New Medium Article: What Can Deadpool Tell Us About Self-Acceptance?
Happy Friday all! I just wanted to let you know that I have just posted a new Medium article on my page. Today I am looking into Marvel's Deadpool and his journey to self-acceptance.
The link to the full article is below, as well as a sneak peek.
All of my Medium articles are currently free.
Serena
Link: https://alysonserenastone.medium.com/...
Sneak Peek:
Author’s Note: This article contains spoilers for the following movies: Deadpool and Deadpool 2. This article only focuses on those movies and not the original comics.
Wade Wilson…Deadpool…Merc with a Mouth…These are just a few names of one of the new entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Deadpool is not your typical Marvel superhero. At first, he is presented as a villain, but later moves into the category of antihero. He is not good, nor can he be called evil. He is disfigured, mentally unstable, and crosses the line of good and evil many times. He is talkative, loud, and full of jokes. He is the type of person who has a good time in the middle of the fight. Yet, he is super self-aware and, as far as I know, the only superhero to break through the fourth wall, meaning that he is aware that he is a fictional character. This allows him to communicate with his audience and provide us with an in-depth look into his character.
Deadpool’s awareness plays into his self-acceptance. This is not always easy for him, and it is full of bumps along the way. However, it is this part that pulls us into his story. Deadpool is unapologetically himself. He accepts who he is and what he is. But how? How does someone who has hit rock bottom become so self-accepting of himself? How does he learn to embrace himself?
First off, we must realise just how complex a character Deadpool is. He uses humour and violence to mask his insecurities. This is most evident through his reluctance to take off his mask, how much he relies on his mask, and the jokes that he makes. He puts up this front of being confident and so sure of himself, but it is all to hide his insecurities. The truth of the matter is that he is reluctant to embrace himself and allow himself to become who he is supposed to be. The joking also serves to prevent him from looking at himself and accepting who he is.
Wade Wilson was dishonourably discharged from the Special Forces and now spends his days working as a mercenary. He lives his days by himself, trying to make ends meet. Then, he meets Vanessa, and things change. He finds himself drawn to her. As time goes on, he eventually proposes to her and they make plans to start their life together.
Then, things change. Wade is diagnosed with cancer and will more than likely die from it. He is approached by someone from an unknown organisation who supposedly has a way to cure him of the cancer. Not only will it cure his cancer, but it will give him powers. Wade declines at first, but does, eventually, take the treatment.
Once he is at the treatment facility, he realises that not everything is as it seems. The main goal of this place is to build an army of people with superpowers. He is forced to undergo torture at the hands of Ajax and Angel Dunst. Despite this, he never loses his sense of humour. This sense of humour will appear time and time again throughout the movies as it is a coping method and a way to relieve stress. However, at some point, Wade gives in and his mutant genes at activated, which offers him regenerative healing.
This is not all the treatment does to him: the treatment he received left him greatly disfigured. All of this happened shortly after he became engaged to Vanessa. When he was healed, it made the cancerous cells, as well as healthy ones, unable to die, which left him heavily scarred. It also means that he cannot be killed. Not only did it affect his appearance, but it did affected his mental state. When he regenerates, the neurons in his brain are affected, which causes him to have psychosis and makes him mentally unstable. This means that he can and does lose contact with reality. All of this also makes him a highly unpredictable opponent. We see this happen pretty quickly. Wade is driven partially insane by both the disfigurement and torture that he destroys the facility and manages to escape from it. However, he lost his fight with Ajax. With the facility being destroyed, Wade is also presumed to be dead. This sets him off on his quest to find Ajax and have himself returned to how he used to look. Why? He thinks that with the way he looks now that Vanessa will not accept him for who he is, which makes him afraid to seek her out and let her know that he is alive.
It is this fear and desire to have Vanessa expect him for who he is that drives Wade to become Deadpool. He has this strong belief that Vanessa will and does only love him for his looks and not for who he is. He starts his quest for Ajax to demand that he fix him.
Deadpool does eventually track down Ajax and learns that Ajax has no way to give him back his looks. Deadpool goes to kill Ajax, but is interrupted by two members of the X-Men: Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. They try to bring him in, but fail because Deedpool serves his hand and manages to escape.
Ajax ends up kidnapping Vanessa to get back at Deadpool, and it does work. Despite everything that he has been through, he still loves Vanessa. After all, this journey has been so that Vanessa accepts him. It also causes Deadpool to seek out the help of the X-Men, which is another big step for him. Up until this point, he has worked primarily alone, which has to do with the fact that he believes people would not accept him if they saw his scars. This is why he also relies so much on the mask: he doesn’t want people to see how insecure he his. He uses humour and comes across as confident to truly hide exactly how he feels.
Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead agree to help him. The three of them find Ajex and Vanessa. When the time comes, Colossus does not want Deadpool to kill Ajax. However, Deadpool, at this point, is highly mentally unstable and highly unpredictable. He does not listen to Colossus and ends up killing Ajax, which greatly unset Colossus. However, this is not the main thing that happens: Vanessa accepts Deadpool for who he is. Despite his appearance and everything that he has done, Vanessa takes him for who he is and the way he is. This moment is a pivotal step in Deadpool’s journey to self-acceptance. The external validation is what he needs to feel internally accepted and to improve his self-worth.
