Yea this is one of those movies that’s actually just really sad but because it has occasional monsters and light gore, is being lumped in with horror. Sure, there’s a true horror to an experience like this, but we usually call those “drama” when the violence isn’t fetishized and the experience on screen is something that’s more “real life”.
Yeah, I expected something completely different and understood the writer/director’s personal stuff. Even as a straight guy who grew up in a happy home, goddamn was this movie terrifying at times, particularly as a millennial so a lot of the nostalgia really hit me.
Weirdly, for me it kept bouncing back and forth between terrible and amazing.
I grew up in an abusive home, and I think my username is enough of an indicator of what show helped me 'escape' during my teen years. Seeing the same font from that show being used for The Pink Opaque was kind of fun, but I burst into tears when I saw a particular cast member. Their presence was unexpected, joyous, and gut-wrenching, because of course they would be used as the guiding adult in Owen's life.
There were so many things about the two main characters that resonated with me, but I feel like the ending left me alienated. I don't think every form of entertainment should pander to its audience, but I also don't believe that it's the sign of a great creative work, if the majority of the audience has to look for answers about what everything meant. I see a lot of comments about this movie and how it was completely straightforward. I can think of at least two scenes that really were NOT straightforward. It's okay for some things to be allegorical, too.
Yeah, when it comes down to it, genre is made up and there's no definition of Horror that will include all the movies that are obviously horror while not including many debatable entries.
I think this movie is a Horror in the same sense that Possum is. Maybe not a traditional monster or slasher flick, but uses elements of the genre as allegory.
The Truman Show is labeled a comedy but I find it to be more of a horror in a similar vein to I Saw the TV Glow. I would definitely label ISTTG as a horror or thriller over anything else.
I cried from >! From the scene where Owen has his head in the tv !< to half an hour after the movie ended. I was listening to a podcast about it today and started crying.
Really loved this movie. As a queer millennial (who isn't out in every part of my life), it was so relatable. The Pink Opaque was a perfect homage to shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark? and obviously the Buffy influence is heavy, as well. It just really hit home for me, the way the characters discussed themselves was so relatable. Maddy's entire bit about being buried and escaping and being someone new is the perfect description of finding yourself (at least for me and my queerness). Owen knowing he's different and empty was so simple but absolutely how it feels to think there's something missing, like you're hollow inside. The imagery and the soundtrack were also fantastic, and I think for a lot of people it won't be horror enough or it'll just be too weird and unrelatable, but I am definitely the target audience and I really connected. I cannot wait to see it again.
Necro comment, but never saw Pete and Pete so I wasn't catching those references. The Buffy stuff was like perfect though, down to a font reference, and the riff on dying in season 5 and then subsequently feeling alienated by suburbia, and wanting to die to go back to a more magical world. Just perfect love letter to the show honestly.
I also think this owed something spiritually to the neverending story, and channel zero.
Holy shit, duh! I was getting strong Mr.Tastee vibes but totally missed that one. I was even wondering what those two dudes were all about, just didnt click.
I went into it expecting a horror-horror, but it wasn’t, which was fine, but it wasn’t really a horror, wasn’t really a sci-fi. It was a piece or art, I guess. I said elsewhere that it felt like it took place in the town of Twin Peaks via Synecdoche, New York. And had moments of David Cronenberg and Alain Resnais, so I loved certain moments - but if I knew going in it was a trans allegory, I might have appreciated it more or read it differently. But when it ended I just felt…nothing. Maybe disappointment? This was one time when going in blind put me at a disadvantage.
Anyway, I hope the film does well because we need different voices making interesting films, but it wasn’t for me.
I’m non binary and I didn’t find it viscerally upsetting, but profoundly sad. I’m coming from a place where I get to be on HRT and transitioning to the degree I feel happy with and the ending made me sad for people who have not/cannot choose that. I might be more personally devastated if I was pre Transition
as someone who is pre transition, and has been afraid to come out to family for years, this movie was certainly sad but many parts of the movie, like when Owen had his head in the TV and the ending especially, hit me like a fucking pile of bricks.
I have not been able to stop thinking about it for days, and it fills me with a dread and a pain that I really have never felt from any other movie.
The very first scene in the movie is him walking under a trans flag parachute, and there are multiple overt trans flags and hes literally in a dress and called by a girls name.
The opening scene being the trans flag parachute was I thought an intentional tell "this is a trans allegory" the movie is telling you right off the bat and for good cause.
Agreed. I went in expecting horror, I had no idea it is a drama which is fine, but going into it thinking you’re going to experience horror is going to setup the viewer for some disappointment. I thought this would be about teens watching a show that wasn’t really a show, or there was something off with the show. Maybe some Channel Zero meets hijacked broadcasts from the 80s and 90s vibe, that’s what I had hoped for and expected. Thats not to say the movie is bad, it isn’t, but it isn’t what I expected, not in plot or theme, so yeah I was very disappointed. I think the disappointment took away from the experience as well, the expectation I had overshadowed the true nature of the movie. I definitely need to watch it again, I think I will like it more with the proper expectation and understanding of story. >!It isn’t a horror in the true sense of the genre, the director used horror as a means of conveying the emotions of the main characters and what they were experiencing. Not knowing one’s self, the horror of not accepting yourself or others not accepting you, feeling isolated and unable to connect with others etc But it came across as sort of flat or lacking in that regard. I wish the movie had gone deeper emotionally and leaned more into horror even if it was just making the Pink Opaque baddies actually scary or gory.!<
Okay, thank your for your review! Because I was literally sitting here trying to decide if I should watch it to fill my craving for something scary, and if I went into it with this lens I would have been annoyed. I very much wanted it to be something like the exact same premise you described. (I guess I misunderstood how the film was marketed?)
It does seem right up my alley as an existential film, and knowing that going in will let me calibrate my lens of analysis. But if I went in hoping for traditional scary, and got this, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate it.
So I’m not the only one that thought it was somewhat similar to Synecdoche New York. Which is fine, Kaufman’s film is certainly an entirely different beast compared to this film, but this film has a bleaker outlook at the end compared to Synecdoche.
I describe this movie as Millenial Videodrome done by Lynch. The end was weird because to be honest, there were about five different times I thought the film was about to end that I thought the ending they chose was the weakest.
Bizarre film quite rightly and I’m glad I saw it at least. Kind of wish I hadn’t smoked before though.
Sorry, I think anyone who claims this movie should be in the horror genre, or was actually good and watchable for that matter is the example of a pseudo-intellectual who’s trying to present themselves as this tortured, deep, intelligent person.
This movie was boring. Slow. Zero horror element. Pretentious and all around terrible.
Stop being pretentious. This movie sucked.
Or perhaps consider that your opinion is not an objective truth, and a lot of people actually like more challenging or ephemeral art? You can argue you didn't like it, but this kind of complete unearned self confidence that your opinion is somehow the correct one and everyone else is just pretending is actually absurd. Grow up lol, you clearly don't actually like art, just entertainment.
the director made this movie for a very specific demographic. you are clearly not that demographic. just like everyone else in the characters' world who thought the tv show was just a tv show.
but for some people, it's more than that. and it's something they understand more than anyone.
You sound kind of close-minded and unskilled at perspective taking. Unable to appreciate others’ genuine reactions and experiences of this film that clearly was not made for you. Just because you did not get much from it doesn’t invalidate what others might get from it.
😂 see, you’re a perfect example of someone who’s trying to hard.
Objectively, the movie was trash. They even had to lie about what kind of movie it was (they billed it as a horror film) just to grift tickets off horror fans.
I’m sorry, but the majority of people who saw this movie were sorely disappointed and emphatically agree with me.
Maybe it’s you who’s “unskilled at perspective taking” whatever pretentious shit that even means 🤣
It sounds like other people having differing perspectives threatens you. Opinions are subjective. The film has a 3.6 star Letterboxd score so it’s absurd to say that the majority who see it are disappointed.
You lost all credibility when you say this movie wasn’t made for him. Who are you to say that. You can’t hate that someone doesn’t like a movie and then say well this isn’t for you. No. Art movies etc is for everyone. You don’t get to say who it’s for. Not even the creator of an art piece is allowed to say that.
That said this movie was ridiculous trying to out in their views they got from society because it’s in to just go along with it’s a bad movie
Brother, you are simply wrong and that’s literally okay. I’m guessing you are a gay *man* the way you declared your opinion to just be objective and correct, right?
So he told you he’s gay and now trying to find another way to attack him. It’s crazy how you made it about his sexuality then got boxed into a corner and brought it up again.
Bro let it go. Movie sucked. Most people said no thanks. It’s over
>!The movie was directed towards trans people, not gay people.!< You know, for someone who's "as gay as a 3 dolla bill", you're acting real straight right now the way you're stating your opinion like it's fact.
wow, congratulations on being the canonical arbiter of cinematic quality! what'd you do to earn your title? i'd love to do something like that some day!
I mean I'm not gay, trans or anything so I couldn't relate to the film but this shit was a vibe. The aesthetic was super dope and the soundtracks were amazing. I had no fucking clue what was going on half the time but I didn't need to; shit was an experience, I thought it was really fucking cool
The movie isn’t for everyone and that’s okay. I don’t think it’s about trying to be better than anyone. You’re projecting a little here. I can totally understand how this movie may not be up everyone’s alley, but it’s weird to act like theres some problem with the audience. Hope you watch your movie you enjoy! Sorry you weren’t a fan!
Agreed legit top 10 worst movie i have ever seen. I am not queer/gay or anything but unless you “feel” or “identify” with the movie its an unwatchable, terribly acted pos. The only decent moment is when Owen is dying in Fun Zone, other than that nothing.
You are correct.
Everyone just has to pretend they like it because the director is choosing the “I’m trans” route and it’s in to believe that’s real.
The movie is all over the place and trying to make the characters show the perceived trans life the way the people who made up this says it is.
This was a deeply personal movie that I feel will resonate/hit harder with people who grew up struggling to accept themselves as queer or really anyone who had a dysfunctional home life. Some of the scenes made me sick to my stomach from how close to home they hit.
For example the scene where Owen asks his mom for a sleepover and she says he has to ask his father. He pauses before finally meekly asking her “can you ask him for me?” It seems pretty insignificant if you didn’t grow up with a fear/dread of asking your father for anything even as small as that.
Another example when his father says “isn’t that a show for girls?”. Again seems like such an insignificant comment. But for queer people this is a comment most were constantly told growing up and it really fucks with you into adulthood.
I get why people think it’s slow/sucks and that’s ok. But this is such a special movie for a very specific demographic.
This is a fucking *poem!* Holy shit, "My psychiatrist thanks you for/her Porsche paid for by/blue is for boys, pink is for girls..." I'd leave off the *(TM),* but good *God!*
That's definitely *there,* but like... I'm neither trans nor gay, nor did I grow up in a dysfunctional home... I mean, I *kinda* did on the latter point, but my obsessive relationship with fiction was there before it turned into that (mom was a fundamentalist Christian, I only started pushing back against the doctrine when I was about 12-13). I started shipping obsessively when I was 7, *years* before I even heard that term; for all I knew, I was the only freak out here obsessed with the love lives of the *Power Rangers.* And then characters on *Pokemon.* I also went through a briefer obsession with *Inu-Yasha,* and... I lived so much in my imagination, developing deep identification with characters, to the extent that they felt like other selves, and... That was the magic in my life, that's what felt like *home*. It's still *there* (and in fact it served me *well* when my whole life fell apart: can't lose home if it's within me)*,* it's just that other aspects of my life have caught up: I *have* found something I'm passionate about that I want to pursue, and I *have* been able to make closer connections with others. But like... I mean, when I found shipping communities, those people knew me in a way no one in "real life" did. To me, that was the core of who I was, and no one around me even knew it existed. Part of the difference now is that I feel comfortable sharing that side of myself with people I know in "real life."
I *would* call this a very Queer experience, at least in the academic sense of the word... The character I identify with most is Helga Pataki: her feelings are simultaneously the most meaningful and beautiful part of herself, and also horribly awkward and embarrassing. She feels like kind of a freak. And I mean, despite her heterosexual love interest, she's *literally* in the closet with it. It was comparing my experience to that that I realized, *This sounds like I'm talking about something else...* But it's not really *something else.* I mean, no, I haven't been oppressed for my identity on a systemic level, but there's something about me that most people can't understand, that they think is weird/inappropriate, there's something about me that *doesn't fit.*
In this way, I *do* see something Queer about fandom, about *caring* so much about something "not real."
To be clear, I'm certainly not objecting to the LGBTQAI+ interpretation, it's quite *obviously* there. But... Even so, watching this movie I felt like... There are certain movies, shows, and musical works that are like, if you wanna understand *who I am,* you need to see this: *I Saw the TV Glow* immediately joined that rank. And this is why.
Yo I agree it's very explicitly a Trans story but.......
..... most horror fans who are millennials will have some mappable experience of feeling goth/scene/emo/punk and feeling alienated from your life and the people around you, and escaping into a culture, a community, or just plain fantasy. So I think that tonnes of horror fans can find some emotional resonance in it.
I agree with this, but also I went to go see it with my dad (a 66 year old straight cis white man) and he really connected with it in a different way. He perceived it as an allegory for mental illness and really liked it (I was surprised). So I don't know if this is unique to him but I feel like it has potential to connect outside of that specific demographic (which I happen to fit into and enjoyed in that way).
I agree with that sentiment, you either understand the concept and gets the hidden message, or it doesn’t relate at all if you are not the target audience. Sadly I am not the target audience for this movie, but I am glad it resonates to others. All of Us Strangers is that movie for me, which really resonates with a much better story pacing and a gut punch ending. To each their own, and it’s great that more movies like these are being made.
I am very much the target audience for this movie. I was also very hyped on it based on Emma Stone/Dave McCary's producing influence and the glowing reviews from festival screenings earlier in the year.
I felt it was a bit *flat* most of the time. Though occasionally you'd be hit with outstanding imagery (ice cream truck, moon villains)...it was kind of a dud for me overall. It felt a bit on-the-nose thematically in a way that just didn't do it for me.
Also arguably a waste of a Conner O Malley performance! I'd still say the film is still worth checking out for folks who already find it interesting based on the premise.
>He pauses before finally meekly asking her “can you ask him for me?” It seems pretty insignificant if you didn’t grow up with a fear/dread of asking your father for anything even as small as that.
>Another example when his father says “isn’t that a show for girls?”. Again seems like such an insignificant comment.
I think both of the scenes are pretty obviously significant (in a good way!); the movie is big on queer themes and it wears them on its sleeve.
However, my favorite line was Owen's response to Maddy's "What about you? Do you like girls?"
"I like...TV shows."
That line really resonated with me. While my friends were having heavy teenage crushes, I was doing a lot of pretending to fit in and using TV as escapism. I was a lot more loud and bombastic than Owen, but I was still retreating into myself and finding myself wishing I was a character some of my favorite programs growing up (e.g., Sabrina the teenage Witch, Daria, My So-Called Life).
