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Tim Burton's 'Wednesday' CRITICIZED for racist characterizations

'When Tim Burton finally decided to cast Black actors in his media, he made their characters antagonistic and unlikable,' said a viewer

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Tim Burton and his newest TV series, 'Wednesday', is usually getting a decent amount of praise and acclaim from critics but some people seem to disagree with how the Netflix series depicts people of color. The issue centers on how the Black characters were portrayed as villains and bullies of the show's lead character, 'Wednesday' Addams.

Director Burton is also accused of racism as Netflix is called tone-deaf by failing to see any issue with such portrayals. Specifically, the controversy involves the casting of Nigerian actor Joy Sunday (Bianca Barclay) as a mean girl at Nevermore Academy and Iman Marson (Lucas Wilson) as a bully and the son of a corrupt mayor. Wilson's father in the show also owns Pilgrim Land, a controversial decision in itself given the historic tensions between Native Americans and Pilgrims. Regardless, most of the fans have been mostly in awe of the series starring Jenna Ortega. 

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After some people watched the series, they noticed the actors who were people of color were the antagonist which seemed like a huge red flag for them. A fan wrote, "Boycott Wednesday. watch Wendell and Wild. Make Tim Burton reflect on his dumbass racist “aesthetics”. That is all," while another wrote, "Me trying to badly to push pass the racist and anti-Black undertones in the Wednesday Addams Netflix show. Like whoever thought making the Black man as the owner of a pilgrim amusement park is literally going to HELL." A fan shared, "The amount of parts I skipped because of this the moment I saw 'directed by Tim Burton' I was like hmm," while another commented, "Tim Burton not racist, huh? In Wednesday, the boats in the Poe Cup are named after Edgar Allen Poe stories. The black character Bianca is on the Gold Bug team. The Gold Bug is the only Poe story that features a black character—a particularly dumb slave named Juniper. Lastly, a fan wrote, "So, from what I’m hearing, when Tim Burton finally decided to cast Black actors in his media, he made their characters antagonistic and unlikable. Got it."  

Some netizens perhaps have fixated on their opinions. However, the official synopsis of the film reads, "While attending Nevermore Academy, Wednesday Addams attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a killing spree and solve the mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago."

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