There's a moment in the penultimate episode of the Disney+ series "WandaVision" where our reality-bending superhero protagonist sinks to her knees and wails. Its depictions of trauma, of grief and loss -- filtered through a mystery-laden, superpower-driven plot, natch -- are moving and resonant. Harrington quite literally wrote the book on superheroes as vehicles for understanding grief: "Superhero Grief: The Transformative Power of Loss," the text she conceptualizes and co-edited, analyzes superhero films within theories of grief, bereavement and healing. The result is a weird, moving and resonant work about grief and trauma and the nonlinear path of navigating both. "For a fictional show, they're giving a very realistic portrayal of profound loss and grief," Harrington said.

Source: The Nation March 06, 2021 09:56 UTC