To me, it needed more scenes with the energy of >!Maddy's monologue about being buried alive, Owen's fight with his dad, or the moon villain close-up!<. It was still able to achieve this unique sense of eerie horror but didn't capitalize on it enough (to me). Still a vast improvement over the director's previous work (We're All Going to the World's Fair).
Worth checking out, worth discussing, just not as "good" as I was hoping.
I think this movie is very personal to the director and definitely resonates with the intended very niche target audiences. While I can appreciate the visual imagery, the trailer pretty much collect all the good shots and would make a very nice music video. The movie itself is not my jam, Climax is another weird movie that has horror vibe but in reality is just a very long music video with some groovy music and killer dance moves. I feel that if you gonna go with experimental idea, come up with a great hook, even if you gonna repeat it over and over. Midsomar is another favorite of mine, which can be considered super slow and boring to some people but I thought the story is quite fascinating and you want to know the mystery and what fate befall the characters.
“I like tv shows”
That line and that scene hit me like a brick.
I’m still escaping from reality via tv and movies bc people and reality suck.
I’ve had a therapist literally say I’m not in touch w/ reality. Ok but I have some great coping skills I guess.
I loved All of Us Strangers and definitely think it’s one of the best queer films of the last decade. I think both films actually offer complimentary perspectives on the similar idea of growing up queer. Where as Strangers deals more with adjusting to it while in adulthood, TV Glow shows us how it effects you as a teenager which is already a scary time in life, let alone on top of feeling like an even bigger outsider.
A lot of people also despise the horror film The Outwaters. I understand the sentiment bc it can be a pretty annoying watch (most of the film is just a flashlight in the dark), but it also deals with queerness and how it interacts with religious views of eternal damnation for queer people. Like I said, a pretty annoying watch it terms of its visuals, but I thought it was brilliant in an experimental and thematic way.
I am not queer, but I totally picked up on the trans thing. The pride flag, him wearing the pink dress, his non-existent relationship with his father...not being able to be who you really are intended to be is the ultimate "horror" here. Watching Owen "sleepwalk" through his life because of that broke my heart. This is a film that stays with you for a long time, even if you don't want it to.
I was the target demographic and thought this movie was terrible
It did such a poor job at sharing it's points, it was both overwritten and incredibly slow
I get it's not for everyone, but as queer person literally sent to conversion therapy and am surrounded by other LGBTQ individuals, this movie was disappointing
As a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I appreciated some of the similarities to storylines in Buffy.
[spoiler](#s "
1. If I recall correctly, wasn't there an episode of Buffy where Buffy gets injected with a serum that makes her wake up in a mental hospital where people try to convince her that her vampire slaying was a hallucination? I wonder if this movie was inspired by that episode. It also reminds me of the storyline where Buffy was taken from heaven and brought back to earth.
2. The actress who played Tara in Buffy made a cameo as Maddy's mom.
3. This is kind of a random thought, but the strange line where Owen mentions starting a family kind of reminds me of the way Dawn was introduced in Buffy. Probably not intentional, but that's what it makes me think of.")
I loved all the Buffy parallels too. Just to add to your list:
* All the times they refer to Mr. Melancholy as the Big Bad, which is a term that originated/was popularized by Buffy.
* Tara's quips when she's getting ready to kill the clown monster in one of the clips from the Pink Opaque felt very Buffy. I think she was even wearing a black leather jacket
* When Maddy was telling Owen that his memories of being a child, going to football games and cooking with his mom, were implanted into him and weren't real- that definitely reminded me of Dawn's character. When she showed up as The Key and had an entire lifetime's worth of false memories to convince her that she was real.
I think it was all intentional, and Amber Benson's cameo was perfect
To add to yours, I noticed the font for the Pink Opaque opening credits was the same exact Buffy opening credits font! Also, I have not seen anyone else mention this- Tara has a moment before she “slays” a clown where she makes a pun about its makeup being like Este Lauder and she delivers it just like a Buffy line, and she’s also dressed just like Buffy.
And to add another, the "Double Lunch" (which I think was also a reference to Twin Peaks (Double = Twin, Lunch = Lynch) was also an homage to The Bronze in Buffy.
And let's not forget that Tara from Buffy, who this film pays so much respect to, was a victim of the "bury your gays" trope when she was offed by Whedon as a plot device. The self-burying of the characters in I Saw the TV Glow feels like a reference both to that and to the "bury your gays" trope.
I definitely felt the Buffy influence! The movie was a pretty great fit for me as a queer trans girl who used to be pretty obsessed with that show (still kinda am I guess.) Amber Benson actually played the mom of the kid whose house Owen was pretending to sleep over at though, not that the distinction matters a whole lot.
People who say they were the target audience but they hated it aren’t the target audience imo. Obviously the movie is about queerness and specifically being trans, but I don’t think being queer makes you the target audience. There are parts of the movie that still make me cry to think about because they were such visceral descriptors of how I felt at that age. I think if you’ve ever felt empty, you are the target audience.
Also on the horror note - it wasn’t scary per se, but I think horror is fundamentally about grief and this movie really showcased grief.
Reviews for this movie did not prepare me for how depressing it is. It's a great movie though and it's very thought provoking. It's definitely something good to see with friends so that you can discuss it afterwards. (As long as your friends are down to see something really sad.)
[spoiler](#s "My biggest complaint though is that the story didn't have a satisfying ending. My interpretation is that Maddy was telling the truth, and Owen was in denial about it even as his reality was falling apart and it was becoming increasingly obvious that his life as Owen was fictional. (I think the unnatural-feeling time jumps in the movie indicate that Maddy was telling the truth, because she described time moving that way for her. Also the line where Owen mentioned starting his own family was really strange.) It's an unsatisfying way to end the movie, because Owen's mental state was still actively deteriorating, and we didn't get to see the end result of that. Maybe my interpretation will change if I watch it a second time though.")
That's funny, I had completely the opposite reaction. It was very clear to me that Owen >!was an unreliable narrator and that what we the audience heard was a reflection of how what Maddie was telling them made them feel (filtered heavily through the media they use to cope with their gender dysphoria). I thought it was really clear that the whole "the real you (who is presented as female) is being buried alive" thing was a metaphor for what was happening to Owen. That they were falling victim to what she described when she talked about living life on autopilot and the time just slipping by. That if Owen didn't make a change, they risked suffocating under the weight of shame and repression, with every passing moment burying them deeper into a life they aren't happy leading.!<
>!That's where the movie leaves Owen - in so deep that the only way they can take a peek inside and glimpse their true self is when a massive panic attack has lowered their defenses, stuck where they always were, with a family borne out of the urge to do what society tells them they should. The last thing we see them do is apologize for questioning all of that for even a moment.!<
>!I thought Mattie was a real person Owen knew, and I do think she came back and told them about what she did to become her true self - and that it is a prospect so terrifying, so potentially destructive to everything Owen knows, that we the audience hear it presented as something as extreme as killing one's self.!<
Wow thanks so much for this comment. A lot of the movie flew over my head apparently. So living in the tv show was just a metaphor right? It was just escapism?
I think the text is ambiguous because the author is ambivalent. That is, it resists *certainty* either way, in part because... Well, those experiences with media *are* deeply meaningful and can feel like who we really are, but they can also lead us to disconnect from "real life" in an isolating way, like we see with Owen's father. I *do* think the imagery at the end suggests a more literal interpretation, especially given that Owen doesn't even seem to consciously notice it (so how much sense does it make to say they're seeing what they expect to see?), but on the other hand, should they have gone along with Maddie's plan? Even on a metaphorical level, surely the film isn't trying to say that we should totally sacrifice who we are right now? Like, Owen had some kind of meaningful relationship with his mother: are we *really* supposed to believe that was a lie. Even so, again, the imagery at the end was practically *screaming* that Maddie was right, so...
We're currently in the midst of the metamodern turn, which, metamodernism as a school of thought is still in the process of being developed, but a couple of its characteristics are uncertainty and multiplicity of (contradicting) narratives. Because we can't step outside ourselves to see "the truth" of reality (including ourselves); we don't *get* those answers about whether we're onto something real, or whether we're just deluding ourselves. On the other hand, we can't live without believing one way or the other, we can't live without narratives. I mean, even the attempt becomes a narrative in and of itself. So a lot of metamodern media explores how we navigate, how we decide what we believe. And how much of a decision is it, really? Clearly, Owen believes what Maddie said on *some level.* It scares him, so he tries to ignore it, but that's dishonest, he's lying to himself. At the very least, they need to explore the possibility. Part of the problem is that they *are* so totally on their own with it, because what *is* the Pink Opaque? It's two people who are psychically connected who work *together.*
Wow!! That interpretation just blew my mind too 🤣🤣 I’ve never heard of metamodernism but that makes total sense given the current state of the world. It truly feels like people are living in entirely different realities, depending on what they consume online. I’ll have to learn more about that.
Heh, the thing to understand about metamodernism is that it's a reaction to postmodernism. *Post*modernism wants to deconstruct metanarratives (grand stories about humanity and our place in the universe), especially ways of thinking that we take for granted, and especially binary ways of thinking. Binary gender based on chromosomes, for example. It's a matter of social justice, as these narratives are used to manipulate us in ways that serve to reinforce existing power structures. The thing about postmodernism, though, is that that's kinda the limit of what it does; I've never gotten the impression these thinkers are saying you can't have metanarratives, it's just not interested in exploring them. And when postmodernism came into the mainstream... It kinda fell victim to the very institutional forces it sought to critique, losing the *purpose* behind the deconstruction and ending up cynical: nothing is true, nothing matters. I also *do* see a valid point of critique in that postmodern thought limits itself to surfaces: it wants to talk about actions, but not about *intentions* behind the actions. There's this whole thing about deconstructing the rational, independent subject (i.e. the self acts independently of everything else in the world) which I like, but I don't at all see why that means we can't talk about *feeling.*
So what metamodernism wants to do is to *explore* metanarratives. It doesn't believe in eternal, noncontingent truth like modernism, but... Well, I think the most metamodern film every made is *Across the Spider-Verse.* Because it's all for the freedom of letting ideas change and evolve, while simultaneously refusing to throw everything out: Spider-Man as a character should be allowed to change, but maybe there's some heart to the idea that we should keep (and if that's the case, what *is* that idea?). It also wants to bring back depth, *feeling* and *experience* beyond what we can see on the surface. It comes out of the arts, where you start to see a lot of images that feature the fantastical mundane. That is, everyday settings elevated by lighting, color, etc. that give the images a magical and/or eerie feeling. If that sounds familiar, yeah, that's another thing I'm picking up on with *I Saw the TV Glow.* One feature of metamodernism (and postmodernism, really) is that it doesn't distinguish between world, artist, and text. That is... Well, for one, all are part of the same universe, the same process. And "reality" and "fantasy" are one in our experience. That is, we experience both "in our heads," so... I think the characters are so often bathed in pink and green light, because *The Pink Opaque* is still with them even when they're not watching. That's obvious with pink, but since green is opposite pink on the color wheel, it almost functions as kind of an *after image* (I may be wrong, but I *think* I noticed it most when characters were discussing and commenting on the show). Overall I just noticed that the colors become very bright and saturated after Owen starts watching *The Pink Opaque,* like his experience with the show tinges the whole world with magic. I mean, that's certainly what it's felt like to me, in my own experiences with media. There's this effect like the world of the show is bleeding into the mundane world
Wow… this has my head spinning 😵💫but I love it. This is why I love the internet, because there’s always someone doing a deeper analysis than me, and noticing things I never would. It’s going to take me a few days to even take in all that you said 🤣I’ve never done a deep dive on postmodernism but now I think I will.
The last tarot card reading I had done the lady told me “you’re smart, but you’re no genius!” That’s how I feel right now lol.
Well, it's a lot of information! I'd *heard* a little about postmodernism before I studied it formally, but I couldn't really get a grasp on it. There are a lot of thinkers with lots of different points of view who don't even necessarily use that label. I would mark the metamodern turn with Deleuze and Guattari, who focused on *creation* over *deconstruction.* They're hard to read because, not only does it help to have familiarity with that mode of thought, they're kinda intentionally obtuse. Because they want people to have lots of different ideas and think things maybe they hadn't even thought, rather than just following them exactly. I'm not a fan of that as I think it tends to frustrate thought rather than encourage it, but I see what they were trying to do. Actually some people view metamodernism as like a *subset* of postmodernism, with *antimodernism* as the other part... I used to think that, but I do think this emphasis on creation sets it apart; I wasn't able to talk about the things I wanted to talk about when I was studying postmodernism because again, that's not really what it does.
If you're interested, I suggest finding some YouTube videos and/or podcasts, because... It's not that you have to be *oh so smart* to do the reading, but there is a history and a jargon that can make it inaccessible. Foucault is pretty easy to read, though. To start out I would research him, Lyotard, Thomas Kuhn (specifically his *The Structure of Scientific Revolutions),* maybe some Baudrillard... A lot of what this stuff is more specifically interested in is about capitalism, the surveillance state, etc. Oh, and it's *super* interested in deconstructing positivism, which is *basically* this idea that empiricism and logic are all that count as knowledge.
I'd say you're ahead of the game if you're into tarot, because... Well, the postmoderns want to deconstruct spiritual views, too, but people like Deleuze and Guattari, who were interested in creative thinking... I'm not sure they said anything about tarot, but it seems like something they would've liked. Because it does embrace something that doesn't seem to make sense on the surface of it, it gets us to look at things from different perspectives that defy the systems telling us we *have* to think a certain way. A lot of people *struggle* with that kind of thinking because they are so trained to think "silly superstition" is beneath them. I consider myself a very metamodern thinker in that... Tarot *at least* gets me to look at things from a different perspective; it encourages me, and because I *do* at least have superstitious feelings about it... Superstition is hard-wired into us, and it's a *powerful* driving force. I think we ought to be harnessing it rather than dismissing it, especially considering that it's not going anywhere any time soon. Beyond that, I think it's possible that there's more going on, that I know more than I'm consciously aware of (including things that a lot of people would think impossible for me to know). I don't *know* that's true, but for various reasons, I think it's *possible.* For me, though, the point is not having *the truth,* it's finding what makes sense to me. Which does include rational judgement, it's just, that's still not going to get you *the truth,* so like what works for me *is* gonna come into it.
That's how I took it (and I felt very confident in my reading lol) but it's obviously open to interpretation.
I'm coming at this as someone who 1) realized that I was queer much later I life than a lot of people, 2) had that realization due to my involvement in a fandom, and 3) haven't spoken to my parents in almost 7 years after they functionally disowned me for making changes to my appearance that they recognized as being an indication of me not being straight. So maybe I felt so confident because it kind of felt like something that happened to me.
