**Note – this blog contains spoilers.**
Marvel Studios brought us a blend of classic television and the Marvel Cinematic Universe through WandaVision. Created by the talented director, producer & screenwriter, Jac Schaeffer, the show takes place after events of the Avengers Endgame film.
The show follows both avengers Wanda Maximoff/ Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) – but they are not the superheroes we are used to seeing. They are living idealised suburban lives and desperately trying to fit in the town of Westview, New Jersey.
In WandaVision we get to understand Wanda as a character and finally see her become the strong Scarlet Witch. Her life hasn’t been easy; she lost her parents, her twin brother Pietro and the only person who really understood her, Vision. After all these traumatic events, she uncontrollably lets all her pain out and creates the ultimate universe where she has the happy life she had always dreamt of. She creates this universe as a way of coping with her pain and trauma. All the while being based on the sitcoms she used to watch as a kid with her family back home, in Sokovia.
Although this show focused on Wanda Maximoff ‘s journey to becoming Scarlet Witch, it really spoke to me in other ways. It was obvious to me that the core of WandaVision relied on portraying grief and love.. It asks the questions, ‘would you start a whole new life which includes all your lost loved ones? Whether it means forever or just for a few days, if it is a chance to have those moments back?’.
The character Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) is a very good example of someone we know would make that swap in a heartbeat. She mentions to Wanda “If I could get my mother back, I would do”, which shows that she understood Wanda’s actions and knew she didn’t want to harm anyone.
Being someone who has dealt with grief and also currently trying to, I have sympathy for Wanda and understand her reasoning. But I also feel her process was chaotic and wrong as many families were broken apart by her actions. We only begin to understand the real Wanda Maximoff because of another leading female character called Agatha Harkness (played by Kathryn Hahn). She plays games with Wanda & Vision’s minds, but eventually pushes Wanda into revealing her past and who she really is. Even though she was someone we despised within the show, she gave Wanda the strength she needed to face reality again.
I do hope everyone that has watched the show and may feel moments of sadness or loss, can lean on the fact that Wanda knew she had to let go and deal with the pain to become stronger. The show was left on a cliff-hanger, but we do see Wanda needing to let go of the make-believe life she had built with her husband and two sons. Soon after, we see her finding a way to get that life back, highlighting an inner strength she always had.
By Rianna Parmar
Rianna is a college multi-media graduate, now specialising in digital marketing. You can follow her on her personal or blogging Instagram.