As a big fan of the Marvel cinematic universe, I was excited about the Disney+ series bringing Marvel to the small screen, but also unsure if the magic of the movies could be replicated in a smaller scale. The first MCU TV series to hit Disney+ was WandaVision, and the series totally mollified any of my doubts. In fact, I loved it more than most of the films. The show was powerful and moving, and explored a lot of themes that many would be surprised to find in a “superhero” show.
Here’s a few examples of impactful themes of WandaVision.
- PTSD and grief. Wanda suffered tremendous loss by the end of Endgame, most notably having to watch the love of her life Vision be murdered. That loss coupled with the death of her parents and brother – anyone would crack under the pressure of trying to process so much grief, and while her response to PTSD was extreme because of her superpowers, the ultimate story about not wanting to accept tragedy was relatable whether you’re a magic witch or a regular person. WandaVision takes place a mere matter of weeks after the vanished half of the world’s population was snapped back into existence. It chronicles a world that had just dealt with massive and traumatic shared grief. With its six-hour run time, WandaVision was given ample time to explore the culmination of one woman’s tremendous grief.
- Assimilation of Immigrants. WandaVision says the quiet part out loud, framing its assimilation story not just as more plot-driven MCU shenanigans, but as an arrow shot at the xenophobic culture of the era that produced such pop culture. In other words, WandaVision is explicitly an “immigrants trying to survive in America” story, and its supporting characters cannot always keep their derision under wraps like they might be able to in an actual TV comedy (or in the “wholesome, polite” society we keep being told the ‘50s were like). When it’s revealed that Wanda emigrated from Sokovia, a fictional Eastern European country, Vision’s boss (the always fearsome Fred Melamed) barks that “we don’t break bread with Bolsheviks.” It’s a stunning piece of social commentary amplified more by its couching within the formal elements of the culture of the time.
- Even the strongest people can struggle with mental health. WandaVision is replete with magical goings-on, but, stripped down to its core, the show is about a woman trying, and failing, to cope with the aftermath of an unthinkable loss. Even though Wanda can do extraordinary things, she still struggles with the nebulous and thorny concepts of grief and sorrow. And in the COVID era, in which living with constant trauma has become a painful reality for almost everyone on Earth, Wanda—a costumed superhero, married to an android, with the possibly unlimited power to shape reality to her will—has quickly become one of the most relatable characters on television. By exploring how the process of admitting weakness can become an inherent strength, Wanda’s story marks a refreshing, if temporary, departure from the usual comic book formula. With only one episode to go, there’s no overt Big Bad, no imminent catastrophe, and no cabal of superheroes gearing up to save the day. Instead of focusing on showy external battles, the series has chosen to focus on the intimate internal battles that we humans fight every day.