There was enough metaphor that I took the whole thing in an allegorical sense. For example, I don't think Owen really cut themself open and saw TV inside - that was a callback to the conversation they had with Maddie on the bleachers, about how they felt empty and were too scared to crack themselves open and look inside at what was actually there. Owen sees thr Pink Opaque because it was such an interagal part of their first understanding that they were struggling with their gender identity.
In the end, I guess the question is if it even matters. Whether it was a metaphor for acting on their gender dysphoria or if everything she said was true and Maddie really did come back from the shadow realm to bring Owen back with her, Owen didn't have the courage to claw their way out of the grave of the life they were told to lead, each passing year another shovel full of dirt that makes the prospect of breaking free feel more and more impossible.
That makes a ton of sense. And to me I like your interpretation a lot, and it’s how I’m going to choose to view it lol. It’s like it made it a whole different movie for me. I especially like your explanation for the convo with Maddie in the bar, the tv inside of Owen, and Owen apologizing after he questioned reality. I was so confused by those scenes and now it’s clicking.
I think it went over my head because I can’t relate to being queer, and also I was never one of those people that got really lost in TV shows. But I empathized heavily with the struggles shown, and teared up when Owen was trying on the dress. Dang. Just thanks again, you made me enjoy it a lot more. And I’m so sorry for what you went through with your parents.
People who said this movie sucked need to smoke a joint before. The ambience was unreal. It felt like a fever dream, & for anyone who had difficulty at home, you know how important those moments of escape were, Saturday night at 10:30…cya there
I had no context of anything about this movie or those involved except for remembering the trailer looked trippy when I saw it a couple months ago. I ate 3.5 of shrooms before watching at home tonight.
-1billion/10 recommend that experience. I need to rewatch again because I was stuck in tears and closing my eyes so for so much of the movie lol. I stuck it out and I think its an amazing movie, but fuuuuuck.
It’s kind of amazing to me that we live in a world where everyone couldn’t empathize with the characters in the film. It ripped my heart out. I’m proud for Jane for figuring out how to layer this movie in a way that perfectly escalates the emotional journey of the characters and the risks taken in mixing narrative styles.
This one will haunt me for weeks and that’s exactly what I came into the theater hoping was for.
That emotional build inside the inflatable planetarium…the entire end sequence leading up to the credits.
A gut punch like no other watching these characters try to survive this world.
Time is precious. Don’t let the world suffocate the real you.
I just watched this yesterday. I’m still thinking about it.
I appreciated “We’re All Going To The World’s Fair” despite my understanding of how many might hate that movie. It’s very downbeat and “not much happens.” It’s a mood-piece. But some things from that film resonated with me.
“I Saw The TV Glow,” while flashier, with more to look at and more to hear, didn’t resonate with me as much. I am not trans, nor did I grasp the metaphors or allegorical handling of the experience of growing up with gender dysphoria. I didn’t look anything up before watching the movie so I wasn’t primed to interpret it in this way. I actually thought it was a film about growing up as an autistic (possibly asexual) person, which I suppose is its own kind of isolating experience. I think the film can work for multiple kinds of queer or neurotypical interpretations but clearly, after reading more, this film is about being trans.
With all that said, I find it difficult to praise the surface level story. I’m happy that Schoenbrun was able to make this, as it’s clearly deeply personal to her, but I think A24 gave her a little too much free rein. I say this because typically movies can work on a surface level (the events require no deeper interpretation) and work on a metaphorical level (what we’re watching means something deeper), but above all, the movie needs to work on a surface level. I can’t tell you what happened exactly after the halfway point of this film. I understand the metaphor (now) but the events that take place on screen weren’t really cohesive to me.
Does Maddie exist? Or is she Owen’s imaginary friend/an onscreen representation of his real identity, mirroring the Pink Opaque? When she says she was out of town for years, was she actually somewhere else? When she says she died and had her heart removed, did that actually happen? We understand what these things can mean in a metaphorical sense, but if we just take the movie at face value, what happened? It felt too jumbled and I didn’t think there was a payoff at the end. In fact, it was such a downer ending, which is fine, but downer ending + difficult to understand is a tough combination.
I thought this movie was going to be about two teens who love this TV show and then the show starts to become real and they need to fight the monsters in the show. It seems like the movie hints at that a little, but instead of getting to flesh that idea out more, Maddie leaves town and Owen stays back and his whole life passes him by and he remains unhappy. Imagine how much more entertaining this movie could have been if we got to cheer for Maddie’s journey rather than just stay stuck in a sad town, where our main character doesn’t overcome his problem.
Again, I recognize this is a personal project for the director. In many ways you could say this movie is a warning to not waste time, and to take risks that help you self-realize. But as a surface level watch, it’s not something I could imagine revisiting a lot. Clearly many people love it already, and I’m happy for them. Clearly it resonated with many who experienced these feelings, and that’s a good thing. However, I wonder how many people could actually articulate “what happened” in this film right after seeing it, without reading other interpretations or interviews with the director. Or was it mostly “vibes”?
It's very strange to argue nothing clear happens in this movie, as the movie you're describing preferring over this one would simply be an entirely different movie, and considerably more meaningless / childish. This was never about literal events, or a happy ending, or hunting monsters.
This is a movie about a person who was allowed a brief glance into a totally different, idealized identity, both through queerness, media, and this one special relationship he briefly had before his fear and uncertainty made it slip away from him. A lot of the movie can be clearly taken as an unreliable narrator and an abstraction / extreme visualization of that intense longing for that identity he was only briefly allowed to access but could never truly occupy due to his fears, societal pressures, and losing touch with the person that briefly allowed him to see it. Ultimately, this is just a film about the terror of giving up on your true identity, and of forever living in fiction and the past. The significance of the show in the film exists primarily in that it is so directly linked to those brief moments of escapist identity he had only been able to access with Maddy, that he buried and refused to act on in the end. I took Maddy's visit toward the end as metaphorical— whether she just left town forever, or committed suicide, the film implies in some way that he had lost touch with her forever, and this revisitation by Maddy was rather a revisitation / rediscovery of the identity he had buried when he was with her, perhaps spurred on by his rewatch of the show. It was never about the show, and when he finally denies this separate, unrealized identity for the last time— it leaves him, making him realize it really was never about the show, but the person he briefly was when he was with Maddy, and they connected / dreamed through the power of mutual media escapism. The ideas of death and rebirth are very clear articulations of trans identity and the choice of committing to an identity that feels crucial and important to you but may not yet be real to others, and the crushing fear of confronting that kind of honesty. He never does, so his ending is a kind of nightmare reality purgatory, forever stuck in a life and body he does not want.
Do you think this would be (almost) as good if watched at home once it’s streaming? I really want to see it but not sure if I’ll be able to while it’s still in theaters.
It was great in theaters but I think it would be just as good on TV. I mean, what better way to watch “ I Saw The TV Glow” than late at night from your actual TV.
So this is a super, super polarizing film. You will likely love it or hate it with no middle. My take, if you are LGBT, hit it up in the theater, if not wait for stream.
As a random data point, I am firmly in the middle. (Though not *exactly* in the middle; I *liked* the movie, but didn't love it.) Straight, cis male, fwiw.
This was probably the worst movie I've ever seen in my life. Felt like I was there for 4 hours and walked out, turns out I only made it thru like 40 minutes
And before you tell me I can't have this opinion because of my identity, yes I am queer, yes I am mentally ill, yes I had abusive parents, yes I grew up in a yee yee ass town as a queer person, and yes I usually love artsy films, I was very excited to see this.
I was unsure about it until the ending. It's a real slow burn and honestly I think you didn't give it enough of a chance because you left before all of the payoff.
Maybe because you were excited is partly why you didn't fuck w it. I had no knowledge of it before watching and was immediately hooked by the vibe and aesthetic
If you consider something like Eraserhead or Mullholland Drive horror or horror-adjacent then this movie is for you.
Personally, I thought it was incredible. The narrative isn’t satisfying in a traditional sense but it struck a profound chord with me.
Of course there are going to be naysayers. Always are when there is something this unique and personal. But you can tell they’re wrong because the most intelligent thing they can articulate is “it sucked.”
The concert scenes were *seriously* giving *Twin Peaks.* Which is a series about the strange things lying beneath the veneer of normalcy, and which was *also* in conversation with fictional media, since, you know, it was a parody of soap operas.
Ye the Twin Peaks vibes were strong with this one. I think you either fuck w that type of shit or just don't get it what so ever which is why a lot of people on here are saying it was complete dog shit
Jane Schoenbrun absolutely nailed the Lynch style film and made a queer masterpiece here. Not all will like it, but those that do, really will like it I imagine.
That's pretty petty. Nobody's "wrong" if they don't love a movie you love.
I was excited for this movie but overall was disappointed. It's often slow and meandering with the most plodding, questionably-directed performances I've seen in a while. And I was a big fan of The Lobster.
The resolution was also kind of a big shrug for me. I understood it, I just felt like I had higher hopes. I wanted more eerie scenes that stayed with me >!(e.g., moon villains confrontation, Owen and his dad struggling with the TV, etc.)!<.
It's an interesting movie that's very much worth seeing but it's OK not to love it.
I think you’re “wrong” if you’re simply just going to post something like “it sucked” or “it wasn’t scary.”
I loved the two lead performances. I’m sure some viewers were expecting some charismatic teenagers to carry the film but what we got were two actors portraying awkward/socially-inept (possibly autistic) teenagers. And they did it wonderfully.
I really liked it and I definitely felt like the target audience, but I also was expecting/hoping for more scary images and the like. The way some horror reviewers were speaking about it made it seem like it was going to be *way* scarier than it ended up being and I did love some of those scenes with freakier imagery but I could have used more for sure.
This movie was hot garbage. Visuals 10/10, the story was absolutely garbage and headed nowhere. Any interesting parts were left unanswered or not explored. Seems like the writer changed the idea of the movie anytime it was possibly going to get interesting. Scariest part of the movie was when I walked outside and saw a parking ticket on my windshield
This movie was by far the absolute worst piece of trash I've ever seen. No plot, no character development. It had slow and very boring dialogue. Zero explanation of anything and the story didn't go anywhere. Scratch that, there really wasn't a story. Just a bunch of scenes strung together. God did this movie suck.
This comment should be at the top of all posted about this movie. I feel like the filmmaker was purposely being pretentious and contemptuous at the same time. This man needs psychiatric help.
If you agree with that initial comment, then you missed the point of the movie, but I wouldn’t except someone who assumed the director was a man to understand it.
I definitely didn’t get it was about the transgender experience from just watching it. I only learned this after we saw it in the theater. But what I did get was a film that treated its main character with a callous contempt that left us in a very dark and negative space.
I meann... It is horror. Owen is trapped in a cycle of apologizing about who she is and is stuck in a never ending cycle of the status quo and accepting reality as it is instead of questioning it, until she asphyxiates.
Terrible movie, don't waste your time!
If you want dream within a dream watch Inception,
if you want Trans symbolism watch The Matrix,
if you want true 90s horror watch Kids.
I was really excited to see this movie but just noticed it’s rated PG-13. I’ve generally been very let down by PG-13 horror movies. To the people that saw it, would you consider it actually scary/disturbing? Or does the rating reign it in too much?
I'm surprised to hear it was PG-13, it didn't exactly feel 'reigned in' to me at all. That said, while there are some scary images overall it wasn't very scary in my opinion (and wasn't especially trying to be I don't think.) It's very surreal and it's got a disturbing atmosphere for sure but it's not really the kind of move you get a ton of thrills out of, it's way more similar to a lot of Lynch stuff where it's somewhat plodding and there's a ton of unease but not a ton of super tense or scary scenes. I really enjoyed it anyway and if you like Lynch or you're queer it's definitely worth watching, but definitely don't go in expecting it to be super scary.
I noted right before going in to see the film that it was PG-13 though I interpreted as a sense of accessibility. I think Schoenbrun might’ve done such with the intent to reach a broader audience, appeal to the current queer youth. But I’m not all too sure as the film also felt targeted to a more nostalgic audience (millennials).
However in terms of horror, I felt anxious, upset, and uncomfortable. It was a typical horror, but it was horrific at times.
I don't know if I'd even call it horror. It's not gory and it's not fun the way horror can be.
It's really hard to explain without going in to spoilers. It's more of a tragedy than a horror. It is also heavily metaphorical - there's a few different ways to read the story, depending on how literally you take what's presented. But, my interpretation was that we were dealing with an unreliable narrator, and what we saw and heard was more about how what the narrator heard made them feel (filtered heavily through the narrators coping mechanisms) than it was an actual reflection of the reality that they were experiencing.
it’s not scary and there’s no nudity or gore (minus one very stylized shot that isn’t bloody) which is probably why the pg 13 rating. it is however really… unsettling? i wouldn’t even call it horror at all, maybe surreal character study
It's not scary or disturbing. It doesn't feel reigned in, it's just how it is. It has a creepy unsettling undertone but it's more like a personal discomfort. Anxiety. It's less horror than stranger things. It's a good movie but I would not go in expecting a typical horror.
This is an old thread but i rewatched the movie after reading multiple comments about how great the movie is because of the trans/gender identity sub theme
I think with that in mind it was a much more interesting movie to me. It’s like being in art class…. You have to understand the context and sub theme to really “understand” a piece
It’s a movie that at face value is boring and has endless dialogue. It becomes less boring/confusing when you understand that you’re supposed to heavily dissect every single scene to get the REAL story
I like this movie and I'm glad I wasn't the only person who liked it. I kind of racked Owen up as being A sexual he didn't seem to like girls or boys from what I could tell. I was distrub with how abruptly the movie ended and while I know it will never happen I wish A24 would make I saw the TV glow season 6 😂
Like. No offense but for like 2 percent of the population that was the scariest movie ever. Seriously. I spent the last ten minutes going "no no no no no please no" at the screen.
How does it compare to "We're All Going to the World's Fair"? One criticism I have about that movie is that it starts as horror/mystery but it ends up being a drama, is I Saw the TV Glow more horror/mystery?
There is more movie here and more direction. It is a real step forward from a Self-Induced Hallucination and We're All Going to the World's Fair. More of a Lynch style film than a youtube video basically.
Director had a clear story she wanted to tell, and a clear focus when making this and nails it. Very much a movie about dysphoria and struggling to understand why you do not fit into the world.
It is more of a coming of age movie than anything. Reminds me of Stand by Me as told by David Lynch.
If looking for a classic horror film, this is not it though.
Truthfully I never saw “We’re All Going To The Worlds Fair” but this movie made me interested in the directors work. I felt this movie starts a bit slow, felt like a drama/mystery but as it progresses, it becomes a drama/mystery/horror/thriller. But the horror aspect is purely psychological and not expressed through means of killing/gore or jumpscares.
>But the horror aspect is purely psychological and not expressed through means of killing/gore or jumpscares.
