A FULL BREAKDOWN of ALL SYMBOLS and THE ENDING of I Saw The TV Glow | EXPLAINED
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- čas přidán 22. 06. 2024
- In this A24 I Saw The TV Glow Explained / I Saw The TV Glow Ending Explained, I break down the new I Saw The TV Glow film, starring Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine. Directed by Jane Schoenbrun, an excellent teen horror, fantasy, art-house, drama, queer film, exploring themes of gender identity and sexuality. I believe this film does a great job of capturing the reality of anxiety, depression, queer expression, and self-discovery through such creative filmmaking.
Furthermore, in this I Saw The TV Glow analysis video and Lucas Blue I Saw The TV Glow spoiler review, I'll examine the film's symbolism and meaning, uncovering I Saw The TV Glow easter eggs, examining how it explores human connection and expression of sexuality.
This I Saw The TV Glow review breaks down why I Saw The TV Glow is a masterpiece, what I Saw The TV Glow means for the future of arthouse and drama movies, why I Saw The TV Glow works, and why I Saw The TV Glow is so shocking. This is why I love I Saw The TV Glow. Hope you enjoy!
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Cast: Justice Smith - Brigette Lundy-Paine - Helena Howard - Lindsey Jordan - Ian Foreman
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro & Agenda
00:31 Repression & Nostalgia
06:29 The Pink Opaque & Adulthood
10:41 The Final Episode & The Ending - Zábava
Couldn’t help but do the full breakdown and would love to discuss your thoughts as well, let me know below!
what was going on after he’s finished watching the last episode in the scene with his dad
As much as I know the pink opaque wasn’t actually a real alternate world and the show wasn’t some cosmic horror, I still love the idea that Tara and Isabelle ARE actually Owen and Maddie. It’s such a fascinating and original idea. Would’ve loved to see some a different ending where Owen actually becomes Isabella again.
Just a thought, in the first act, Owen tells Maddie on the bench that hes afraid of opening his insides and pulling them out with a shovel only to find nothing. But the very ending of the film, is him opening his insides and getting that beautiful vision and self-actualization feeling. I think a lot of people relate to that; feeling like whatever you want to do with your life is "nothing", and being afraid that youre truly hollow and all along you were delusional about your aspirations which is why you should never commit. I hope this makes a little bit of sense lol
oh my god this is profound wtf
well said!
I don't think that Maddie is dead, though she may certainly have attempted. I think Maddie underwent a symbolic death to transition. Her entire appearance is different, more butch than her high school persona. Language around death in regards to transitioning is pretty common, particularly when referring to previously gendered names as "dead names." But I think the thing that was the most haunting to me was the casting and the sets. Owen's unseen best friend's mother is Amber Benson, who played Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His father is a 90's nu-metal singer. His coworkers are Pete and Pete. Within the context of the movie, Owen is literally living in the husk of a 90's television show. All of the actors are there, and we, as knowing audience members, clock those actors and the realization of who they are is screaming at us that everything Maddie is telling Owen is true. Owen walks the halls of a basically empty school, where the bulleting boards are messages yelling To Thine Own Self Be True. He turns and talks directly to camera like Claire Danes in My So Called Life. They go to the Double Lunch and there's a musical interlude, just like in the Pink Opaque, and just like they used to do on Buffy when acts would perform at The Bronze. He says he has a happy family, but we never see them. When he has his moment of cracking at the fun center no one reacts. They're all just extras. He's apologizing to everyone and no one says anything. They don't even realize he's there. Owen IS in the trap, and we can all see it. And eventually he does too, but man I found that tragic. A lot of people complain about the ending being abrupt, but that's also what happens in the Pink Opaque. It's deeply disturbing, happens too fast, and there's no resolution and it HURTS. God I loved this movie.
