WandaVision had a line in “Previously On” that hit its audience in a very profound way. Maybe it was because of this last year, or maybe it was because we realized that so many of us have been processing our own grief in the same way that Wanda is. Whatever the case, many of us clung to it.
The line, delivered by Vision, is simple: What is grief if not love persevering? That line paired with the year we all just had hit in a way that many are still reeling from. Grief is something that affects us all differently. I know that I’m still coping with the death of my grandparents years later, and this line hit me completely out of left field. We’re all still coping with past loss, as well as what this last year had for us all, and so a comforting line from Vision about grief is something we can all relate to.
So when Twitter suddenly turned into everyone mocking the line (and those who were affected by it) it suddenly made me realize that we have to have a come-to-Jesus moment: We have to start letting people enjoy things and just staying quiet if we didn’t like the thing. I’m beyond tired of logging online and seeing people just hating on something that others found joy in, just to be contrarian.
A line about grief in a show that explores trauma should not have been taken and trashed on Twitter. It’s as simple as that. I know that I am not one to completely separate myself from this show, especially because Wanda is one of my favorite characters in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, I recognize that there are things I overlook or that I’ll excuse because of my love for her and the connection I have to the character.
But that doesn’t stop me from recognizing when Twitter and people online are being unnecessary about the show. Since WandaVision started, people have been complaining because it’s not “action-packed” enough or that “nothing happens.” I’m sorry, but didn’t you all watch eight seasons of Jon Snow being sad on Game of Thrones and say nothing?
Time and time again, we watch as men get the room to grow and explore their own trauma, and when a show lets a female hero (one who has constantly been sidelined in the MCU) finally have the time to unpack everything that’s happened to her, we have to listen to complaints that it’s not Marvel-y enough?
No, I’m sorry. Enough. If you have a problem with WandaVision, fine. If you have a problem with this line about grief, fine. But stop making people feel bad for enjoying things. Does this line hurt you in some way? Is it causing you physical damage? If the answer is no, then don’t sit and mock someone who had an emotional reaction to it. It’s that simple.
I think people online (particularly on Twitter) excuse the MCU and push it aside because they feel like it is just a franchise of frivolous action movies and that’s that. But there’s a reason we cling to these characters and want to see them grow. There’s a reason we relate to them. They all experience love and loss in their own ways, they all cope differently, and that’s what makes these heroes people we look up to.
I have always loved Peter Parker because of the way he puts his own grief aside to try and do the right thing. I’m very similar, but I’m also similar to Wanda Maximoff in the sense that I push off my own needs until it completely breaks me down. So, watching these properties and learning from the characters helps me work through my own pain. And diminishing the understanding people felt from a line in WandaVision just because you find the MCU to be trite is a “you” problem, not a “them” problem.
A line about grief should not get torn apart online because some people found it cheesy. You didn’t like or relate to the line in WandaVision? Great! That’s fine for you, but making a mockery of it when people had real genuine reactions to it is annoying, and frankly, I’m tired of it.
There’s a way to talk about not liking something that isn’t dunking on those who did. You can talk about how it didn’t work for you, you can bring up that you personally found it to be cheesy, but taking someone else relating to a line about grief and mocking it or saying that it’s childish (or something of the like) is not the way to go about it.
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
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