WandaVision on Disney+
A somewhat generational shift away from the norm of televised sitcoms previously dominant in the world of the small screen has seen the rise of a new era. And a growing array of digital on-demand streaming services saw to it. Just as television disrupted the monopoly that cinema originally held upon audiences by the mid 20th century — which had itself along with radio taken over from music halls as the predominant evening-time entertainment form — on demand streaming services have come to challenge our attention for broadcast television today. In some markets its even showing signs of taking a bigger piece of the pie than broadcast and cable already. Aside from this, streaming services such as Netflix, PrimeVideo, Disney+, Apple TV et al. have expanded into the realm of feature length productions. Resulting in on-demand home cinema access also re-establishing the parameters of the distribution of cinema as we knew it. Internet based streaming services go beyond the choose 'what and when to watch' advantage they have over broadcast and cable with the pairing of smart TVs. And with the commonplaceness of laptops and smaller internet based devices including tablets and mobiles, 'where to watch' obviously has its impact too. Add in the rise of creator based content on video platforms of the likes of YouTube, and broadcast TV begins to evoke a feeling of nostalgia. A juncture that in reflection of this change could well be recognised as an era now post TV.
Recently I was viewing the miniseries WandaVision from Disney+. It's a series of the digital streaming age that presents us with a reflection on the history of broadcast television itself, thereby consciously appointing its place within a Post TV era. The series moves through different realms of contextual meaning and visual metaphor to show an array of known historical tropes from television in the western world, or more specifically, that representative of American culture. Using the essential features of broadcast TV's situational-comedies, or sitcoms as we colloquially call them, especially those which almost unanimously take place within the suburban home setting, the series adopts the familiar mise-en-scène of popular American television series' past. The show episodically recreates major past TV series in a sequential order, using roughly one episode for each decade throughout the second half of the 20th century. Correlations can be seen to sitcoms such as I love Lucy, Bewitched, The Brady Bunch, Full House, Malcolm in the Middle, and Friends, etc., by echoing the set world of each show as chronological references within the miniseries.
WandaVision continues events within the Marvel Cinematic Universe of which viewers with familiarity of its blockbuster films bring with them to the viewing experience. Thus, the series presents us with the curiosity of its protagonists, Wanda & Vision, paradoxically living an idyllic suburban life customary to that of a sitcom TV set. Which takes place in the fictive town of Westview, New Jersey. With presumed background knowledge of the two characters our entertainment begins with the comic element of them living through these chronologically developing idealised sitcom worlds. Beginning to watch the show one may find themselves unquestionably enjoying its premise, at ease in the familiar setting and aided by the rhythmic and distracting quality of sitcom. Since our protagonists are superheroes, they appear to be ‘playing’ husband and wife, which allows us to begin to expect an explanation as to why they are confined to the realm of these characters within a sitcom. What we come to learn is that a traumatised Wanda, the Scarlet Witch, has taken over Westview by constructing a 'safe environment' that she controls. Or rather reigns over with inhumane mind control of its inhabitants. We soon see this is the form of an unconscious psychological coping mechanism on the part of her powers, in response to the loss of Vision and a traumatic post-mortem dissection of his body for military repurposing.
This use of this series within a series provides the digital era its position within the history of television and opens an interesting interplay for the development of its plot. As the controlled familiar world begins to reveal glitches, we become aware that something is wrong with it. Its characters are in conflict: and in fact acting under Wanda's direction and living inside her TV show.
In the first instance of this Wanda and Vision are having Vision’s boss and his wife over for dinner in a customary practice of good will and gratitude toward his employer. And no less in aid of assisting a promotion at work. A classic rehashed scene favourite most befitting the sixties sitcom Bewitched. Following the authority-based expectancy of Vision’s boss at the dinner table to a level of rudeness that shows the acting character's frustration with the situation, he stops mid-sentence and begins to choke. Upon this the characters are stuck in their acting, in a loop as it were, unable to break character and providing a level of anxiety unusual to the sitcom format: where death has no usual place, especially in such a cold or dubious sense.
What arises from the scene is our first understanding that Wanda has directorial authority over the other characters and Vision can save his boss from choking only upon her begrudging command. To allow the town to go about existence under this control, to provide a world in which to safely house her reincarnated Vision, its characters have become forced labour actors within a series of situational comedy events. And as these glitches begin to occur it becomes apparent to us that they are indeed acting, and not of their own will. They are even suffering as prisoners of the enclosed world that Wanda’s subconscious has taken captive.
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It's a thought provoking production. It makes one think about television's arc in general and wonder what might come next? Does streaming TV mean something other than a monopoly dominant market thanks to the competition of major platforms, or are there signs of an additional more free market economy on the small screen?
Aside from broader creator economy video content on YouTube, niche based outfits already make on-demand TV style series on their own platforms for example. Stab Magazine's content, such as the docu series How Surfers Get Paid comes to mind for me. And Red Bull have a large production of documentary films and series also. What's to stop brands in general from leveraging the streaming series as a content format?
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