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A TV show signaling its ambition by comparing itself to an oversized movie is an age-old trope. WandaVision, the new limited series on Disney +, which marks a major turning point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its complex relationship with the small screen, is only the latest to employ it. “I was like, ‘Oh, I thought we were doing a little show,’ actor Teyonah Parris said. Weekly entertainment in her November cover story highlighting the production. “But no, that’s six Marvel movies wrapped up in what they’re billing as a sitcom.”
Under typical circumstances, this analogy is frustrating and is sure to garner the attention of critics tired of explaining that “X-hour movie” isn’t the compliment most creatives seem to think. Beyond the implicit condescension is the fact that the distinction between movies and TV shows is about to crumble, making comparisons almost meaningless. The same platforms often distribute both, including Disney +; every year brings more puzzles like Steve McQueen’s Small ax, which have aspects of each category without properly falling into one or the other. You can only see a limited number of iterations of The Hateful Eight: The Miniseries before throwing their hands in defeat.
In the case of WandaVision, this is all a bit confusing. The show takes place, of course, in the Disney-run MCU, which has previously starred on television: a pair of proceedings on ABC; a quartet of Netflix shows set in New York City after the decisive battle of the first Avengers. But WandaVision is the first show to exist under the creative control of Marvel Studios, the elite squadron led by producer Kevin Feige that turned an IP comic book cover into a hugely lucrative constellation of nested stories – a structure that borrows a lot in terms of television. What does it mean for a TV show to be like a movie when the TV show features movie characters, which are serialized and written collectively like a TV show, and when the show television itself is preparing a subsequent film? (Feige said that the events of WandaVision will have a direct impact on the plot of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, should be released in 2022.)
Fortunately, WandaVision is well suited to these meta tongue twisters. The show is TV-on-TV, or at least committed to replicating vintage TV aesthetics exhaustively, as it takes its time to reveal a larger mystery. In the three episodes provided to critics, two of which landed on Disney + last Friday, WandaVision takes the form of household sitcoms from the 1950s and 1960s to I love lucy or Nice to meet you and a family show from the 70s at the the Brady Bunch; these fake shows happen to feature a sensitive supercomputer and a European witch. It also helps that WandaVision East meant be a little dizzying. Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) don’t know why they live in a generic mock-up known only as Westville, or how they got there, or how Vision is alive after being dead twice. in Infinity war, or even that he’s supposed to be dead. They just live their adventures as they arise, which also explains how you need to approach this latest MCU expansion, lest you get a headache.
Directed by The iron Throne‘ Matt Shakman, showrun by Captain Marvelby Jac Schaeffer, and based on a concept by Feige, WandaVision marks the official crossover point where the MCU can no longer be distinguished from its satellites. The ABC and Netflix series were visibly distinct from the main franchise – shows aired within their clear budget constraints, those streamed in their dark, grainy aesthetic, a clear counterpoint to the MCU’s Technicolor palette and PG-13 ratings. WandaVision, also, has a look and feel unique in the larger Marvel ecosystem. But at the level of the character, the story and especially the value of the production, the message is clear: this is a lateral extension, not a retreat.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, WandaVision even substitutes for Marvel movies rather than just supplementing them. After the pandemic threw theatrical releases into chaos, Disney put all of Marvel’s 2020 slate on ice, including the highly anticipated Black Widow; It’s now been more than a full calendar year since fans got a full, Feige-sanctioned update on the main narrative he weaved from a confused heap of string. WandaVision even has a jump on other Disney + series like The falcon and the winter soldier, the show originally intended to launch the TV branch of the so-called Phase 4. Instead, it’s WandaVision who leads a slate that will soon understand Loki, the anthology series What if…?, Hawk Eye, Ms. Marvel, and at least half a dozen more.
To his credit, WandaVision doesn’t look like connective tissue, at least to begin with. Compared to Marvel’s other flirtations with the genre, in fact, he’s admirably engaged. The MCU has long liked hyperbolic comparisons like “Captain America and the Winter Soldier is a ’70s conspiracy thriller “or”The ant Man is a heist movie. In truth, these influences show up more often as a slight aftertaste than as a true tribute. Thanks to all the superpowers, WandaVision could never be mistaken for an actual replay of The Dick Van Dyke Show. But he incorporates these elements beyond a simple press release: the first two episodes are shot in black and white in front of a live studio audience, using retro effects like a broken plate rewinding into a whole. The third gear switches, with sideburns and side panels.
WandaVision is also similar to television in at least one essential respect: its chapters are discrete and differentiated, if not entirely autonomous. Schaeffer and the writers borrow and riff on classic tropes like “the boss and his wife are coming to dinner” (Fred Melamed and Debra Jo Rupp, the last character actors to collect these Marvel checks) or “a pregnant woman gives birth in seconds. “. The show is not a single, extended story arbitrarily split into parts, but a collection of playable tracks – much like the MCU, but without having to pay $ 20 to see said tracks in the theater every few months. Episodic TV storytelling is where the MCU came up with the idea to translate the comic book series to the screen in the first place, which WandaVision a perfect ouroboros of content.
This isolation begins to break down as the series continues; Wanda and Vision can’t stay in a tightly sealed place forever. And the whole series relies on the viewer understanding who the characters in the title are in the first place when they are already accompanied by complex stories; Vision, for example, is a composite of two pre-existing characters powered by a MacGuffin. Parris’ character is known as “Geraldine” on the show in a show, but we already know that she is the adult version of Monica Rambeau, who was first introduced as a child in the 90’s. Captain Marvel.
When names like Ultron and Pietro Maximoff start to pop up, WandaVision loses some of the quirk that makes it an intriguing, albeit accidental, introduction to the Disney + era of the MCU. But these proper names also serve their purpose: to confer legitimacy on both WandaVision and the streaming service that broadcasts it. As The Mandalorian is now in the first level of the Star wars universe, blessed by the appearance of the franchise’s first family, WandaVision is no detour for the MCU. This is a transition, which you will need to subscribe to to stay up to date.
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