#maddy growing feelings for owen is implicitly tied to her remembering their true lives as isabel and tara
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hrrr I Saw the TV Glow is still rolling around in the back of my mind. it's hitting me somewhat belatedly that what seemingly starts as mainly an identity story turns out - toward the final act - to also be a love story. two queer kids finding each other (again). the bond they forge (have always had). the feelings that start to grow (were always there) despite the lie they're living. one trying to save the other, and failing. the frail hope at the end that maybe what they had mattered after all, even if they never see each other again. maybe because they knew each other, someday things will be better.
idk. so much of the story feels so lonely. they're awkward with each other at first and they don't really "get" each other and they're absent from each other's lives for long periods and they don't have anyone else. but it's all a lie - they were best friends, they knew each other better than anyone, they are who they are because they knew each other, they were not alone. no matter how bleak the setting is, this fake world can't obscure the truth. they'll never forget each other. it will always have happened, it will always have mattered.
it's so hard to put into words but Owen/Isabel and Maddy/Tara make me so crazy, the way everything in the world works to drive them apart and yet not even losing their memories can destroy the connection between them. and it's not enough to prevent the world from tearing them apart but maybe it's enough to save their lives
queer love portrayed not as supernaturally resilient or invincible (god knows it isn't), but as a precious fragile thing that can and will grow back over and over in some form no matter what ...
#deerchatter#i saw the tv glow#i saw the tv glow spoilers#to be 100% clear i definitely believe they were specifically IN love on top of also being best friends. and the distinction is important#owen growing feelings for maddy is implicitly tied to her beginning to find herself as a trans lesbian#maddy growing feelings for owen is implicitly tied to her remembering their true lives as isabel and tara#it's so subtle because there's no space for that love in the midnight realm. and yet it grows back against all odds#there's very interesting potential for an isttg/rgu contrast-comparison analysis right down to the coffin/grave symbolism#the main duo's love being suppressed by a reality that can't bear it or contain it. the way it resurrects as self-love/renewed determinatio#if we're getting really crazy there are also parallels between maddy coming back for owen and certain interpretations of AoU#but while utena and anthy are implied to find each other in every incarnation owen and maddy's fate is a lot more open-ended#owen says she never saw maddy again but the truthfulness of the narrated parts of the story are highly questionable so ???#augh. so many thoughts.#sorry if some of this seems completely off i only watched it once late at night. gonna rewatch in the upcoming days
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