I Saw The TV Glow… Discussing our Theories and Personal Connections to (Spoilers)

[@Emulous79]

I felt disconnected most of my life. Films have always been a place to live in for me.

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

❤️❤️❤️

[@cozmicshroomzpro1]

As a NonBinary millenial who often feels like they came out too late and still suffers from gender dysphoria, this film hit harder than any from this last year, i connected so deeply to it. Escaping from a not so great environment into TV shows(Buffy was my absolute jam), to relating to the struggle of gender identity and being so tied to a show because I gained and lost so many friends over the years due to time and aging out and the impact of that loss. I agree that the film has many interpretations. Like There's obviously the Trans allegory parts I strongly related to but I feel like Maddie later on was right, that the story of Isabella being buried alive was true and Owen is Isabella. The repression not only their true self but also a repression of the horrible fate they suffered. Mr Melancholy is portrayed so goofy and silly in every instance except the last episode where we see them and its utterly terrifying. The monologue after tells us that Owen is wanting to join Maddie, they outright say They want Maddie to come back and force themself to be buried and wake up. The show changing is both nostlagia with age and also a way for them to hide from the reality they're really from. The show change for example doesn't seem to actually have Isabella at all, its just kids. Self Erasure while being true to nostalgia glasses, sometimes something we loved was hokey af but we loved/love it anyway It felt like evidence that Maddie was right, and its the washing away of traumatic memories and turning them into something else. The last scene where they break down, no one else looks aged at all, Owen is obviously decaying and aged and no one reacts or even moves, that moment felt like it proved Maddie right and Owen opening themselves up and seeing that bit of themselves opens their eyes imo, they're saying sorry(Again no one reacting or even looking at Owen) cuz thats what they do but they're moving with a vigor and energy they 100% didn't have prior. That combined with the 'There is still time' tag beforehand feels to me like Owen/Isabella will end up waking up and finally live their true self but its a hard journey. I think the story is tragic as heck but I feel like the ending is both uplifting and tragic, Owen is still in denial but they've seen what its like being themselves and its almost reinvigorated them. Maybe I'm also being too optimistic because I didn't come out until my late 20's so I know the feeling of 'Is it too late or am I just doomed?'. It was great to hear your folks thoughts on the movie.

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

Thank you for sharing all of that

[@bhgemini]

I'm really liking the seperate overview and spoiler videos. I sometimes play these on walks or as background noise, and will miss turning it off before the spoiler part. Also great way to get full watch time on the non-spoiler one instead of people skipping the spoilers section.

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

Yeah, we should have done this a while ago

[@tomfrombeyond]

Hell yes! Would LOVE to see you guys do an even more in-depth scene-by-scene analysis when this comes out on VOD! I personally have not connected so strongly with a movie in years.

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

❤️❤️❤️

[@joydancer5254]

Me, too!!!

[@zoehardee8636]

I love this movie so much, it's quickly becoming one of my all-time favorites. As a trans woman, Owen is the most truthful and deliberate depiction of an "egg" (a trans person who hasn't yet realized they're trans) I've ever seen on film, and the first time I've seen a coming-of-age film explicitly about trans girl adolescence without social or medical transition, or even acknowledgement thereof. To me it feels like a lot of cis reviewers don't want to engage with how holistically trans the movie is head-on, because they feel like they aren't qualified to talk about it, or they get embarrassed about the explicitly sexual nature of it, and I find that really sad because the film invites everyone to share in this experience. I'm glad you spent some time discussing Buffy lore, in Buffy and other paranormal 90s/00s shows like Supernatural, X-Files, Lost, so many plotlines revolve around amnesia, being trapped in a bad alternate timeline, or these otherwise canon-warping events. If you have this deep conviction that the life you're living can't truly be your own, and you're so repressed you can't acknowledge it, then the fantasy that you're really a fictional character you identify with, caught in one of these reality-bending scenarios, feels magical and vital and comforting. And Buffy specifically had this Joss Whedon-flavored manic pixie girl-punk attitude that young queer women latched onto, and quiet guys who lowkey felt like lesbians could live vicariously through. Just don't go back and rewatch it now lol. I Saw the TV Glow is abstract and symbolic, but in my opinion it's way more of a straightforward memory piece about Schoenbrun's adolescence than a lot of people are giving it credit for. The decision to start living as the opposite sex feels like suicide, and the promise of what could lie on the other side feels as insane as becoming a tv show character. Even considering it as a possibility feels like peering into this sinister funhouse mirror version of reality. I don't think this film is necessarily a singular call to arms for people questioning their "identity" to transition, but I think it's going to save lives.

