Alex Turtil

intercut the escapism of wandavision

WANDAVISION, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first television show, is an exploration of mental illness and unhealthy coping mechanisms under the guise of the action-filled origin story of Scarlet Witch, the alias of Wanda Maximoff, an Avenger with the ability to warp reality. Prior to this show, the last time Wanda Maximoff was seen in the MCU, she was forced to sacrifice Vision, her love-interest over the last few films. She then disappeared for the five years following Thanos’ “Snap,” which killed half of the universe’s population. When Marvel’s audiences are hurtled into the first episode of WandaVision, which takes place after the events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019), they are left to wonder how one of the most powerful Avengers has ended up in a 1950s style sitcom, acting alongside the previouslydeceased Vision. WandaVision slowly reveals the mystery of the creation of Westview, the New Jersey town in which the story takes place. As the story unravels, Marvel fans gain understanding and compassion for the lead character Wanda. The enigmatic town of Westview is slowly revealed to be the product of Wanda’s manipulation of reality, as her grief resulting from Vision’s death has led her to create a world without any reminders of her trauma. Throughout the show, Wanda’s emotional journey features mental illness, predominantly escapism, trauma, and depression. By intertwining these issues with light-hearted storylines, WandaVision effectively delivers a promising message to its viewers: even a Marvel superhero can be afflicted by mental illness.

The first episode of WandaVision is marked by disillusion and misunderstanding, as the audience is left grabbing for any allusion to previous MCU plot lines. The episode opens with an idyllic storyline -- Wanda and Vision are moving into a new home after recently being married. The episode has a 1950s comedic and artistic style, resembling the classic television show I Love Lucy. In Episode 1, Wanda plays a devoted housewife with an American accent, a drastic change from earlier portrayals of the character as a foreigner from Sokovia and a modern day Avenger. Meanwhile, Vision works an office job to provide for the family. The couple is also welcomed into the neighborhood by Agatha, their friendly neighbor. The episode mostly focuses on a quirky sitcom plot, inserting only small, easyto-miss symbols that reference the traumatic underlying cause of Westview’s existence. The first symbol is presented when Wanda

wandavision

written by alex turtil

looks at a calendar that has a drawing of a lonely little girl in front of a TV. This perhaps reflects her true emotions that are being masked by the cheery, too-perfect sit-com world she has created for herself. The cryptic commercial breaks throughout WandaVision are also symbolic in their depictions of Wanda’s psychology. The first commercial advertises a toaster, with a slogan of “This is your future!”, communicating the desire Wanda feels to continue on in this new fantasy world instead of the real one. As the episode progresses, whenever there is a potential threat to this fantasy, Wanda “fixes’’ it, making sure it does not derail the new idyllic life she has crafted.

Episode two maintains the comedic elements of the first, but adds a level of eeriness and deception as audiences are welcomed into the Sixties, and Wanda and Vision continue to settle into the community. The show creatively alludes to Wanda’s true, broken mental state and the possibility of some outside force penetrating her fantasy during an odd interaction between Wanda and her new neighbor Dottie. During a tense conversation, Dottie expresses that she doesn’t trust Wanda. A nearby radio plays a message with someone who asks “Who is doing this to you, Wanda?” When a glass breaks in Dottie’s hand, she bleeds colored blood, a striking divergence from the episode’s black-and-white ‘60s aesthetic; Wanda is visibly terrified. The audience is left to guess why Wanda is disturbed but can only deduce that she is once again simply having a negative reaction to this unexplained outside interruption in the episode’s plot. Furthermore, at the end of the episode, when a non-citizen of Westview crawls out

of a sewer drain, Wanda grows livid because this is another break in her desired storyline -- it doesn’t fit with her new artificial, idyllic life. Her reaction shows her wish for Westview -- and by extension, for Wanda herself -- to be left alone, keeping out the outside world that has caused her such pain and suffering. The episode shows a new power of Wanda’s: She can rewind the episode when something goes wrong

-- something like the arrival of a “noncitizen” in Westview. Because of this, Wanda can, for the moment, elude any confrontation with the outside world and thereby temporarily keep the effects of her trauma at bay, but it is still unclear whether she is in complete control of Westview.

Episode 3 focuses on a new stage in Wanda’s domestic bliss, as she and Vision prepare to have a baby -- later revealed to be twins. She expresses excitement about how she wants to name her kid “a nice, classic, allAmerican name.” These lines convey how Wanda envisions her ideal life as revolving around a picturesque American dream. When Vision brings up concerns about how “something seems wrong,” Wanda uses her powers to reverse time to end the discussion. Moreover, the third commercial break in WandaVision is a bath powder commercial that provides insight into Wanda’s emotional needs. The lines “Do you need a break?” and “Escape to a world all your own, where your problems float away,” illustrate the driving factors behind Wanda’s behaviors. Westview is in fact that very “world” from which her problems have all magically floated away. Outside of Westview she would have to face coping with her tragic past.

