By Robert Scucci | Being published
Growing up in the suburbs can be a isolating and nurturing experience, and I can’t think of any piece of media that captures the lonely reality of life better than 2024 I saw the light of the TV. Set in the mid-90s in what could and would be an underground city, the film follows fish relationships, friendships, and coming of age while questioning you every step of the way. Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, I saw the light of the TV the second entry in their screen trilogy, following 2021’s We are all going to the right of the worlda microbudget project that tackles the same ideas in a different context.
Although transgender themes remain prominent in I saw the light of the TVThe base, the front, its emotional core is easy to connect with any young person trying to be independent by resisting the pressures of conforming pressures. The inner explosion and growth are full of all the events, and if you ever feel you are in sync with the world around you, this is absolutely worth it because it deals with extraordinary reality.
A show within a show
I saw the light of the TV Centers on Owen (Justice Smith) and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Painne), two twisted teenagers on a TV show called Pink opaque. Owen lives with his ailing but abusive parents, and Maddy is a free spirit in the sense that we never meet her family, suggesting she leaves her plans more often than not.
Skipping whenever he can to watch the show at Maddy’s house, Owen is surprised, and Maddy fills him with a complicated wound because he is so attached that it is more real to him than his real life. The show itself is a stylish tribute to the teen style that Teen Screak has in common Buffy the vampire slayerwith a big bad named Mr. Melancholy (Emma Portner) and a monster of a church that spans five seasons.
Maddy ends up running away, hoping Owen will join her, but is too afraid to follow. She falls back into her lonely routine, clinging to him Pink opaque and retrieving the tips Maddy made for the night she couldn’t get out. The series becomes comfort food as the years go by. When he suddenly groaned, he was sure that he had been staying inside Pink opaqueOwen wants to believe him but isn’t sure he can. During this time, he explains that he was buried alive like the show’s heroes, Isabel (Helena Howard) and Tara (Lindsey Jordan), and that skipping that time allowed him to emerge in his true self.
Firm in her belief that she is a character from the show, Maddy fails to convince because she is stuck with the same letter. When he rejects her offer to help him make it to the other side, they are separated again, and Owen grows old to question what his life would have been like if he had followed his path.
The struggle to find yourself
I saw the light of the TV It finds its point with neon colors exploding in a world of beige. As Owen and Maddy’s lives collide Pink opaquethey use the show’s mythology to explore who they are, and it’s clear that Maddy sees the light while Owen is paralyzed with fear. As a metaphor for coming out as transgender, the film draws a stark contrast between Maddy’s escape from escapism and Owen’s unwillingness to break from expectations. Both characters face similar internal battles, using the media as a way to plant their lives in the seats.
While the message fits tightly into the context, I saw the light of the TV It speaks to something much broader. I found it easy to connect with Owen and Maddy because it’s very common to lose your sense of time to see yourself when WorldVines becomes your opportunities that you don’t see in your everyday life that you don’t see in your day to day life. It becomes a place of community, identity, and hope.
Surreal, stylish, and sometimes problematic, I saw the light of the TV Does virtual confinement take ownership, isolation and the hope of breaking through on the other side, whatever that means to you. It’s a wild emotional ride, and you’ll never look at your TV the same way after giving it a proper watch.
I saw the light of the TV broadcasts at max.
