your research and care and reactions made this watch a fucking delight. I have watched this movie before but watching you watch it is almost as good (which is a such a damn compliment).
I will say, the more details I pick out, the more it becomes fairly clear that Maddy's reality is very literally true. I still love the initial of "Void High School", the view in the snowglobe, "they feel more like family than your real family" and "I have a family now"... Mr Melancholy has sucked the joy and magic out of their lives, of course. Another interesting structural conceit is how the time skips (mentioned in-movie of course) line up with common egg crack/coming out stages of life. It's a real bitch when you do something later and have to reconcile how you were as a person through all those stages... Similarly, in the "this is reality" interpretation, he's done. There's no real hope, just repression and the struggle as it all breaks down into worsening mental illness. In parallel with that (and I think while "this is the pink opaque" is the truth, these are meant to be held in mind in parallel) is that there really IS just one option left with any real hope... and that's full of color and life. That sense of keeping these parallel readings in mind aligned with the layered imagery across time periods, I think is where it has such an intense effect. Reminds me oddly of some of Grant Morrison's work that's intended to set off an initiatory experience in the reader over and above direct plot interpretation. Unrelated, but that sense of emptiness without gender stuff being obvious, and the feeling of needing to open yourself up to find out what's inside (not literally) was so weirdly accurate, and makes a hell of a comparison to The Matrix's "splinter in the mind" and choosing what nominal reality would see as a kind of death or insanity, Neo's malaise, the need to, EVEN ONCE YOU KNOW, still have a continuing leap of faith. Anyways. powerful stuff. And all that for sure makes it a messy, generally love it or hate it kind of film. Or otherwise a bit hard to place, depending on how it lands.
Excellent reaction! Loved seeing your reverence and respect for the movie and the conclusions and observations you drew that so many other people seem to either gloss over or not understand.
The Pink Opaque show itself was the idea of living the lives they wanted, Maddie and Asexual and for owen, to be a trans woman. Maddie had to die in order for Tara to live. Owen was scared and shamed his entire life about not liking girl things, and so, lacked the bravery to kill his "Owen" persona. Even in the beginning owen references his insides are empty and he's scared to check inside and know for sure. the final scene is Owen finally being brave enough to open up himself and see what is inside. The wheezing dying symbolism, represents owen's trans-ism(Isobell).
I read the final scene with Owen apologising to EVERYBODY as a tragic moment showing the consequences of Owen not being brave enough to live his truth. 'Owen' is killing the individual in front of us.
@@yaynayormeh I don’t know, that would disregard the powerful scene just prior. I think Owen saw inside himself and knows. He may not be ready to go to let the world know what’s inside, but he now knows, and that’s a first step he had never taken before. (Side note-apologies if I am misgendering Owen, it is not intentional)
@@shirowoh5850 I agree. He/They know who they are, they're just not brave enough to act upon it, and never will be. I really see the final scene as a moment of tragedy.
@shirowoh5850 The character of Owen isn't literally trans within the context of the film so don't worry too much about pronouns. Technically Owen IS a girl because he's Isabel but it makes sense to separate the two characters in general while talking about them if you want
@@Abby-r3bthe director themselves has explicitly said Owen is trans, the entire film is symbolic of the bravery it takes someone who grows in a home like Owen’s to come out as their true self. Owen and Isabel are not two different ppl, they are the same.
your research and care and reactions made this watch a fucking delight. I have watched this movie before but watching you watch it is almost as good (which is a such a damn compliment).
I will say, the more details I pick out, the more it becomes fairly clear that Maddy's reality is very literally true. I still love the initial of "Void High School", the view in the snowglobe, "they feel more like family than your real family" and "I have a family now"... Mr Melancholy has sucked the joy and magic out of their lives, of course.
Another interesting structural conceit is how the time skips (mentioned in-movie of course) line up with common egg crack/coming out stages of life. It's a real bitch when you do something later and have to reconcile how you were as a person through all those stages...
Similarly, in the "this is reality" interpretation, he's done. There's no real hope, just repression and the struggle as it all breaks down into worsening mental illness. In parallel with that (and I think while "this is the pink opaque" is the truth, these are meant to be held in mind in parallel) is that there really IS just one option left with any real hope... and that's full of color and life.
That sense of keeping these parallel readings in mind aligned with the layered imagery across time periods, I think is where it has such an intense effect. Reminds me oddly of some of Grant Morrison's work that's intended to set off an initiatory experience in the reader over and above direct plot interpretation.
Unrelated, but that sense of emptiness without gender stuff being obvious, and the feeling of needing to open yourself up to find out what's inside (not literally) was so weirdly accurate, and makes a hell of a comparison to The Matrix's "splinter in the mind" and choosing what nominal reality would see as a kind of death or insanity, Neo's malaise, the need to, EVEN ONCE YOU KNOW, still have a continuing leap of faith.
Anyways. powerful stuff. And all that for sure makes it a messy, generally love it or hate it kind of film. Or otherwise a bit hard to place, depending on how it lands.
Excellent reaction! Loved seeing your reverence and respect for the movie and the conclusions and observations you drew that so many other people seem to either gloss over or not understand.
The Pink Opaque show itself was the idea of living the lives they wanted, Maddie and Asexual and for owen, to be a trans woman. Maddie had to die in order for Tara to live. Owen was scared and shamed his entire life about not liking girl things, and so, lacked the bravery to kill his "Owen" persona. Even in the beginning owen references his insides are empty and he's scared to check inside and know for sure. the final scene is Owen finally being brave enough to open up himself and see what is inside. The wheezing dying symbolism, represents owen's trans-ism(Isobell).
I read the final scene with Owen apologising to EVERYBODY as a tragic moment showing the consequences of Owen not being brave enough to live his truth. 'Owen' is killing the individual in front of us.
@@yaynayormeh I don’t know, that would disregard the powerful scene just prior. I think Owen saw inside himself and knows. He may not be ready to go to let the world know what’s inside, but he now knows, and that’s a first step he had never taken before. (Side note-apologies if I am misgendering Owen, it is not intentional)
@@shirowoh5850 I agree. He/They know who they are, they're just not brave enough to act upon it, and never will be. I really see the final scene as a moment of tragedy.
@shirowoh5850 The character of Owen isn't literally trans within the context of the film so don't worry too much about pronouns. Technically Owen IS a girl because he's Isabel but it makes sense to separate the two characters in general while talking about them if you want
@@Abby-r3bthe director themselves has explicitly said Owen is trans, the entire film is symbolic of the bravery it takes someone who grows in a home like Owen’s to come out as their true self. Owen and Isabel are not two different ppl, they are the same.