The Addams Family is a love story. Period. And what I’m certain of is the fact that I’m likely not the first person to have made this claim. It’s a fact. Gomez and Morticia Addams are goals—they’ve been goals since I first watched the film when I was probably way too young too, and they remain as so. Though Wednesday Addams is a perpetual vibe for all of us and always will be, the core of The Addams Family is the overtly bare, undying love between Gomez and Morticia Addams.
The story is, in short, a masterpiece. Its sequel Addams Family Values, is just as captivating. And the reason these stories click, the reason the films can be watched year-round as opposed to only during Halloween or Thanksgiving as some prefer the sequel then, it’s because of the love stories that are prominent within a family of outcasts who couldn’t be bothered to care what others think of them.
Gomez and Morticia are a spark of light in the midst of acute darkness. (I would give anything to see how the two of them met and fell in love, but if we had to choose a trope for them—soulmates. That’s the one.) Gomez and Morticia Addams are soulmates, tethered by the same shadows and forged in the same kind of embers. They are one and the same.
The Addams Family is a Love Story
The Addams Family is a love story first for its unwavering, unabashed, and innate loyalty within the entire family, Uncle Fester included, even while he isn’t himself, but largely because if Gomez and Morticia didn’t love each other as fiercely as they do, the family wouldn’t be as grounded as they are.
It’s a farcical story at best, a comedy where need be in more ways than one, but the notion of “change starts at the top” is the heart of these films. Gomez and Morticia Addams are each other’s world, and by virtue of their love for one another, their children are the way that they are. Lurch even, Thing, Cousin It—all of them. If there isn’t a solid foundation, there will be cracks, but that is far from the case with the Addams Family because Gomez and Morticia are the very bricks that stand as barriers to the outsiders wanting to harm their perfect world.
The films (and the TV series even) show that true love is the very strength in building a strong foundation by consistently reiterating the detail that it isn’t just how fiercely they love each other, but how fiercely they love and support their children too. Gomez and Morticia are partners—through and through, he worships the ground she walks on, telling her so as often as he can, and she adores every part of him just as intensely.
Gomez Addams especially understands that a woman is a treasure who’s to be cherished every hour of the day not out of an obligation, but because he loves her so completely, he himself cannot hold it in.
As films that were released in the early 90s, The Addams Family and Addams Family Values are unabashedly feminist—allowing women to not only use their voice but to showcase the details that they are heard by the men around them and revered for exactly who they are.
Dark and twisted, but they’ve fortified loyalty in a way we could all take notes from. A love story doesn’t solely benefit the two people who are in love, but it extends to the world around them. It bleeds into the lives of those who are touched by them. It stands as a paradigm of hope even in a family that welcomes bleakness and melancholy and anything that’s dark and broken.
And that’s just it—they’re bizarre and cooky, but they love one another so fiercely, it’s exactly what results in our infatuation with them. It’s what makes their home so welcoming, even if the decor isn’t my cup of tea.
I’m not a horror movie buff, but when I discovered The Addams Family as a kid, I couldn’t look away, and now as an adult, I fully understand why. Gomez and Morticia Addams make it their priority to show one another how intensely they can love each other, and they make it their priority to show their children that their loyalty is steadfast and true. Thus, when profound adoration is at the forefront of a relationship, it acts as the strength in trying times, and it acts as the beacon of light wherever they go.
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The Addams Family is a love story because both the written words and the directing put Gomez and Morticia’s relationship front and center. He can’t keep his hands off of her, and his eyes never stray from her. Two kids later, one on the way, and they’re still showcased as healthy romantic partners. In most films made in the early 90s, parents are either divorced or they’re simply cohabitating partners who’ve forgotten that they once cared for each other. They are shown to have settled as opposed to marrying for love.
Thus, there’s something that much more exemplary about taking a bizarre, outcast family and exhibiting the fact that their love story is healthier than all others. Gomez and Morticia Addams can’t be bothered with the gimmicky world outside of them because the world they’ve built around their love is the best kind of all-encompassing armor.
Complete on their own but ceaselessly revered together. They make each other better by sprinkling their desires onto each other. They make their little family worth everything by loving all parts of them. Through every touch, every kiss, every look, and even every dance, Gomez and Morticia Addams tether themselves onto one another and divulge a piece of their souls to the eternal bliss of knowing that together, they’re home.
The Addams Family is a love story because both Gomez and Morticia are equal players in everything they do, both as lovers and as parents. They understand each other down to their very souls, and by virtue of this, they live in all-consuming harmony.
Growing up watching the TV show, the relationship between Morticia & Gomez was one of my favorite aspects. Especially the way John Astin portrayed pure love & admiration for his spouse. For such a “mysterious, spooky and altogether ooky” family, the palpable affection shown was refreshing. My favorite Gomez scene involved him skydiving with his goal to use a smaller parachute each time until he didn’t need one at all.
I have always wanted a love like Gomez and Morticia. They are so enthralled by one another and it is utterly beautiful. I think we should all strive for a loving relationship such as theirs; to put it plainly, they are relationship goals and I have said this for years!