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Help[Opinions] Re: Wednesday
in reply to a message by humblebee
hah. It's okay! I don't really think it would bother him what some strangers on the internet would think of him based on his name choices.
Still, I might have portrayed him a little unfairly... His wife is also a professor, and I was in her class when someone asked her about her daughter's name. When she said "after the Addams family character," I was like, oh come on, BS, you just wanted an edgy name. But, since I like both of them a whole lot, I considered that an unfair judgment. I've been taking one-on-one lessons from her husband this semester so we've had lots of actual conversations. It turns out the Addams family actually was a big part of his life! He says when he came home from school his family was never there and he'd watch them on TV. "Campy TV show" it may be, but it was one of the first instances of a group of ab-normal people he was exposed to and it formed some kind of kernel in his head. He's said several times that Wednesday was like the little sister he always wanted but never had.
I feel like I would be similarly justified in naming a kid Jack after Jack Skellington. It's a hip little name but Nightmare Before Christmas was actually and truly a huge part of my life. I don't have the same orientation towards pop culture as my prof, though. For him it's like an escape, and "honoring" pop culture is much more important to him than honoring family, which he describes as mostly arbitrary. Friendship and taste are more important to him. I don't agree but I think I "get" it and I don't see it as phony at all.
Anyway, he is self-consciously Not Normal, which... I mean, I think it's fine. No worse than being self-consciously normal, and definitely more interesting. He dresses kind of weird, and people snicker about it. I don't think he would be bothered by people thinking he's a poser or attention-seeking or whatever. He's pretty calm and unflappable. I just think he feels particularly bored/oppressed by Normalcy and -- perhaps unfairly -- used his daughter's name as a tool of escapism. His music is somewhat of a different question...
Still, I might have portrayed him a little unfairly... His wife is also a professor, and I was in her class when someone asked her about her daughter's name. When she said "after the Addams family character," I was like, oh come on, BS, you just wanted an edgy name. But, since I like both of them a whole lot, I considered that an unfair judgment. I've been taking one-on-one lessons from her husband this semester so we've had lots of actual conversations. It turns out the Addams family actually was a big part of his life! He says when he came home from school his family was never there and he'd watch them on TV. "Campy TV show" it may be, but it was one of the first instances of a group of ab-normal people he was exposed to and it formed some kind of kernel in his head. He's said several times that Wednesday was like the little sister he always wanted but never had.
I feel like I would be similarly justified in naming a kid Jack after Jack Skellington. It's a hip little name but Nightmare Before Christmas was actually and truly a huge part of my life. I don't have the same orientation towards pop culture as my prof, though. For him it's like an escape, and "honoring" pop culture is much more important to him than honoring family, which he describes as mostly arbitrary. Friendship and taste are more important to him. I don't agree but I think I "get" it and I don't see it as phony at all.
Anyway, he is self-consciously Not Normal, which... I mean, I think it's fine. No worse than being self-consciously normal, and definitely more interesting. He dresses kind of weird, and people snicker about it. I don't think he would be bothered by people thinking he's a poser or attention-seeking or whatever. He's pretty calm and unflappable. I just think he feels particularly bored/oppressed by Normalcy and -- perhaps unfairly -- used his daughter's name as a tool of escapism. His music is somewhat of a different question...
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