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I enjoyed reading it.

[@JB-pq2gj]

The fact that Owen ages many years and all the guys working at the fun house place are all the same age as before was hella interesting too.

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

I definitely need to watch it again

[@QwertyCaesar]

I could talk about the film for days on end but I just want to say three things: 1. I'm surprised that neither of you brought up Owen narrating the events of the first act of the film (and then some) from the campfire in the Afraid of the Dark setup. This sets Owen up as an unreliable narrator. 2. It's always interesting to see how people who are deeply enmeshed in queer media and those influences on the film as opposed to those who aren't. Not being judgemental, it's just interesting. For example, easily one of the most influential pieces of media on the director in making this film is a book named Nevada. They were actually set to direct an adaptation of the film at one point before they dropped out because, well, frankly, it's not a book that can be adapted authentically and also be a profitable production. As somebody familiar with the book I can't unsee the massive influence it had on the film, nevermind other more obscure queer media that most viewers will have never even heard of. 3. I'm obviously coming at the film from a queer interpretation - I'm a trans woman very close to the director's age, have many similar life experiences, and am very familiar with the literary, film, and television influences - but I think my interpretation of Maddie and Owen's relationship works outside of the queer reading of the film. Neurodivergent people and queer people find each other and gravitate towards each other without realizing it. There's been studies showing that people, allistic and autistic, can reliably pin that somebody they're having a conversation with is autistic within less than a minute. They might not go "that person is autistic" but they'll gather something is off and can reliaby identify them as different. Same thing happens with queerness too. Gaydar is a real thing. People who aren't queer also recognize queerness, they usually can't put it into words the same way as allistics with autism. Everyone in Owen's life recognizes that he isn't "normal". His coworkers and classmates make fun of him for it, his dad resents him for it, his mom tries to be accepting but fails. It's why Maddie and Owen gravitate towards each other. They've clocked each other, recognize the difference in each other. They're safe for each other. In the queer reading I point towards that scene where Maddie takes off Owen's shirt and gives him the temp tattoo - it's film like a love scene. A lesbian isn't touching a guy like that. Even if Maddie can't verbalize how Owen isn't a boy she understands it intuitively. And remember, Owen is an unreliable narrator so what is *really* happening in that scene? But even abandoning the queer reading the scene recognizes that there's an intuitive bond between the two, one unable to be put into words until Maddie resurfaces years later.

[@whitemagerivers5294]

Is it bad that all I want to do is escape back into this movie, whose allegory is about escapism and obsession?

[@JohnnyRecently]

Fascinating. Sounds like a magical movie. .

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

For us yes

[@AWhistleInTheWoods]

1:40 is a perfect explanation to this sort of film! Absolutely!

