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British Association for American Studies

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Emilie Cunning

Emilie Cunning is a student of American History, particularly interested in racial and imperial dimensions of American domestic policing. Emilie is also intrigued by American Cultural History, and believes that cultural mediums such as film and television can be utilised as a lens to reflect and reveal aspects of the American identity. Emilie has previously written on the politics of the film ‘BlacKkKlansman’ (2018) as part of her studies, and was recently awarded the BAAS Best Undergraduate Essay Prize for her essay on the Black Lives Matter movement. Emilie has just finished up her undergraduate studies at UCL Institute of the Americas and will be pursuing an American History MPhil at Cambridge starting this Autumn.

Mirroring the Medium: Depictions of Female Domesticity in ‘WandaVision’

WandaVision (2021) is, at its core, a story of grief and nostalgia. In its genre-bending magnificence, WandaVision narrates the evolution of American sit-coms, hurtling us forward through the second half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, as the black-and-white pastiches of The Dick Van Dyke Show and Bewitched transform into the familiar worlds of Malcolm in the Middle and Modern Family. However, in mirroring the medium of American sit-coms, the series also masterfully chronicles the changing role of women in American society through its portrayal of the picturesque nuclear family life – and the fantasies which uphold its illusory existence. As we are transported into the world of Westview, New Jersey, we find Wanda Maximoff and Vision settling into a life of domestic newlywed bliss in the confines of 1950s sit-com America, complete with its monochrome filter. The series follows the events of Avengers Infinity War (2018) and […]