What you’re (not) being told about Wanda Maximoff
How far did ‘WandaVision’ explore her Romani identity?
Originally published by Martina Petkova in the magazine “An Injustice” on Medium in April 2021.
I’ve never been big on superhero movies but the new WandaVision series struck a chord. Something about the character of Wanda Maximoff felt very familiar.
At first, I thought, “It’s because she’s Eastern European, like me.”
Then I thought, “It’s because she’s struggling with grief and loss, like me.”
But no, there was more. Hexes. “Chaos” magic. Indomitable, reality-altering power — “wasted” on a woman who just wants a simple life with her husband and children.
Why did that feel so familiar?
Turns out, it was because I was raised right next to it. I was raised to fear and hate it.
The original character of Wanda from the 1970s Marvel Comics was Romani. Here’s a paragraph about her childhood, from Wikipedia.
“After Django steals bread to feed his family, the locals attack the Roma tribe burning down their homes. The Maximoff wagon is set on fire with Marya still inside and Django is beaten by multiple attackers.”
Wanda and her family were victims of racial persecution. By locals, like me.
Why Westview?
This is not breaking news. Wanda’s Romani heritage has been well-known among Marvel fans. When she was introduced in the MCU, played by Elisabeth Olsen, accusations of “whitewashing” followed right behind.
There are many think pieces online about how the MCU struggles to get Wanda’s heritage “right.” How it doesn’t know how to represent Romani culture so it completely erases it. Another wave of criticism was stirred recently by the WandaVision Halloween episode where Wanda says she’s disguised as a “Sokovian fortuneteller” — a double-whammy of playing on the racial stereotype of the Roma fortuneteller and at the same time not even acknowledging the character is Roma at all.
WandaVision is a remarkably introspective show for a superhero franchise. It’s a character study, a deep exploration of grief, loss, childhood trauma, and identity.
And yet, Wanda’s Roma identity only flashed briefly as a mislabeled Halloween costume.
Didn’t it?
I feel it was always there. I feel Wanda’s Roma identity cannot be escaped regardless of how little MCU writers care about the Roma culture.
It was a distant echo but a powerful one.
WandaVision is not at all about Wanda being Romani. It is, however, inadvertently about how the Romani are seen, experienced, and (mis)interpreted by outsiders.
In what was probably a spectacularly unconscious decision, the writers are telling us as much: The entire show takes place in the fictional town of Westview.
We examine Wanda’s journey through the eye of Western culture.
Wanda’s super-powers
I’m from Bulgaria, one of the countries with the largest Roma minority. The Romani are generally despised, marginalized, and scapegoated here. An average Bulgarian will tell you they are thieves, lazy, and good for nothing.
Like with any case of scapegoating, there is much more going on under the surface. Much like all Europeans, Bulgarians are, in fact, terrified of the Romani. We are afraid that the Romani have many children and will one day outnumber us and take over our ancient country. We are afraid the Romani will rob, rape, and murder us when we encounter them in the streets.
And we’re afraid of hexes. Few will ever admit it but it’s still part of our collective psyche. We don’t believe in curses, but a “Gypsy curse” works. If a Romani person casts a curse on you, only a priest might be able to save you.
Of course, these are all stereotypes, and how little they have to do with reality is beside the point.
The point is the fear. The specific brand of fear that is born when you scapegoat someone. On the surface, you attain a lot of power. But unconsciously, you also give up a lot of power. This is why the most vicious racists and abusers are, deep down, people who shrivel in fear.
In WandaVision, Wanda claims her identity as the Scarlett Witch: the most powerful being in the Universe. Her brand of magic — chaos magic — can literally end the world but also create reality out of nothing.
What an incredible symbol for the Romani after a thousand years of brutality, persecution, and enslavement across Europe because they were seen as “tricksters” and “bringers of chaos.”
Wanda’s traumatic childhood
In the comics, Wanda and her twin brother are raised by a Romani couple — Django and Marya. The backstory having been retconned, in some comics Django and Marya are the twins’ parents, while in others Django is their uncle.
In any case, the twins were raised by this Romani couple in a Roma camp. One day, Django stole a loaf of bread to feed the family. As punishment, his wagon along with the entire Roma camp was burned down by angry villagers.