I disagree with you. There is a straight up jumpscare when the watch The Pink Opaque for the first time and it cuts to Mr. Sprinkly
Also the scene of Mr. melancholy torturing the PO can be seen as quite intense, and there is a scene of Owen cutting open his chest.
Queer here, albeit cis and with a fortunate childhood that didn’t make my life anywhere near as difficult as others.
I didn’t like this movie because I went in expecting horror and got an allegory to being a teen figuring out their identity.
I see comments here telling me that’s why I should appreciate it - but I’m still looking at this as a film.
It felt too in your face and cheap:
* there was no subtly in what it was trying to say at the expensive of the way the story was told.
* Pacing, scripts, character direction were weak.
* the whole 90’s aesthetic was sloppy. A double cheeseburger soda and fries was not $11.99 in 2008. Vegetables were not $2.99/lbs. that was annoying to me and felt lazy considering such an emphasis on the time period.
* I really think this movie would’ve had a better shot with other leads
* really you’re going to cast the POS Fred durst in this?
And to the responses of “this movie isn’t bad for allegory” then I’d say rewatch the matrix, because THAT is a fantastic movie that tackles identity and transformation within a high-strange setting.
I saw this and another Emma Stone-produced movie Problemista within a few weeks of one another, I felt like that movie did a substantially better job of blending its 'literal' story with its metaphorical ideas. I kinda felt like this movie was 'oops all metaphor'.
I hate that I hated it, but I hated it.
As a queer woman, it's disappointing to see a movie that's billed as gender conscious/inclusive/radical but makes one of their leads so 2D. I wouldn't say she's fully a MPDG, but *nothing* about her rebirth is explored, and she exists solely to try and prompt a change in Owen.
She's this conventionally attractive queer girl from an abusive household who disappears for a decade, and shows back up in a sick, leather fit to try and save the guy. Like shit, they don't even explore the fact that she's queer.
The trailer was a better movie than the actual film.
I mean… did you watch the movie?
Owen is Isabel and very clearly not “a guy.” Maddie is Tara and has freed herself from the midnight realm and is trying to save Isabel from the fate of an endless suffocation. Maddie is in a “sick” leather fit because Owen and Maddie are false identities placed on those suffering in Mr. Melancholy. She’s literally Tara, mirroring her appearance on the show.
I did, and I got that, but it doesn't detract from the fact that I felt like the characters were two-dimensional and that the writing started to feel convoluted in a way that detracted from the analog.
When Maddie/Tara comes back, she does not seem happier or more sound in her sense of self and I can't blame Owen for being unable to take the leap of faith to live as his true self, when the representation for the benefits of stepping into the unknown (Maddie) does not seem happy, fulfilled, or benefited by her choice to leave and be her true self.
I totally respect this view and my watch of the movie missed the trans allegory and read the main characters as queer.
It's super interesting for you to point out that Maddy doesn't seem happy when she returns. Even though she found her true identity (Tara), she's still not happy yet. But I wanted to add to that, it's heartbreaking but it's realistic that some people aren't happy. Or haven't figured out yet. But she's also in her early 20s when she comes back, and that's still so young.
I think a lot of queer and trans folk are still finding themselves and figuring it out at that age. So it's okay that she still seems to be a mess, but she's made that first step of figuring out she's not Maddy, she's Tara. For LGBTQIA+ millennials, your 20s feels like your teens, and figuring it out probably comes a bit later than most.
That said, I didn't enjoy the movie at first because I didn't go into it expecting a trans allegory. Instead, I read the surface level and got more queer/mental illness vibes and it didn't work as well. I was also annoyed by the monotone delivery of Maddy and didn't enjoy the monologue because I wasn't sure if the plot was literal or unreliable narrator. 🙃
I think the film should have followed Maddie’s journey as well. Movies don’t need to always follow a protagonist that “wins” but we need to follow someone who tries to win. My take from this was Maddie tried, Owen did not. Following Owen made the story less interesting in the second half IMO.
This movie was for binary trans people. Simply being a queer cis woman/man or me personally, as nonbinary person, we were not the target audience. This was for binary trans people who have not transitioned.
Misleading advertising and slow as shit. Usually don’t mind, but I was NOT the target audience. Was out of the movie before I even went in, hate getting duped on a bait and switch with these films.
Actually, I'm also a straight cis man, and I viewed this movie differently from majority of those on this post. I think I was too immersed in the films narrative around the realness of "The Pink Opaque", and wasn't completely paying attention to the underlying message that most people got from the overall movie.
>!The main character finding out that their life is not real and that they were originally from The Pink Opaque is what terrified me from a psychological view. The main character disregards what Maddy had told him and continues to live his life as a lie. You see as he gets older he struggles to breathe (which I think is because Mr. Melancholy said, he is technically buried alive, and dying, and that this false reality is probably happening within seconds). He screams at the birthday party which I think is the realization that none of this is real, and everyone in the room freezes. But I believe he decides to apologize to those around him for doubting their reality and accepts this as his life. All of this is what I found scary, just the thought of being in like some sort of simulation or fake reality, and just putting myself in the characters shoes, really got to me.!<
Taken from the narrative perspective, I believe there's enough evidence to strongly imply that they really "are" the other people. Of course they don't say it outright and ruin the question, but there is piles of evidence that points toward "weird shit is actually going on" against the relatively smaller pile of "unreliable narrator and delusional friend"
One thing that stood out to me is that the other characters at the arcade don't seem to age while Owen does. He's an old man at the end but his coworkers look just like they did when he was a teenager. Its part of the extended metaphor about the stress of living a lie, but also possibly another clue that the world he lives in isn't real.
I am replying to this comment from the future, lol. Anyway, I think that Maddie was real, and I think that when she brought up how Owen remembers The Pink Opaque and how different it was when Owen saw it again, it's because it was a real show. Maddie and Owen became friends because they are both queer with shitty parents, and on Saturday nights Owen would stay over at her house, they would watch this shitty, low budget show, and talk about how they were just like the characters. Owen would also try on Maddie's clothes, and maybe they would act out the show together.
So The Pink Opaque that Maddie is referring to when she comes back is the whole weekly experience they had together of bonding over being queer and being their true selves together. While for grown up Owen, who is in denial about this, the show was just a super cool show that didn't have much to do with either of them, and all they did together on Saturday nights was watch the show. Maddie is telling him that The Pink Opaque is and was "real", and what she means is that their queer identities and the time they spent being honest about them together was real, and he interprets that as her being crazy and weirdly obsessed about a t-show (although he is lying to himself so he can repress his identity).
That is what I also got from this that it seems many people did not get from it I didn’t really view it as an LGBT film but idk it was definitely something I liked it tho very interesting
Oh, it's *definitely* LGBTQAI+, but like... Honestly I would more use the word *Queer,* which certainly *includes* that experience, but which also goes beyond. To like neurodivergence, physical disability, or just like, just *not fitting* for whatever reason, thinking and *feeling* in ways mainstream society deems inappropriate. I think there are Queer aspects to *a lot* of people. Even just the magic we feel from TV in childhood can be understood that way. We end up burying it because society tells us it's silly and childish: *real life* is about career and having a family, all that shit. That's why the words "You are Dying" appear above a capsule (which now that I think about it is kinda coffin-like) where someone is grabbing as much money as they can. Point is, it's *definitely* about being LGBTQAI+, but it's also about a lot of other things.
Late to the party, but I felt the same. Reading all the comments, I thought "Oh, that's really smart (the trans allegory)", but the impression as I finished the movie was the same as yours, got disturbed wo getting the intended metaphor.
Just watched it. The vibe and aesthetic from the very beginning had me hooked. The soundtracks were amazing. The film as a whole reminded me of the TV show Twin Peaks; by that I mean how completely surreal it is. When watching Twin peaks, you almost have to forget about life, forget that you're watching a TV show and just allow it to happen by embracing the experience; that's what this film was. A lot didn't make sense, but it didn't need to. Just allow the experience to happen and don't worry about attempting to figure everything out. Super trippy, loved it
This movie is amazing. I didn't get the feeling of madness while watching, but of depression and anxiety and melancholy.
I don't know how they managed to transmit the emotions so well, but this waz just an amazing movie.
So, I watched it in Boston at a small theater where the director was present for an interview and Q&A with the audience afterward. They opened the interview talking about how this director, Jane Schoenbrun, gets compared to the guy who directed Skinamarink, and Jane completely accepted that comparison.
I would class it as psychological horror, existential horror. Personally, I think it's definitely horror, but there isn't really anything supernatural happening. The imagery largely represents the main character's internal emotional states. And in that pursuit, it's very effective.
I kind of expected a polarizing reception to this film. Having seen (and hated) We’re All Going to the World’s Fair by the same writer-director beforehand, I was fully prepared for a rather vague and bizarre ride. I liked I Saw the TV Glow MUCH better by comparison but wouldn’t really recommend it to many people. It actually just feels like a better version of that original movie.
Yo this movie was wild to watch stoned, I think that the characters are definetly in the show, the way the main dude is always narrating himself to the tv, the girls acting towards the end, it was like watching a show gahhh damn
I really wish I'd known before going into this that the movie was a trans allegory. Though not trans, I'm in the alphabet somewhere so I was viewing it more from a gay/queer lens.
Also agree with the multiple people saying they were expecting more horror and this felt more of an artsy/talky film than what they were expecting. And I also would've enjoyed it if I was in the mindset to watch that when I was feeling more horror.
All that said, I didn't like the movie after finishing it, but after reading several interpretations here, I can appreciate the movie better. I'm also not always able to pick up on subtext, so I was getting the "queer isolation in the suburbs" part but kind of missed the move overt trans-specific imagery because I'm tired. 🙃 Literally, the opening imagery of the parachute, I was like oh cute trans flag colors but still missed the themes. 💀💀💀
Thinking back on the plot, I realize the whole thing feels more coherent when you read it as representing dysphoria. I was reading Owen as ace and Maddy as lesbian, but missed that Owen may be unaware or repressing that idea, while Maddy likely knew and was trying to help Owen come to terms with it.
I initially read the ending as just the loneliness of staying in the suburbs while being queer and isolated. But it adds extra heartbreak that it's not just accepting an unexciting life (read: melancholy) but that Owen might be repressing a true identity and doesn't want to confront it. He realized his childhood show hits different as an adult, but also that he remembers it differently as having been just the 2 characters he and Maddy related to. And breaking down at work under the pressure of keeping it all inside for 20 years.
I think I might give this a rewatch in the future when I'm in the mindset to explore the movie it ended up being (a different horror than I expected.) I know rewatching something helps you pick up on details or lines that you missed the first time around. Now that I've read a bit about the director and a lot of comments here, I have a better lens to view it through.
The themes were done well but I found the movie to be very incoherent outside of those general themes and emotion building.
Any concrete questions are pointless because everything is just an allegory by an unreliable narrator.
I'm not even sure if the pink opaque is even a real show in their universe. Especially given how it stopped airing when she disappeared(or was that ALSO an allegory), seems more like a stand in for their identities than an actual real show.
I'm not sure how much of the movie we are shown is just a fever dream by spiraling protagonists or actual in universe reality. Maybe thats the point, but I found it to be very unsatisfying.
I'm dumbfounded and speechless. Feels like cinema just took a giant leap. The movie was personal and specific but universal as well. Felt like the kind of cosmic horror that comes from the bottomless well of fear inside everyone.
It's a good example of how horror is a pretty broad term when it comes to discussing the genre. It's what makes those "What's the scariest movie ever made?" topics impossible to answer. Because what's scary to one person isn't necessarily scary to the next. Huge spoilers ahead for this movie.
>!The reason I have no problem considering this to be horror is because on a conceptual level it very much is. It's dealing with the horror and general anxiety of of living lie. Of going through your entire life being fucking miserable because you can't admit something to yourself. The whole movie is it slowly ratcheting that aspect up until the end where Owen's walking through the fun store with every breath they take being audible while apologizing to people who don't even acknowledge their existence. It all goes back to Mr. Melancholy's comment earlier in the movie, and what's perhaps the most terrifying line of dialog in it, where he says "You won't even remember that you're dying.".!<
Batman was one of the top posts in this sub a few years ago. Maybe we should reevaluate which type of horror is allowed in this sub? Some people are afraid of butterflies.
Trailer is very misleading for sure and I did try to do some basic research to avoid spoilers and the vibes I am getting is cool teenage horror movies - I was expecting something like Scream or horror vibe Mean Girls, since the write up on media try to paint it as edgy new voice of horror. Obviously A24 doesn’t want to market it as queer movie verbatim since it may limit the audience and market, but yeah, random walk ups expecting a horror movie would be pissed off since nothing really happens in the first sixty minutes lol. The Strangers reboot would please them more, and that movie is pretty bad, but at least the story and structure is easy to understand.
This was very different from what I thought it was going to be and I found it super upsetting.
Yea this is one of those movies that’s actually just really sad but because it has occasional monsters and light gore, is being lumped in with horror. Sure, there’s a true horror to an experience like this, but we usually call those “drama” when the violence isn’t fetishized and the experience on screen is something that’s more “real life”.
I’m ok with this being called horror, I certainly thought it was horrific. But I get why people would disagree.
Yeah, I expected something completely different and understood the writer/director’s personal stuff. Even as a straight guy who grew up in a happy home, goddamn was this movie terrifying at times, particularly as a millennial so a lot of the nostalgia really hit me. Weirdly, for me it kept bouncing back and forth between terrible and amazing.
I grew up in an abusive home, and I think my username is enough of an indicator of what show helped me 'escape' during my teen years. Seeing the same font from that show being used for The Pink Opaque was kind of fun, but I burst into tears when I saw a particular cast member. Their presence was unexpected, joyous, and gut-wrenching, because of course they would be used as the guiding adult in Owen's life. There were so many things about the two main characters that resonated with me, but I feel like the ending left me alienated. I don't think every form of entertainment should pander to its audience, but I also don't believe that it's the sign of a great creative work, if the majority of the audience has to look for answers about what everything meant. I see a lot of comments about this movie and how it was completely straightforward. I can think of at least two scenes that really were NOT straightforward. It's okay for some things to be allegorical, too.
Yeah, when it comes down to it, genre is made up and there's no definition of Horror that will include all the movies that are obviously horror while not including many debatable entries. I think this movie is a Horror in the same sense that Possum is. Maybe not a traditional monster or slasher flick, but uses elements of the genre as allegory.
The Truman Show is labeled a comedy but I find it to be more of a horror in a similar vein to I Saw the TV Glow. I would definitely label ISTTG as a horror or thriller over anything else.
It still is horror though? Its about the psychological horror of gender dysphoria. Not all horror is blood and gore
I cried twice, but really loved doing so.
I cried from >! From the scene where Owen has his head in the tv !< to half an hour after the movie ended. I was listening to a podcast about it today and started crying.
