#14: With Special Guest Rachel Wethers, MSW, Happiest Pod dives into both the character and show Loki on Disney+. Stef, Ariel, and Rachel talk about themes of trauma, adoption, lying, acceptance, and belonging.

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

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Ariel Landrum 0:11
Hello, everyone, welcome to The Happiest Pod on Earth.

Stefanie Bautista 0:14
I’m Stefanie.

Ariel Landrum 0:16
And I’m Ariel.

Rachel Wethers 0:17
And I’m Rachel.

Ariel Landrum 0:19
And we’re all Disney fans. But we’re really so much more than that.

Stefanie Bautista 0:23
And I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the wide world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:31
And I’m a licensed therapist who uses my clients passion and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and really achieve mental wellness.

Rachel Wethers 0:40
And I’m a licensed clinical social worker who uses passions and fandoms to help process and integrate trauma, and empower each of us in our different individual uniqueness.

Ariel Landrum 0:51
And a Happiest Pod is a the place where we dissect is new mediums with a critical lens. Why? Because just like we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume.

Stefanie Bautista 1:02
Happiest Pod is the as part of the Geek Therapy Network of podcasts where we all believe that the best way to understand ourselves and the world around us is through the mediums we have an affinity with.

Ariel Landrum 1:13
And because we have an affinity well for Disney, we will use it as a tool to share with others how to heal and learn, grow and understand. So what Disney the medium or experience are we dissecting and sharing today everybody?

Stefanie Bautista 1:26
Yes, we will be talking about the Disney+ series as well as the character Loki. One of my favorites and many of yours, I’m sure. And as you heard, we have a special guest on the podcast today, Rachel Wether. Now Rachel is a virtual therapist, meaning that she sees her clients online as in and is licensed in Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri.

Ariel Landrum 1:50
Rachel specializes in working with individuals who’ve survived trauma have grown up in the foster system, and even those who are Neurodivergent. She also has a personal history as a foster youth herself.

Stefanie Bautista 2:02
So Rachel, can you share a little bit about your experience as a foster youth?

Rachel Wethers 2:07
Sure, sure. So I entered the state system around the age of 14. And eventually I aged out of foster care at 18. But prior to that I’d been connected through being shifted around between family members and, and friends of the family for quite a few years before 14. I grew up in the Detroit Metro area, but eventually what I was actually placed in a religious children’s home in Mississippi. So big culture shock.

Stefanie Bautista 2:34
Wow.

Rachel Wethers 2:34
Right? I did have the opportunity to travel a lot though, with the children’s home during my high school years to help support the children’s home. And fun fact, our travel group was sent to both Disneyland and Disney World during those years

Ariel Landrum 2:49
What?

Rachel Wethers 2:49
Right?

Stefanie Bautista 2:49
Magical.

Rachel Wethers 2:50
While traveling, I probably wouldn’t have been able to visit that if it hadn’t been for being there.

Stefanie Bautista 2:58
Okay.

Rachel Wethers 2:58
Anyways, my childhood has given me a lot of lived experience regarding trauma, childhood attachment needs, and especially aging out of the system without much support because that was like 25 years ago. So there’s a lot more support nowadays.

Stefanie Bautista 3:12
For sure.

Ariel Landrum 3:13
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 3:13
And I know we’re going to be diving a little bit more into that probably later. But thank you so much for sharing…

Rachel Wethers 3:18
Sure.

Stefanie Bautista 3:18
Your history with us and our listeners and for agreeing to join this podcast. We’re so excited to have you today.

Rachel Wethers 3:24
Thank you.

Ariel Landrum 3:25
Yes, thank you, thank you, we need to be the perfect guest to help us uncover Loki and get to know this character and show the themes of adoption and belonging acceptance. I think it should be noted that we’re recording this episode on July 14, which is the final episode of this series. So let’s dive in. I know for you, Rachel, you’ve you actually pulled up a lot of Loki history and lore, going back to two comics and a little bit of Norse mythology. So way back.

Rachel Wethers 3:55
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 3:55
What are some things that you want to highlight in regards to the differences from the Loki we see in this this variant? Versus like the intro we get in the MCU? And the intro we get in the comics?

Rachel Wethers 4:09
Sure, sure. Well, I think so I have a wonderful partner and he’s been collecting comic books for like forever. We have like boxes and boxes and closets.

Ariel Landrum 4:18
Lovely.

Rachel Wethers 4:19
But he just really pointed out that the difference in writers because you know, Loki was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby drew him wonderfully back in the day. But over time, as the authors have changed, the story has shifted some right? And so I think Stan drew from the original Norse mythology a little bit more, which had…

Ariel Landrum 4:42
Like being true to to the origin of the inspiration.

Rachel Wethers 4:46
Which really focused on more villainous approach, right. Really focusing on the trickster from a very harsh and negative perspective. Loki really wanted power, right at that time, and while some of that passes into the more modern comic days, and especially then the MCU I think that Tom Hiddleston, especially in the MCU, has really brought a lot of humor. And he has this charisma, right, that draws people. And so he becomes much more likeable.

Ariel Landrum 5:19
Yes.

Rachel Wethers 5:19
And he really inspires, you know, compassion and empathy as we pick up on some of the storylines that have affected him through the years.

Stefanie Bautista 5:28
Yeah, I think in casting Tom Hiddleston they really wanted to put us all in a pickle.

Ariel Landrum 5:34
Right?!

Rachel Wethers 5:34
It was fantastic casting.

Stefanie Bautista 5:37
Yeah, I really, I love Loki, as you know, a hero, I have to hear whatever you have him. He is just so unpredictable. And I think that’s refreshing when you know, you’re thinking about the Avengers. And you know the plight of the hero’s journey. So it’s really nice to see how they flesh them out.

Rachel Wethers 5:54
Sure.

Ariel Landrum 5:55
And I think it’s also interesting like talking about that idea of trickster because if I just hear that word, like my association of it is like being mischievious and tricky, but not being evil.

Rachel Wethers 6:07
Yeah right.

Ariel Landrum 6:08
And so I feel like if I were to dive into the older comics, I may not like that Loki.

Rachel Wethers 6:14
I would agree, I would probably feel...