I get that reading and I know a lot of people connect with it. For me; while I see value in it I don't like the interpretation that what Maddy does is a healthy approach to self acceptance because I feel the alternative speaks more to what media is and how many people myself included experience it. I hear the pink opaque compared frequently to buffy the vampire slayer and like the pink opaque its a show that means a lot to people because it expresses to them a world where feminity isn't just left unpunished but is celebrated. but while that can be true the show doesn't always live up to those principles and its also a show lead by a abusive man who bullied the young women on the show throughout the production. So which is the real buffy the vampire slayer? The one that expressed a world the audience wanted to escape to or the one which still reflects many 90s retrograde gender norms and was made by people who were very much not part of the world the show described when it was at its best? A show can mean a lot to someone but when they put it on a pedestal, see it as realer than reality, live through the show and fixate on it to the exclusion of everything else which is true of many peoples relationship to pieces of media including buffy that can be really unhealthy especially given that every show, film, piece of music, book or video game was made by someone painfully human. Maddy ultimately disappears from the world to live in the artificial world of the pink opaque in a form of media hyper fixation akin to suicide as they cease to exist in anything but the pink opaque while Owen goes to the other extreme and rejects the idea that the show ever had any value and was ultimately just a dumb show undeserving of attention or internal reflection of why they gravitated to the show in the first place. Neither perspective is healthy and a more balanced approach to media like the pink opaque or buffy would be to treat those shows as valuable yet flawed and human works of art that reflected something about themselves and learn from that. But that doesn't happen for either character and both are left unmoored and lost because of it in completely opposite ways. Maddy has abandoned real life and Owen has surrendered themselves to it at the cost of their sense of self. The healthy thing for both of them would be to support eachother in a world that feels hostile and uncaring but instead they only connect with eachother on the basis of the pink opaque and then Maddy abandons life and Owen abandons themself. For me as someone who tends to hyper fixate on media the way these characters do for reasons similar to them the idea that sealing ones self in a coffin, getting buried alive and being reward by living forever in a well remembered nostalgic tv show is subtextually the same as self acceptance isn't what I personally need from the movie even though I understand the value of the reading of the pink opaque being real and the "real" world being artificial.
@@Countgreenhorn i don't personally know which interpretation is correct but "what you need from the movie" has no bearing on what it actually means lol
i didnt clock any of these actors probably because im too young and not a movie buff but this makes so much sense
That’s a really great interpretation of the movie! I was so confused by a lot of it until I read some of these comments. The only thing I gathered from the movie was that it didn’t have a happy ending. The villain in the pink opaque was Mr. Melancholy, and that was the exact vibe of him apologizing to those people on his way out of the arcade. So obviously our hero didn’t win.
So being a butch lesbian means you're actually deep down trans? Homophobic.
I don't think Maddie committed suicide. I think she came back to get Isabel so she could live her life as who she knows she really is. But he didn't want to do that, so Maddie had no choice but to move forward with her life. She knew Isabel would never fully accept who she really was, and that if she stayed with Isabel, she would die inside like Isabel
I think Maddi made it back to the Pink Opaque, symbolically meaning she found herself. I think Owen's ending is bitter sweet.
is it that maddy ended up finding herself and living the life that resembles tara/the pink opaque? while watching i thought she was being delusional about literally being "in the show" but was the reality that she was just living like the characters and being openly "different" ? and maybe to owen it sounded like she was trying to live in the show so thats why she said it like that?
Yeah, that's what I thought as well. Especially because Maddi took Owen to what I assumed to be a queer bar. They had the conversation about the Pink Opaque while Phoebe Bridgers was performing in the background. I really did not see her ending as her ending her life but rather leaving the town and/or becoming her true self.
@@mabemorayeah that was more so my interpretation as well
Bitter sweet? I think Owen's ending is sad af like he literally lived the rest of his "life" being scared to find out who he really was knowing that it doesn't feel right.
One really nice bit of detail I saw in the movie was the use of colors to communicate how Owen feels. There’s lots of Blue on the screen when he’s at the fair with his mom, on the walls at his work, and he’s wearing lots of blue after he rejects Maddie’s offer. Even the liquid Mr. Melancholy makes Isabel and Tara drink is blue. There’s pink on screen when Owen is objectively happy, like when the show is on or Isabel’s dress color, or the name of the show. And I feel like there was a lot of red on screen when Owen and Maddie first go to the bar where Maddie tells Owen what’s been going on. It just feels so purposeful with just about everything it does, I hope people continue talking about this movie for years to come.
