Introduction
I Saw the TV Glow is an upcoming 2024 American psychological horror-drama film written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun. It marks a haunting personal reflection on the complexities of contemporary media shaped around adolescence. While the film is enveloped in horror, at its core, it tells the profound and heart-wrenching tale of coming-of-age centered on gender dysphoria and an overwhelming desire to escape a stifling reality.
Produced and distributed by A24, the film has received praise for its visually dreamlike aesthetic as well as thematic boldness and originality of voice. Reviewers emphasized that it exposing the film remains one of the most emotionally resonant and multifaceted of 2024, expertly intertwining genre elements with genuine feelings.
Plot Synopsis
As the film’s setting is in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it features Owen, a shy and withdrawn teenager living in an unremarkable suburb with harshly numbing emotions. Owen’s mundane life takes a turn when he meets Maddy, his slightly older classmate who introduces him to an unconventional late-night show called The Pink Opaque. The show is marked with supernatural elements blending two teenage girls, akin to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who battle monsters and conspiracies—evocative of 90s teen genre TV.
Owen becomes more and more obsessed with the show The Pink Opaque. It offers him a glimpse into a world that he longs to inhabit but never quite manages to embrace—a world that is vibrant and expressive. As he becomes more immersed in the show’s story, the distinction between reality and fiction becomes increasingly obscure. Surreal visions and emotional episodes that suggest the possibility of The Pink Opaque being grounded in some form of reality blur these boundaries. Maddy is also influenced by the show, and the two form an intricate bond based on shared disconnection and concealed realities.
Owen is now older, but as the years go by, he never truly escapes the pull of the glowing screen. It becomes emblematic of everything he cannot put into words: the intense discomfort with feeling trapped in his own body, the overwhelming sense of being disconnected from reality, and the incessant yearning to change. His relationship with Maddy comes to an end, and now Owen is directionless, drowning in confusion that eclipses the reality he is expected to exist within.
The film leads viewers into a surreal climax that is difficult to explain literally, but poignantly expresses the agony of dysphoria and the alienation of not knowing who one is. The plot is less about solving a mystery and more about capturing the mood of confusion, sadness, and transcendence that characterizes Owen’s internal odyssey.
Characters and Performances
Owen, played by Justice Smith as an adult and Ian Foreman as his younger self, anchors the film emotionally. Smith’s performance is haunting in its restraint as he portrays the gradual unraveling of a man struggling to navigate conflicting worlds. His depiction of Owen’s estrangement and sullen turmoil is strikingly subtle, quietly rendered, yet profoundly moving.
Maddy, portrayed by Brigette Lundy-Paine, acts as an almost a spirtual guide for Owen during the film’s first half. Maddy’s self-confidence as an expressive character marks an important stage in her own journey, which is still unfolding. The intensity and vulnerability that define the first half of Lundy-Paine’s performance highlight make her absence later on feel far more poignant.
Helena Howard, Fred Durst, and Danielle Deadwyler round out the cast. Their characters contribute to developing the unsettling, fragmented reality that surrounds Owen. Every character appears somewhat surreal, reinforcing the film’s overarching question: Is this world real, or does it exist solely within one’s imagination?
Concepts
Identity and Dysphoria
I Saw the TV Glow focuses on the issues of gender dysphoria as well as the cognitive dissonance one suffers from not recognizing oneself in the body they inhabit. Jane Schoenbrun, who identifies as nonbinary and trans, views I Saw the TV Glow as a deeply personal allegory for the experience of growing up in a body that does not feel like home. The piece features glowing pink and blue neon lights, a glowing screen, and a haunting score, all suggestive of the internal struggle that comes with having a fractured identity.
Media as Mirror
The work grapples with the concepts of escapism and revelation. For Owen and Maddy, The Pink Opaque serves both purposes as entertainment and self-discovery. For them, the show captures their unexpressed emotions. The notion that fiction may surpass reality is a recurring theme.
Isolation and Time
In the film, time serves as both fragmented and fluid. Entrapment in the world of The Pink Opaque leaves Owen incapable of psychological progression, mirroring the stunting effect of unresolved identity crises and repressed emotions. Owen’s emotional detachment from life over the years psychologically ages him, deteriorating his life in a dreamy and wistful manner. His inability to come of age translates into stagnation or progress akin to the unnerving feeling of emotional detachment as time continues to advance unabated.
Horror as Emotional Language
The film I Saw the TV Glow, while not classified as a horror movie, employs horror imagery to evoke raw psychological distress and turmoil. It is devoid of traditional terror, be it monsters or jump scares. Instead, it embodies a purely internal realm of suffering, as exemplified by the anguish of witnessing time slipping away unaccompanied by a transformation into one’s true self.
Visual and Sound Design
Glowing, pulsating tapestries of blue and pink neon colors form the film’s digital visage. Its dreamlike atmosphere, nostalgic yet jarring, is emphasized through the flickering light’s shadow, reflection, and illumination. Between the mundane, suburban interiors and surreal, otherworldly settings, the heavily nostalgic 90s analog television submerges the viewer into a world where media serves as a refuge to escape visceral emotions.
The soundtrack features Caroline Polachek, Phoebe Bridgers, Alex G, and other artists whose work heightens the film’s emotional weight. Their music adds layers of sadness and longing, crafting a melancholic mixtape that embodies the essence of youth slipping away.
Reception
The film was praised in festivals and maintained critical acclaim after its general release. It received accolades for originality and emotional authenticity, alongside its immersive atmosphere. Many critics labeled it one of the most inventive queer films of the past few years. The performance of Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine was particularly noted for its subtlety and great depth.
However, some viewers found the film’s non-linear approach to plot, along with the vague storytelling, difficult to engage with. This is not a film that progresses through a clearly-defined beginning, middle, and end; rather, it moves in spirals like a dream—or a memory—that defies clean resolution. For those willing to embrace such a narrative structure, the film has a powerful emotional resonance.
Conclusion
The film I Saw the TV Glow is distinctive in its hypnotic strangeness and deep emotional currents. It relies heavily on the coming-of-age story loosely based on a person’s adolescence but elevates it to an emotionally charged, almost ghostly realm. It deftly combines horror, science fiction, and television nostalgia to craft an emotionally charged narrative on growing up, feeling unseen, and self-awakening.
This film resonates with anyone who has grappled with the feeling of existing in a world that doesn’t align with their identity. In its dim, flickering television light, and echoing silences, I Saw the TV Glow transforms from a mere film to a multifaceted experience—an elegiac reflection on unrecaptured moments, unfulfilled lives, and the bittersweet essence of realizing one’s identity.
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