This piece of backstory could be taken out from a history book.
Except, here in Europe we don’t really include these stories in our history books. Anti-Roma violence is ingrained in Europe, specifically the punishing kind of violence — the burning down of entire villages and the erasure of entire communities as a reaction to one transgression. It has happened consistently throughout history and continues to happen today.
But we don’t write about it and don’t talk about it.
In the MCU, this backstory was rewritten completely. Wanda and her brother are from the fictional Eastern European country “Sokovia” and lose their parents and home through a bomb experiment gone wrong.
Clearly, the writers felt explosions are more dramatic than stolen loaves of bread and burnt wagons.
But even if you take away the racial persecution, the disproportionate violence, and the centuries of brutality, you can’t take away the symbolism. Bomb or not, it’s still fire. Childhoods still go up in flames. Children are still rendered orphaned, homeless, and outsiders to society — and then, still viewed as if they are the dangerous ones.
Wanda’s true desire
Where the writers of WandaVision got very close to Wanda’s Roma heritage was in her deepest desire.
She is incredibly powerful — in fact, the most powerful being in the Universe — and yet, she has no lust for power. What she does want, is a peaceful life with her family.
Her nemesis, the witch Agatha, is appalled at how the Scarlet Witch “wastes” her powers on suburban family life.
The Romani have always been criticized for being “unorganized” — having never formed their own state or owned any land, they are seen as inferior by “civilized” societies.
In reality, the Romani have always been master craftsmen, artisans, musicians, passing down their unique skills generation after generation. They have always been very organized — in their communities, in their groups, in their culture and customs, in their Nomadic lifestyle.
The thing is, this has always been very internal. The Romani don’t force it on outsiders. They don’t explain themselves. They don’t care about markers of prestige or about hoarding property. They have never, not once in their thousand years of history, tried to colonize or enslave others.
Roma culture is very rich and varied but if there’s one way to generalize it, it’s probably this: The Romani are highly skilled, intelligent, entrepreneurial, and talented people who don’t care about tooting their horn. They care about living their life with joy, in their communities, with their families, practicing their crafts.
Wanda’s complete lack of interest in colonizing the Universe despite her immense power is, actually, a true — if accidental — homage to her Roma heritage.
Agatha’s desire to steal, to own this power, to put it “to better use,” is a true — if accidental — homage to how Western culture views the types of craft and skills traditionally practiced by the Romani.
Whose guilt is this about?
Of course, in WandaVision, Wanda does colonize an entire town. In her grief, she casts a hex and creates an entire reality where the love of her life is still alive and the residents of Westview are quite literally enslaved to keep up the illusion.
It’s a story about grief, denial, and then, acceptance.
Also about guilt.
In a scene during the finale, the hex is lifted briefly. The residents of Westview regain their autonomy, surround Wanda, and in an escalation of aggression tell her how she has made them suffer.
A man says, “When we sleep, we have your nightmares.”
“We feel your pain,” a woman says.
“Your grief is poisoning us,” another woman says.
Wanda has captured an entire town and made the oblivious residents feel the grief over the violence and loss that have marked her life.
WandaVision is a well-written show, but I’m not giving any credit to the writers for capturing all these truths about the Romani. I think it was unconscious, the way myths and fairytales are created. The Marvel Universe, with its undeniable resonance in today’s culture, is also modern mythology.
What we know about myths, legends, and fairytales is that they channel archetypes from our collective psyche. They can never truly resonate if they don’t draw from unconscious truths.
What truths did WandaVision channel, without meaning to?
We can pretend the Romani are insignificant and inferior. We can pretend there is no real violence against them or that it is always deserved. We can even pretend they don’t exist.
But we can’t escape our fears, our prejudice, our history, or our guilt. The guilt, of course, is largely unconscious. We can only feel it “when we sleep.”
We can set out to write a story about a grief-stricken superhero, completely erasing her Roma heritage. But our unconscious mind — where all stories come from — will still infuse it with truths about the one thousand years of Roma history and our role in it.
We did end up with a great story. Sadly, it’s not about a Roma heroine. It’s about why we’re so afraid to tell stories about Roma heroines.
Representation in the media is much more important to marginalized young people. If only MCU would do a reboot with a Romani actress.