I am probably evangelizing to the choir here, but I would like to talk about the psychology of being a Hulk, as presented in “She Hulk.”
I have seen men complaining about it. A lot. And while it is definitely a point the show is making, that women are better at dealing with their emotions, or at least Jen is compared to Bruce—and I like that. It is funny and unexpected,—but there is also truth to it. I also think it’s an oversimplification to say Jen is simply better at being a Hulk because she is a woman or whatever. That it’s simply “woke” bullshit.
The show presents two reason for Jen adapting to being a Hulk faster than Bruce did, 1) she has no second personality and 2) she deals with her anger and fear.
I don’t know the show’s reason for not giving her a second personality. I would venture to guess it is because she doesn’t really have one in the comics (fake nerd boys don’t know about She-Hulk?). But I think the show is also implying Bruce has some kind of disorder around his anger, which is NOT a stretch or a retelling of the Hulk story. I have actually seen some fascinating talk about Bruce’s dissociation when he gets angry and some parallels to “Moon Knight”, though it is incorrect to say Bruce has a “split personality.”
This stuff gets me excited. As someone who again (not to brag) had to do dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) in a hospital setting.
When *is* Bruce able to control the transformations into the Hulk? When he stops trying to NOT be angry and he admits he is always angry.
Jen, who says anger and fear are her “baseline” emotions as a woman, is ALREADY always angry.
And that is something I remember talking about in group at DBT. There was another patient (I do not know their diagnosis) who had a lot of trouble with anger and it ruining family interactions. For that person, they felt anger was “bad” because of their religious upbringing. And the DBT therapist had to work with them on accepting the fact that anger is a normal and healthy human emotion.
You may have heard of the pop psychology book “The Gift of Fear.” Anger is a gift too. Anger is what motivates us to fight. Anger is the superpower that all superheroes have. It is knowing when and how to use it that distinguishes the heroes from the villains.
“She Hulk” is a saying the years of trying to push anger away or avoid it were never going to work. But we knew that they didn’t work already. We saw Bruce’s journey and we don’t need to rehash or redo that arc. That’s not news.
What intrigued me is this: does Does this suggest Bruce had the Hulk with him in some form BEFORE the gamma radiation and maybe didn’t know it? And what does this say about Bruce and how he was raised? In a way, it is pointing to a real problem I have seen some men deal with around how they are socialized not to cry or be angry or have emotions at all.
Ultimately, I wish this were leading to more discussion about the role of anger (and fear) in our daily lives. I hope that little boys who see She Hulk will aspire to be more like Jen, at least when it comes to processing emotions, and not feel like they “should” be Bruce.