As the age of superhero movies and TV shows continues to thrive and expand, I have learned to adapt to them by switching off my brain. As I watched movies like Spider-man: No Way Home, I have learned the difference between enjoying a movie and acknowledging its mistakes. If you are familiar with my previous movies reviews/discussions you'd know that I have an overall issue with superhero movies and TV shows
That issue was something I have learned to take lightly and just enjoy the cinematography and greatly engineered fighting sequences. However, while I have been to overlook all the mistakes and logical loops in previous Marvel works, there was something about WandVision that I was never able to shake off.
Spoiler Alert: I Will Never Be Able to State my Problem with the Show Without Spoiling It.
Much like all Marvel movies, WandaVision is essentially about aesthetic moments. The movies have thrived on those moments, be it their post-credit scenes, nostalgic moments, revelations, and so on.
The issue with that is all the logic thrown out of the window to achieve those. I have learned to adapt to those logical mistakes, however, in WandaVision it is much more than that.
Enslavement
This aspect was only used for aesthetics, there are three scenes where characters under Wanda's spell express themselves and the horror they see by being enslaved by a woman who couldn't handle her feelings.
The disturbing part is how that is thrown to the side afterward. And this is not something a character does, this is the show itself overlooking the issue and only looking at it to provide shock scenes.
The reason I know that is because it is not only Wanda who continues to enslave these people. Vision himself, after being told of how horrifying it is for the subjects to be enslaved like this, chooses to simply put them back in that state. We see it in his workplace as well as another interaction.
I know that this is just a movie and I shouldn't take it too seriously. But, how much should I turn off my brain to enjoy a movie? Should I only be using my brain to applaud them for the great use of easter eggs, meta-references, comedy chops, but not when I am staring at a disturbing aspect?
In the build-up to the conclusion, Wanda is confronted by all the people she enslaved to mourn her dying boyfriend.
If you are not going to free us then kill us
We have been seeing your nightmares!
Those were a small sample of what the characters have said to express their feelings. To be honest, for a second I was excited to see that as I thought a Marvel movie would for once tackling something real, an actual worth meta point of how destructive superheroes can be.
But, no. After all the terror Wanda caused, a terror that leads people to ask for death rather than continuing to live under her spell, she just walks away.
Not only that, she decides to put Agatha under that same spell. Why? Because Agatha wanted to do the same thing Wanda was literally still doing at that moment. With all the meta-humor Marvel projects have, they always seem to lack a sense of irony.
Don't get me wrong, much like all Marvel projects, this one has many logical mistakes. Agatha goes under the spell and is enslaved until Wanda would free her, if ever. Which also begs the question, since when do any of the Avengers decide the punishment? Also, isn't Agatha supposed to get punished for her crimes appropriately? Isn't Wanda?
Wanda is stated to be as powerful if not more powerful than Thanos, which is hilarious because it creates logical mistakes in Infinity War out of nowhere. But since she is, and it seems to be admitted that she is, why is it in the hands of the low-ranked trio, including the worst comedy relieve in the form of Kat Dennings to deal with it? Wouldn't that be something requiring the Avengers to do something?
Those logical mistakes and many more still exist. But the disturbing factor is that Wanda still walked away, with the movie treating her as the hero.
Wanda's Sacrifice?
Nothing to me that demonstrates how disturbing the message of this show is other than Monica telling Wanda after everything was said and done
They’ll never know what you sacrificed for them.
I am sorry, what?! Of all the nonsense in the world, we are calling the 5000 people who were enslaved against their will, having to live in a nightmare world, all seem traumatized, and treated as human toys ignorant of Wanda's "Sacrifice"? These people were literally asking for death.
Take away all Marvel covering, Wanda is a psychopath! She didn't know Monica had powers before she tried to murder her by slamming her into concrete, she has been made aware since episode 5 that she has enslaved people, even after being confronted, she still saw it fit to keep the people living in nightmares to have an aesthetically pleasing goodbye with her family.
People traumatized by those nightmares include children. I know that the easy argument is that I am taking it too seriously? But, should we just turn off our brains when watching any Marvel project?
The show treats Wanda's trauma like it is the only one that matters. No one else's done. I honestly can't wrap my head around that. It perfectly embodies how the writers think of trauma and other horrific themes, mainly tools to add tension for the main character. No resolution.
They’ll never know what you sacrificed for them.
Might actually be the worst line in the MCU and it tries to draw sympathy toward what I could only describe as a psychopath to shed the attention away from a very disturbing aspect. The End.
