Istvg - Tumblr Posts
SPOILERS FOR I SAW THE TV GLOW!!!!
this is the best trans allegory i've seen in film. the horror of knowing yourself and not doing anything to change, and passively watching your life slip away as time ticks by...owen has known and denied the truth for the whole movie, until decades later, he's with the horror that he is going to die without escaping the prison of his unsatisfying life. that's one of my biggest fears especially as a trans person. like what if i don't transition, what if i just live my life for other people, and i just stay trapped? the juxtaposition throughout this movie is heartbreaking, switching between owen's bleak reality to the "tv show" reality that is owen's true life, true identity, and true potential. this is the first time i've seen repression portrayed as true horror, but it resonates so deeply. denial is arguably compared to plato's allegory of the cave- maddy/tara accepts the truth and escapes by leaving their stifling hometown and embracing her queer identity, owen/isabel runs from her identity and ultimately ends up trapped in the closet, constantly apologizing for his existence and experiences. i'm going to be thinking about this moving for a very long time, and I will be telling my therapist about it.
I saw tv glow is like YES the realization you are trans might implode your life and make the world you live in uninhabitable but that will happen anyway if you don’t do anything about it. if you retreat from your own needs and refuse to let yourself resurrect you’re still gonna run out of air and even the tv show that kept you alive at one point won’t be able to bring you back
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