This color choice is toaso represent not only being happy but being happy as a girl as Isabel. She's not happy as a boy surrounded by blue. She spits into the cotton candy. The ghost is pink which she tries to wipe off but can't because she can't stop herself from being trans.
I was picking up on the contrast of pink and its complementary color: green.
Having rewatched it twice, almost all the green in the movie is electric (the fishtank in the basement, the games) or cool (the school halls, the produce section of the grocery store, the football field at night, the lawns of suburbia.) The only exception to this rule, and the only time we feel natural sunlight, is in the sunlight filtering through leaves behind Isabel at the summer camp, which DOESN'T get the same low-fi filtering as other footage from The Pink Opaque.
Isabel in nature ends up looking and feeling more real than Owen at almost any point in his life.
It's main color scheme is pinks, blues and whites, literally the trans flag colors lol, and considering what the colors pink and blue are meant to represent and how they're used in the movie... yeah, not all that subtle.
I also took the 'opaque' part of Pink Opaque to be an extension of that metaphor of pink = euphoria; representing the desired state where everything is solid pink - not just subtle accents of pink
Also that blue balloon!!!
This movie is a violent wake up call to be yourself
Not for nothing but true sign of the nineties was seeing a commercial for a show you couldn’t watch and being completely captivated by it. That happened to me so much as a young person
Went into this movie blind and I'm still thinking about it weeks later. Thanks for making this video.
"I found my heart, oh my God, Isabel, I found yours too. It was still beating. Stored in an industrial freezer." GOOSEBUMPS GOOSEBUMPS GOOSEBUMPS!
Are they the industrial freezer?
Can you explain that?
anyone have thoughts on the mental breakdown scene after he watches the last episode? him screaming something along the lines of “this isn’t my life” and “you’re not my dad.” and also vomiting up tv static.
I suppose the only thought I have feels obvious to me, but it’s just in my eyes an example of pressure killing Owen for a minute. When he’s faced directly with the idea of something he was always aware of and trying to avoid, that he isn’t living the life he’s meant to, and he’s been performing and holding it in for so long seeing it verbatim with his own eyes is too much. He panicks and has violent response.
It reminded me heavily of an attempt to take my own life before my transition. Because I’d rather be me than who I was being forced to be. That scene shattered me. It was eerily similar to
It's a good representation of Owen about to commit to transitioning, his head was in the TV, the safe haven, but his dad pulls him out. In the dad's point of view he's saving him, but in truth he's making Owen suppress himself even more. Vomiting blue boy colour static in the bathtub I think supports that. It's a tragic tale. It especially hurr how when he researched the show on his new LG "lifes good" TV, he's lying exactly like his dad did on the same couch.
to me the scene subtextually reads as someone developing a alcohol or drug dependency as a way of coping from the existential pain from being queer, mixed race black with a white father and autistic. Owen's fixation with the pink opaque is something that soothes and relaxes them when the rest of the world is hostile but because it's the only thing that gives them a sense of peace they just return to it over and over again. Then they have to be lead to the shower by their dad where they vomit up static and that sequence to me reads as being coded as a scene about a young person drinking heavily or doing drugs as a coping mechanism and then violently throwing up in the shower with someone having to be there to assist them and all the while they're more willing to say the things that are causing them pain than what they would be willing to express when they're sober.
I feel like Maddy also represents the part of Jane that made the transition, because when he calls her Maddy, she says that not her name anymore, she corrects him twice. So I feel that she is the one that embraced what she saw on TV, the glow, and now became what they been looking for. I also loved the color palette and how Jane plays with it in many formats and platforms throughout the movie.
Even though the main characters were suppose to be queer, I still relate as an inner city straight black man. I think a lot of us escape through nostalgia to cope with a world that does not fully allow us to express ourselves freely. Thank you for your break down. This was a good movie
The visuals and soundtrack are just as important as the characters. Life is full of emotional ups and downs. The world keeps on turning even if your filled with doubt.
as an asexual, some parts really resonated with me in that movie
“I like tv shows”
Me too
This movie hit me like a truck and I can’t even tell you why that is
🙄
Ok lol 😂 We're glad you're vibing to this film.
