Wandavision

as Scarlet Witch, one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and quite possibly the Marvel Comics universe as well), but she’s also one of the few Avengers who’s an immigrant.Wanda and her deceased brother, Pietro, hail from the fictitious country of Sokovia. But what isn’t fictitious is the needed representation for immigrants in American TV shows. Wanda stars as one half of the titular Disney+ miniseries WandaVision, in which her character, played by Elizabeth Olsen, seems to be trapped inside of a sitcom with her lover, Vision (Paul Bettany). In one particular episode, the series does an excellent job of portraying the immigrant experience (soul stoneinduced focusing on aside).

Viewers of WandaVision may have been wondering why the all-powerful Scarlet Witch, who can bend reality to her every whim, decided to have her and her partner live in various sitcom milieus throughout the decades. Well, as we see later in the series, Wanda has been fond of American sitcoms since she was a child. Prior to the bombing of her childhood home, she and her family would use classics like The Dick Van Dyke Show or The Brade Bunch as a form of escapism. However these sitcoms would also serve another purpose. During “movie nights” with her family, Wanda, Pietro, and their parents would exclusively speak English and utilize these shows as a way to improve their language skills.

Truthfully, learning English and American culture through popular media is not exclusive to superhumans. Many of my immigrant friends and their family members did just the same. For instance, a dear friend who is an Iraqi refugee learned English by watching reruns of The Simpsons. I was told by another friend that their immigrant mother learned English by reading Aquaman comics. As for myself, a third generation child of Vietnamese immigrants, I recall using American television as a means to better understand the nuclear American family, despite being born in the US and fluent in English. Shows like Step by Step, Full House, as well as cartoons like Batman: The

Animated Series and Static Shock, while massively dramatized, served as a stepping stone for assimilation for me in a household where no one spoke fluent English.

The celebration of American sitcoms amongst the immigrant population is not anything new. In a 2016 article, writer Chin Lu of Vice reminisces how television “taught [her] how to be American.” In her article, she states that shows like Friends and How I Met Your Mother indoctrinated her on American slang. Were it not for these shows, she would have never been privy to such idiosyncrasies in American English linguistics. Lu also references a 2012 study in which “pre-immigration uses of English language TV, radio, and print media, and post-immigration use of English language print media, were associated with higher English proficiency” (Dalisay 156). While genres like sitcoms, fantasy, and science-fiction tend to be overlooked as frivolous forms of entertainment, the immigrant community has shown that they may have a more practical application than many perceive.

Today with the advent of streaming services, a wider range of pop culture and geekdom is more available to new immigrant fans. Pre-immigration pop culture enthusiasts can wax nostalgic about older properties while the younger generation can access newer content all thanks to streaming. This is good news for immigrants who are looking for both escapism and a linguistics tool—just like Wanda Maximoff, herself.