Why I Found Catharsis in Disney's WandaVision as a Trauma Survivor

Spoiler Alert: The following article contains spoilers for “WandaVision,” streaming now on Disney Plus.

Since January 5, 2021, I’ve been tuning into Disney Plus every single Friday morning to watch the latest anticipated installment of WandaVision, a show depicting Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) hero Wanda Maximoff’s journey to becoming Scarlet Witch — but overall, as director recently Matt Shakman explained in an IGN interview: “This is a story about love, it’s about loss, it’s about grief, it’s about how we move on from loss … everything that we’ve done so far, even silly live-audience sitcoms in the ‘50s, is fueled by Wanda’s loss and about how she’s trying to find solace from that loss.”

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The character of Wanda Maximoff has long been my favorite superhero both onscreen in Kevin Feige’s cinematic universe and in Marvel comics generally. Why? I first encountered the character in 2015 during “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” about two years after the death of my baby brother. Seeing her lose her brother Pietro — also known as Quicksilver — onscreen piqued my interest somewhat morbidly. This was a character I could relate to. As a depressed 15-year-old, that mattered a lot, and she is one of few characters from my teens I remain attached to. Not to mention that her powers — the more uncertain combination of telekinesis and telepathy in that film, now retconned in the course of WandaVision to match the comic’s chaos magic — just seemed undeniably awesome to me.

But on a deep note, overall this was a strong female character who had lived through a conflict-filled upbringing, which reminded me of the “home fires” of my own traumatic childhood. She had the ability to control her fate, and in WandaVision even supernaturally control reality and the narrative of her own life. I won’t lie; A year out of therapy for my post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in good standing and on medication that keeps me in check, this is something I still wish I could have myself as a trauma survivor.

For the uninitiated, the early episodes of WandaVision are literal episodes of a 50s, 60s and 70s-style sitcom that Wanda controls and is a character of. The ability to bring back lost loved ones, have a set “storyline” with little uncertainty and most importantly, to me at least, always a “happy ending.” These are all powers many people with mental health issues would sacrifice a lot for.

That’s why the early episodes of WandaVision are pure escapism for Wanda, the casual viewer, and myself as a trauma survivor. We laugh, we smile, and we are certain in the knowledge that all of the chaos in Wanda’s life has become good. The only problem? As WandaVision delivers this, it of course also delivers the obvious fact that good is almost always too good to be true when it comes to the MCU.

The finale, first available as I’m writing this on Friday, March 5, tied up many storylines. The overt fan theories carried by many a loyal viewer were seemingly thrown out of the window, something people I’ve spoken to (and on social media) have called disappointing, but to me — to someone looking up to Wanda as a fellow survivor — it made me cry both in joy and bittersweet melancholy, something few forms of media have done in my time.

We end the series with Wanda’s fantasy not only crumbling around her, but being sacrificed for the greater good by the person who created it. Wanda sees that controlling reality — however healing for the person wielding all the power and emotion — has unfortunate consequences for those around us. This hit home particularly.

How many times have we — in the wake of a mental health episode, loss or both — hidden away in our “own little worlds,” locked the door and turned our phones off? For me, a lot. So seeing Wanda very literally create her own world and then have to give it up, open the door and turn the phone back on (so to speak) — it was hard.

The catharsis was clear from the start, but that was a tough pill to swallow. It made me reflect on how easy it is to create our own safe spaces, but also reminded me that sometimes we do have to give them up. To feed the cat. To cook dinner. To look after ourselves. To work or study. To live in the real world with all its ups and downs.

As Paul Bettany’s Vision says in the penultimate episode, “what is grief, if not love persevering?” I think that last word is the most important message WandaVision gave me as a trauma survivor. Wanda was sacrificing the new reality she created for herself, but living in that false world she made was burying her head in the sand and denying the truths in her life. Giving that up, accepting her losses and traumas; that was the bravest thing Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, has ever done, and she remains the role model I related to years ago.

Most importantly, this brave action wasn’t depicted as an easy thing. Wanda has just given up her previously deceased husband and children that were created/resurrected as an extension of her false reality. But in the post-credits scene, we still see her smiling and making tea in a wooden cabin in the beauty and solitude of the mountains. She is moving on from grief and trauma.

If anything, WandaVision is the ever-cathartic proof that persevering is the most heroic thing that we, as survivors of trauma and as mentally ill people, can ever do. And we don’t even need superpowers to do it. It’s a message that I hope will stick with me for a while, and in sharing this, I hope it will help you heal too.

Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, Disney and MCU’s WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, and Paul Bettany as Vision. The series is currently streaming on Disney Plus.