness are a toxic combination, yo.

H.R. "ridiculous... Others have posted season 1 and 2 but this isn't the first person to have their videos pulled for parody."

N.L. "This makes me very angry"

I'm appalled that people feel entitled to other's ideas like this.  I have great respect for the Addams Family and their Estate.  While I adore the Adult Wednesday Addams series, if the Addams Family feels the character is too true to the original version and isn't enough of a parody to be a departure then they are entitled to decide how the character is presented or not.  Perhaps the Addamses would prefer not to be exploited in fan-fiction like the Star Wars Empire or the Super Hero Complex because... well, I'd say they don't even need to give a reason, it's their right to decide.

While I understand once you send art out into the world it's hard to know how people will feel about it and who it will be shared and re-interpreted by, I stand with the cartoonist's family on this one, out of respect, adoration and some semblance of decorum and legality. Though I'd like to see more of the series - I understand why it's been locked down.  We are not entitled to be the voyeurs of Wednesday Addams or any other person in the family, fiction or non, just because we love it.

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