The Addams Family vs. The Munsters

In September 1964, two TV series began and ran concurrently for two seasons. Both shared the premise of a strange family dealing with normal people. However, both were very different in the style employed. The Munsters was a bigger hit in the Neilsen Ratings, but The Addams Family, being older thanks to the New Yorker Comic, would prove to be more long lasting in the cultural memory.

I've been watching these two series and trying to figure out the specific divide between them. What signifies the different style between them. And how that in turn reflects upon the real world.

Stylistically, both draw influence from Horror and in turn use that as the means for comedy.

The Munsters being a direct parody of the Universal Monsters and given their origins as created by the same people who created "Leave it to Beaver", it speaks to their more obvious and on the nose approach. The characters are intended to directly reference those famous monsters in their design, though turning their personality on its head. Lugosi's Dracula, Karlof's Monster and Chaney Jr.'s Wolf Man are all represented. (Even the Gill Man too appears as a family member.) Ostensibly, these are monsters of the era, undead creatures living within a haunted house, but in personality they are just your average people. They have jobs and money woes and personal trials and tribulations. All reflecting your average American lifestyle, or at least the tropes of TV families of the period. The lovable and simple father, the caring goodhearted mother, the precocious son, the grandfather from another era and the "black sheep" cousin. If you take away the monstrous visage and a few of the quirks that go along with it, these would be just like any other person you might meet.

The Addams Family on the other hand takes a more generic approach to the parody, drawing from the overall nature of Gothic Romanticism. Indeed, these are more or less proto-Goths come along well before the style itself evolved as something unto itself. This generic approach gives them an opportunity to grow as something unto themselves, rather than direct parody. But it doesn't end there, these are not your average people, this family is ODD. Their tastes and interests and outlook on life sets them apart from everyone else. Sure, they dress oddly, but it functions as an extension of their curious personalities. And this functions at the core of the humor, they approach no scenario as would be expected because their views on the world are totally foreign. But even then, they are recognizably human in their desires and emotions, even skewed through their unique prism. The loving couple, their two children, the mother-in-law and the curious old uncle. This is still a recognizable family unit, and they act as such. These are not your average people, but still very human. (Even with a few supernatural quirks here and there.)

And that is where the two function as different reflections of human nature.

The Munsters is about Racism and the physical differences that divide people. The superficial reaction to something strange in our midst, and the definitions of physical beauty. Marilyn herself is the most obvious indicator of this approach. An attractive blonde girl who the family pities for her "unfortunate" appearance. To Lily and Herman, all of their niece's bad luck in love draws from her physical defects. She has neither Blue or Green Skin, and just looks WEIRD to a group of monsters. They love her all the same, but still, she just seems... bizarre! The Munsters too suffer the same in turn as people find their looks hideous and frightening. The entire humor of the series is based around this dichotomy based around looks. The Munsters would, indeed, fit right in with all the people they encounter, and do often try, but due to looking like monsters they suffer resistance. The ONLY thing different is how they look, as even their monsterous attributes are treated as simple personality quirks more than anything else. When characters cannot see them clearly, or grow accustomed to them, they fit in perfectly with those around them. Everything comes back to how they look more than anything else. Hell, in one of the first episodes, the neighbors speak with distain over them and refer to them as "THOSE type of people" in the neighborhood. The Munsters are the ethnic family in the whitebread neighborhood. Other than the color of their skin, these are just average people. (Long lived, stitched together, blood sucking people, but people none the less.)

The Addams Family again deals with something more amorphous, it is the concept of the bigotry of others unlike us in personality, culture, interests. The things they are drawn to and interested in a diametrically opposed to the "normal" outlook. Gomez makes an effort to LOSE money, Morticia prunes those horrid petals from her roses, Wednesday loves spiders and headless dolls, Uncle Fester is distrustful or people who own petunias, and of course, Grandmama is a straight up witch. All of them are baffled by normal people, but friendly and welcoming all the same. It is in fact their personality and interests that set them apart from people. They have bizarre habits and customs, causing people to outright distrust them and frighten them. The family often does fit in up till the point they open their mouths. And even then, it doesn't even register to them that they are odd and outside the norm. Nor does it matter in the least. But it does matter to the people around them. The humor is derived from the cultural clash of what people perceive to be "normal" life, versus what the Addams' perceive. It's about tribalism and how humans have an "us" and "them" mentality. And how anyone who sees the world differently is a threat to our stability and life. The Addams Family are foreign immigrants, rich uppercrust, an alien culture, or basically anybody who likes anything different. The geeks, the goths, the freaks. Anybody who acts differently. And how the different must be ostracized. It's not about the outside, it's about the difference of the inside. And their worries and concerns are the collusion of cultures, ideas, rather than average endeavors.

This difference speaks to the core of both. The Munsters being more superficial and obvious, but so due to its nature as racial humor and how monsters are really just average people when you get to know them. Whereas the Addams Family is about how bizarre different opinions and culture can be from your own, the subtle differences that can create gulfs and how at their core, people are still people.