I Saw the TV Glow - Emotionally Devastating

PATREON MOVIE DISCUSSION:

This movie was selected by our Patreon Supporters over at the Cinematic Doctrine Patreon. Support as little as $3 a month and have your voice heard!

Kathryn joins Melvin to discuss Jane Schoenbrun's I Saw the TV Glow! Owen's curiosity in a late-night television show called "The Pink Opaque" leads him to meet Maddy, an upper-classmen at his school. Sounds normal, but it's an off-beat arthouse coming-of-age psychological drama (with a tinge of horror) from the director of We're All Going to the World's Fair, so of course there's more to it! Tune in now!

Topics:

• Most people over the age of, like, 40 years will likely reject the film as too weird or too complex, as a lot of what's at play is very late Millennial/Gen Z.
• Melvin found the film "emotionally devastating", and begins to explore what that means to him.
• A lot of dialogue personally connected with Melvin, whereas a lot of visuals personally connected with Kathryn, and the two share specifics.
• Melvin shares how Cinematic Doctrine hasn't really talked about LGBTQIA+ topics on the podcast because it's such a loaded topic in the Christian community. Even so, one of I Saw the TV Glow's main topics of exploration is gender identity and fluidity, and how it correlates to the coming-of-age experience. As such, they get into the weeds.
• Does it really make sense to gender-restrict activities when they have nothing to do with one’s born-sexuality? How do things in the real world become representative of genitalia?
• Television may exist in I Saw the TV Glow to represent desire, and the dichotomy between getting lost in the fantasies of our desires or being propelled to act on our desires.
• Owen's decision at the end of the film hits the way it does because he's finally making a decision about what he's endured the whole film.
• I Saw the TV Glow is extremely dense and profoundly nuanced, and Melvin is positive that Kathryn and he have barely scratched the surface.

Recommendations:

• Jim Henson Idea Man (2024) (Documentary)
• Smile 2 (2024) (Movie)