Words by Charlotte Whincup
Let’s get one thing out of the way: Jenna Ortega bloody slayed in Netflix’s Tim Burton-helmed take on the goth icon Wednesday Addams. Truly, she ate and left no crumbs at the Rave’N Dance (Tyler really gave us nothing). I’m not even mad that her self-choreographed dance has spawned a TikTok trend (to a Gaga song that wasn’t even featured in the show, but I digress). I’d be lying if I said I haven’t regularly staged my very own rendition at the witching hour over the break.
What I am mad about is the fact that neurotypical people online are suddenly celebrating the ‘quirkiness’ of an autistic-coded character. I can already hear the reprisal ‘but acceptance is a good thing!’ And to that I say, it’s giving hypocrisy. Why is it cool and endearing when Wednesday is blunt, monotonous and expressionless in her communication, while struggling to “interpret [her peers’] emotional morse code”, but not when an autistic person displays these same traits in a seminar room? It’s appallingly telling. Neurotypical students find it trendy to imitate her construed sensory-seeking behaviours over the summer, yet, come late February, they shun and ridicule their peers who don’t learn and behave like them.
I’ve witnessed these double standards firsthand. In Semester 2 last year, I was enrolled in a workshop with a couple of students who outwardly appeared to be neurodivergent. One such student very eagerly participated in class discussions, habitually offering opinions and comments that were ‘inappropriate’ to the context or otherwise ‘obvious’, as gleaned from the snickers emitted by the people around me (‘normies’ who, might I add, put in zero effort themselves). Even the workshop leader failed to disguise their implicit bias, based on the condescending tone they adopted to respond to the student’s contributions. Ironically, one weekly topic was on, you guessed it, disability and ableism.
While I’m not a goth, by any means, I also find it hypocritical that those normies partaking in the Wednesday trend are appropriating a subculture of anti-prejudice, one that serves as a safe space for those they (and mainstream media) deem to be outcasts (queer people, POC and religious minorities inclusive). After all, the media thrives on portraying difference as dangerous (just look at past moral panics regarding Satanism and homosexuality). As if living in a society that caters to your neurotype isn’t enough, now social climbers are dressing in all-black, applying copious amounts of eyeliner and displaying a superficial interest in the spooky and bizarre, just to garner some views online? Performative activism at its finest.
So, the next time you dance, dance, dance with your hands, hands, hands above your head, head, head: ask yourself, will you “love thy neighbour” like Jesus said?
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References
Clement, C 2022, ‘Wednesday’s neurodivergent coding is both good and bad’, Digital Spy, 13 December, viewed 24 Jan 2023, <https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a42227889/wednesday-neurodivergent-coding/>.
Myllymaa, E n.d., ‘The Origin and Development of the Creative Goth Subculture’, Atmostfear Entertainment, n.d., viewed 24 Jan 2023, https://www.atmostfear-entertainment.com/lifestyle/fashion/origin-development-creative-goth-subculture/.
On Dit 