This past January, on the heels of thirteen years of record-breaking movie success and the industry-wide interruption of the pandemic, Marvel Studios released WandaVision a television mini-series that expanded its properties and Cinematic Universe onto the small screen. It's been getting some good reviews, showing that Marvel may just be able to duplicate its previous success in this new medium. With its nine episode run concluded on March 5th, I feel able to do an analysis of the show from my point of view of Religious Studies and Philosophy. If you haven't seen it, be warned that there are spoilers below. Also, if you like this kind of analysis of the MCU, you might consider checking out my recently published book Religion and Myth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
WandaVision opens with the characters Wanda Maximoff and Vision settling in to the quiet New Jersey suburb of "Westview" to begin married life in the style of a black-and-white 1950s sitcom (a la the Dick van Dyke Show). Despite the hijinks and laugh track, questions arise from the beginning, most notably regarding Vision: how is he alive again after being killed by Thanos years ago in Avengers: Infinity War? As the show mimics sitcoms from later decades in following episodes (including The Brady Bunch, Family Ties, and Malcolm in the Middle), a sinister undercurrent slowly intensifies until the truth is revealed: Wanda has (unconsciously, to a degree) used her vast magical powers to mold the existing town into her own personal fantasy reality. Having been orphaned as a child, then suffering the death of her twin brother at the hands of Ultron, losing her lover Vision has proven too much for her to bear. Through her spell, Wanda creates an alternate reality bubble around Westview that brings Vision back to life, complete with twin children, where they can reenact all the sitcoms she loved as a child. Unfortunately, at the same time, the actual citizens of Westview who previously lived in the town are mentally enslaved to act out her fantasy and are trapped in the roles she creates for them to play.
Some fans (particularly those invested in elaborate theories about potential villains and the portent of certain cameos) ultimately voiced disappointment in the series, but I found this to be a very creative premise and enjoyed watching the story unfold. In addition, the series engaged the philosophy of reality and identity in fascinating ways. For instance, by living in a world that is an orchestrated play, the people of Westview inhabit a version of Plato's Cave where what is actually true and real is kept from them. Later in the series, when Vision begins to suspect that something is not quite right in Westview, he discovers the boundary of the spell Wanda has cast and attempts to leave, seeing the real world outside, paralleling Plato's allegory of the philosopher who exits the cave only to return in an attempt to free others. Later, the Wanda-constructed Vision encounters a Vision rebuilt from the android's original body parts and, rather than engage in a drawn-out battle, instead they invoke another ancient Greek thought experiment, the Ship of Theseus, to debate whether either of them can really be the "true Vision" if their component parts have been replaced over time. The series is also a triumph of post-modern storytelling with its homage to past television series, adoption of multiple genres, and tinkering with audience perspective, as portions of the series embrace a "show-within-a-show" approach.
Grimmer aspects of the series evoke incidents from world mythologies and religions. Wanda's reconstruction of her deceased husband's body, especially when she goes on to have children with him, reminded me of the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris. After her husband Osiris is killed by his treacherous brother, Isis finds his body and pieces it back to together, allowing her to bear his son even after death.
The series as a whole also seems informed by the Buddhist notion that attempting to avoid pain and grasp onto happiness ironically leads only to being more fully enmeshed in the cycle of pain and suffering. By creating her own fictional world encased in a bubble, Wanda attempts to insulate herself from sadness, age, disease, and death, but ultimately (as Buddhist principles would predict) this ends up only magnifying the suffering of herself and those around her. In a loose sense, by enforcing the boundaries of this mini-world, preventing the residents of Westview from escaping, and policing their minds to keep them compliant with their roles, Wanda plays an analogous role to Mara, the deity of death and desire in Buddhist mythology who holds all beings in his grasp. (Pictured below holding the wheel of death and rebirth.)
At its heart, the series is a powerful metaphor for the way grief can splinter reality, both for the one experiencing it and those around them, as well as the incredible strength required to pull out of that spiral and begin to heal. Even if, as some have argued, the finale was a little rushed and Wanda seems to escape too easily after all the pain she caused, the series was still a very creative outing and resonated with me in ways I hadn't expected. Watching Wanda flee from her trauma to hole up in her fantasy world and relive old sitcom plots that comforted her as a child, I remembered a time when I was eleven and stayed home from school for a few months with chronic stomach pain. Looking back, I can recognize this as a symptom of anxiety, probably brought on by bullying and other school-related factors. My house became my bubble and I spent much of the day watching old sitcoms - rather than Dick van Dyke, for me it was The Munsters, The Flinstones, and the 1960s Batman. This is not an episode in my life that I care to think about much. Frankly, I've always been ashamed of it for how weak I thought I was. After watching the series, I found aspects of Wanda's behavior relatable, and I didn't feel quite so bad about that period in my past.
Hopefully the other shows from Marvel leading into its next phase of films will be just as rich and entertaining. And if you haven't had the chance yet, check out my book by getting a copy or asking your local library to order one for their collection. If you liked this and my other blogs, there's a good chance you'll like the book too.