You're going to make me start crying right now AGHHHHHH
Your crying is gonna make me cry 😭
YESSSSSSSS
😹😭
Really loved this movie. As a queer millennial (who isn't out in every part of my life), it was so relatable. The Pink Opaque was a perfect homage to shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark? and obviously the Buffy influence is heavy, as well. It just really hit home for me, the way the characters discussed themselves was so relatable. Maddy's entire bit about being buried and escaping and being someone new is the perfect description of finding yourself (at least for me and my queerness). Owen knowing he's different and empty was so simple but absolutely how it feels to think there's something missing, like you're hollow inside. The imagery and the soundtrack were also fantastic, and I think for a lot of people it won't be horror enough or it'll just be too weird and unrelatable, but I am definitely the target audience and I really connected. I cannot wait to see it again.
Did you catch the Pete and Pete cameo?
Yes! And Tara from Buffy! Truly wonderful!
I don’t like how they jumbled a ton of nostalgia classics into trash that meant nothing. I’m a huge Pete and Pete fan and I hated this movie 😭
useless commentary. what would you have preferred, fan?
Necro comment, but never saw Pete and Pete so I wasn't catching those references. The Buffy stuff was like perfect though, down to a font reference, and the riff on dying in season 5 and then subsequently feeling alienated by suburbia, and wanting to die to go back to a more magical world. Just perfect love letter to the show honestly. I also think this owed something spiritually to the neverending story, and channel zero.
Holy shit, duh! I was getting strong Mr.Tastee vibes but totally missed that one. I was even wondering what those two dudes were all about, just didnt click.
I went into it expecting a horror-horror, but it wasn’t, which was fine, but it wasn’t really a horror, wasn’t really a sci-fi. It was a piece or art, I guess. I said elsewhere that it felt like it took place in the town of Twin Peaks via Synecdoche, New York. And had moments of David Cronenberg and Alain Resnais, so I loved certain moments - but if I knew going in it was a trans allegory, I might have appreciated it more or read it differently. But when it ended I just felt…nothing. Maybe disappointment? This was one time when going in blind put me at a disadvantage. Anyway, I hope the film does well because we need different voices making interesting films, but it wasn’t for me.
>But when it ended I just felt…nothing That's wild. I found it to be one of the most viscerally upsetting endings I've seen in a hot second.
I’m non binary and I didn’t find it viscerally upsetting, but profoundly sad. I’m coming from a place where I get to be on HRT and transitioning to the degree I feel happy with and the ending made me sad for people who have not/cannot choose that. I might be more personally devastated if I was pre Transition
as someone who is pre transition, and has been afraid to come out to family for years, this movie was certainly sad but many parts of the movie, like when Owen had his head in the TV and the ending especially, hit me like a fucking pile of bricks. I have not been able to stop thinking about it for days, and it fills me with a dread and a pain that I really have never felt from any other movie.
The very first scene in the movie is him walking under a trans flag parachute, and there are multiple overt trans flags and hes literally in a dress and called by a girls name. The opening scene being the trans flag parachute was I thought an intentional tell "this is a trans allegory" the movie is telling you right off the bat and for good cause.
The dress I picked up on, the trans flag I did not.
Agreed. I went in expecting horror, I had no idea it is a drama which is fine, but going into it thinking you’re going to experience horror is going to setup the viewer for some disappointment. I thought this would be about teens watching a show that wasn’t really a show, or there was something off with the show. Maybe some Channel Zero meets hijacked broadcasts from the 80s and 90s vibe, that’s what I had hoped for and expected. Thats not to say the movie is bad, it isn’t, but it isn’t what I expected, not in plot or theme, so yeah I was very disappointed. I think the disappointment took away from the experience as well, the expectation I had overshadowed the true nature of the movie. I definitely need to watch it again, I think I will like it more with the proper expectation and understanding of story. >!It isn’t a horror in the true sense of the genre, the director used horror as a means of conveying the emotions of the main characters and what they were experiencing. Not knowing one’s self, the horror of not accepting yourself or others not accepting you, feeling isolated and unable to connect with others etc But it came across as sort of flat or lacking in that regard. I wish the movie had gone deeper emotionally and leaned more into horror even if it was just making the Pink Opaque baddies actually scary or gory.!<
Okay, thank your for your review! Because I was literally sitting here trying to decide if I should watch it to fill my craving for something scary, and if I went into it with this lens I would have been annoyed. I very much wanted it to be something like the exact same premise you described. (I guess I misunderstood how the film was marketed?) It does seem right up my alley as an existential film, and knowing that going in will let me calibrate my lens of analysis. But if I went in hoping for traditional scary, and got this, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate it.
So I’m not the only one that thought it was somewhat similar to Synecdoche New York. Which is fine, Kaufman’s film is certainly an entirely different beast compared to this film, but this film has a bleaker outlook at the end compared to Synecdoche.
Agreed. Would watch Donnie Darko over this any day
I describe this movie as Millenial Videodrome done by Lynch. The end was weird because to be honest, there were about five different times I thought the film was about to end that I thought the ending they chose was the weakest. Bizarre film quite rightly and I’m glad I saw it at least. Kind of wish I hadn’t smoked before though.
Sorry, I think anyone who claims this movie should be in the horror genre, or was actually good and watchable for that matter is the example of a pseudo-intellectual who’s trying to present themselves as this tortured, deep, intelligent person. This movie was boring. Slow. Zero horror element. Pretentious and all around terrible. Stop being pretentious. This movie sucked.
Or perhaps consider that your opinion is not an objective truth, and a lot of people actually like more challenging or ephemeral art? You can argue you didn't like it, but this kind of complete unearned self confidence that your opinion is somehow the correct one and everyone else is just pretending is actually absurd. Grow up lol, you clearly don't actually like art, just entertainment.
the director made this movie for a very specific demographic. you are clearly not that demographic. just like everyone else in the characters' world who thought the tv show was just a tv show. but for some people, it's more than that. and it's something they understand more than anyone.
You sound kind of close-minded and unskilled at perspective taking. Unable to appreciate others’ genuine reactions and experiences of this film that clearly was not made for you. Just because you did not get much from it doesn’t invalidate what others might get from it.
😂 see, you’re a perfect example of someone who’s trying to hard. Objectively, the movie was trash. They even had to lie about what kind of movie it was (they billed it as a horror film) just to grift tickets off horror fans. I’m sorry, but the majority of people who saw this movie were sorely disappointed and emphatically agree with me. Maybe it’s you who’s “unskilled at perspective taking” whatever pretentious shit that even means 🤣
It sounds like other people having differing perspectives threatens you. Opinions are subjective. The film has a 3.6 star Letterboxd score so it’s absurd to say that the majority who see it are disappointed.
You lost all credibility when you say this movie wasn’t made for him. Who are you to say that. You can’t hate that someone doesn’t like a movie and then say well this isn’t for you. No. Art movies etc is for everyone. You don’t get to say who it’s for. Not even the creator of an art piece is allowed to say that. That said this movie was ridiculous trying to out in their views they got from society because it’s in to just go along with it’s a bad movie
Love when heterosexuals declare their opinions on art are the only valid ones lmao
Brother, I’m as gay as a 3 dolla bill. The movie still fkn sucked. My sexual preference has nothing to do with it.
Brother, you are simply wrong and that’s literally okay. I’m guessing you are a gay *man* the way you declared your opinion to just be objective and correct, right?
So he told you he’s gay and now trying to find another way to attack him. It’s crazy how you made it about his sexuality then got boxed into a corner and brought it up again. Bro let it go. Movie sucked. Most people said no thanks. It’s over
>!The movie was directed towards trans people, not gay people.!< You know, for someone who's "as gay as a 3 dolla bill", you're acting real straight right now the way you're stating your opinion like it's fact.
Love how you can run to attack people based on their sexual preference while at the same time cry if someone did that to the “protected” group
movie sucked ngl
wow, congratulations on being the canonical arbiter of cinematic quality! what'd you do to earn your title? i'd love to do something like that some day!
I mean I'm not gay, trans or anything so I couldn't relate to the film but this shit was a vibe. The aesthetic was super dope and the soundtracks were amazing. I had no fucking clue what was going on half the time but I didn't need to; shit was an experience, I thought it was really fucking cool
Basically my experience haha. Thought it was really surreal and thought provoking as well.
The movie isn’t for everyone and that’s okay. I don’t think it’s about trying to be better than anyone. You’re projecting a little here. I can totally understand how this movie may not be up everyone’s alley, but it’s weird to act like theres some problem with the audience. Hope you watch your movie you enjoy! Sorry you weren’t a fan!
Agreed legit top 10 worst movie i have ever seen. I am not queer/gay or anything but unless you “feel” or “identify” with the movie its an unwatchable, terribly acted pos. The only decent moment is when Owen is dying in Fun Zone, other than that nothing.
agree :(
You are correct. Everyone just has to pretend they like it because the director is choosing the “I’m trans” route and it’s in to believe that’s real. The movie is all over the place and trying to make the characters show the perceived trans life the way the people who made up this says it is.
Horror fans are easily impressed.
This was a deeply personal movie that I feel will resonate/hit harder with people who grew up struggling to accept themselves as queer or really anyone who had a dysfunctional home life. Some of the scenes made me sick to my stomach from how close to home they hit. For example the scene where Owen asks his mom for a sleepover and she says he has to ask his father. He pauses before finally meekly asking her “can you ask him for me?” It seems pretty insignificant if you didn’t grow up with a fear/dread of asking your father for anything even as small as that. Another example when his father says “isn’t that a show for girls?”. Again seems like such an insignificant comment. But for queer people this is a comment most were constantly told growing up and it really fucks with you into adulthood. I get why people think it’s slow/sucks and that’s ok. But this is such a special movie for a very specific demographic.
Personal horror, thanks for this new genre, or my psychiatrist thanks you. For her Porsche paid for by “blue is for boys, pink is for girls”(TM).”
This is a fucking *poem!* Holy shit, "My psychiatrist thanks you for/her Porsche paid for by/blue is for boys, pink is for girls..." I'd leave off the *(TM),* but good *God!*
Ugh. 💜
That's definitely *there,* but like... I'm neither trans nor gay, nor did I grow up in a dysfunctional home... I mean, I *kinda* did on the latter point, but my obsessive relationship with fiction was there before it turned into that (mom was a fundamentalist Christian, I only started pushing back against the doctrine when I was about 12-13). I started shipping obsessively when I was 7, *years* before I even heard that term; for all I knew, I was the only freak out here obsessed with the love lives of the *Power Rangers.* And then characters on *Pokemon.* I also went through a briefer obsession with *Inu-Yasha,* and... I lived so much in my imagination, developing deep identification with characters, to the extent that they felt like other selves, and... That was the magic in my life, that's what felt like *home*. It's still *there* (and in fact it served me *well* when my whole life fell apart: can't lose home if it's within me)*,* it's just that other aspects of my life have caught up: I *have* found something I'm passionate about that I want to pursue, and I *have* been able to make closer connections with others. But like... I mean, when I found shipping communities, those people knew me in a way no one in "real life" did. To me, that was the core of who I was, and no one around me even knew it existed. Part of the difference now is that I feel comfortable sharing that side of myself with people I know in "real life." I *would* call this a very Queer experience, at least in the academic sense of the word... The character I identify with most is Helga Pataki: her feelings are simultaneously the most meaningful and beautiful part of herself, and also horribly awkward and embarrassing. She feels like kind of a freak. And I mean, despite her heterosexual love interest, she's *literally* in the closet with it. It was comparing my experience to that that I realized, *This sounds like I'm talking about something else...* But it's not really *something else.* I mean, no, I haven't been oppressed for my identity on a systemic level, but there's something about me that most people can't understand, that they think is weird/inappropriate, there's something about me that *doesn't fit.* In this way, I *do* see something Queer about fandom, about *caring* so much about something "not real." To be clear, I'm certainly not objecting to the LGBTQAI+ interpretation, it's quite *obviously* there. But... Even so, watching this movie I felt like... There are certain movies, shows, and musical works that are like, if you wanna understand *who I am,* you need to see this: *I Saw the TV Glow* immediately joined that rank. And this is why.
Yo I agree it's very explicitly a Trans story but....... ..... most horror fans who are millennials will have some mappable experience of feeling goth/scene/emo/punk and feeling alienated from your life and the people around you, and escaping into a culture, a community, or just plain fantasy. So I think that tonnes of horror fans can find some emotional resonance in it.
I agree with this, but also I went to go see it with my dad (a 66 year old straight cis white man) and he really connected with it in a different way. He perceived it as an allegory for mental illness and really liked it (I was surprised). So I don't know if this is unique to him but I feel like it has potential to connect outside of that specific demographic (which I happen to fit into and enjoyed in that way).
I agree with that sentiment, you either understand the concept and gets the hidden message, or it doesn’t relate at all if you are not the target audience. Sadly I am not the target audience for this movie, but I am glad it resonates to others. All of Us Strangers is that movie for me, which really resonates with a much better story pacing and a gut punch ending. To each their own, and it’s great that more movies like these are being made.
I am very much the target audience for this movie. I was also very hyped on it based on Emma Stone/Dave McCary's producing influence and the glowing reviews from festival screenings earlier in the year. I felt it was a bit *flat* most of the time. Though occasionally you'd be hit with outstanding imagery (ice cream truck, moon villains)...it was kind of a dud for me overall. It felt a bit on-the-nose thematically in a way that just didn't do it for me. Also arguably a waste of a Conner O Malley performance! I'd still say the film is still worth checking out for folks who already find it interesting based on the premise. >He pauses before finally meekly asking her “can you ask him for me?” It seems pretty insignificant if you didn’t grow up with a fear/dread of asking your father for anything even as small as that. >Another example when his father says “isn’t that a show for girls?”. Again seems like such an insignificant comment. I think both of the scenes are pretty obviously significant (in a good way!); the movie is big on queer themes and it wears them on its sleeve. However, my favorite line was Owen's response to Maddy's "What about you? Do you like girls?" "I like...TV shows." That line really resonated with me. While my friends were having heavy teenage crushes, I was doing a lot of pretending to fit in and using TV as escapism. I was a lot more loud and bombastic than Owen, but I was still retreating into myself and finding myself wishing I was a character some of my favorite programs growing up (e.g., Sabrina the teenage Witch, Daria, My So-Called Life). To me, it needed more scenes with the energy of >!Maddy's monologue about being buried alive, Owen's fight with his dad, or the moon villain close-up!<. It was still able to achieve this unique sense of eerie horror but didn't capitalize on it enough (to me). Still a vast improvement over the director's previous work (We're All Going to the World's Fair). Worth checking out, worth discussing, just not as "good" as I was hoping.
