#16: Stef and Ariel are avid retro and vintage fans, and in this episode, they share these passions through the medium of Wandavision, the first Disney+ Marvel show to kick off the fourth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They dive into the clothing, the music, the special effects, and other nodes to the vintage and retro eras explored in the show.

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

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Ariel Landrum 0:10
Hello, everybody, welcome to The Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Ariel.

Stefanie Bautista 0:15
And I’m Stef. And we’re Disney fans. But we’re really so much more than that.

Ariel Landrum 0:19
Like I’m a licensed therapist, and I use my clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental unwellness.

Stefanie Bautista 0:26
And I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:32
Happiest Pod is a place where we dissect Disney 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 0:42
And so today Ariel what Disney media or experience are we dissecting and sharing on this episode?

Ariel Landrum 0:49
So we’re gonna take it back a similar to what we’re dissecting we are going to dissect Wandavision

Stefanie Bautista 0:58
Wandavision lately got so many Emmy nominations, did you know that?

Ariel Landrum 1:04
Hey yes. Worth it.

Stefanie Bautista 1:06
Worth it. I don’t know exactly how many maybe we can get that number by the end of the episode. But I think it’s super awesome that these, The Academy or whoever is recognizing the work of Disney, not just Disney, but the work of comic book material, because I’ve always felt that comic books themselves as readable mediums have; their storytelling is so much more advanced than people take them for face value.

Ariel Landrum 1:36
Absolutely. Absolutely. And the appreciation that it’s becoming more than I think, I think we consider comic books and comic mediums very childlike or immature. There, there seems to be a stigma about the culture of people who consume comics and and even Disney media. Right?

Stefanie Bautista 2:02
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 2:03
So I think that now it’s, we’re gaining more recognition, it shows that it’s become very mainstream. It’s becoming a part of the general populace’s palette, but also that were given the way that Wandavision is created in regards to both honoring the comics and old sitcoms. It’s showing that that that projection and growth and evolution in regards to how we consume medium, but also the things that are still classic and timeless, and how that molding together is, I would say worthy of praise and are worthy of an award. But just something that we’ve known all along as as the audience; the consumers.

Stefanie Bautista 2:50
Yeah, absolutely. And I think in the time where I guess not a lot of people are so focused on getting those awards. I know, there’s so much controversy around like Emmys and the Oscars and the Grammys, I just think the recognition from a wider audience not just you know, our geeky audience and people who consume that media, it means a little bit and I think it just shows that the people running these shows are true professionals and the people who are producing the episodes and who are writing these scripts, they’re really taking the time to elevate the storytelling that we’re we’re used to seeing in our previous Marvel movies. So I do have the statistics, Wandavision earned 23 nominations, including outstanding limited series at the next Emmy Awards. They also get a nomination for “Agatha All Along,” the song…

Ariel Landrum 3:48
Heyyy!

Stefanie Bautista 3:48
For outstanding music and lyrics because you know that was an earworm for everybody who listened to it. It was like everwhere.

Ariel Landrum 3:55
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 3:57
And Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany have Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress nods as well. So I think everybody from I think also the, the cinematography maybe. There’s definitely directing, Outstanding Supporting lead actress in Kathryn Hahn as Agatha because she was crazy good in the show. Outstanding production design outstanding period and our character hairstyling which they fully deserve. I hope he wins. I do say here they have outstanding sound editing and sound mixing. Yes. That was the even got the the crackling of the old timey TV down. Yeah. And the visual effects. I’m talking about that were fantastic. They really got that old bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie style animation in the beginning of the episodes so perfect. But yeah, that just leads into what we’re going to talk about. And like we mentioned whenever we talk about a TV or movie. It’s full spoilers. So if you haven’t seen one division, pause and listen to any of our other podcasts or any other Geek Therapy podcasts and come back to us because we are going to be diving into the very nitty gritty details of wandavision and pulling all of our pop reference cultures and knowledge to make connections and how we can use that to further our practices.

Ariel Landrum 5:25
And if you have already seen one division after listening to this episode, I would encourage you to go to GT Radio and listen to their review on Wandavision and its notes to grief and loss.

Stefanie Bautista 5:38
Yes, yes. So where are we going to start with this Ariel? It’s a lot.

Ariel Landrum 5:43
So there are so many ways we could have taken really talking about and dissecting this medium and something that Stef and I have an affinity for is definitely retro vintage and and things that are stylistic. We, we like we like to have a nice aesthetic. Even with our straws like you know, no more, you can get your paper straw, but if you use a reusable straw, obviously way better. So for us, we were thinking very much artistic visual design, the sound of really much of the consumption of this medium, a little bit in the story arc of Wanda, but really more in its nods to other other shows other mediums and sitcoms, and very how it was so retro, but now it’s considered very avant garde. So I think umm starting off with obviously, the classic episode one, which if you remember watching it the first time was like “What is going on? Why is black and white? Why? This? I don’t I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel. Is this where it’s gonna be at?”

Stefanie Bautista 7:00
Normally when we watch any sort of Marvel beginning, it’s like a flashback, there’s a child, things are happening. We’re going to follow this child and they’re gonna discover something or, you know, Peter Parker’s gonna get bit by spider. I know that didn’t happen that way. But that’s just what we’re expecting. So we’re expecting to follow a character and a journey, but it totally threw a wrench in our expectations where it started off exactly like how the not Dick Van Dyke we’re going way, way way further. We’re going like, I Love Lucy, black and white opening sitcom like animation…

Ariel Landrum 7:37
And they definitely did in the first episode.

Stefanie Bautista 7:39
Yeah…

Ariel Landrum 7:40
Some Dick Van Dyke Show. Yeah, tropes. Yeah, so definitely, but but even had, you know, some a little b...