Ever think that a hulk could get Social Anxiety? What about She-Hulk. Yep, it’s true. Even a Hulk or She-Hulk can fall to social anxiety
She’s intelligent, she’s charming, and she is 7 feet tall with impenetrable green skin and the strength of the actual Hulk. Jen Walters is She Hulk. And she is the best dam attorney in California.
It takes a lot to balance out life of a busy attorney and super hero. For Jen, she went through what all hero’s go through: the struggle to find oneself.
I know – it’s kinda cliché, ain’t it? All hero’s go through the same thing and it can be a bit tedious after a while. But it is absolutely necessary to understand the character, and there is no better way to understand than seeing their struggles early on in their hero-hood.
Well you can watch She – Hulk: Attorney at Law on Disney +. But for now, check out the three social anxiety scenes from Jen Walters below. Before you do, make sure you know a thing or two about Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). It’ll make more sense before you continue.
Hulk Smash!
She-Hulk also Smash!
She-Hulk Social Anxiety Moment 1
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Episode 1)
Show: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Episode 1 – A Normal Amount of Rage
Scene: Jen Walters is giving her closing argument in court
Anxiety Provoking Event: Standing and speaking in a court room while everyone’s eyes (and ears) are on Jen.
Something to know about Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD): People who suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder typically develop major anxiety symptoms when walking into a room filled with seated people. All eyes are on you as the only person standing. It’s the same concept for Jen standing in a room filled with seated people while trying to convince a jury of her case.
Trial Lawyer equals social strength
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Episode 1)
Yes it’s true. Being a trial lawyer is a big no-no for someone who suffers from Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). Standing and speaking in front of a person of authority (like a judge) and a group of people who’ll decide the fate of your case is not easy for anyone. But SAD sufferers have it worse since anxiety symptoms would take control. I’m not just talking increased heart rate, but more about the awful Red Face of SAD.
For Jen Walters (aka She-Hulk), this is part of her normal job, which she clearly does well. But if she had SAD, She-Hulk would develop really bad social anxiety symptoms just from doing a simple closing argument. It would lead to bright red facial blushing, profuse sweating, and stiffened/rigid body posture. People would stare and make comments, which would only make the SAD symptoms worse. Jen would blush brighter and sweat even more.
She-Hulk Social Anxiety Moment 2
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Episode 4)
Show: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Episode 4 – Is This Not Real Magic?
Scene: Jen Walters makes a dating profile.
Anxiety Provoking Event: Putting a photo of herself in a dating app.
Something to know about Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD): People who suffer from SAD would have a problem posting their photo online, particularly social sites, like dating apps. Making a LinkedIn profil with your photo is a struggle in of itself, so a dating app would be that much worse. It leaves the door open for judgement by other people, especially people who know you (like work colleagues). That’s not to say that SAD people wouldn’t ever put their photo on a dating app, but they would be really reserved about doing that.
Dating Apps make life easy
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Episode 4)
Look, I get it. Jen wants to find someone, settle down, and build a long term relationship. She made that very clear throughout the course of the She-Hulk series (maybe a little too clear). So, living in the 21st century, Jen did exactly what so many other people in the world do. She went online, signed up with a dating app, posted her photo, and started dating.
But what if She-Hulk had some major social anxiety issues. After all, she is a big, green hulk. That kind of attention drawn to her everywhere she goes can be annoying to deal with. If she had social anxiety disorder, Jen would not have made the decision so easily to sign up with a dating app and post her photo. There are too many people out there who would judge her, which leads to even more anxiety.
And not to mention… what if people she knew found out? Like people from her job, family, or friends? What would they think of her? What would they say about her?
These are the questions that would go through Jens mind. Again, she could still decide to post her photo on a dating app, but their would have been a lot of back & forth debate in her mind about it.
She-Hulk Social Anxiety Moment 3
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (Episode 8)
Show: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Episode 8 – Ribbit and Rip it
Scene: She-Hulk gives wins award for Female Lawyer of the Year and gives her speech on stage.
Anxiety Provoking Event: Standing as the largest, most dominating figure in the center of the stage, surrounded by all the other winners. Then giving a response that is completely different than previous responses and does not answer the question being asked. She-Hulk gives a sentimental response speech about thanking her parents when all others respond to the question about “what it’s like to be a female lawyer.”
Something to know about Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD): SAD people already have a brain chemistry that causes physical symptoms, like Red Face, muscle stiffness, trembling hands, etc. So what happens when you bring emotional reactions into the mix? Things in the brain chemistry get more complicated, which increases risk of developing symptoms. As a result, in the public eye, people with SAD don’t want to elicit emotional reactions, especially on an already nervous stage.
Winning an award is always a good thing, right?
It’s super awesome to win an award. All your hard work is being recognized and there is a huge sense of accomplishment. And in Jens case, it’s an award for Female Lawyer of the Year. Which is a big deal. It’s not just a participation trophy, like rec-league soccer (still proud of myself for that btw).
The problem for Jen if she were to have SAD is not that she would be on stage talking. No, that is more performance anxiety than social anxiety. The real problem is her comparison to all the other women on that stage as she stands in the middle. That makes for easy target and easy judgement against her by other people watching. This can cause huge social anxiety as her mind would be racing about what people are thinking and what they will say about her.
The other real problem is how she started her speech (she didn’t finish because she got cut off by intelligencia). After the first two lawyers gave a short, empowering response to the question being asked, She-Hulk decided to give a sentimental response. In other words, her speech stands out from the crowd, which opens up the door for more scrutiny and judgement against her. Not to mention, her response elicits emotion as she thanked her parents. Emotional brain chemistry adds chaos to the already chaotic brain chemistry of social anxiety symptoms. It just makes it worse.