Katie Grubbs, Marie Hause, and Sarah Thomas discuss DisneyPlus’s 2021 series, WandaVision.

-Introductions

-Why talk about WandaVision?

Knowing

-When did we first encounter the character of Wanda Maximoff, aka The Scarlet Witch? Did you ever read the comics? Have you seen any of the Marvel films featuring her?

-Brief overview of WandaVision the series

-Brief plot summary of the season

-Which specific sitcoms are being imitated in the season and when those sitcoms originally aired (extra info: https://ew.com/tv/wandavision-easter-eggs-references/ )

Reading

1) Wanda is both the protagonist and, in some ways, a villain of this show. What did you think about that narrative/ethical complexity? How does this story complicate Wanda’s persona as established in earlier Marvel media?

2) Wandavision is riffing on these very specific TV shows of the past, as we mentioned earlier: which homage was your favorite, and why?

3) How did you think the series served Monica Rambeau, as a character?

4) Other than Vision, the main characters of this show (Wanda, Monica, Agatha) are all women, and Vision is literally a creation of Wanda’s. How does that focus on the female psyche make this series different from other Marvel media?

5) WandaVision obviously has a lot to say about trauma. What did you think of the portrayal of Wanda’s emotional trauma and her reactions to it?

Passing On

Katie: Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018)

Marie: “Suffering|Triumph,” chapter one in Kent Brintnall, Ecce Homo: The Male-Body-in-Pain as Redemptive Figure (2012)

Sarah: Broken Gods: Hope, Healing, and the Seven Longings of the Human Heart by Gregory Popcak