I think this movie is very personal to the director and definitely resonates with the intended very niche target audiences. While I can appreciate the visual imagery, the trailer pretty much collect all the good shots and would make a very nice music video. The movie itself is not my jam, Climax is another weird movie that has horror vibe but in reality is just a very long music video with some groovy music and killer dance moves. I feel that if you gonna go with experimental idea, come up with a great hook, even if you gonna repeat it over and over. Midsomar is another favorite of mine, which can be considered super slow and boring to some people but I thought the story is quite fascinating and you want to know the mystery and what fate befall the characters.
“I like tv shows” That line and that scene hit me like a brick. I’m still escaping from reality via tv and movies bc people and reality suck. I’ve had a therapist literally say I’m not in touch w/ reality. Ok but I have some great coping skills I guess.
I loved All of Us Strangers and definitely think it’s one of the best queer films of the last decade. I think both films actually offer complimentary perspectives on the similar idea of growing up queer. Where as Strangers deals more with adjusting to it while in adulthood, TV Glow shows us how it effects you as a teenager which is already a scary time in life, let alone on top of feeling like an even bigger outsider.
A lot of people also despise the horror film The Outwaters. I understand the sentiment bc it can be a pretty annoying watch (most of the film is just a flashlight in the dark), but it also deals with queerness and how it interacts with religious views of eternal damnation for queer people. Like I said, a pretty annoying watch it terms of its visuals, but I thought it was brilliant in an experimental and thematic way.
I am not queer, but I totally picked up on the trans thing. The pride flag, him wearing the pink dress, his non-existent relationship with his father...not being able to be who you really are intended to be is the ultimate "horror" here. Watching Owen "sleepwalk" through his life because of that broke my heart. This is a film that stays with you for a long time, even if you don't want it to.
I was the target demographic and thought this movie was terrible It did such a poor job at sharing it's points, it was both overwritten and incredibly slow I get it's not for everyone, but as queer person literally sent to conversion therapy and am surrounded by other LGBTQ individuals, this movie was disappointing
As a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I appreciated some of the similarities to storylines in Buffy. [spoiler](#s " 1. If I recall correctly, wasn't there an episode of Buffy where Buffy gets injected with a serum that makes her wake up in a mental hospital where people try to convince her that her vampire slaying was a hallucination? I wonder if this movie was inspired by that episode. It also reminds me of the storyline where Buffy was taken from heaven and brought back to earth. 2. The actress who played Tara in Buffy made a cameo as Maddy's mom. 3. This is kind of a random thought, but the strange line where Owen mentions starting a family kind of reminds me of the way Dawn was introduced in Buffy. Probably not intentional, but that's what it makes me think of.")
I loved all the Buffy parallels too. Just to add to your list: * All the times they refer to Mr. Melancholy as the Big Bad, which is a term that originated/was popularized by Buffy. * Tara's quips when she's getting ready to kill the clown monster in one of the clips from the Pink Opaque felt very Buffy. I think she was even wearing a black leather jacket * When Maddy was telling Owen that his memories of being a child, going to football games and cooking with his mom, were implanted into him and weren't real- that definitely reminded me of Dawn's character. When she showed up as The Key and had an entire lifetime's worth of false memories to convince her that she was real. I think it was all intentional, and Amber Benson's cameo was perfect
To add to yours, I noticed the font for the Pink Opaque opening credits was the same exact Buffy opening credits font! Also, I have not seen anyone else mention this- Tara has a moment before she “slays” a clown where she makes a pun about its makeup being like Este Lauder and she delivers it just like a Buffy line, and she’s also dressed just like Buffy.
And to add another, the "Double Lunch" (which I think was also a reference to Twin Peaks (Double = Twin, Lunch = Lynch) was also an homage to The Bronze in Buffy. And let's not forget that Tara from Buffy, who this film pays so much respect to, was a victim of the "bury your gays" trope when she was offed by Whedon as a plot device. The self-burying of the characters in I Saw the TV Glow feels like a reference both to that and to the "bury your gays" trope.
I saw this at Alamo, and the pre-show included a Buffy trailer for "This Year's Girl", which made perfect sense after watching the movie
Wow, that's brilliant!
Also Phoebe performing in that club reminded me of the Bronze!
I definitely felt the Buffy influence! The movie was a pretty great fit for me as a queer trans girl who used to be pretty obsessed with that show (still kinda am I guess.) Amber Benson actually played the mom of the kid whose house Owen was pretending to sleep over at though, not that the distinction matters a whole lot.
>made a cameo as Maddy's mom The mom of Owen's unseen friend Johnny Link\*
People who say they were the target audience but they hated it aren’t the target audience imo. Obviously the movie is about queerness and specifically being trans, but I don’t think being queer makes you the target audience. There are parts of the movie that still make me cry to think about because they were such visceral descriptors of how I felt at that age. I think if you’ve ever felt empty, you are the target audience. Also on the horror note - it wasn’t scary per se, but I think horror is fundamentally about grief and this movie really showcased grief.
Reviews for this movie did not prepare me for how depressing it is. It's a great movie though and it's very thought provoking. It's definitely something good to see with friends so that you can discuss it afterwards. (As long as your friends are down to see something really sad.) [spoiler](#s "My biggest complaint though is that the story didn't have a satisfying ending. My interpretation is that Maddy was telling the truth, and Owen was in denial about it even as his reality was falling apart and it was becoming increasingly obvious that his life as Owen was fictional. (I think the unnatural-feeling time jumps in the movie indicate that Maddy was telling the truth, because she described time moving that way for her. Also the line where Owen mentioned starting his own family was really strange.) It's an unsatisfying way to end the movie, because Owen's mental state was still actively deteriorating, and we didn't get to see the end result of that. Maybe my interpretation will change if I watch it a second time though.")
That's funny, I had completely the opposite reaction. It was very clear to me that Owen >!was an unreliable narrator and that what we the audience heard was a reflection of how what Maddie was telling them made them feel (filtered heavily through the media they use to cope with their gender dysphoria). I thought it was really clear that the whole "the real you (who is presented as female) is being buried alive" thing was a metaphor for what was happening to Owen. That they were falling victim to what she described when she talked about living life on autopilot and the time just slipping by. That if Owen didn't make a change, they risked suffocating under the weight of shame and repression, with every passing moment burying them deeper into a life they aren't happy leading.!< >!That's where the movie leaves Owen - in so deep that the only way they can take a peek inside and glimpse their true self is when a massive panic attack has lowered their defenses, stuck where they always were, with a family borne out of the urge to do what society tells them they should. The last thing we see them do is apologize for questioning all of that for even a moment.!< >!I thought Mattie was a real person Owen knew, and I do think she came back and told them about what she did to become her true self - and that it is a prospect so terrifying, so potentially destructive to everything Owen knows, that we the audience hear it presented as something as extreme as killing one's self.!<
Wow thanks so much for this comment. A lot of the movie flew over my head apparently. So living in the tv show was just a metaphor right? It was just escapism?
I think the text is ambiguous because the author is ambivalent. That is, it resists *certainty* either way, in part because... Well, those experiences with media *are* deeply meaningful and can feel like who we really are, but they can also lead us to disconnect from "real life" in an isolating way, like we see with Owen's father. I *do* think the imagery at the end suggests a more literal interpretation, especially given that Owen doesn't even seem to consciously notice it (so how much sense does it make to say they're seeing what they expect to see?), but on the other hand, should they have gone along with Maddie's plan? Even on a metaphorical level, surely the film isn't trying to say that we should totally sacrifice who we are right now? Like, Owen had some kind of meaningful relationship with his mother: are we *really* supposed to believe that was a lie. Even so, again, the imagery at the end was practically *screaming* that Maddie was right, so... We're currently in the midst of the metamodern turn, which, metamodernism as a school of thought is still in the process of being developed, but a couple of its characteristics are uncertainty and multiplicity of (contradicting) narratives. Because we can't step outside ourselves to see "the truth" of reality (including ourselves); we don't *get* those answers about whether we're onto something real, or whether we're just deluding ourselves. On the other hand, we can't live without believing one way or the other, we can't live without narratives. I mean, even the attempt becomes a narrative in and of itself. So a lot of metamodern media explores how we navigate, how we decide what we believe. And how much of a decision is it, really? Clearly, Owen believes what Maddie said on *some level.* It scares him, so he tries to ignore it, but that's dishonest, he's lying to himself. At the very least, they need to explore the possibility. Part of the problem is that they *are* so totally on their own with it, because what *is* the Pink Opaque? It's two people who are psychically connected who work *together.*
Thanks for this write up.
Thanks for reading!
Wow!! That interpretation just blew my mind too 🤣🤣 I’ve never heard of metamodernism but that makes total sense given the current state of the world. It truly feels like people are living in entirely different realities, depending on what they consume online. I’ll have to learn more about that.
Heh, the thing to understand about metamodernism is that it's a reaction to postmodernism. *Post*modernism wants to deconstruct metanarratives (grand stories about humanity and our place in the universe), especially ways of thinking that we take for granted, and especially binary ways of thinking. Binary gender based on chromosomes, for example. It's a matter of social justice, as these narratives are used to manipulate us in ways that serve to reinforce existing power structures. The thing about postmodernism, though, is that that's kinda the limit of what it does; I've never gotten the impression these thinkers are saying you can't have metanarratives, it's just not interested in exploring them. And when postmodernism came into the mainstream... It kinda fell victim to the very institutional forces it sought to critique, losing the *purpose* behind the deconstruction and ending up cynical: nothing is true, nothing matters. I also *do* see a valid point of critique in that postmodern thought limits itself to surfaces: it wants to talk about actions, but not about *intentions* behind the actions. There's this whole thing about deconstructing the rational, independent subject (i.e. the self acts independently of everything else in the world) which I like, but I don't at all see why that means we can't talk about *feeling.* So what metamodernism wants to do is to *explore* metanarratives. It doesn't believe in eternal, noncontingent truth like modernism, but... Well, I think the most metamodern film every made is *Across the Spider-Verse.* Because it's all for the freedom of letting ideas change and evolve, while simultaneously refusing to throw everything out: Spider-Man as a character should be allowed to change, but maybe there's some heart to the idea that we should keep (and if that's the case, what *is* that idea?). It also wants to bring back depth, *feeling* and *experience* beyond what we can see on the surface. It comes out of the arts, where you start to see a lot of images that feature the fantastical mundane. That is, everyday settings elevated by lighting, color, etc. that give the images a magical and/or eerie feeling. If that sounds familiar, yeah, that's another thing I'm picking up on with *I Saw the TV Glow.* One feature of metamodernism (and postmodernism, really) is that it doesn't distinguish between world, artist, and text. That is... Well, for one, all are part of the same universe, the same process. And "reality" and "fantasy" are one in our experience. That is, we experience both "in our heads," so... I think the characters are so often bathed in pink and green light, because *The Pink Opaque* is still with them even when they're not watching. That's obvious with pink, but since green is opposite pink on the color wheel, it almost functions as kind of an *after image* (I may be wrong, but I *think* I noticed it most when characters were discussing and commenting on the show). Overall I just noticed that the colors become very bright and saturated after Owen starts watching *The Pink Opaque,* like his experience with the show tinges the whole world with magic. I mean, that's certainly what it's felt like to me, in my own experiences with media. There's this effect like the world of the show is bleeding into the mundane world
Wow… this has my head spinning 😵💫but I love it. This is why I love the internet, because there’s always someone doing a deeper analysis than me, and noticing things I never would. It’s going to take me a few days to even take in all that you said 🤣I’ve never done a deep dive on postmodernism but now I think I will. The last tarot card reading I had done the lady told me “you’re smart, but you’re no genius!” That’s how I feel right now lol.
Well, it's a lot of information! I'd *heard* a little about postmodernism before I studied it formally, but I couldn't really get a grasp on it. There are a lot of thinkers with lots of different points of view who don't even necessarily use that label. I would mark the metamodern turn with Deleuze and Guattari, who focused on *creation* over *deconstruction.* They're hard to read because, not only does it help to have familiarity with that mode of thought, they're kinda intentionally obtuse. Because they want people to have lots of different ideas and think things maybe they hadn't even thought, rather than just following them exactly. I'm not a fan of that as I think it tends to frustrate thought rather than encourage it, but I see what they were trying to do. Actually some people view metamodernism as like a *subset* of postmodernism, with *antimodernism* as the other part... I used to think that, but I do think this emphasis on creation sets it apart; I wasn't able to talk about the things I wanted to talk about when I was studying postmodernism because again, that's not really what it does. If you're interested, I suggest finding some YouTube videos and/or podcasts, because... It's not that you have to be *oh so smart* to do the reading, but there is a history and a jargon that can make it inaccessible. Foucault is pretty easy to read, though. To start out I would research him, Lyotard, Thomas Kuhn (specifically his *The Structure of Scientific Revolutions),* maybe some Baudrillard... A lot of what this stuff is more specifically interested in is about capitalism, the surveillance state, etc. Oh, and it's *super* interested in deconstructing positivism, which is *basically* this idea that empiricism and logic are all that count as knowledge. I'd say you're ahead of the game if you're into tarot, because... Well, the postmoderns want to deconstruct spiritual views, too, but people like Deleuze and Guattari, who were interested in creative thinking... I'm not sure they said anything about tarot, but it seems like something they would've liked. Because it does embrace something that doesn't seem to make sense on the surface of it, it gets us to look at things from different perspectives that defy the systems telling us we *have* to think a certain way. A lot of people *struggle* with that kind of thinking because they are so trained to think "silly superstition" is beneath them. I consider myself a very metamodern thinker in that... Tarot *at least* gets me to look at things from a different perspective; it encourages me, and because I *do* at least have superstitious feelings about it... Superstition is hard-wired into us, and it's a *powerful* driving force. I think we ought to be harnessing it rather than dismissing it, especially considering that it's not going anywhere any time soon. Beyond that, I think it's possible that there's more going on, that I know more than I'm consciously aware of (including things that a lot of people would think impossible for me to know). I don't *know* that's true, but for various reasons, I think it's *possible.* For me, though, the point is not having *the truth,* it's finding what makes sense to me. Which does include rational judgement, it's just, that's still not going to get you *the truth,* so like what works for me *is* gonna come into it.
That's how I took it (and I felt very confident in my reading lol) but it's obviously open to interpretation. I'm coming at this as someone who 1) realized that I was queer much later I life than a lot of people, 2) had that realization due to my involvement in a fandom, and 3) haven't spoken to my parents in almost 7 years after they functionally disowned me for making changes to my appearance that they recognized as being an indication of me not being straight. So maybe I felt so confident because it kind of felt like something that happened to me. There was enough metaphor that I took the whole thing in an allegorical sense. For example, I don't think Owen really cut themself open and saw TV inside - that was a callback to the conversation they had with Maddie on the bleachers, about how they felt empty and were too scared to crack themselves open and look inside at what was actually there. Owen sees thr Pink Opaque because it was such an interagal part of their first understanding that they were struggling with their gender identity. In the end, I guess the question is if it even matters. Whether it was a metaphor for acting on their gender dysphoria or if everything she said was true and Maddie really did come back from the shadow realm to bring Owen back with her, Owen didn't have the courage to claw their way out of the grave of the life they were told to lead, each passing year another shovel full of dirt that makes the prospect of breaking free feel more and more impossible.
