I Saw the TV Glow

Yasmin J. Lee 9/25/2026 6:16:19PM 8.4

# Euphoric Sleepaways & Gender Terror ### Comparative Analysis of Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow” (2024) & “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” (2026) In Jane Schoenbrun’s (they/them) sophomore feature, *I Saw the TV Glow* (2024), audiences are trapped in the Midnight Realm of the suburbs. This summer, viewers are transported to a slasher sleepaway camp daydream that distorts reality and fantasy. In both films, the protagonists immerse themselves in media as escapism and gender euphoria. This escape into a world of fantasy and screens allows them to disassociate from gendered expectations. While they share similarities, both films present audiences with starkly different fates; one existing in complacency and dysphoria, the other relishing the freedom of immersing in pleasure. *I Saw the TV Glow'*s protagonist, Owen (Justice Smith), felt an unbreakable tether to the fictional television series The Pink Opaque’s Isabel (Helena Howard). Watching The Pink Opaque*,* Owen saw glimpses of the life he could have had if he embraced his true self. In The Pink Opaque, he was once someone strong. Beautiful. And magical. When his former classmate, Maddy (Jack Haven), offers to help Owen transition from this life into the television series, Owen flees and never makes it to the season six premiere. Stuck with impending anxieties of manhood and mediocrity, Owen only sees the TV glow from within, never knowing what his life could have been if he followed Maddy. Schoenbrun offers an alternative narrative to their sophomore: immersing oneself in the life they have always felt an unshakeable belonging to. Camp Miasma— another fictionalized, canonical franchise from the mind of Jane Schoenbrun—was introduced to audiences through a sequence of memorabilia. Bobbleheads, trading cards, VHS tapes, costume displays, and sensationalized articles reveal Camp Miasma’s rise and fall as a problematic zombie IP. Our protagonist, Kris Williams (Hannah Einbinder; character pronouns she/they), helms a reimagining of Camp Miasma through a “woke” lens. Dodging snowballs upon entering the gas station, Kris snags their favorite candy off the racks. In this film, the gas station is a liminal space: both destination and journey. Outside the gas station, the children keep playing, flinging snowballs at each other. In the opening sequence of *I Saw the TV Glow*, Schoenbrun introduces audiences to the ephemeral nature of recess and play. In *I Saw the TV Glow,* Young Owen travels around the parachute in the gymnasium, reflecting his isolation despite being surrounded by peers. Shortly afterward, the parachute deflates as the camera abandons Young Owen. One unforeseen tragedy of growing up is realizing one day we won’t have recess anymore. Suddenly, expectations and responsibilities are placed on us, and we have to submit to predetermined roles. Being a child is innately a genderless period of many people’s lives. As kids, gender performance and sexual orientation do not define their identities. They exist and explore the world through play. These moments of play inform and shape our identities and the roles we accept as we age. In their interview with The Movie Podcast, hosted by Daniel and Shahbaz, Schoenbrun says they open and close *Camp Miasma* with children playing as a reminder of the mindset they needed while creating *Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.* By revisiting play throughout the film, Schoenbrun repurposes it from *I Saw the TV Glow* and invites viewers to find their film community and play alongside them throughout the viewing experience. Hence why one of the first shots we see before the title sequence is a POV, handheld shot of the film crew working on one of the Camp Miasma films. The film set is like a playground where the crew and Jane play together to make their stories real. The motif of play appears in many forms throughout *I Saw the TV Glow* (2024) and *Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma* (2026). For instance, around the second act of *Camp Miasma*, Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson) reminds Kris that "it's all just a play. That’s why he \[Little Death, portrayed by Jack Haven\] built this place.” Billy’s reminder came shortly after Kris’s first sex scene in the movie. To relate sex and play together offers a lightheartedness that makes sex feel less detrimental for the protagonist and audiences who feel a similar blockage to accessing pleasure. This blockage to pleasure is not a unique experience, by any means. In fact, the link between horror, fear, and sex is undeniable. In French, the euphemism for orgasm is ‘la petite mort.’ La petite mort directly translates to ‘little death.’ The notion of death being related to the climax of sex is due to a couple of things. One, when you have truly amazing sex with a beautiful person, you forget about dying and feel infinite. Otherwise, as Jordan Peele once stated at the American Film Institute, death is the ultimate of tension and release. As someone feels their muscles tense and spasm, this involuntary bodily response can feel like death is creeping upon them if they subject their body to climax. Jane Schoenbrun’s characters always have access to pleasure and euphoria; however, as Billy Presley said, “if it gets too real, you can always turn it off.” Throughout *Camp Miasma*, Kris is presented with invitations and offerings. Audiences watch them navigate their cravings and urges, and the gazes of admiration they draw when watching Billy Presley in the original Camp Miasma and in reality. Naturally, Schoenbrun created a cinematic world where consent is the status quo. In *Camp Miasma*, consent is reimagined as chandeliers of gummy candies and drawers filled with Sour Patch Kids. The sweet temptation is always present, but it awaits the subject to reach in before indulging. The strain of gazing upon desire also appears in *I Saw the TV Glow* (2024). After inviting Owen to a sleepover to watch The Pink Opaque, Maddy soberly confides in Owen that “sometimes The Pink Opaque feels more real than real life.” For Maddy to announce her fractured sense of reality to Owen, she inadvertently admits that the life she wants to exist in only airs on the Young Adult Network. Maddy and Owen’s true identities are only fulfilled when the show is on. Owen said it himself, "It's not real if I don’t think about it.” Without thinking about or watching the show, their authentic selves don’t exist. This fragile reality between indulging in desire and submission to societal expectation is a threshold that breaks like the shell of a Gusher. Gooey and tough at first, until the artificial neon sticks to your teeth. That sweet flavor lingers, just like *Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma* after viewing it for the first time*.* Whether it’s candy, orgasms, movies, fame, or friendship, Schoenbrun depicts a range of transitory delights in both projects. In doing so, Schoenbrun presents two different fates for people faced with their fleeting desires. In *I Saw the TV Glow,* Owen is a passive main character who is embarrassed of their love of The Pink Opaque. When he starts watching the show with Maddy, he doesn’t tell his parents because The Pink Opaque is “a show for girls.” By accepting this shame, Owen’s bliss appears only when the television is on and when he collects VHS tapes of the show from Maddy. Throughout the film, Owen is reminded in chalk letters that "there's still time.” Meaning, there’s still time for him to become Isabel and rewrite his destiny. Again, when Maddy offers to help Owen transition from this life into the television series, Owen chooses to be stuck in the suburbs and manhood. In contrast, Kris has an unabashed love for the Camp Miasma series. Kris consciously approaches Billy Presley with the request of showing them how to be the girl from Camp Miasma, affirming, “That look in your eye. I don’t just want to watch it. I don’t want to just film it and put it in a movie. I want to experience it too.” By making this request, the winter snow waned away, and Little Death rose. We’ve returned to Camp Miasma. In both worlds, a sleepaway camp is present. Tara (Lindsey “Snail Mail” Jordan) and Isabel from The Pink Opaque meet at the campgrounds while Camp Miasma is set entirely at a sleepaway camp. Despite this similarity, Schoenbrun portrays the two camps very differently. The sleepaway camp from The Pink Opaque is this unattainable, aspirational plane for Owen and Maddy. He’s never a part of this world, despite being unable to part with it. Camp Miasma, by contrast, is an accessible campground littered with memorabilia. Its history of violence towards trans identities is evident, while it has strangely become the playpen for Little Death, the trans child who died in the lake and seeks wild justice vis-à-vis revenge. By having Owen and Kris escape into summer camps of fantasy and screens, they disassociate from gendered expectations. From the *TV Glow'*s "there's still time” to *Camp Miasma'*s freezing of time, both present the ultimate fantasy—enough time to savor the moment. Schoenbrun further develops their filmmaking language of transient metaphors and pop culture ephemera by contrasting their protagonists' fates to uncover a philosophy true to their own: Audiences must consume the experience like candy without letting it consume them. *Enjoyed this review? 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ekaari 8/9/2024 12:52:10PM 8.4

Necessity and Style, lacking Substance ‘I Saw the TV Glow’ offers an important message that is evidently hitting the hearts of the people who need to hear it, and the beautiful visuals bath it in emotional colour. It would have been served with more depth, detail, and structure, but it does what it set out to do. If it doesn’t hit for you, you’re probably not the intended audience.

Chandler Danier 12/3/2024 2:34:28AM 8.4

I was hoping this was a Helloween 3 remake. Way too much filler. Who needs to see bands performing? Monologues... It's deep but I wasn't buying. Hellish ending. Really cool shots. Creepy shots. Well shot.