@@werr3222werrr Exactly what I was thinking . . That felt like an ace coming out lol
Glad to see a video like this. I was really fascinated by this movie and just couldn’t find many videos REALLY talking about it aside from reviews. Definitely gained yourself a fan.
So so thrilled to hear it was a worthy video for you cuz it was a longer one on my channel, and I'm so glad you wanna see more, plenty to come! Thank you so much for watching!!
I think there is something to be said about Owen repeatedly breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience, like he doesn't believe the TV show was anything more than a TV show... and yet he knows he's in a movie?
What about when Owen wasn't breathing well and had dry lips? I thought this was him actually being in the coffin and about to die and go to the pink opaque.
I think it’s because Isabelle was suffocating in the coffin, so Owen was feeling the effects. Since they are the same person.
The way I interpreted it was if he were to die as Owen, he would never make it to the Pink Opaque; that dying as Owen would mean success for Mr. Melancholy, that Isabel died under the ground without ever realizing her true self again. The chapped lips and severe asthma are the physical effects of what Isabel is experiencing after being buried alive in the Pink Opaque while Owen cannot bring himself to save her, to save himself, to save herself. Maddy went back to the Pink Opaque, to their true reality, and clawed her way to the surface as Tara. At the time the movie ends Owen has yet to do the same, but as long as he is still alive, "there is still time."
Thanks for explaining the meaning of the ice-cream truck, since that was the one thing I didn’t understand on first watch. I know some found the ending abrupt, but I think Schoenbrun chose to end the film with Owen resuming his job after the bathroom scene for it to be deliberately unsatisfying for the audience, as we know he still makes the wrong choice of resuming his miserable life (even if there is still time). I also feel that Maddie also doesn’t really get her happy ending either. She/Tara can't truly return to a new life/season of The Pink Opaque unless Owen/Isabel joins her. She may have accepted who she is, but she is still alone without Owen/Isabel who knows what she's going through.
Thank you for this video. I got very frustrated watching other videos about this movie and they just… don’t get it. The movie felt like it was meant for me. This is a trans movie, a queer movie, a neurodivergent movie. Seeing other reviewers bash it for the very things that speak to the people it’s meant for, and all the surface level readings with no look into the subtext, it made me so mad. So thank you for taking the time to understand.
It was garbage for garbage people
Owen's whole life on screen happens in the moments he's buried alive, which is why he has a hard time breathing.
mr melancholy has their hearts (their identities) and he can kill them at any time because they don’t have them. but once owen realizes who he is (sees the tv glow inside him) he’s free (maybe??)
This was such a pleasure to watch. None of my friends have seen it, so I am down the rabbit hole of analyses. This is one of the best I've encountered.
This is my first video of yours, and I just wanted to thank you for not glossing over the inherent transness of the film in favor of ignoring it or saying the movie is representing something else. ❤
I think she says something like, "Don't apologize" and that stuck with me regarding the ending. He keeps saying sorry over and over to people who don't see him or ignore him, which to me read that while he did have a moment of clarity, he did what he had always done: If you don't think about, it isn't real. So he took a figurative step back and apologized, despite having nothing to apologize for, and that was so sad to me...
i feel like something that also made this movie stand out was that it obviously had analog horror aspects and is also extremely reminiscent to an old creepypasta, candle cove
I didnt inturpret the Maddie leaving as her dieing, I thought she transitioned, she (he? not sure how to do pronouns here) keeps saying Maddies not her name.
Incredible video! Such a thorough breakdown that made me love the film so much more, huge thank you my man!
Thank you so much my friend, it means so much to hear it improved the movie, means so much to me!
I think that the end of the movie is that it’s all a episode of the pink opaque because if you wait till the end of the credit you can see that is pink opaque copyright so maybe it’s just an Easter egg or it’s a real episode like the real finale episode where melancholy successfully kill them but they got reincarnated.
great analysis! love ur content!
