Review: i saw the tv glow (2024)

Justice Smith and Bridette Lundy-Paine in I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

November 29, 2024

I watched I Saw the TV Glow in theaters back in May of this year. I remember my friends and I entering the theater babbling with excitement and then leaving quietly, a bit stunned and still chewing. This is the type of film that takes time to cement into your mind, and gets better with each rewatch.

Set in 1996, Owen and Maddy bond over their love for a television show called The Pink Opaque: a soapy drama starring two friends, Isabel and Tara, who communicate through the psychic plane. Owen is meek and unsure of himself, and though Maddy also seems lost, she encourages Owen to explore his interests. Maddy tapes the show for Owen, who would rather his family not know about his TV obsession. Their love for the show goes beyond fixation, they both connect with the show in a way that ‘feels more real than real life’. A few years go by and Maddy goes missing, leaving behind a burning TV in her yard, and The Pink Opaque is canceled. Eight years later, Owen still lives at home and takes a job at a local theater, still as emotionally stuck as he was in high school. One day Owen sees Maddy in the grocery store, and she takes him to a bar and tells him she's spent these years living in The Pink Opaque. She sends him a tape of the final episode, where the villain of the show, Mr. Melancholy, buries the main characters and traps them in ‘The Midnight Realm’. Later, Maddy tells Owen that when she disappeared she paid someone to bury her and she woke up in The Pink Opaque. She explains that the ‘real’ world they’re living in now is the Midnight Realm, and their real life is inside the screen.

The words ‘transgender’ or ‘queer’ are never said in this film, but this is overtly a film about gender identity. That choice is why I think this film resonates with queer audiences more than something more straightforward might have. It reflects a character who has these very complicated feelings but no where to put them, they don’t even have the words to describe them. I think it’s really important to be able to talk about the experience of being queer without labels. It takes preconceived notions out of the equation and I think it’s a more authentic portrayal of identity and in Owen’s case, dysphoria. Some trans people may not connect with the feeling of always knowing you were born in the wrong body; this story shows another side of dysphoria where you don’t know what it is, but something is wrong. 

While I was first watching TV Glow, the dialogue struck me as a bit canned and unrealistic. However as I kept watching, I felt that that was actually a stylistic choice and reflected two characters that are both obsessed with a melodramatic TV show, which reflects in their tone, but also that they aren’t being genuine with themselves, so their dialogue reflects that as well. Self discovery and identification through media like TV shows is a common phenomenon, especially in the queer community. It’s really interesting to see that concept wrap around and be illustrated in a film like this. Each facet of the film is used to flesh out these characters and seems unconcerned with an audience who doesn’t ‘get it’. The ones that do ‘get it’, will get it on a deep, emotional level, that is where the filmmakers' sentiments seem to lie. 

Director Jane Schoenbrun has built a unique visual language here, with warm neon lights, backrooms-esque set design, and a nostalgic glow to each precisely crafted shot. The visuals do not distract or exist only as aesthetic fluff, but they capture the themes of disillusionment, the displacement of time, and dissonance within the self. I was a big fan of their directorial debut We’re All Going to The World’s Fair, which does something similar, building style through webcam and camcorder footage that creates a genre I want to describe as Digital Horror. Schoenbrun has built on that lo-fi aesthetic into something bigger and more polished, proving their skill in executing their artistic vision. The soundtracks for both of their films have been incredible as well, they just tack on a whole other sensation that stimulates the viewing experience.

I Saw the TV Glow’s messageis not limited to the queer experience. It’s hopeful, but not unsparingly. It’s a warning to anyone that is putting off exploring their identity that though there is still time, time will run out. Don’t let it.

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Rating: 🦄🦄🦄 1/2

Mickey Morrow is a film studies student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

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