Editor’s Note: Below are spoilers for Season 1 Wednesday.Wednesday 2022 Netflix series created by Miles Millar as well as Alfred Gough, new extension for The Addams Family franchise through a supernatural high school murder mystery. The show follows the award-winning Wednesday Addams, brilliantly played by a rising star. Jenna Ortegaas she is sent to the hallowed halls of Nevermore Academy, a school for vampires, werewolves, psychics and all breeds of outcasts.
The Nevermore Academy has been incredibly heavily involved in the marketing and promotion of the show leading up to its release, not only with two special features, one in-universe ad and the other with behind-the-scenes previews, but also with a promotional gift box containing merchandise related to the fictional school together with a letter of acceptance. It’s clear that the show’s creators have put a lot of effort into bringing the place to life, with flashy purple uniforms, schoolwide activities, and an all-star cast of faculty including Gwendolyn Christie as well as Christina Ricci.
Nevermore Academy’s gothic style is one of the reasons why it works
The campus is large and gothic, with cobweb windows and statues of gothic icons such as Edgar Allen Poe and Ophelia Hamlet, the design of the school is incredibly impressive and filled with lots of practical props rather than computer wizardry. The school grounds host swordsmanship and phytotoxicology classes, and of course, plenty of hidden mysteries and secrets that Wednesday, playing something like gothic Nancy Drew, dive into the history of both the school and the sheltered town. that is adjacent to it.
Of course, the unusual and mysterious boarding school is a favorite setting, especially in fantasy and horror. Hogwarts, of course Harry Potter franchise - the one that people most often pay attention to, there is also the Cathedral of St. Vladimir An Academy of vampires, and the Academy of Invisible Arts from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Just to name a few. And these are only boarding schools, Sky High, Monster High, Fiction and the media are full of educational institutions that many would like to enroll in. Which is surprising because school is usually the last place people want to be.
School sucks. Good memories can be made there, but in the public mind, high school, especially high school, is usually portrayed as an underfunded hormone hell, and boarding schools, at least for many Americans, are used as a threat rather than an opportunity to go to a magical place. Standardized exams are stressful, you’re constantly under the scrutiny of authority figures, and some at the bottom of an arbitrary social hierarchy may feel like the world wants them, especially if they’re part of a marginalized group. Despite this, or maybe even because of it, the school setting is almost an escapist fantasy, whether you graduated from high school or not.
Magic and mystery can make a school cool
People crave belonging and have an innate desire to learn. Schools, at best, can provide this, but this reality is definitely not universal. While more “realistic” high school literature can provide good conflict and drama, magic school’s bread and butter is all about escapism and world building. The goal is to make you want to go to school yourself and allow you to stay in this world while you read a book, watch a show or a movie. Attending class can mean honing extraordinary abilities, your teachers can be superheroes, and your classmates can be just as weird as you were in high school. Institutions like these preserve all the good things about school, learning, friendship and remembrance, not just by removing all the bad stuff - you still need conflict - but by adding the benefits of any good fantasy or paranormal story, the parts that can only dream about.
To approach it cynically, the school setting is a fantastic way to sell products. If the school has some kind of uniform or insignia, you are practically printing money, especially on clothes and accessories. However, if you take a closer look, you will find the opportunity to really put yourself in a fictional world and adapt it to your personality. What would you like to learn at Nevermore High? Which team would you join in the Po Cup? What secrets would you reveal? Owl House hexside, School of Good and Evil and Ravenwood from MMORPG Wizard 101 mix their tribalism with the curriculum, deepening knowledge and giving fans more options to create their own cutscenes and original characters. Wizarding schools have the ability to slip into this fantasy land so easily, to become a part of it, which is too good to be ignored. You, too, can be a student of Nevermore without being or even getting involved with the main characters.
The absence of authority figures such as parents allows creative freedom
In terms of script, schools are an incredibly convenient plot, especially if it’s a boarding school like Nevermore. Most if not all of the relevant actors can be under the same roof, and instead of being complete strangers, they have one instant connection: they are all classmates who study and live together, breaking up into their own little social groups. All the benefits of a regular high school story, your jocks and nerds, prom, bullying and jokes, plus the added bonus of a shared living space that can come with its own story possibilities. Like college, but with more drama because everyone is a teenager.
Another significant advantage is the absence of parents and authority figures who may have their secrets and connections in the form of teachers and other employees. While parents, as in Wednesday, can be an important plot point and have characters of your own, when some school show gets crazier stuff going on, you tend to be surprised by the adults present. The boarding school already has an answer: they are at home, maybe they will be brought when something serious happens, or if there is a parental day. But the presence of proper authority figures is completely optional, which allows for more creative freedom. These stories are run by kids and that can lead to a lot of drama.
Nevermore Academy is one of the strongest entries in Wednesday, which is itself a very strong show in Netflix’s polarizing catalog of “teen” content. With an immaculately creepy design that gleefully draws inspiration from high school dramas and supernatural mysteries. Linking it realistically to Addams’ lore, and while the mystery may go to dark places, no matter how dark it gets, the outcasts among us will still want to call Nevermore Academy their home.
Source: Collider
