Thinking About Them

Thinking about them

ppl are so annoying “you can’t paint ur bedroom pink you’re an adult” i did not spend my entire life waiting to grow up and control my life to paint my bedroom beige

wolfjager bros

(He/him pronouns for all) 🐇🏳️‍⚧️😈

Did I miss the isttvg analysis or is that just still in the oven?

My ISTTG analysis:

I Saw The TV Glow is clearly meant to be seen through the lens of a transgender allegory, however, what makes an allegory an allegory is that it is a story within a story. The Crucible is a story about The Red Scare, but it’s a story about the Salem Witch Trials. Animal Farm is about Communism and the “inherant dangers” of it, but it’s a story about animals taking control and ending up just like their oppressors. I Saw The TV Glow is an allegory for repressing your trans identity and having it kill you, but it’s also a story of someone who grew up with someone, and that person goes missing, and when that person comes back they start saying VERY strange and unusual things. The things that Maddie say sounding “so scary” are meant to represent how terrifying it can be for someone to accept coming out as trans to themselves: it can metaphorically feel like someone asking you to kill yourself and be reborn. But I’m a very literal sense this takes place in a world where although there are supernatural elements involved, it’s very much the real world. We, the audience, are supposed to understand that Maddie talking about how Owen needs to “die and be reborn” is a metaphor for coming out. However we are privy to this information. Owen is not. If we look at the story through Owen’s eyes, I think we can take another perspective on it: what if it is not only a metaphor for being trans and coming out but also a story of mental health. Watching the movie while I understood this was an allegory for being trans, putting myself in Owen’s shoes, as someone with the background I have, I interpreted a lot of Maddie’s behaviors and the things she was saying as psychotic. Maddie is at the typical age when she comes back into Owen’s life when people who are schizophrenic start showing symptoms. I think that there’s a much more surface story or analysis that can be told about Maddie, Owen, and the effects of someone you’re close to going through psychosis and trying to deal with it. Of course Owen entertains the idea of what Maddie is saying to some degree: Owen has seen things that would make one a bit more receptive to thinking maybe there is something supernatural out there. But I think it’s an interesting perspective to talk about how literal it is that Maddie wanted to bury Owen alive so that Owen “died”. Just because that was a metaphor doesn’t mean it was not real in the context of the story. She wanted to kill her friend so that they could “come back”.

TL;DR obviously the trans allegory is the overarching theme, but it’s interesting to look at the story with the perspective that Maddie has schizophrenia and how someone you grew up with can develop psychosis and how that can effect your relationship with them.

i just. when owen tried on isabel's magic dress and maddy blushed and smiled and hid in her hand. the intimacy in how she drew the symbol on the back of owen's neck. an out lesbian showing those feelings for a closeted, pre-transition trans girl who doesn't even seem to know that's true of herself yet. knowing her before she knows herself. don't speak to me i'm literally dust on the floor

blood will spill blood, and the lake will run red