What is a meme, if not a joke persevering?
In last week’s episode of WandaVision, Vision’s speech about grief instantly struck a cord with viewers.
With ‘Previously On…’ taking us on a walk through all of Wanda’s life traumas, it’s really not all that surprising that we were all left in some serious pain. Forced to visit the sites of her biggest points of hurt by Agatha, Wanda had to relive the pain of losing her parents, being unable to bury her lover, and losing her brother, Pietro.
But near the end of her horrific trauma tour, Vision offered Wanda some relief with what’s likely the most beautiful line ever uttered in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: “But what is grief, if not love persevering?”
Do you hear that sound? It’s every screenwriter in the world whispering a reverent “FUCK” under their breath. #WandaVision pic.twitter.com/3vzC86mLAh
— Madison Hatfield (@madhat31) February 27, 2021
The beautiful line came from Vision seeing Wanda absolutely numb with grief after Pietro’s death, set somewhere between Age Of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War.
When he joins Wanda, who is sitting alone in her bedroom binge-watching Malcolm In The Middle, Vision offers the line as some relief for Wanda as she deals with the weight of immeasurable grief.
“Well, it can’t all be sorrow, can it?” he says. “I’ve always been alone, so I don’t feel the lack. It’s all I’ve ever known, I’ve never experienced loss because I have never had a loved one to lose. But what is grief, if not love persevering?”
And just like that, the internet fell in love with the beauty of those eight words. While some were truly perplexed over how a few words could make so many feel this emotional, it wasn’t that surprising considering everyone experiences grief, at different levels, at least once in their lives.
Look at the pandemic alone, for example, which has brought about different levels of loss — like loss of life, loss of normalcy, loss of employment and security, and loss of experiences — for people around the world over the last year.
“what is grief if not love persevering” what a line. what a fucking line. i will be angry for the rest of my life that i did not write this line
— ark (@et_ark) February 27, 2021
But as with all things sweet and sincere, Vision’s speech has surpassed the stage of admiration, and has now been given the meme treatment.
While the line was a beautiful encapsulation of what grief is, people couldn’t help but notice how perfect the screenshot was for meme-ing, just as the I Am Going To Create An Environment That Is So Toxic meme was.
pic.twitter.com/7Xw6DfDeqD
— jonny sun (@jonnysun) March 2, 2021
pic.twitter.com/JkAdFsK9fR
— captain repeat infringer (@Steph_I_Will) March 1, 2021
Wow, the writing on this show. pic.twitter.com/5DhQ0zbiGN
— Daniel Spenser (@DanSpenser) February 28, 2021
idk where it came from pic.twitter.com/bDy3AO8wYB
— Avery 🪴 (@st1nk7r4tt) March 2, 2021
But beyond photoshopping the original WandaVision “grief”screenshot, people have even begun to use the line “what is grief, if not love persevering” to share the other things that persevere.
Look, the whole thing is very dumb, but also very funny, so here are all the best “what is, if not” memes:
What is a pickle, if not a cucumber persevering
— david w. peters (@dvdpeters) March 2, 2021
what is SNL if not theater kids persevering
— zach silberberg (@zachsilberberg) March 2, 2021
What is procrastination, if not relaxation persevering?
— Prodigy’s Son 😉 (@vanthefirst) March 3, 2021
what is a bird if not a dinosaur persevering?
— Vinny Thomas ! (@vinn_ayy) March 3, 2021
pic.twitter.com/2t2EthImZu
— 𝕤𝕠𝕗𝕚 (@sincerelysofi) March 1, 2021
What is the royal family if not colonialism persevering?
— Tianna, the Producer 🌸 (@dontsmileattee) March 4, 2021
what is a Brazilian, if not someone who is dead inside persevering
— pond 𓃗 (@sherlockds) March 4, 2021
what is fanfic if not denial persevering
— marvel ao3 tags (@ao3marvel) March 4, 2021
What is kimchi if not cabbage persevering
— evermare (she/her) (@asianagrande1) March 3, 2021
What is the climate crisis if not colonialism persevering
— Bora Chang, MPH • 장보라 (@Borabeet) March 2, 2021
Anyway, here’s hoping WandaVision gives us a good few more memes during tonight’s finale.
the power of screenwriting pic.twitter.com/ob8cYqwejh
— Ben Rosen (@ben_rosen) February 28, 2021
The WandaVision finale airs tonight at 7pm on Disney+.
Warning! This article contains spoilers for the series WandaVision.
“WandaVision” is a Marvel Cinematic Universe series that wrapped up its first season on Disney + on March 5. Wanda Maximoff is a powerful superhero, who emerges from a tragic past in which her parents were killed and her superhero brother shot dead before she joined the Avengers. However, when Vision, another superhero that she fell in love with, is killed, she has to find a way to say goodbye. In her grief, she unexpectedly creates a fictional world in which she didn’t lose Vision.
Wanda’s grief process literally cocooned her from the trauma of having experienced so much loss. In the stages of grief by Kübler-Ross that many of us are familiar with, denial is the first stage. However, we know that grief is not linear. After a false narrative led other characters (and the viewers) to believe that Wanda had stolen Vision’s body in an attempt to revive him, we discover that she actually visited his body to say goodbye, to let go. However, he had given her a gift: an empty lot in Westview, New Jersey—a place where they could build their home and have a family together. The trauma of all that she lost, including a future with Vision, a home, and children, finally erupted through a power she didn’t know she had nor understood how to use, creating a new world—a denial of the current reality she faced, a world without Vision. Based on the shows she watched as a child with her family, before the bombing in Sokovia (a fictional country reminiscent of Eastern Europe), she and Vision are brought to life in black and white in WandaVision. This world created by Wanda resembles “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” then later sitcoms such as “The Brady Bunch,” “Family Ties,” and “Malcolm in the Middle.” Shows in which parents are alive and children are born, where the most difficult conversations and situations are resolved with light-hearted humor.
