ARTS & CULTURE Netflix continues to romanticize mental disability in Wednesday

The fascination with disability-coded characters brings a social threat to neurodivergent people

As a childhood fan of The Addams Family, I absolutely loved Netflix and Tim Burton’s Wednesday, a comedy horror show following the titular character’s teenage years. Wednesday Addams, previously a caricature of all things gore, gothic, and ghastly, was brought to life by Jenna Ortega, and was given depth and an emotional arc.

That being said, Ortega’s Wednesday was still the same character as the monotone, homicidal, and rather psychologically disturbed portrayal of Wednesday made famous by Christina Ricci in The Addams Family (1991) and The Addams Family Values (1993). In Wednesday, Ortega portrayed a teenage girl with added mannerisms of fixed interests, monotone speech, irregular eye contact, and other symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). While disability representation is incredibly important in media, this addition to Wednesday’s character and fascination with disability puts people on the spectrum in greater harm of stereotyping and prejudice.

Netflix has a history of inadvertently creating characters immediately labeled as “disability coded,” or written to implicitly portray a disability. Netflix’s 2020 series

The Queen’s Gambit was wildly successful, reigning in Netflix’s top 10 for two months, with lead actress Anya Taylor-Joy garnering more recognition and admiration in the cinematic world. Beth Harmon, portrayed by Taylor-Joy, was once again, a monotone, somewhat disturbed, and hyper fixated character, this time on chess. Fans were immediately fascinated with Beth for her elusive and mystical nature, as well as Taylor-Joy’s attractiveness.

Fans took a similar fascination with Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) from the fourth season of Stranger Things for his

Artistry… or just affluence?

eccentric and quirky personality, which mirrored symptoms of ASD and ADHD.

Multiple social media trends have emerged from these shows, including but not limited to using Eddie’s mannerisms as a method for thirst trapping and attempting to refrain from blinking for as long as possible.

These characters have gained popularity for their “quirky” natures and conventional attractiveness, but have become mere caricatures of ASD. These traits are seen as mysterious and funny for attractive Hollywood stars, further causing the romanticization of disability. However, for other people like myself, they are just used as grounds for microaggressions and harmful stereotypes.

These characters further perpetuate dangerous stereotypes about autism that are simply glamorized in Netflix shows. This pattern puts neurodivergent

The rise of nepotism in Hollywood is robbing the show business of fresh talent

Cameras flash and photographers shout on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as another starlet approaches. The paparazzi shouts, “Lily, Lily, look over here, Lily! Lily, where’s Timotheé? What happened with you two? And how do you feel about your dad’s ongoing lawsuit?”

Model and actress Lily-Rose Depp, daughter of actor Johnny Depp and singer Vanessa Paradis, is a quintessential example of a child of celebrities in the entertainment industry, referred to as “nepo babies” (short for nepotism babies). Nepo babies have been running rampant in Hollywood for decades. Those who are recognizable by their surnames, social connections, and inherited good looks, despite talent level, continue to prove preferable by casting agents and producers due to the audience they are born attached to, now more than ever. The saturation of these performers and creators are saturating the space to a dangerous level, and often taking opportunities that could have been awarded to new, previously undiscovered people.

Family dynasties especially continue to take the place of potential new talent in Hollywood. Take successful young actresses Emma Roberts and Maya Hawke, they are the niece and daughter of Julia Roberts and Uma Thurma respectively. Though these actors may be talented, the problem is that in general being related to someone famous does not guarantee ability, and talent can often be superseded by an actor’s connections.

Hailey Bieber, a “nepo baby,” as the niece of actor Alec Baldwin and daughter of Stephen

Baldwin, has been a staple in pop culture for years. She has often been labeled a member of the “famous for being famous” group of celebrities, and was recently photographed by paparazzi in a T-shirt with the words “Nepo Baby” printed on it. By satirically mocking her own status in an effort to seem culturally aware or edgy, Bieber romanticizes a systemic dynamic that has provided her with a career, wealth, and celebrity as a fashion statement rather than a serious issue. Yet along with the hate received, Bieber has also amassed a sizable following on social media, and has influenced multiple trends in beauty with her makeup looks and fashion.

Bieber shows the obsession with simultaneously condemning nepo babies and praising them, which provides the perfect storm of deep-set jealousy for consumers of media, keeping us all interested and entertained. I will admit that I too have gained an interest in certain clothes and the stylistic taste of certain ‘It Girl’s, such as Lily-Rose Depp. It’s difficult to observe the wealth and luxury that seem to compose their lives and not feel some amount of desire to emulate them. I enjoy signature elements of Depp’s style and persona like red lipstick, french music, and patterned black tights, but can also appreciate the frustration with her response to statements about her privilege.

In a recent interview, Depp cited sexism as the reason she has recently been confronted with the nepo baby label constantly, stating: “People have really wanted to define me by the men in my life.” After becoming a Chanel ambassador at just 16 years old, Depp has since had a lucrative and expansive career as an actress and model. In refusing to acknowledge the opportunities she was born into, she ignores the leg-up she’s had throughout her life. Diversity is clearly lacking in show business, and while it has improved in recent years, employing and praising people for their connections breeds continual similar and often disappointing content. people at risk, as their traits could easily be correlated with other facets of this character. Misrepresentation in media is another way in which individuals with ASD are simply dehumanized and boiled down to specific tropes and stereotypes.

Outside of just this one example, the problem permeates all aspects of who is successful in Hollywood. Hiring nepo babies takes the place of more deserving talent: actors, singers, artists, and so on. They can get their foot in the door of auditions, music videos and so on much easier than the average aspiring creative. A notorious demonstration of this is in Dear Evan Hansen (2021), when producer Marc Platt’s 30-yearold son Ben Platt played the titular (teenage) role, garnering criticism for the film due to his age. Nepo babies are given the freedom to frequently produce mediocre content or star in subpar movies that gain massive traction and budgets, which bulldozes the opportunity for a more diverse Hollywood.

Expecting the children of celebrities to hide away and stick to jobs that are out of the limelight is unrealistic, but the current overload of people from the same families and social circles in Hollywood has become a problem. Constantly consuming the media they produce despite varying quality keeps families and social groups in the positions of power they’ve been in for years. As Nueva students, we are also beneficiaries of some amount of nepotism and privilege due to our families and connections. It is essential to acknowledge, in tandem with criticism, that we are positioned with access to resources, role models, and various kinds of wealth in and outside of our school.

CUTE OR CONCERNING?

Hailey Bieber photographed trying to make loving nepotism trendy.