I SAW THE TV GLOW
Directed by Jane Schoenbrun
A24 Films
TRANS AND NONBINARY director Jane Schoenbrun’s new film, I Saw the TV Glow, is a disturbing and powerful meditation on queer identity and popular culture. On election night 1996, seventh-grade student Owen (Ian Foreman) goes to the local suburban high school with his mother to vote. While his mother mingles with neighbors, Owen meets ninth-grader Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), who’s reading an episode guide to The Pink Opaque, a horror-themed TV show aimed at teens. Maddy explains that the show is about two teenage girls, Tara and Isabel, who met one summer at sleepaway camp and became psychically linked. Now, they use their special powers each week to defeat an assortment of supernatural foes. Although she says it’s “way too scary for most kids,” The Pink Opaque is Maddy’s favorite show. It airs on Saturday nights after Owen’s bedtime, but he lies to his parents about having a sleepover at a friend’s house so he can sneak over to Maddy’s to watch it.
Peter Muise is the author of Legends and Lore of the North Shore (2014) and Witches and Warlocks of Massachusetts (2021).
