The Deconstruction
of Trauma in
WandaVision
Superheroes, science fiction, and the exploration of
trauma through deconstruction
Presented at the LTUE Conference, 2022
During its nine-episode run, Marvel's WandaVision evolves from a classic black-and-white American sitcom to a psychological superhero film about grief and trauma. Most of the episodes in the series are filmed in different sitcom styles, starting with an I Love Lucy tribute to the sitcoms of the 1950s and carrying through to the 2010s, with Modern Family interviews and The Office camera angles. Initially, WandaVision appears to maintain the same lightheartedness expected of the sitcom style, but, ultimately, the genre is used by Wanda to process her burgeoning grief over Vision's recent death and the trauma she has experienced throughout her life as a young girl in a war-torn, riotous country. Through the breakdown of the sitcom genre, Vision himself, and Wanda's own traumatic experiences, WandaVision explores trauma as a deconstructive force.
Traumatic Deconstruction and Deconstruction of Trauma
First and foremost, WandaVision connects deconstruction and trauma recovery through Wanda's breakdown of the sitcom genre. As revealed in the eighth episode, Wanda has created this sitcom experience because she considers sitcoms to be safe spaces filled with "silly mischief that always becomes fine" ("Previously On" 14:07). By repressing her trauma within these confines, Wanda performs a deconstruction on the mores and conventions expected of the genre. This deconstructive force manifests throughout the sitcom-style episodes, most particularly when the sitcom conventions are used to clumsily disguise the trauma lying under the surface. There are moments of jarring violence followed by ominous canned laughter and, significantly, the "commercial breaks" are the only moments in which more direct references to Wanda's trauma shine through.
A screenshot from episode 8 of WandaVision, "Previously On."
Secondly, the relationship between deconstruction and trauma is realized in Vision's evaluation of the self. In the final episode, Vision, facing the alternate version of himself, must rationalize which of the two has more claim to the identity of "Vision." Ultimately, through a deconstruction of the self, Vision concludes that the "memories" - including the trauma of his death - are foundational to the construction of identity. Through this dynamic, WandaVision considers trauma as a cornerstone to identity - and deconstruction as the tool to uncover trauma at the core of selfhood.
Lastly, Wanda undergoes a deconstruction of her own trauma. It is only through this deconstructive analysis of her past that Wanda can begin processing her trauma in a healthy way. After Wanda has dissected her own trauma, she is able to release the citizens of Westview, preventing the development of a cyclical trauma. WandaVision considers trauma as a deconstructive force that breaks down the barriers of identity, and, simultaneously, understands trauma recovery as a deconstructive act.
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Literary Framework
For this project, I discovered two theorists with literary
frameworks that significantly impacted my thesis.
Cathy Caruth and her work Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative and History supplied a vital theoretical framework to my analysis. Through the story of Tancredi and Clorinda, Caruth describes trauma as a cyclical process that continually overwhelms traumatized individuals. This dynamic was crucial to my investigation of Vision as an expression of Wanda's trauma.
J. Hillis Miller's Ariadne's Thread: Story Lines proposes that reading and analyzing literature is innately deconstructive. His framework allowed me to develop an understanding of Wanda's sitcom obsession as a deconstructive tracing and re-tracing of a set labyrinthine pattern.
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My presentation is available here.
Read the initial, informal draft of "The Deconstruction of Trauma in WandaVision":
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