i think that's what i saw the tv glow did honestly.
that moment when you're watching it as a trans person, and every cell in your body is begging her to not stop, to not run away, please please please. you need to see it more than you've needed anything. and then she does. she sees everything inside herself in a bathroom all alone where we've all been, and she closes it all up, her emaciated and sickly body barely holding her up, and she walks back into an arcade room apologizing for her outburst to a building full of people who refuse to see or hear her.
and then you realize, while your chest feels like it might just cave in under the pressure, that this film refused to afford you the relief of seeing someone else do what you must, to give you that false and fleeting pressure eased. no. if you want this film to have a good ending, you have to make it yourself. you have to do what she could not, because otherwise, well. you just saw your future.
I just watched I Saw the TV Glow, oh my gosh that is NOT what I thought the movie would be about
I knew it was about transgenderism and TVs, but I didn’t know what the heck actually went on or what miss girl saw on the TV that made her go “hm… being a woman..” but yeah I surely wasn’t expecting THAT.
I was curious if my reaction would be like what I’ve heard other people’s reactions where, and I can say that I did, in fact, stare shocked, mouth agape through the end credits.
that ending had me STRESSED THE HECK OUT. the raggedy breathing was worrying me, but I thought FOR SURE she was gonna get out. Anxious buildup and all right before the climax yknow? And so I was just waiting. Just waiting for all that scary stuff to be over. Just waiting to watch her get out. Just waiting the whole movie. I DIDNT REALIZE UNTIL LIKE 10 SECONDS AFTER IT WAS OVER, THAT THAT WAS NOT HAPPENING.
and ikik transgender allegory, but I was INTO that plot bro. Do you know how cool of an idea that is?? And it works so well with the allegory and also leaves a LOT of implications, and a lot of questions. So I have a bunch of my thoughts under the cut!
First of all, this was INDEED a horror movie, and I didn’t know that until watching. Bro ACTUALLY scary stuff idk how they secured that high of a budget. Not only that but this movie was UNCOMFORTABLE a lot of the time.
ok so like. Why was the Midnight Realm airing The Pink Opaque? Is it not controlled by Mr. Melancholy? Why would he let that in? Also why’d they get such terrible lives? Like both of them having abusive dads? Was that part of the deal? Seems easier to escape if you aren’t living happily there. I guess I can let this one slide cause there’s a lot of possible explanations, but I’m just curious.
then there’s the fact that this takes place FULLY within the Midnight Realm, which is SO interesting from a story perspective. When you’re watching a TV show, it ends! It ends with the heroes winning! Or at least, yknow, trying. Assuming The Pink Opaque is a TV show, why would Isabel just… stop? Would it technically be the character’s fault or the writer’s fault or yknow whatever? Like the villain won there. The whole show was building up to a character arc with Isabel where she overcame herself. That arc never resolved. One of the two main characters died with an unresolved arc. Bad TV show ending. However, assuming The Pink Opaque is reality, it’s sad Isabel gave up. Like that’s the first thought, it’s just sad, oh this poor one girl died because of her decision, but it’s not just sad. Like, because she didn’t snap out of it, the whole world is doomed. If I’m gathering this correctly, Mr. Melancholy is taking the power of the pink opaque, or ending it or something, for an unknown reason but most likely to take over the world or something, and the only ones who can stop him are Tara and Isabel COMBINED. Like that was her job to take care of that man. And what about Tara? Tara can’t do nothing now. AND she can’t pretend everything’s fine and live out a nice little life anymore because she’s out in the real world. Oh yeah right and like the WORLD IS IN DANGER NOW. Like a little more serious than one closeted trans person dooming themselves to be closeted. But like, viewing this movie as if we’re watching The Pink Opaque, and this is like the episode or the movie special where we see what happens when they get put on the luna juice: that makes a lot of sense. And I guess it would be part of the finale too, but we didn’t get to see the full ending. We only got to see Isabel’s struggle.