In Episode 5, which resembles an ‘80s sitcom, Wanda faces growing pressure to uphold the normalcy of Westview from both inside and outside its borders. Vision is becoming more suspicious and distrustful of Wanda, while law enforcement attempts to contact

her from outside. Wanda avoids discussions with Vision regarding their life before their arrival to the town, indicating that Vision doesn’t understand their life -- and his ignorance is something that Wanda

is desperate to protect. Later, for the first time that we’ve seen, Wanda emerges from the town of Westview into the outside world, and therefore back into modern-day reality. The ways she presents herself in this scene drastically contrasts with her

persona in her “television show.” Here, she has her old Slovokian accent, and her expression is grim and threatening; her words seem to reveal that she understands precisely what has been going on in Westview. As Wanda and S.W.O.R.D. exchange tense words, Wanda gives them a final warning to leave her alone and states, “I have what I want, and no one will ever take it away from me again.” This reveals her feelings of betrayal and hurt, furthering the theory that she is using her newfound home to separate herself from the reality of her loneliness and loss. She can’t see a way out, but also doesn’t seem to want to leave, as she has gained immeasurable comfort from her imaginary world. This sentiment is echoed by the commercial break for paper towels later in the episode, which has the slogan “For when you make a mess you didn’t mean to.” Undoubtedly, Wanda has found herself in a mess -- one from which she benefits emotionally, but one that also inflicts pain on others -- the citizens of Westview are discovered to be real, mind-controlled people who are suffering. When the episode ends with Vision confronting her with the knowledge that she is controlling people’s thoughts and activities in the neighborhood, she states: “All this is for us.” Here Wanda is attempting to rationalize her destructive behaviors in order to maintain her escape from reality that Westview provides.

Episode 6 follows a significant cliffhanger: we discover that Pietro, Wanda’s brother, has been “recast,”

with a completely different actor from the Pietro of previous MCU films. Set in the ‘90s, this episode explores “fake Pietro” and reveals more about Wanda’s suffering mental health. Pietro at one point confides in Wanda that he is impressed by her creation of Westview and asks how she did it. She reveals that she doesn’t know but remembers feeling “completely alone and empty,” showing symptoms of depression and feelings of abandonment. After this confession, she turns and sees a hallucination of Pietro’s corpse. This clearly startles Wanda and she shuts her eyes -- signs that reveal the reigniting of her trauma. A similar moment occurs in episode 4, when Wanda also hallucinates seeing Vision as a corpse -- a clear reference to his death that has already occurred. Here, too, she closes her eyes, visibly alarmed. While Westview has mostly succeeded in helping Wanda to maintain her denial about Vision’s death, these instances serve as a rude awakening to her, reminding her of her tragic past.

In Episode 7, using a modern sitcom convention, documentarylike personal interviews, Wanda reconciles with the fact that she is living in a “fake world.” She finally acknowledges the negative aspects of her actions and admits to having a difficult time dealing with her guilt of mind-controlling the citizens. The episode includes Wanda’s first explicit depressive episode: she has trouble getting out of bed, interacting with her kids, wants to watch TV all day, and insists on having “a me-day.” A commercial calls out Wanda’s deteriorating mental health, as it advertises antidepressants -- a possible treatment option for her behavioural symptoms during the episode.

The last episodes depict a number of Wanda’s traumatic life experiences, as well as Vision’s death -- her emotional breaking point that ultimately led to the creation of Westview. One past memory shows her at S.W.O.R.D. headquarters, where she demands to see Vision’s body after his death. When she is

finally given access, she is shown his dismantled, robotic corpse -- an undoubtedly traumatizing sight. She is then told, “He isn’t yours,” and is forced to leave the facility without him. From there, Wanda drives to a normal, modern Westview, New Jersey, and arrives at an empty plot of land. She remembers looking at a piece of paper that reads, “A place to grow old in,” which was signed by Vision. Heartbroken, Wanda crashes to the ground, and the immense grief and loneliness manifests in a red storm cloud of static which engulfs Westview. Before she realizes what she is doing, the town returns to the 1950s, a home is constructed where she stands, and a resurrected Vision appears in front of her. She is relieved to see him, and the extreme transformation of surroundings goes unacknowledged by Wanda as she bathes in this escape from the sad reality of the previous moments. The final episode of WandaVision focuses on the battle between Wanda and her neighbor Agatha, who is revealed to be a witch intent on stealing Wanda’s powers. However, the episode also emphasizes Wanda’s reconciliation with her maladaptive coping strategies. She eventually wins the fight, and the show ends with her allowing Westview to return to the way it was before her arrival. Wanda finally comes to understand the extent of the damage she has caused -- both to herself and to the town of Westview -- and as a result, she must flee and allow Westview’s citizens to be free once again. This means that her sons, and most importantly, Vision, will be erased, since they were all the result of her desire to escape her grief and live in an American, dream-like normalcy -- one that, much like the façade Wanda has used to conceal her mental health struggles, has proved to be unsustainable and ultimately destructive.