Means everything to hear this, thank you so much ❤️
Such an incredible and thoughtful breakdown of the movie! I’m glad I stumbled across your video after watching the movie!!!
This was so beautifully put.
This means so much, thank you 🙏🏾
Awww, this is so freaking good, thank you for your sharing your thoughts ♥
Your reviews are always so spot on man. Personally, My favorite film of the year so far
Thank you so much my friend, it really means a lot! And I’m so happy to hear from those who fell on the side of loving it, such a powerful film
This was phenomenal ! Great breakdown
I think you did a fantastic job breaking this down.
I just finished this film a few minutes before watching your video. This movie hit me very hard because there was so much success in capturing the 90’s. I felt like I was vicariously walking back through my childhood. This was unsettling to me because I reflect on that time and feel that sort of longing to return and dread that I can’t quite explain. I think…things mean so much more as a child than as an adult. Is it due to not being exposed as much to insecurities or disappointment? Or is it more that insignificant things matter more and as an adult more significant things hold that importance? I don’t know. But I’m happy, as an adult, to go back to that mindset.
The best analysis on CZcams
There are so many videos out there so this is some real high praise and it doesn't go unappreciated, thank you so much!!
Absolutely love this video!
Incredible review of an incredible movie!
Thank you so much!! And so glad you loved the movie!
this was beautifully said!
Thank you!! So happy to hear this!
My head-cannon is that Tara saved Isabelle and now they live happily in their world together. The whole “being turned into a tv show” is 100% real and what happened. No one attempted, no one is hurt. It’s a happy ending where no one is sad…. Right…
Nice analysis. I did not pick up all those symbolisms throughout the film, was expecting a straight-up horror/thriller.
Love your analysis! But I do disagree on the interpretation of the film's conclusion/what is the actually Truth (i.e. i disagree that maddie's arc is representative of suicide, I believe she is the only one able who is fully able to self-actualize through grueling self-sacrifice and crawling out of the cocoon of her former self) All I have to say is pay attention to the name of the bar Maddie takes own to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What was the name of the bar?
It's not showing at my theatre and only watched it twice. What's the bar name?
Double Lunch? Idk, what does it mean?
Kinda reminds me of "Randy Stair" who wanted to live in a different world. Thanks for explaining the movie it was confusing :) now i get it
Wow. I haven’t thought about that case in forever, but there are some other bizarre parallels that struck me immediately when I read your comment. It was revealed in the documents uploaded by Randy Stair before the murder/suicide that they experienced gender dysphoria. They came to believe that they were not in fact Randy Stair, but rather a ghost girl named Andrew Blaze who had an entire life of her own in another dimension, that being the “dimension” that was portrayed in the show Danny Phantom. They thought they would return to their “real life” there after they died.
Anyone else get "Life of Roy" vibes at the end? lol
I think that they really are trapped and dying and the “real world” is the mirage. The scenes from the “real world” don’t feel real. They do feel like dreams. I think Maddie escaped and has to fight an actual magic demon. It’s the inhaler and the wheezing that really sells it for me.
That's amazing thanks so much
I feel like your analysis is way too light on the trans symbolism in this film.
I see it as Owen and Maddy actually ARE Isabelle and Tara. After the end of the final episode in which we can see Isabelle being fed the poison and being trapped in what looks like our world, it goes back to the first scene of the film with Owen inside the tent and the tent literally has stripes of the trans colors. I think this is pretty loud symbolism of Isabelle being trapped inside a boy's body. And the main theme of this movie is Yeule's 'Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl', which only plays in scenes featuring Owen because they ARE Isabelle.
And yeah, Maddy and Owen may be just crazy and socially inept. You can see it as Maddy just using suicide as a way to escape. But I think these doubts we and Owen see only push the trans symbolism further. When I was pre-transition, I had many moments where I asked myself "is this real?" There were many moments of doubt. The possibility that Maddy's story might be fake only reinforces the trans experience of repression and doubt. Despite knowing this truth exists inside of you, you're still overwhelmed with these doubts. But despite this, Owen IS Isabelle and must push forward into living authentically.