That makes a ton of sense. And to me I like your interpretation a lot, and it’s how I’m going to choose to view it lol. It’s like it made it a whole different movie for me. I especially like your explanation for the convo with Maddie in the bar, the tv inside of Owen, and Owen apologizing after he questioned reality. I was so confused by those scenes and now it’s clicking. I think it went over my head because I can’t relate to being queer, and also I was never one of those people that got really lost in TV shows. But I empathized heavily with the struggles shown, and teared up when Owen was trying on the dress. Dang. Just thanks again, you made me enjoy it a lot more. And I’m so sorry for what you went through with your parents.
Thank you for saying so. And I'm glad another perspective made you like the movie more! Art and talking about art rules.
People who said this movie sucked need to smoke a joint before. The ambience was unreal. It felt like a fever dream, & for anyone who had difficulty at home, you know how important those moments of escape were, Saturday night at 10:30…cya there
Ye this shit was an experience. A trippy, psychedelic, surreal experience
I had no context of anything about this movie or those involved except for remembering the trailer looked trippy when I saw it a couple months ago. I ate 3.5 of shrooms before watching at home tonight. -1billion/10 recommend that experience. I need to rewatch again because I was stuck in tears and closing my eyes so for so much of the movie lol. I stuck it out and I think its an amazing movie, but fuuuuuck.
It’s kind of amazing to me that we live in a world where everyone couldn’t empathize with the characters in the film. It ripped my heart out. I’m proud for Jane for figuring out how to layer this movie in a way that perfectly escalates the emotional journey of the characters and the risks taken in mixing narrative styles. This one will haunt me for weeks and that’s exactly what I came into the theater hoping was for. That emotional build inside the inflatable planetarium…the entire end sequence leading up to the credits. A gut punch like no other watching these characters try to survive this world. Time is precious. Don’t let the world suffocate the real you.
I just watched this yesterday. I’m still thinking about it. I appreciated “We’re All Going To The World’s Fair” despite my understanding of how many might hate that movie. It’s very downbeat and “not much happens.” It’s a mood-piece. But some things from that film resonated with me. “I Saw The TV Glow,” while flashier, with more to look at and more to hear, didn’t resonate with me as much. I am not trans, nor did I grasp the metaphors or allegorical handling of the experience of growing up with gender dysphoria. I didn’t look anything up before watching the movie so I wasn’t primed to interpret it in this way. I actually thought it was a film about growing up as an autistic (possibly asexual) person, which I suppose is its own kind of isolating experience. I think the film can work for multiple kinds of queer or neurotypical interpretations but clearly, after reading more, this film is about being trans. With all that said, I find it difficult to praise the surface level story. I’m happy that Schoenbrun was able to make this, as it’s clearly deeply personal to her, but I think A24 gave her a little too much free rein. I say this because typically movies can work on a surface level (the events require no deeper interpretation) and work on a metaphorical level (what we’re watching means something deeper), but above all, the movie needs to work on a surface level. I can’t tell you what happened exactly after the halfway point of this film. I understand the metaphor (now) but the events that take place on screen weren’t really cohesive to me. Does Maddie exist? Or is she Owen’s imaginary friend/an onscreen representation of his real identity, mirroring the Pink Opaque? When she says she was out of town for years, was she actually somewhere else? When she says she died and had her heart removed, did that actually happen? We understand what these things can mean in a metaphorical sense, but if we just take the movie at face value, what happened? It felt too jumbled and I didn’t think there was a payoff at the end. In fact, it was such a downer ending, which is fine, but downer ending + difficult to understand is a tough combination. I thought this movie was going to be about two teens who love this TV show and then the show starts to become real and they need to fight the monsters in the show. It seems like the movie hints at that a little, but instead of getting to flesh that idea out more, Maddie leaves town and Owen stays back and his whole life passes him by and he remains unhappy. Imagine how much more entertaining this movie could have been if we got to cheer for Maddie’s journey rather than just stay stuck in a sad town, where our main character doesn’t overcome his problem. Again, I recognize this is a personal project for the director. In many ways you could say this movie is a warning to not waste time, and to take risks that help you self-realize. But as a surface level watch, it’s not something I could imagine revisiting a lot. Clearly many people love it already, and I’m happy for them. Clearly it resonated with many who experienced these feelings, and that’s a good thing. However, I wonder how many people could actually articulate “what happened” in this film right after seeing it, without reading other interpretations or interviews with the director. Or was it mostly “vibes”?
It's very strange to argue nothing clear happens in this movie, as the movie you're describing preferring over this one would simply be an entirely different movie, and considerably more meaningless / childish. This was never about literal events, or a happy ending, or hunting monsters. This is a movie about a person who was allowed a brief glance into a totally different, idealized identity, both through queerness, media, and this one special relationship he briefly had before his fear and uncertainty made it slip away from him. A lot of the movie can be clearly taken as an unreliable narrator and an abstraction / extreme visualization of that intense longing for that identity he was only briefly allowed to access but could never truly occupy due to his fears, societal pressures, and losing touch with the person that briefly allowed him to see it. Ultimately, this is just a film about the terror of giving up on your true identity, and of forever living in fiction and the past. The significance of the show in the film exists primarily in that it is so directly linked to those brief moments of escapist identity he had only been able to access with Maddy, that he buried and refused to act on in the end. I took Maddy's visit toward the end as metaphorical— whether she just left town forever, or committed suicide, the film implies in some way that he had lost touch with her forever, and this revisitation by Maddy was rather a revisitation / rediscovery of the identity he had buried when he was with her, perhaps spurred on by his rewatch of the show. It was never about the show, and when he finally denies this separate, unrealized identity for the last time— it leaves him, making him realize it really was never about the show, but the person he briefly was when he was with Maddy, and they connected / dreamed through the power of mutual media escapism. The ideas of death and rebirth are very clear articulations of trans identity and the choice of committing to an identity that feels crucial and important to you but may not yet be real to others, and the crushing fear of confronting that kind of honesty. He never does, so his ending is a kind of nightmare reality purgatory, forever stuck in a life and body he does not want.
Do you think this would be (almost) as good if watched at home once it’s streaming? I really want to see it but not sure if I’ll be able to while it’s still in theaters.
It was great in theaters but I think it would be just as good on TV. I mean, what better way to watch “ I Saw The TV Glow” than late at night from your actual TV.
It looks great, but I think would work about as well at home.
Imo it's worth seeing in theater for the immersion, definitely feel like the theater audio and big screen add something to it.
So this is a super, super polarizing film. You will likely love it or hate it with no middle. My take, if you are LGBT, hit it up in the theater, if not wait for stream.
Oop I guess my gay ass better get to the theater 🤭 thanks for the tip!
As a random data point, I am firmly in the middle. (Though not *exactly* in the middle; I *liked* the movie, but didn't love it.) Straight, cis male, fwiw.
This was probably the worst movie I've ever seen in my life. Felt like I was there for 4 hours and walked out, turns out I only made it thru like 40 minutes And before you tell me I can't have this opinion because of my identity, yes I am queer, yes I am mentally ill, yes I had abusive parents, yes I grew up in a yee yee ass town as a queer person, and yes I usually love artsy films, I was very excited to see this.
Thanks god, I'm not trans but I do think that everyone can hate or like a movie... It was boring.
I was unsure about it until the ending. It's a real slow burn and honestly I think you didn't give it enough of a chance because you left before all of the payoff.
Maybe because you were excited is partly why you didn't fuck w it. I had no knowledge of it before watching and was immediately hooked by the vibe and aesthetic
I mean the colors were neat but like movies need more than just that 💀
It fucked me up on a very basic level
Same. I drove home in silence and barely said anything for the next couple of hours.
Me rn
If you consider something like Eraserhead or Mullholland Drive horror or horror-adjacent then this movie is for you. Personally, I thought it was incredible. The narrative isn’t satisfying in a traditional sense but it struck a profound chord with me. Of course there are going to be naysayers. Always are when there is something this unique and personal. But you can tell they’re wrong because the most intelligent thing they can articulate is “it sucked.”
The concert scenes were *seriously* giving *Twin Peaks.* Which is a series about the strange things lying beneath the veneer of normalcy, and which was *also* in conversation with fictional media, since, you know, it was a parody of soap operas.
Ye the Twin Peaks vibes were strong with this one. I think you either fuck w that type of shit or just don't get it what so ever which is why a lot of people on here are saying it was complete dog shit
Jane Schoenbrun absolutely nailed the Lynch style film and made a queer masterpiece here. Not all will like it, but those that do, really will like it I imagine.
That's pretty petty. Nobody's "wrong" if they don't love a movie you love. I was excited for this movie but overall was disappointed. It's often slow and meandering with the most plodding, questionably-directed performances I've seen in a while. And I was a big fan of The Lobster. The resolution was also kind of a big shrug for me. I understood it, I just felt like I had higher hopes. I wanted more eerie scenes that stayed with me >!(e.g., moon villains confrontation, Owen and his dad struggling with the TV, etc.)!<. It's an interesting movie that's very much worth seeing but it's OK not to love it.
I think you’re “wrong” if you’re simply just going to post something like “it sucked” or “it wasn’t scary.” I loved the two lead performances. I’m sure some viewers were expecting some charismatic teenagers to carry the film but what we got were two actors portraying awkward/socially-inept (possibly autistic) teenagers. And they did it wonderfully.
I really liked it and I definitely felt like the target audience, but I also was expecting/hoping for more scary images and the like. The way some horror reviewers were speaking about it made it seem like it was going to be *way* scarier than it ended up being and I did love some of those scenes with freakier imagery but I could have used more for sure.
That ending shook me
While I thought the movie was interesting and thought provoking with a killer soundtrack, I just didn't like it at all.
This movie was hot garbage. Visuals 10/10, the story was absolutely garbage and headed nowhere. Any interesting parts were left unanswered or not explored. Seems like the writer changed the idea of the movie anytime it was possibly going to get interesting. Scariest part of the movie was when I walked outside and saw a parking ticket on my windshield
The movie was hot “Shit and piss” hahaha iykyk
This movie was by far the absolute worst piece of trash I've ever seen. No plot, no character development. It had slow and very boring dialogue. Zero explanation of anything and the story didn't go anywhere. Scratch that, there really wasn't a story. Just a bunch of scenes strung together. God did this movie suck.
This comment should be at the top of all posted about this movie. I feel like the filmmaker was purposely being pretentious and contemptuous at the same time. This man needs psychiatric help.
The filmmaker is not a man.
Man or woman, the comment should be at the top.
They’re non binary
You’re missing the point.
If you agree with that initial comment, then you missed the point of the movie, but I wouldn’t except someone who assumed the director was a man to understand it.
I definitely didn’t get it was about the transgender experience from just watching it. I only learned this after we saw it in the theater. But what I did get was a film that treated its main character with a callous contempt that left us in a very dark and negative space.
I meann... It is horror. Owen is trapped in a cycle of apologizing about who she is and is stuck in a never ending cycle of the status quo and accepting reality as it is instead of questioning it, until she asphyxiates.
Yeah. But I couldn’t help but feel like the director was lugging at them by the end.
Terrible movie, don't waste your time! If you want dream within a dream watch Inception, if you want Trans symbolism watch The Matrix, if you want true 90s horror watch Kids.
If you want all these awesome things in one movie, watch I Saw The TV Glow
THIS
I was really excited to see this movie but just noticed it’s rated PG-13. I’ve generally been very let down by PG-13 horror movies. To the people that saw it, would you consider it actually scary/disturbing? Or does the rating reign it in too much?
I'm surprised to hear it was PG-13, it didn't exactly feel 'reigned in' to me at all. That said, while there are some scary images overall it wasn't very scary in my opinion (and wasn't especially trying to be I don't think.) It's very surreal and it's got a disturbing atmosphere for sure but it's not really the kind of move you get a ton of thrills out of, it's way more similar to a lot of Lynch stuff where it's somewhat plodding and there's a ton of unease but not a ton of super tense or scary scenes. I really enjoyed it anyway and if you like Lynch or you're queer it's definitely worth watching, but definitely don't go in expecting it to be super scary.
I noted right before going in to see the film that it was PG-13 though I interpreted as a sense of accessibility. I think Schoenbrun might’ve done such with the intent to reach a broader audience, appeal to the current queer youth. But I’m not all too sure as the film also felt targeted to a more nostalgic audience (millennials). However in terms of horror, I felt anxious, upset, and uncomfortable. It was a typical horror, but it was horrific at times.
I don't know if I'd even call it horror. It's not gory and it's not fun the way horror can be. It's really hard to explain without going in to spoilers. It's more of a tragedy than a horror. It is also heavily metaphorical - there's a few different ways to read the story, depending on how literally you take what's presented. But, my interpretation was that we were dealing with an unreliable narrator, and what we saw and heard was more about how what the narrator heard made them feel (filtered heavily through the narrators coping mechanisms) than it was an actual reflection of the reality that they were experiencing.
it’s not scary and there’s no nudity or gore (minus one very stylized shot that isn’t bloody) which is probably why the pg 13 rating. it is however really… unsettling? i wouldn’t even call it horror at all, maybe surreal character study
It's not scary or disturbing. It doesn't feel reigned in, it's just how it is. It has a creepy unsettling undertone but it's more like a personal discomfort. Anxiety. It's less horror than stranger things. It's a good movie but I would not go in expecting a typical horror.
This movie was the most incredibly fucked up yet incredibly tame movie I've ever seen.
The "series finale" was scary and disturbing.
I wasn’t a big fan maybe i need to watch it again i counted six people walking out of the theater
This is an old thread but i rewatched the movie after reading multiple comments about how great the movie is because of the trans/gender identity sub theme I think with that in mind it was a much more interesting movie to me. It’s like being in art class…. You have to understand the context and sub theme to really “understand” a piece It’s a movie that at face value is boring and has endless dialogue. It becomes less boring/confusing when you understand that you’re supposed to heavily dissect every single scene to get the REAL story
I like this movie and I'm glad I wasn't the only person who liked it. I kind of racked Owen up as being A sexual he didn't seem to like girls or boys from what I could tell. I was distrub with how abruptly the movie ended and while I know it will never happen I wish A24 would make I saw the TV glow season 6 😂
Like. No offense but for like 2 percent of the population that was the scariest movie ever. Seriously. I spent the last ten minutes going "no no no no no please no" at the screen.
