How do you feel about spoilers, generally? I’m warning you right now, I’m going to talk about Disney’s new streaming show “WandaVision”. Still reading? You’ve been warned.
“WandaVision” starts with its two main characters (Wanda and Vision) trapped in a series of old sitcoms. The TV shows they find themselves in slowly advance in years and the sophistication of the effects and style.
The first episode resembles “I Love Lucy” with a classic husband/wife misunderstanding. The second episode seems to resemble shows like “Bewitched” or “I Dream of Jeannie.” Episode three shows us the “Brady Bunch,” then afterward comes a very blatant take on “Full House” followed by what I assume is “Malcolm in the Middle.”
I find I can’t get enough of this stuff. My parents (who were boomers, you know, the generation born from ’46 to ’64) made me watch most of these at one point. This was back when our phone had a curly cord (remember that?) and our TV was a big cube that showed us the hell dimension known as cable. I’m showing my age a little bit. Anyway, I find these spoofs to be the best parts of “WandaVision,” and the actual Marvel parts of it to be my least favorite.
However, there is something I find interesting about the show I wanted to talk about here: it features an immaculate conception.
Growing up in the 2000s, my parents were still very much influenced by the Satanic Panics of the 80s. For a while, my mom thought “Harry Potter” was a way to do black magic and worship the devil. She thought that about Dungeons & Dragons too, until I had been playing it regularly for several years. In a way, maybe she was right; after all, I don’t go to church very often anymore!
I guess what I’m getting at here is that I’m surprised there is no “think of the children” cranks coming out of the woodwork to say that “WandaVision” is mocking Christ and the family. Ok, I lied, I’m not surprised. Ironically, by doing something so symbolically loaded, The Mouse has neatly avoided maybe the one thing that the Disney+ streaming service doesn’t have: sex.
