WandaVision; Disney+ Based on: the Marvel Universe, and also possibly The Scarlet Letter
WandaVision; Disney+
Based on: the Marvel Universe, and also possibly The Scarlet Letter
Loosely based on the Marvel comics, the game-changing show WandaVision hit the silver screen last January. Elizabeth Olsen (the most talented Olsen sister) is Wanda Maximoff, arguably the most powerful Avenger, gifted with telekinesis. (Yes, some people have made some good points about the problems with superhero stories, I guess, but bear with me, folks.) Some necessary backstory, in case you are not yet a Marvel Universe convert/nerd like me: As of the last Avengers movie, her great love—a hot synthetic robot touched with otherworldly powers named Vision—is dead. But at the start of this show, Wanda wakes up into the world of a 1950s family sitcom, with Vision inexplicably at her side. The great fun of WandaVision is that each episode drops you into a different style of show: from The Dick Van Dyke Show to Bewitched to Full House, we watch as their family expands.
But it’s clear that something sinister is afoot. We find out that people in the Avengers Universe are able to watch WandaVision when tuned into the right frequency. They realize that a town in New Jersey has gone missing, that a forcefield has been placed over it and that everything has been repurposed as the set of these classic sitcoms. Even the residents of the real town have been recast to fit the motif. The underlying question—What the hell is actually happening?—propels the plot. If you are not yet intrigued, perhaps you’ll be interested to know that WandaVision can be seen, in some ways, as a different take on The Scarlet Letter, as it explores the way women are feared for their ability to create. It’s also a devastating exploration of mourning and the stories we tell in moments of pain. In my humble opinion, WandaVision has gifted us one of the best lines of television this year: “What is grief, if not love persevering?” And if that’s not enough, you should know that Kathryn Han plays an evil witch and even sings a song about it. –Katie Yee, Book Marks Associate Editor