You also mentioned toward the end that the pink opaque as a concept refers to the inside of the self that is unseen. If Owen is doubting the reality of the Pink Opaque, isn't that symbolically doubting the truth of their own identity, meaning that they really are Isabelle from that TV show? If the Pink Opaque really is just a TV show, it implies that Owen's destiny is to lose both his parents at a young age and become extremely decrepit in middle age for barely any reason. Isn't that too nihilistic and cruel?
I think it would be worth it to speak to a trans friend who's seen this movie or even better collaborate with a trans film youtuber that you know to properly analyze the trans symbolisms that you've barely scratched here.
Well spoken!
Thank you!!
I do think that Maddy was right -- the Pink Opaque is the real world and the world they live in is a jail that Mr. Melancholy has trapped them in. Haven't seen your first video so I don't know if it was discussed but one of the bigger clues is Owen's voice. We know Justice Smith doesn't sound like that, and from the get go it felt strangely like a woman's voice being manipulated and pitched down. Another clue was how the show seemed to have been edited upon Owen's rewatch years later, with kids readily submitting to the Ice Cream man. Isabel and Tara aren't even in the revised ep. In that sense it's close to Mulholland Drive, in that it's not just symbols but the actual internal logic of the film's universe.
Great video! Lots of food for thought. Wasn't expecting anything and just fell in love with this movie. Here's hoping more and more people discover I Saw The TV Glow and your channel through it :)
I think the Pink Opaque is real. Maddy and Owen watching it as kids is them finding comfort in each other as two queer kids. Maddy saying the Pink Opaque is real and that she is Tara after coming back is basically her leaving their town and coming out as a butch lesbian. The last episode where Tara gets buried alive would just be Maddy leaving. Her coming back and trying to get Owen to become Isabel is her trying to help Owen to come out as a trans woman but it doesn't work. Mr. Melancholy (a stand in for society) poisoned (the Lunar juice) Owen/Isabel into repressing their feelings about being trans. The reason why Maddy doesn't come back isn't because she killed herself. It's because she can't make Owen come out. There is nothing more she can do so she leaves Owen alone but sends him one more reminder that there is still time.
The rest of the movie is about Owen living his life how society wants him too. Like you said, his freak out is him realizing he wasted his life. To me, Owen cutting himself open to see the Pink Opaque is him finally saying fuck it and opening himself up to show the real herself: Isabel.
And I think the reason why the Pink Opaque looks different when Owen watches it as an adult is because sometimes when looking back at yourself when you were a young queer kid you feel stupid you ever seen yourself that way. Especially if you've been repressing those feelings for years.
This movie made me cry so hard. As a trans person it spoke to me in ways most media doesn’t. I haven’t felt this scene and understood in a film since The Matrix and its rich transgender allegories.
this is a very thought provoking explanation of these scenes and i would love for you to make more videos about this movie if that is something you’re interested in! Cant believe there’s only 67 comments because this is the most interesting and shocking movie i have ever seen. Including the trans allegory aspect is very important and i’m glad you included that too while other reviews haven’t unless it was done by a trans person.
The constellation scene inside the inflatable planetarium which “transforms the school”
a24 is bolwingup my mind in each of his movies
I watched this and couldn't get into it, or even find the plot. I got bored and gave up, lol. While it will never be listed among my favorite moves, your break down illuminated it enough that I can respect it as a piece of art. So, thanks.
I’m still confused on what symbolism is at play when she tells Owen that she LITERALLY paid a kid to bury her alive and she emerged back into the nightmare realm, like did she “kill” her old self and “emerged” her true self?
So basically Pete and Pete but it’s a goosebumps ep.
I think this movie is beautiful, it really did capture that feeling of trying hard to forget who you really are, no matter how hard it hurts and till you eventually run out of time. It’s insane how well they carried out the vibe through out the entire thing. For my fellow trans folk; we all have our own person behind that screen, so take their hand
ngl I saw the tv glow scared the shit out of me
SAME!!!!😬
Well it’s never too late to live your life how you want
It's a horror of a different kind, there's no jump scores or gore, it's the horror of dysphoria.
As a straight male the film resonates with me. I think aboit things I enjoy that societal pressure tells you shouldn't because of your suppossed "identify" -defind by others. That probably even applies to me liking this film.