The series hinges on a scene in episode eight, in which, during a flashback to Wanda’s time at the Avengers compound, after losing her brother, Vision enters her room. It is before she and Vision are lovers. He senses her grief as she sits, watching sitcoms to escape the present reality of her brother’s death, and speaks these words: “What is grief, if not love persevering?”
This quote from the show has been shared so often on social media because grief is something that strikes us all. Even Jesus experienced grief. In John 11, Lazarus became ill, and though Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed away too long, and Lazarus died. When Jesus visited Martha and Mary, Lazarus had been in the tomb four days (v. 17). Martha confronted Jesus, telling him that if he had been there, her brother would not have died. Jesus told her that her brother would rise again. When he asked her what she believed, she declared she believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the resurrection and the life (vv. 20-27).
However, when Jesus was finally confronted by the other sister, Mary, he was disturbed in his spirit, and began to weep. And others who were watching said, “See how he loved him!” (vv. 35-36). And with a power not understood by those around him, he told others to move away the stone and called Lazarus to come out of the grave (vv. 38-44).
Jesus experienced grief. Jesus knew what it was to lose someone, and to be so desperate to change the world because of it. However, we also know that this brief time of reunion for Mary and Martha with their brother Lazarus did not last. Not only did Jesus move on to Jerusalem and his own death, John’s Gospel indicates that others plotted to kill Lazarus as well (12:10-11).
Beneath the meta-sitcom exterior, the super-powered beings, and the flash of the MCU, WandaVision is a show about grief. It is a series that has become, somewhat unexpectedly, perfect for the moment. As we're trapped in our Covid bubbles—likely grieving loved ones and friends, missing the lives we once had—we're watching Wanda trapped in a self-made bubble of her own trauma. These emotions are real, they're relatable, and they're human in a way that nothing else in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been before.
And that's why one line from Episode Eight of WandaVision has become a defining moment of the series for fans. The line comes during a flashback in which Vision and Wanda are discussing her mourning the death of her brother Pietro:
Wanda: It's just like this wave washing over me again and again. It knocks me down and when I try to stand up, it just comes for me again. And I can't... It's gonna drown me.
Vision: No. No, Wanda.Wanda: How do you know?Vision: Because it can't be all sorrow, can it? I've always been alone so I don't feel the lack. It's all I've ever known. I've never experienced loss because I've never had a loved one to lose. What is grief, if not love persevering?
And that's the line: "What is grief, if not love persevering?"
It comes after seven episodes in which WandaVision has slowly revealed what is working behind the scenes of this meta sitcom superhero story. And it struck a cord with viewers who related to Vision's wisdom and Wanda's struggle. Since that episode on Feb. 26, the line has been the subject of much discussion—with fans either identifying with it or rolling their eyes at it.
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I've been thinking a lot about why #WandaVision's "But what is grief if not love persevering?" line has rocked so many people. I suspect it's that we're now a world of grieving deferred & that line, and episode, offered a tiny bit of catharsis that's been collectively denied us.
— Alisha Grauso (@AlishaGrauso) February 28, 2021
And in a new interview with IGN, director Matt Shakman explains why the line has come to define the series:
[Episode 8] was so important because it pulls back the curtain on what the whole story has been all season, and hopefully folks can go back and look at episodes one, two, and three in a new light now. This is a story about love, it’s about loss, it’s about grief, it’s about how we move on from loss, something I think we all know too much about in general, but especially this year of the pandemic. And so everything that we’ve done so far, even silly live-audience sitcoms in the ‘50s, is fueled by Wanda’s loss and about how she’s trying to find solace from that loss. So that’s what the Avengers HQ scene is really about.And it’s also about [Wanda and Vision’s] connection. We’ve seen them together, they’ve been quite charming together making paprikash, we’ve seen the highs and the lows, but this is the moment where they really come together. This is the moment where [Vision] provides the solace that she needs, a way forward, and that line [about grief] is quite beautiful. But it’s also made especially beautiful by the line before it, as well, when Wanda articulates what loss is like to her and he is able to give her a way forward. He is able to show her that love is the way through that. He is quite a wise person, Vision. Even though he’s not human, he seems to be more human than any of us. He has some of the best lines in the MCU, I think that one [about grief] written by [WandaVision writer] Laura Donney is gorgeous.
It's interesting to see the conversation about the line—both positive and negative—happening on social media. These are emotions and themes that the MCU has never truly handled in this way. For fans (and critics alike), it is new to have these ideas presented in a comic book story so earnestly. And I get why some people are quick to make fun of this moment. The MCU has hardly ever been a place for honest feelings or real emotional stakes. A sober line about grief feels disingenuous coming from a blockbuster corporate tentpole that deals in multi-billion-dollar mass produced entertainment. But, I think this quote from Shankman is important in revealing the intention behind the art.
Whether you think the line is beautiful or cheesy (I think the former), it is certainly a perfect example of the type of story that WandaVision is trying to tell. And they're doing it right.
Matt MillerCulture Editor
Matt Miller is a Brooklyn-based culture/lifestyle writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Esquire, Forbes, The Denver Post, and documentaries.
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