also the overall powers of the pink opaque and like more often the plot around that I was quite interested in. Why are they twin psychics fighting the moon guy? Is anyone else doing anything about this? I get it’s supposed to be like a cheesy 90s show, but also if this is what we’re considering REALITY in this movie, I can see why it would be unbelievable. And why you wouldn’t want to put yourself in danger for it. I mean I get the analogy there was like “this reality where you can be a girl IS magical and unbelievable and making it seem like you actually have a life, so much so that you are sure it is not real and definitely not for you” and also “taking the leap to be trans and be who you are can be painful, but when you get to the other side you realize it’s so much better.” BUT just looking at it from a story perspective, it makes sense, and also that’s not how reality works. And also if you’re transfem, you’re not just magically going to be like you were AFAB.
now ”Owen” going with “Maddie” when she was like “we gotta bury ourselves,” then running away. Running fast. “If I don’t think about it, it’s not real.” Then Owen secretly wishing Maddie came back and forced him to bury himself. To make the decision for him. Cause he couldn’t make it himself. Cause he had a good life, perhaps things could be better, but he didn’t want things to be worse. That’s real, I feel that, I feel specifically the wanting to depend on someone else to tell you it’s okay, to do the transition for you.
but oh my gosh Justice Smith had me WORRIED for him he was SO skinny that last scene. And those last few scenes were TERRIFYING. Everyone freezing when Owen screamed, and then he KNEW something was wrong. He knew Maddie was right. Then he goes in and cuts himself open, and it’s all true. All his worry and suspicion and questioning, it was all true. And he looks at it in its face. And now he covers it up instead of ignoring it and acting like it doesn’t exist. It’s there, but Owen doesn’t want to deal with it. This is his life now. And probably a short rest of a life at that. The fact that he covers it up and tries to play it cool is CRAZY though.
I’m still gonna need some time to dwell on this movie, but wow yeah. Right like if it’s so obvious now, are you just gonna sit there and ignore it? Are you gonna run away? Are you gonna just live like everything’s normal when it’s not? No. No, you’re not. You’re not just gonna give up. HECK NO you’re not!
on a kinda personal note, a sorta strange funny one, I had a friend who had a dream where he had hands opening him up from his chest, looking very similar to whatever happened to Owen in the bathroom during one of those last scenes. And this friend of mine shared to me that he had had thoughts that he might be transgender in the past. Now his thoughts weren’t like mine. His were moreof “he does some things like a girl so maybe he’s a girl.” And so I didn’t worry about him cause I was just like, “he was just exploring and considering, but liking girl things doesn’t mean you’re transfem.” But also recently, we stopped being friends. Like recent recent. And he told me something along the lines of being SCARED for people transing their gender. Like he was genuinely fearful saying it was a terrible thing and honestly, and I might be wrong about this, but it seemed like he was trying to guilt me into the fact that he knew me better and knew a better course of action for my life than my PARENTS on the basis that my parents didn’t know that I had thoughts of wanting to be a man. So all that combined with him HATING being called a girl and him self proclaiming that he related to Jax “but not the transgender stuff, he’s over that.” I’m a little worried for him. But I can’t fix him. I have to leave him for God to help right now.
Also, and I don’t like saying stuff about my irl name, but the coincidence was so strange, so I thought I’d mention it. one of my names appeared in this movie, spelled how *I* spell it. And it’s not an uncommon name, I’d say it’s fairly common, but it’s been misspelled my whole life. So having it not only be in the movie, but spelled correctly, was VERY strange for me.
Anyways. My thoughts are a little mixed up here, but if you read it all, thank you for reading! And remember, God loves you!
Why is there a diarrhea parasite outbreak in America?
Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies cut funding to disease prevention and control.
Why is measles back in America?
Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including RFK Jr, cut vaccine and measles prevention funding and programs.
Why is the New World Screwworm infecting cattle in Texas, when it had previously been eliminated from the area?
Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including Elon Musk, cut USAID funding, which in part worked to monitor and prevent screwworm outbreaks.
Why was there a flu outbreak in our armed forces?
Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including Pete Hegseth, cut vaccination requirements for our armed forces, putting all of them at risk alongside our military readiness.
What contributed to the Covid outbreak?
Donald Trump and his Republican allies cut funding to a pandemic prevention program in his first term because Barack Obama had created it.
“America first” sends its regards. Trump voters, please learn your lesson. And if you don’t, it’ll be taught to you again with yet another diarrhea outbreak.