The scariest part of this movie is if you are actually repressing something in real life and not even knowing it or what it is
I didn’t understand the movie because I’m not gay thanks for the breakdown.
I don't watch trailers or anything, usually I watch a film blind and I wanted to watch this film because it's A24 and it was classed as Horror. Truth be told, the *real plot* is quite grim, so much so I thought the last act was going to be an Avengers film - that didn't happen. The film ends in the most unsatisfying way possible and I wondered why. Now I'm being told, this is a film about transitioning and repression?
Colour me impressed, I thought it was going to be "Nightmare on Elm Street" type beat. Other than that, really cool. The cinematography, the colours, the editing was superb.
I've never seen a film that explores emotions that are both nebulous and difficult to put your finger on. I'm not transgender, but I am gay and this got me in the feels. It's an exploration of nostalgia and loneliness and alienation -- and the desirability of escapism which becomes very strong if you don't confront who you are and what you really want. I know people who seem to still be living in the past, escaping in various forms of media.
I loved the scene late in the film when Owen goes back to re-watch this TV show, and finds the magic drained out of it completely. From our adult eyes all those things appear uninspired and cheesy, and our fears have likely become more akin to a dull ache, and centered around far more mundane matters.
Anyone have any ideas what the random empty shopping carts symbolized throughout the movie?
The moon instantly reminded me of the nineties because of the Smashing Pumpkins video and then there’s the smashing pumpkins cover. Thought that was cool
I'm convinced it was directly inspired by that, given the 90s setting.
This movie left me with such a profound, and beautiful sadness.
truly beautiful film
Thank GOD
Why did no one notice the Door to Hell picture in the Living Room?
There is no Maddy. She is Owen's alter ego. She represents the escape he should have made from his abusive father.
I am not LGBTQ+ but I still felt this movie. Everyone goes through some form of not understanding where they fit in. Even if its not related to LGBTQ+. I could understand Owen not fitting in socially at his job and feeling socially awkward around people he cant relate to. Having to conform to society is a relatable concept. But of course applying to gender and sexual identity is not something I can speak on as its not me.
It’s clear that they both suffered abuse as kids in the movie.
i was too dumb to understand , but holy shit now that i do this is literally me
This movie represents how reincarnation works. Maddie ended her life to renew herself to another vessels that he was. Owen move-on and have a better life but at the end when he gets old he realize what he was and ended his life to cut his chest .
SO WAS THE PINK OPAQUE WORLD REAL OR NOT?
In the narrative, yes. Metaphorically, it’s a metaphor lmao
WHY isn't this movie called The Pink Opaque?
👏👏👏
Analysing the movie from the angle of nostalgia is interesting, but to me your breakdown is really incomplete by not touching on the trans/queer allegory that it is.
Seems like there's a lot of CZcamsrs reviewing this movie that are too cowardly to even mention what is obviously the least subtle theme of the movie.
Have you read Grant Morrion`s Fex Mentallo? i think its a shared dna with this movie, maybe there is the answer of what happend to Maddie...
Am I crazy or did Fred durst literally only have like 2 lines and like 2 total mins of screen time?
This movie broke me. It is one of the most important movies for anyone who grew up in the 90’s, with trauma. The symbolism in the movie is so applicable to so many life experiences. Absolute masterclass of abstract storytelling.❤❤❤
I don't think Maddy goes the way you think she does, but I also feel a lot of reviewers are uncharitable to her in a way they aren't for other characters who fill the same role.
I Saw The TV Glow exists in the same sort of cosmology as The Matrix: a world in which a powerful anti-human force has created a Gnostic prison humans have to wake up from. Would Morpheus seem saner and better-adjusted than Maddy if he explained what the world was actually like and how the red pill would work before offering it?
I increasingly believe the whole concept of identification in someone else in order to find oneself (or even to enjoy a work of fiction whatsoever) is very overrated and self-indulgent towards the alibi to not being willing to be empathetic regardless of gender/race "condition", as if we weren't after all individuals each one with our peculiarity and non categorizable features, no-one actually representative of none other than himself/herself and nothing less or more.
