WandaVision tries on different TV genres and eras – a convention that’s used throughout fiction. While a sometimes wacky concept, what kinds of themes do they reveal?
I’m a sucker for what I call “Changing Channels” episodes. I take that from the title of the of the eighth episode of Supernatural’s fifth season. TV Tropes dubs it “Trapped in TV Land.” Whatever you decide to call it, you’ll recognize the format: a show changes its usual narrative structure and tries on different genres of television. Currently, the notable example is WandaVision¸ as it explores different types of shows and eras in nearly every episode.
On the surface, the idea is a fun gimmick: your favorite show and characters are suddenly thrust into new environments, navigating outside their show’s already-established rules. They become aware of laugh tracks, point out flaws in sitcom logic, and so on. Yet as the episode (or season, as in WandaVision) progresses, there are much deeper layers at play. The TV-land gimmick usually belies a more serious issue the characters must go through, and sometimes with major repercussions for the entire season.
As the fictional characters grapple with and sort through their problems through extra-fictional narratives, it mirrors the way in which viewers in the real world – in other words, us! – seek solace in television, and in some ways, use it to process our own thoughts and feelings.
Needless to say, there are spoilers for multiple shows, including Wandavision, below.
Supernatural, episode 5×13: “Changing Channels”
When a show runs as long as Supernatural did, there’s bound to be some silly episodes. “Changing Channels” opens like a regular “monster of the week,” where the Winchesters learn that an old enemy, the Trickster, is involved. Much like his moniker, the Trickster tends to play with his victims, the brothers included. What better way than making them live through different TV shows?
As ridiculous as the set-up is, the episode is fairly pivotal: it’s revealed that the Trickster is actually the archangel Gabriel, who then tells Sam and Dean that it was predestined for them to be the vessels of Lucifer and Michael, respectively. For Gabriel, this is personal and he subjects the brothers to this to teach them a lesson at first: play their roles, both in the fantasy realities and in the coming apocalypse with the showdown between Sam-as-Lucifer and Dean-as-Michael.
Young Justice, episode 3×12: “Nightmare Monkeys”
In the third season, Garfield Logan (aka Beast Boy) has put aside his life on the Team and has become an actor, following in his mother’s footsteps. As one of the few public metahumans, he takes pride in it, particularly as metahuman trafficking becomes the central issue. In “Nightmare Monkeys,” Gar tries a pair of VR goggles produced by the bad guys that can identify and control metahumans. Thankfully, he is able to avoid this as he subconsciously works against it – after a jaunt through different television formats.
While it leans into its comedic moments like Supernatural, it also has its more serious undertones. The Teen Titans Go! Parody is reimagined as Doom Patrol Go! and is considerably blithely grim. Gar works through grief and relives traumatic moments, including his mother’s death.
When M’gann comes to help, he reflects on his acting career. While it did help him feel closer to his mother at times, he wonders if he also used it a distraction to hide from the grief of losing the people he loved. Right before he wakes himself up, he says, “I’m ready to get back to reality now. Ready to get back to the life.”
Legends of Tomorrow, episode 5×14: “The One Where We’re Trapped on TV”
Legends of Tomorrow does some bonkers things and this episode is no different. In the penultimate episode of the season, we open with in a dystopian world, after the Legends have lost against the Fates. Mona, who had left the team early in the season, tunes into “Fates Plus” and the first of multiple show parodies in the episode. All of the other Legends are relegated to these – and there are only a few that break out of the false reality.
On a character-level, it’s a turning point for Zari, as the original one erased from the timeline in the previous finale is restored (to a degree). There are a couple false realities happening: the TV-land and the dystopian one as a result of the Fates succeeding and rewriting reality. It’s not until the latter half of the episode – after Downton Abbey, Star Trek and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood parodies, naturally – that it’s revealed that Charlie, also known as the Fate/goddess Clotho, allied herself with the Fates and wrote the Legends into TV shows in an effort to save their lives. Once released from their television-prisons, the Legends work to challenge the concept of fate itself.
Scrubs, episode 4×17: “My Life in Four Cameras”
JD literally says, “There are times when you all wish our life was a sitcom.” Soon after, a new omniscient narrator declares it a ‘JD Sitcom Fantasy.’ His fantasy only lasts about half of the episode, one of the shortest compared to the others on this list. The episode opens with a typical Scrubs episode, as JD admits a television writer into the hospital and discovering the writer had advanced lung cancer. After breaking the bad news, JD embraces the fantasy – which is otherwise not that out of place in the show where JD’s fantasizes different reactions and more.
The B and C plots play out in the same fantasy – as Dr. Cox has to decide who in the hospital to lay off, and Turk and Carla try to keep their relationship fresh. There’s a live studio audience, brighter colors and a multi-camera level set up, complete with a talent show. Until the fantasy breaks. JD’s patient dies, Dr. Cox fires a loveable cafeteria worker, and Turk and Carla’s relationship isn’t easily resolved.
Exploring the Genre Jumping Trope
There are many other examples of these types of episodes. But I think some of these recent ones are examples of subverting this trope or exploring deeper themes.
Supernatural’s episode is less about escapism on the Winchesters’ part; you could argue that Gabriel is the one seeking escape by hiding behind his persona of a Trickster. He uses the false realities as a weapon against the brothers because he blames them for the upcoming war. In the end, it’s more of a matter of Gabriel needing to accept the reality of the situation far more than Sam and Dean do. Sam and Dean are aware, even though they’re working to change it. It’s not that they’re trying to escape it, but rather their usual need to change destiny and shape their own futures.
With the latest episode of WandaVision, it’s confirmed that Wanda did create the new reality that Westview is going through. At the empty lot in Westview, grief overtakes her and Wanda builds herself a happy life, inspired by the shows she loved from childhood. It’s a form of escape – something that Agatha alludes to. However, what I think is interesting is that she has two or three opposing forces trying to make her act: Agatha wants to learn the extent of her powers; Heyward is restoring Vision as a weapon and needed Wanda’s magic to complete it; and Monica is the one who wants her help to stop Heyward and help the rest of the community. They’re all spurring Wanda into action, and we still have two episodes to find out how that will end.
Generally, these episodes are usually a warning against using television (or fiction in general) as an escapist fantasy. In some ways this is a valid warning, but almost overdone. Escapism usually carries a negative connotation, but there’s a difference between being willfully ignorant and taking a pause from your daily life. The message to “get of your couch and do something” is on the surface a message to the perceived laziness of fans. It feels reductive to use this warning because it could overshadow the reason why people become so engaged with their favorite fandoms in the first place. Fiction also allows us to process different feelings in a way that feels a little safer because it’s removed from our own lives and direct actions. For example, when a character loses a loved one and we see them process that grief, it allows us to exercise empathy in a fairly controlled environment.
In the Legends episode, Sara says, “Life is beautiful and terrible, all at the same time. But if we’re only living part of it, then we’re not living at all.” I’d argue that it’s a directive that we already recognize and take on.
Keep living and keep watching TV. Just remember to change the channels every so often.
For more television coverage check out:
Teyonah Parris discusses working on WandaVision
What we know so far about Marvel Studios’ new series “WandaVision”
Disenchanted, a sequel to “Enchanted,” will stream exclusively on Disney+.
