"What if I really was someone else? Very far away on the other way of the television screen."
I Saw the TV Glow is a 2024 drama/horror film about a lonely kid, Owen (Justice Smith) just trying to survive life in the suburbs when his classmate, Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine) introduces him to a late-night TV show, The Pink Opaque. When The Pink Opaque is mysteriously canceled, though, Owen and Maddy find their version of reality starting to crack, and they go on a surreal journey of self-discovery. Danielle Deadwyler, Helena Howard, and Phoebe Bridgers also star.
I Saw the TV Glow premiered at Sundance in January 2024 and is set for release in the United States on 8th May, 2024. The trailer is here.
It was written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, who made their debut in 2022 with We're All Going to the World's Fair.
I saw the tropes glow:
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Maddy tells Owen that The Pink Opaque is "more real to her than reality." Owen tries to tell her that it's just a TV show, but even he doesn't stay sure.
- Casting Gag: This is Helena Howard's second role about a teenager's blurring of reality, fantasy, and imagination - the first was her debut Madeline's Madeline.
- Creator Thumbprint: Has a lot in common with writer-director Jane Schoenbrun's debut feature, We're All Going to the World's Fair. Both are about young people living their lives online/through media and becoming gradually obsessed to the point where reality fragments about them, with heavy queer subtext and queer themes (explicit in I Saw The TV Glow, not in We're All Going to the World's Fair).
- Monster of the Week: Essentially what The Pink Opaque was about. Various personalized monsters go after random groups of kids, and they figure out a way to defeat it. One such monster that appears briefly in the initial trailer is a humanoid pink Ice Cream Cone with bulgy eyes and a melty face.
- Spooky Kids Media: The Pink Opaque is a Monster of the Week children's show that is, according to young Maddy, "way too scary for most kids." It drives a lot of Maddy and Owen's psychological deterioration.