I'm honestly confused. I liked the movie 100%. But how is it a Trans/LGBT movie? The only part I saw that maybe was that was, maddie saying she likes girls and Owen wearing a dress for like 2 seconds. Everything else seems way to deep, did the writers say that was what the movie symbolizes or something?
The feelings that are discussed throughout the film (life flying by, feeling like you’re not really yourself, living a lie, being disconnected from everything, etc.) are pretty relatable for people who try to ignore or are forced to repress being LGBTQ.
i got nothing out of this movie
It's a story about child abuse. When you look at it through your gay, queer and trans lens your unable to see that.
It’s so sad how lacking media literacy is in people like you. If you are unable to grasp such an obvious reflection of queer identity, why even watch a movie made by a queer person? Obviously child abuse is tied into these characters, and that is important to note because every human being has several complexities like this, but denying their identities is what does harm to people like them in real life. Maybe I’d consider your opinion if your grammar was decent, though.
I liked the surreal feel of this film. But I thought that the execution fell a little short of greatness. The show, The Pink Opaque, felt cheesy from the beginning to me… maybe that was the director’s intention. Idk.
This movie just felt so surreal and nostalgic to me. Overall, id give it a 6 out of 10. Solid film.
It's supposed to be cheesy, it's directly inspired by cheesy kid shows from the 90s that despite being corny and dated still resonated with millennials, a big theme of the movie is getting lost in a fictional world, even if that work of fiction isn't exactly high art.
I hated this movie. Loved the first half hour because it gave me stranger things/Summer of 84' vibes or it at least felt like the first time I watched them and I remember loving the nostalgia and excitement of everything but about halfway through the movie I hated it. I wanted it to be more of a mystery of what happened to Maddy but it was just boring and by the end I didn't give a shit what happened to either of them. I wanted a creepy movie with 90s vibes and I got a weird identity crisis/affirmation flick that I suppose other people love it but it just wasn't for me
I get your point, I was wondering though if you've ever felt alienated in your life that you had to run away?
Sounds like you hate it for not being what you wanted it to be and not judging it by it's own merits.
I think they should have just labeled this LGBT trash, so I saved my time to watch something else.
this was the worst movie ive seen all year
Well, I was too dumb to figure this out. But now that I get it, somehow the movie is worse.
Yet you found it interesting enough to go on CZcams and search for an explanation video.
Ugh, this explainer video really downgraded my experience. Just enjoy art, take what u will from it. I wish I had not
To be honest, this movie - piece of garbage
This movie was horrible
This movie was so gay and weird.
Yeah that's why it's great.
I wish I could get my time back, this movie was awful and unnecessary .
I love A24, but this movie sucked....when did a movie stopped being a movie, IDK.... there is too much of symbolism in the name of artistic liberty and ending is just too vague... I mean I'm completely onboard with the idea of leaving the audience with something to think about when the credits start rolling, but the keyword here is "something", not everything.....
With these kind of movies I think the writers themselves are not clear about what story they want to tell... I mean don't get me wrong they (the writers and directors) have brilliant imaginations and they are the geniuses of their crafts, but you need to be absolutely certain and clear about what story you want to tell and not show just anything and leave the audiences to weave their own stories.... There should be room for interpretation but the movie should not become all about interpretations..
I'll give you an example of a movie with a perfectly vague ending: Inception. Now I know This is A24 and they are probably never going to produce a movie like Inception. But at least give me something concrete to work with.
Too much of symbolism is killing cinema. Having said that, I would like to reiterate that I still love A24.
Symbolism has always been an important part of cinema and art as a whole.
Of course you use that overrated fucking hack Christopher Nolan as an example of good cinema because he's all about spelling everything out for his idiot audience.
Inception was the only time he tried to leave things ambiguous but that didn't save it from being a boring ass movie that failed completely at actually simulating the human subconscious and just looking and feeling like one big expensive overlong car commercial.
Worst filmmaker of the 21st century besides Zack Snyder.
The movie just wasn’t good.
The visuals were great. Over all it was horrible and obvious