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Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/A24I Saw the TV Glow is one of those movies that seems to crawl under your skin. For months after watching the film, you might just catch yourself thinking a lot about the all-consuming relationship you formed with some TV show as a kid. Your silent moments might be haunted by the memory of Justice Smith’s character, Owen, desperately wheezing. And on a lighter note, the catchy soundtrack will almost certainly lurk in your ears just as often.
There’s a longing quality to director Jane Schoenbrun’s second feature—a forlorn feeling that aches like a lost childhood. Our main characters, Owen and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) are two teens who build their lives around a kids’ horror TV show. (Naturally, Maddy insists that the show-within-a movie, The Pink Opaque, is way too mature for kids; its lore is too complicated and its monsters are far too scary.) The teens find solace in their favorite show, which grants its protagonists Tara and Isabel far more agency than the real-life teens have ever enjoyed.
While Tara and Isabel live with power and purpose, Maddy and Owen spend most of their time avoiding abuse and mistreatment from their less-than-stellar patriarchs. It’s no wonder the teens would rather watch the show than engage with the realities of their daily lives. Speaking with The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, however, director Schoenbrun, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, emphasized that Maddy and Owen’s TV obsession has little to do with the show itself.
English (United States)