It finally seems like Deadpool has accepted himself and embraced his flaws. Two years later, he is at the height of his game: he is a very successful mercenary, spends his days taking out the worst of humanity, and has Vanessa. Life is great. Then, things go very wrong.
The link to the full article is below, as well as a sneak peek.
All of my Medium articles are currently free.
Serena
Link: https://alysonserenastone.medium.com/...
Sneak Peek:
Author’s Note: This article contains spoilers for the following movies: Deadpool and Deadpool 2. This article only focuses on those movies and not the original comics.
Wade Wilson…Deadpool…Merc with a Mouth…These are just a few names of one of the new entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Deadpool is not your typical Marvel superhero. At first, he is presented as a villain, but later moves into the category of antihero. He is not good, nor can he be called evil. He is disfigured, mentally unstable, and crosses the line of good and evil many times. He is talkative, loud, and full of jokes. He is the type of person who has a good time in the middle of the fight. Yet, he is super self-aware and, as far as I know, the only superhero to break through the fourth wall, meaning that he is aware that he is a fictional character. This allows him to communicate with his audience and provide us with an in-depth look into his character.
Deadpool’s awareness plays into his self-acceptance. This is not always easy for him, and it is full of bumps along the way. However, it is this part that pulls us into his story. Deadpool is unapologetically himself. He accepts who he is and what he is. But how? How does someone who has hit rock bottom become so self-accepting of himself? How does he learn to embrace himself?
First off, we must realise just how complex a character Deadpool is. He uses humour and violence to mask his insecurities. This is most evident through his reluctance to take off his mask, how much he relies on his mask, and the jokes that he makes. He puts up this front of being confident and so sure of himself, but it is all to hide his insecurities. The truth of the matter is that he is reluctant to embrace himself and allow himself to become who he is supposed to be. The joking also serves to prevent him from looking at himself and accepting who he is.
Wade Wilson was dishonourably discharged from the Special Forces and now spends his days working as a mercenary. He lives his days by himself, trying to make ends meet. Then, he meets Vanessa, and things change. He finds himself drawn to her. As time goes on, he eventually proposes to her and they make plans to start their life together.
Then, things change. Wade is diagnosed with cancer and will more than likely die from it. He is approached by someone from an unknown organisation who supposedly has a way to cure him of the cancer. Not only will it cure his cancer, but it will give him powers. Wade declines at first, but does, eventually, take the treatment.
Once he is at the treatment facility, he realises that not everything is as it seems. The main goal of this place is to build an army of people with superpowers. He is forced to undergo torture at the hands of Ajax and Angel Dunst. Despite this, he never loses his sense of humour. This sense of humour will appear time and time again throughout the movies as it is a coping method and a way to relieve stress. However, at some point, Wade gives in and his mutant genes at activated, which offers him regenerative healing.
This is not all the treatment does to him: the treatment he received left him greatly disfigured. All of this happened shortly after he became engaged to Vanessa. When he was healed, it made the cancerous cells, as well as healthy ones, unable to die, which left him heavily scarred. It also means that he cannot be killed. Not only did it affect his appearance, but it did affected his mental state. When he regenerates, the neurons in his brain are affected, which causes him to have psychosis and makes him mentally unstable. This means that he can and does lose contact with reality. All of this also makes him a highly unpredictable opponent. We see this happen pretty quickly. Wade is driven partially insane by both the disfigurement and torture that he destroys the facility and manages to escape from it. However, he lost his fight with Ajax. With the facility being destroyed, Wade is also presumed to be dead. This sets him off on his quest to find Ajax and have himself returned to how he used to look. Why? He thinks that with the way he looks now that Vanessa will not accept him for who he is, which makes him afraid to seek her out and let her know that he is alive.
It is this fear and desire to have Vanessa expect him for who he is that drives Wade to become Deadpool. He has this strong belief that Vanessa will and does only love him for his looks and not for who he is. He starts his quest for Ajax to demand that he fix him.
Deadpool does eventually track down Ajax and learns that Ajax has no way to give him back his looks. Deadpool goes to kill Ajax, but is interrupted by two members of the X-Men: Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. They try to bring him in, but fail because Deedpool serves his hand and manages to escape.
Ajax ends up kidnapping Vanessa to get back at Deadpool, and it does work. Despite everything that he has been through, he still loves Vanessa. After all, this journey has been so that Vanessa accepts him. It also causes Deadpool to seek out the help of the X-Men, which is another big step for him. Up until this point, he has worked primarily alone, which has to do with the fact that he believes people would not accept him if they saw his scars. This is why he also relies so much on the mask: he doesn’t want people to see how insecure he his. He uses humour and comes across as confident to truly hide exactly how he feels.
Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead agree to help him. The three of them find Ajex and Vanessa. When the time comes, Colossus does not want Deadpool to kill Ajax. However, Deadpool, at this point, is highly mentally unstable and highly unpredictable. He does not listen to Colossus and ends up killing Ajax, which greatly unset Colossus. However, this is not the main thing that happens: Vanessa accepts Deadpool for who he is. Despite his appearance and everything that he has done, Vanessa takes him for who he is and the way he is. This moment is a pivotal step in Deadpool’s journey to self-acceptance. The external validation is what he needs to feel internally accepted and to improve his self-worth.
It finally seems like Deadpool has accepted himself and embraced his flaws. Two years later, he is at the height of his game: he is a very successful mercenary, spends his days taking out the worst of humanity, and has Vanessa. Life is great. Then, things go very wrong.
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