I Saw the TV Glow
Seen at the 2024 Atlanta Film Festival
Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow” has a fascinating thematic idea at its core- the pop culture we digest transforms our view of the world. On a subconscious level, most of us understand this, but only to the extent that it can shape our values, and sense of right and wrong. Schoenbrun’s film goes a step further, however, and posits that pop culture can shine a light of the real nature of the physical world, as well. They also are asking us to take a step back from our fandom, and helping us see that what we loved as children can have an expiration date on its value as an adult. I wish I vibed with the film’s sense of style as much as I’m down exploring its ideas.
Owen (Ian Foreman) is a lonely 7th grader when we first meet him properly in 1996. He is at school with his mother (Danielle Deadwyler) as she is casting her vote in the election when Owen sees Maddie (Brigette Lundy-Paine), a sullen 9th grader, on her own, reading a book. He is transfixed, not in a romantic sense but he senses a soul not unlike his own. The book Maddie is reading is an Episode Guide to the show, “The Pink Opaque,” a genre show that airs at 10:30pm on Saturday night, before black-and-white reruns take over the airwaves for the night. Maddie is obsessed with the show, and Owen is intrigued; he lies to his parents about spending the night at a friend’s house so that he can watch it with her. From that first viewing, something clicks with him. He must have more. Over the next two years, Maddie fuels his need, as Owen (played now by Justice Smith) is unable to watch it because of his parents. One day, however, the show is gone, and Maddie with it.
“The Pink Opaque,” as viewed in the film, is very much inspired by “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”; it even uses a similar font for the in-show credits. I was late to the “Buffy” cult as the show was on in the late ’90s, but it was impossible not to feel like you unlocked something personal if the show connected with you at that time. For a lot of people, “Buffy” wasn’t just a mold-breaker in terms of genre TV, but it helped them feel like they were not alone, that someone making films or TV reflected their sense of isolation with the world. Clearly, Schoenbrun had a similar reaction to the show, and even casts Amber Benson as the mother of the friend Owen is lying about sleeping over with. As we grow older, however, what is the value of holding on to something like “The Pink Opaque?” After Maddie disappears, Owen’s obsession with the show remains, but his sense of connection with the world is gone. The film takes an enormous leap when, eight years after Maddie has disappeared, she returns, and what she has to say to Owen is not what he expected at all. Soon after, she is gone, and he never sees her again. Up until this point, I was on board with the film, and Schoenbrun’s deliberate pacing, and while I commend them for not taking the film in the direction we might anticipate, the momentum of the film ground to a halt for me. This was heightened by the choices made as Owen, once again alone, truly loses his sense of reality, except for a handful of moments that appear to be having us think objectively on the nostalgia we have for things we loved when we were younger, how we sometimes recognize that they do not age well when we get older, but how- sometimes- that nostalgic hit is necessary in a moment of crisis, even if it’s not healthy.
My frustrations with “I Saw the TV Glow’s” narrative thrust aside, there is much to recommend about this film. The performances by Smith and Lundy-Paine are really compelling, at least, enough so to where we don’t question them playing these characters as high schoolers and adults, a choice that ties into the film’s ideas of stunted emotional growth. There are some strong visual ideas in Schoenbrun’s craft in this film, even if I feel like the story fails to move forward after a certain point, which could certainly play into those ideas of stunted growth, but seems more like a stylistic choice that did not work for me at all. And as someone who bemoans the ways in which certain pop culture analysis seems to come from an overemphasized sense of nostalgia, it’s refreshing to see a film recognize how dangerous that can be to cherish something so precious from our youth we turn it into our whole sense of self as we get older. As someone who did too much of that when I was younger, it’s laudable to see a filmmaker approach it in an interesting way onscreen, even if the film they made doesn’t resonate with me entirely.