[@matthewd773]

I thought of twin peaks when a full song in a bar started to play. I loved it

[@matthewd773]

honestly I didn’t catch that. Void High School.(VHS) need a t-shirt of that

[@matthewd773]

Also for a brief minute on the football field I felt like it was if Maddie was possessed by Mr.Melencholy like how her supposed character in the show was. (Or like she was just a crazy person who thought she was) my brain was trying to figure it out but then after I felt like no that really might have been the character

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

I went to the bathroom during the football field scene 😡

[@kylewalker5547]

Great analysis Jason and Kali. For those of us who got lost in a show as young adults or as childhood adolescents this certainly captures those experiences. This is especially poignant once the nostalgia shatters when we view these same shows as adults and realize they were never as good as we remember them being. Of course, the same could be said for those of us who put on rose colored glasses when reflecting on the past. Was it ever as good as we remember? More than likely it was not. Since this is so reliant on interpretation and nothing is spelled out for us, I was of the mind that Maddy transitioned and her burial was a form of rebirth. They had to kill their former “self” to truly be who they were. We do notice Maddy has much shorter hair later on in the bar and does explain that Maddy is not their name anymore. That said, this scene did have a dreamy quality to it. When Owen decides to stay behind and time passes we find him working in an arcade that’s filled with games that pay homage to nostalgia, but the joy is gone and the colors are bland and it’s dark. It’s a reflection on how we often romanticize the past but it never holds the joy we thought it did. It’s empty and we are stuck in a nightmare of our own design clinging to something that never was. However, the light is inside each of us if we dare acknowledge it and set ourselves free.

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

Great notes

[@ricardoaquino4285]

Very interesting, I like when movies are ambiguous because they kinda get a life of their own.

[@ricardoaquino4285]

Also Jason I didn’t really have friends until like 10th grade so I feel you😭

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

The losers club

[@NV-1248]

I liked it. 'Twin Peaks: The Return' vibes, meets sort of 'Pan's Labyrinth'. I think it's pretty overtly a queer film about gender dysphoria, but I think the general message is universally human. I read it as a tale about committing to a life where it isn't/wasn't really "you" living your life all along, but who you thought you were supposed to be.. and the courage needed to acknowledge that and willingly metaphorically kill your false self (persona), so you can be reborn as your true self, while there's still time to actually be the one living your own life, and the fear that keeps people living in denial, unable to achieve that. My interpretations of all the symbolic/metaphorical elements I picked up on seemed to neatly and consistently reinforce my reading, but I've also only seen it once, and I can see how there can be other interpretations and things to read into. Obviously there are aspects in the film to expand on too, interesting ideas even when detached from the rest of the narrative.

[@Dontannoyme34894]

I really dig the film!! It reminded me of Inland empire, I’m thinking of ending things, under the silver lake, eternal sunshine, euphoria and don’t hug me I’m scared all combined.

[@NightOwlandtheMoon]

I too would love to see you guys do a scene by scene analysis. My son and I drove extra far to watch this movie only for the power to go out the last 15 minutes! They made everyone leave with vouchers. It’s too far of a drive to go back to rewatch it, but we can’t wait till it is out digitally so we can finally watch the end. My son is 21 and trans and was very much taken with this film. I am so bummed that we couldn’t watch the ending. Anyway, Jason, I am right there with you with the political thing. it is so unreal to me what’s going on in the world. Anyway, great video. I can’t wait to finish the movie, and I can’t wait to watch more discussion on it from you both.

[@garretharlow575]

Amazing video. Thank you. Please do another breakdown.

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

On this film?

[@PURPMINDED]

Perfectly worded That was my take away from this movie

[@Hobblone-xe3jv]

Definately have spoiler review!

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

This is

[@fkcamry88]

Just saw it, I found it pretty easy to understand, and not that deep. It was an enjoyable watch. I do like the aspect of people that grow up vs someone that does young and how they obsess or don’t depending on if you still have or have lost the magic of nostalgia/childhood. For me this was Peter Pan/Hook complex with a dash of angst. I also recognize the trans/identity aspect, pretty straight forward.

[@sinistercinemareviews5420]

Its themes are definitely easier to grasp than some

[@fkcamry88]

@@sinistercinemareviews5420 Serious question that I’d love to hear your opinion on, do you think it’s possible in a Fight Club sort of way that Maddy is Owen’s Tyler Durden?

[@necromechanimal]

🖤