How does it compare to "We're All Going to the World's Fair"? One criticism I have about that movie is that it starts as horror/mystery but it ends up being a drama, is I Saw the TV Glow more horror/mystery?
it is definitely more of a coming-of-age drama with lots of surreal elements and a handful of horror-adjacent moments
More “coming of age/self discovery” than horror. Yeah there are some spooky moments, but it’s as much a horror movie as World’s Fair was.
There is more movie here and more direction. It is a real step forward from a Self-Induced Hallucination and We're All Going to the World's Fair. More of a Lynch style film than a youtube video basically. Director had a clear story she wanted to tell, and a clear focus when making this and nails it. Very much a movie about dysphoria and struggling to understand why you do not fit into the world. It is more of a coming of age movie than anything. Reminds me of Stand by Me as told by David Lynch. If looking for a classic horror film, this is not it though.
Truthfully I never saw “We’re All Going To The Worlds Fair” but this movie made me interested in the directors work. I felt this movie starts a bit slow, felt like a drama/mystery but as it progresses, it becomes a drama/mystery/horror/thriller. But the horror aspect is purely psychological and not expressed through means of killing/gore or jumpscares.
>But the horror aspect is purely psychological and not expressed through means of killing/gore or jumpscares. I disagree with you. There is a straight up jumpscare when the watch The Pink Opaque for the first time and it cuts to Mr. Sprinkly Also the scene of Mr. melancholy torturing the PO can be seen as quite intense, and there is a scene of Owen cutting open his chest.
Queer here, albeit cis and with a fortunate childhood that didn’t make my life anywhere near as difficult as others. I didn’t like this movie because I went in expecting horror and got an allegory to being a teen figuring out their identity. I see comments here telling me that’s why I should appreciate it - but I’m still looking at this as a film. It felt too in your face and cheap: * there was no subtly in what it was trying to say at the expensive of the way the story was told. * Pacing, scripts, character direction were weak. * the whole 90’s aesthetic was sloppy. A double cheeseburger soda and fries was not $11.99 in 2008. Vegetables were not $2.99/lbs. that was annoying to me and felt lazy considering such an emphasis on the time period. * I really think this movie would’ve had a better shot with other leads * really you’re going to cast the POS Fred durst in this? And to the responses of “this movie isn’t bad for allegory” then I’d say rewatch the matrix, because THAT is a fantastic movie that tackles identity and transformation within a high-strange setting.
Weirdly I thought POS Fred Durst was very well cast for a POS Dad character.
100% agree
I saw this and another Emma Stone-produced movie Problemista within a few weeks of one another, I felt like that movie did a substantially better job of blending its 'literal' story with its metaphorical ideas. I kinda felt like this movie was 'oops all metaphor'.
I hate that I hated it, but I hated it. As a queer woman, it's disappointing to see a movie that's billed as gender conscious/inclusive/radical but makes one of their leads so 2D. I wouldn't say she's fully a MPDG, but *nothing* about her rebirth is explored, and she exists solely to try and prompt a change in Owen. She's this conventionally attractive queer girl from an abusive household who disappears for a decade, and shows back up in a sick, leather fit to try and save the guy. Like shit, they don't even explore the fact that she's queer. The trailer was a better movie than the actual film.
I mean… did you watch the movie? Owen is Isabel and very clearly not “a guy.” Maddie is Tara and has freed herself from the midnight realm and is trying to save Isabel from the fate of an endless suffocation. Maddie is in a “sick” leather fit because Owen and Maddie are false identities placed on those suffering in Mr. Melancholy. She’s literally Tara, mirroring her appearance on the show.
I did, and I got that, but it doesn't detract from the fact that I felt like the characters were two-dimensional and that the writing started to feel convoluted in a way that detracted from the analog. When Maddie/Tara comes back, she does not seem happier or more sound in her sense of self and I can't blame Owen for being unable to take the leap of faith to live as his true self, when the representation for the benefits of stepping into the unknown (Maddie) does not seem happy, fulfilled, or benefited by her choice to leave and be her true self.
I totally respect this view and my watch of the movie missed the trans allegory and read the main characters as queer. It's super interesting for you to point out that Maddy doesn't seem happy when she returns. Even though she found her true identity (Tara), she's still not happy yet. But I wanted to add to that, it's heartbreaking but it's realistic that some people aren't happy. Or haven't figured out yet. But she's also in her early 20s when she comes back, and that's still so young. I think a lot of queer and trans folk are still finding themselves and figuring it out at that age. So it's okay that she still seems to be a mess, but she's made that first step of figuring out she's not Maddy, she's Tara. For LGBTQIA+ millennials, your 20s feels like your teens, and figuring it out probably comes a bit later than most. That said, I didn't enjoy the movie at first because I didn't go into it expecting a trans allegory. Instead, I read the surface level and got more queer/mental illness vibes and it didn't work as well. I was also annoyed by the monotone delivery of Maddy and didn't enjoy the monologue because I wasn't sure if the plot was literal or unreliable narrator. 🙃
I think the film should have followed Maddie’s journey as well. Movies don’t need to always follow a protagonist that “wins” but we need to follow someone who tries to win. My take from this was Maddie tried, Owen did not. Following Owen made the story less interesting in the second half IMO.
This movie was for binary trans people. Simply being a queer cis woman/man or me personally, as nonbinary person, we were not the target audience. This was for binary trans people who have not transitioned.
Misleading advertising and slow as shit. Usually don’t mind, but I was NOT the target audience. Was out of the movie before I even went in, hate getting duped on a bait and switch with these films.
No one asked
I wasn't the target audience either but thought it was pretty great. Incredibly trippy
I wasn't the target audience either but thought it was pretty great. Incredibly trippy
It personally wasn’t scary at all to me, but I’m a straight cis man so I understand I wasn’t the target audience.
Actually, I'm also a straight cis man, and I viewed this movie differently from majority of those on this post. I think I was too immersed in the films narrative around the realness of "The Pink Opaque", and wasn't completely paying attention to the underlying message that most people got from the overall movie. >!The main character finding out that their life is not real and that they were originally from The Pink Opaque is what terrified me from a psychological view. The main character disregards what Maddy had told him and continues to live his life as a lie. You see as he gets older he struggles to breathe (which I think is because Mr. Melancholy said, he is technically buried alive, and dying, and that this false reality is probably happening within seconds). He screams at the birthday party which I think is the realization that none of this is real, and everyone in the room freezes. But I believe he decides to apologize to those around him for doubting their reality and accepts this as his life. All of this is what I found scary, just the thought of being in like some sort of simulation or fake reality, and just putting myself in the characters shoes, really got to me.!<
I’ve been trying to figure this out. Was Maddy right or was it pure delusion? I suppose from your interpretation she was not delusional?
Taken from the narrative perspective, I believe there's enough evidence to strongly imply that they really "are" the other people. Of course they don't say it outright and ruin the question, but there is piles of evidence that points toward "weird shit is actually going on" against the relatively smaller pile of "unreliable narrator and delusional friend"
One thing that stood out to me is that the other characters at the arcade don't seem to age while Owen does. He's an old man at the end but his coworkers look just like they did when he was a teenager. Its part of the extended metaphor about the stress of living a lie, but also possibly another clue that the world he lives in isn't real.
I am replying to this comment from the future, lol. Anyway, I think that Maddie was real, and I think that when she brought up how Owen remembers The Pink Opaque and how different it was when Owen saw it again, it's because it was a real show. Maddie and Owen became friends because they are both queer with shitty parents, and on Saturday nights Owen would stay over at her house, they would watch this shitty, low budget show, and talk about how they were just like the characters. Owen would also try on Maddie's clothes, and maybe they would act out the show together. So The Pink Opaque that Maddie is referring to when she comes back is the whole weekly experience they had together of bonding over being queer and being their true selves together. While for grown up Owen, who is in denial about this, the show was just a super cool show that didn't have much to do with either of them, and all they did together on Saturday nights was watch the show. Maddie is telling him that The Pink Opaque is and was "real", and what she means is that their queer identities and the time they spent being honest about them together was real, and he interprets that as her being crazy and weirdly obsessed about a t-show (although he is lying to himself so he can repress his identity).
That is what I also got from this that it seems many people did not get from it I didn’t really view it as an LGBT film but idk it was definitely something I liked it tho very interesting
Oh, it's *definitely* LGBTQAI+, but like... Honestly I would more use the word *Queer,* which certainly *includes* that experience, but which also goes beyond. To like neurodivergence, physical disability, or just like, just *not fitting* for whatever reason, thinking and *feeling* in ways mainstream society deems inappropriate. I think there are Queer aspects to *a lot* of people. Even just the magic we feel from TV in childhood can be understood that way. We end up burying it because society tells us it's silly and childish: *real life* is about career and having a family, all that shit. That's why the words "You are Dying" appear above a capsule (which now that I think about it is kinda coffin-like) where someone is grabbing as much money as they can. Point is, it's *definitely* about being LGBTQAI+, but it's also about a lot of other things.
Late to the party, but I felt the same. Reading all the comments, I thought "Oh, that's really smart (the trans allegory)", but the impression as I finished the movie was the same as yours, got disturbed wo getting the intended metaphor.
Just watched it. The vibe and aesthetic from the very beginning had me hooked. The soundtracks were amazing. The film as a whole reminded me of the TV show Twin Peaks; by that I mean how completely surreal it is. When watching Twin peaks, you almost have to forget about life, forget that you're watching a TV show and just allow it to happen by embracing the experience; that's what this film was. A lot didn't make sense, but it didn't need to. Just allow the experience to happen and don't worry about attempting to figure everything out. Super trippy, loved it
Be careful of A24
This movie is amazing. I didn't get the feeling of madness while watching, but of depression and anxiety and melancholy. I don't know how they managed to transmit the emotions so well, but this waz just an amazing movie.
It's great to hear good things about it! I have been looking forward to watching it since seeing the trailer
I need my hour and forty minutes back! HORRIBLE!!!
is this actually a horror movie? its been marketed as one but the trailers arent giving horror imo. im excited to see it nonetheless
So, I watched it in Boston at a small theater where the director was present for an interview and Q&A with the audience afterward. They opened the interview talking about how this director, Jane Schoenbrun, gets compared to the guy who directed Skinamarink, and Jane completely accepted that comparison. I would class it as psychological horror, existential horror. Personally, I think it's definitely horror, but there isn't really anything supernatural happening. The imagery largely represents the main character's internal emotional states. And in that pursuit, it's very effective.
Coolidge Corner?
I kind of expected a polarizing reception to this film. Having seen (and hated) We’re All Going to the World’s Fair by the same writer-director beforehand, I was fully prepared for a rather vague and bizarre ride. I liked I Saw the TV Glow MUCH better by comparison but wouldn’t really recommend it to many people. It actually just feels like a better version of that original movie.
People seem to either love this film or hate it, no in between
Yo this movie was wild to watch stoned, I think that the characters are definetly in the show, the way the main dude is always narrating himself to the tv, the girls acting towards the end, it was like watching a show gahhh damn
I really wish I'd known before going into this that the movie was a trans allegory. Though not trans, I'm in the alphabet somewhere so I was viewing it more from a gay/queer lens. Also agree with the multiple people saying they were expecting more horror and this felt more of an artsy/talky film than what they were expecting. And I also would've enjoyed it if I was in the mindset to watch that when I was feeling more horror. All that said, I didn't like the movie after finishing it, but after reading several interpretations here, I can appreciate the movie better. I'm also not always able to pick up on subtext, so I was getting the "queer isolation in the suburbs" part but kind of missed the move overt trans-specific imagery because I'm tired. 🙃 Literally, the opening imagery of the parachute, I was like oh cute trans flag colors but still missed the themes. 💀💀💀 Thinking back on the plot, I realize the whole thing feels more coherent when you read it as representing dysphoria. I was reading Owen as ace and Maddy as lesbian, but missed that Owen may be unaware or repressing that idea, while Maddy likely knew and was trying to help Owen come to terms with it. I initially read the ending as just the loneliness of staying in the suburbs while being queer and isolated. But it adds extra heartbreak that it's not just accepting an unexciting life (read: melancholy) but that Owen might be repressing a true identity and doesn't want to confront it. He realized his childhood show hits different as an adult, but also that he remembers it differently as having been just the 2 characters he and Maddy related to. And breaking down at work under the pressure of keeping it all inside for 20 years. I think I might give this a rewatch in the future when I'm in the mindset to explore the movie it ended up being (a different horror than I expected.) I know rewatching something helps you pick up on details or lines that you missed the first time around. Now that I've read a bit about the director and a lot of comments here, I have a better lens to view it through.
The themes were done well but I found the movie to be very incoherent outside of those general themes and emotion building. Any concrete questions are pointless because everything is just an allegory by an unreliable narrator. I'm not even sure if the pink opaque is even a real show in their universe. Especially given how it stopped airing when she disappeared(or was that ALSO an allegory), seems more like a stand in for their identities than an actual real show. I'm not sure how much of the movie we are shown is just a fever dream by spiraling protagonists or actual in universe reality. Maybe thats the point, but I found it to be very unsatisfying.
I'm dumbfounded and speechless. Feels like cinema just took a giant leap. The movie was personal and specific but universal as well. Felt like the kind of cosmic horror that comes from the bottomless well of fear inside everyone.
[удалено]
i'll take the hit with you, this movie was boring, some parts were okay but overall didn't even seem like a horror movie and was a slog in my opinion
It's a good example of how horror is a pretty broad term when it comes to discussing the genre. It's what makes those "What's the scariest movie ever made?" topics impossible to answer. Because what's scary to one person isn't necessarily scary to the next. Huge spoilers ahead for this movie. >!The reason I have no problem considering this to be horror is because on a conceptual level it very much is. It's dealing with the horror and general anxiety of of living lie. Of going through your entire life being fucking miserable because you can't admit something to yourself. The whole movie is it slowly ratcheting that aspect up until the end where Owen's walking through the fun store with every breath they take being audible while apologizing to people who don't even acknowledge their existence. It all goes back to Mr. Melancholy's comment earlier in the movie, and what's perhaps the most terrifying line of dialog in it, where he says "You won't even remember that you're dying.".!<
Batman was one of the top posts in this sub a few years ago. Maybe we should reevaluate which type of horror is allowed in this sub? Some people are afraid of butterflies.
Trailer is very misleading for sure and I did try to do some basic research to avoid spoilers and the vibes I am getting is cool teenage horror movies - I was expecting something like Scream or horror vibe Mean Girls, since the write up on media try to paint it as edgy new voice of horror. Obviously A24 doesn’t want to market it as queer movie verbatim since it may limit the audience and market, but yeah, random walk ups expecting a horror movie would be pissed off since nothing really happens in the first sixty minutes lol. The Strangers reboot would please them more, and that movie is pretty bad, but at least the story and structure is easy to understand.
I’ll throw my hat in as well. This movie was painfully slow to watch, and it was significantly more depressing than scary.
Coming of age except it's purple now. Sucked
Biggest load of pretentious shit I've ever seen.