3 - Most of his memories of the show were formed through Maddie. Remember, she would send him VHS tapes but would also give him interpretations and details. When he watches it years later, he’s seeing it much more as-is.
1. at my screening the director explained that Maddie and Owen are meant to represent two halves of the same person or an internal struggle. this sequence seems to represent some sort of new light being cast in his situation after losing Maddy or that part of him again.
2. those are the original actors from the Nickelodeon show “adventures of Pete & Pete” there are a number of references to them and their show throughout the film. it’s just a moment where something that should be warm and comforting is skewed to be scary and unfamiliar.
3. The show was better when he was more in touch with himself and could enjoy it more for what it represented to him as a closeted queer person. After he represses it and loses Maddy he is embarrassed to look back and see it from a straight nuclear family perspective.
I’m mostly spitballing here but this is what I assumed
Yes! I love your points! To add to the second question.
2) I took them as being Mr. Melancholy’s henchmen. There was a like a flash of the henchmen and then the two guys. So I took it as them being like henchmen of the patriarchy or societal pressures to conform or Mr. Melancholy’s.
Asexuality is hinted at, but it’s also suggested that they’re trans; living in this false world as a man despite in the real world being a woman. They’ve been assigned male, struggling with a closeted identity with their real self repressed and slowly dying as that identity is denied.
I think this tracks with the writer/director's experience of being trans. Owen's early asexuality wasn't necessarily a choice, but more of a numbness to an identity. Owen was later told he was the girl in the show, and we see him wearing a dress (not that any of those things define trans, but we can take them as hints).
personally i dont think owen was asexual, i think owen is pretty explicitly trans, and that one line used to say owen js asexual is just a symptom of dysphoria that i too have felt.
I had a similar question about when Owen is watching the Pink Opaque on Netflix; were the main characters younger in the rewatch? It looked like the cast was all pre-teens, I assumed this was Owen rewatching the show and seeing them more as kids instead of peers but I wasn’t sure.
I could be wrong but I took it as at that point the reality had swapped already. Watching the movie literally and not for its many allegories and metaphors there is a mystery to it. Owen definitely sees the show differently, having a vast connection to something that almost was your entire life now being older it doesn't have that same click. Simultaneously though Owen and Maddie were the characters in the show and Owen is choosing to avoid becoming Isabel the person he clearly wants to be and being avoidant of that has changed the show completely. It follows up in the arcade like everything is taunting him all the games are named after stuff from The Pink Opaque like he is living in a fever dream world where nothing is quite right. If Owen would have "buried himself" then the show would go back to normal and season 6 may finally happen. I like this theory I saw that once Owen see's the telephone line in the street he reads a burnt copy of the episode guide maddie was reading talking about season 6 episode 1 the midnight realm, which the show never got to season 6 so what we the audience are watching from that point is season 6 episode 1, which is Owen being stuck in his false reality and not coming to terms with who he really wants to be, which is continuing to make him suffocate as Maddie said it would cause. I typed way to much but I really love just talking about this movie, hopefully this answered something related to what you asked.
Great concept with the season 6 starting at the electric wire scene. In my last rewatch I noticed that scene particularly and I took it as hope that s6ep1 happens. You don’t know Owen’s predicament yet but you’re about to. And it starts with confirmation that Owen eventually gets out. He eventually succeeds at starting the next season.
It's crazy you mentioned this because i saw it with a friend last week again and we both had this thought. But I still believe this is more of a sign from Maddie. Especially since Maddie returns very soon after this and confirms to him if we want it to continue you have to bury yourself. Film is great because there is so much to really look into. Literally and Metaphorically.
Every watch through gets better. I can’t believe how in my head I was when I saw it in theatres I didn’t even notice that Owen was in the snow globe at the season 5 finale. It’s so obvious now. I thought maddie might actually be just crazy 🙃
From my perspective, the show has changed because Owen has become so repressed over time. While the show is real, in the midnight realm it’s only as real as Owen and Maddy’s connection to it. Throughout the movie, Maddy maintains a stronger connection to The Pink Opaque, to the point of understanding it is not just a show but who she truly is. Owen wasn’t able to do this. The show he watches at the end is what the show has become for him in the midnight realm. Another way to think of this is Isabel has lost all sense of herself and what is real. Her only connection to her true self takes on the feeling of being false and is stripped of meaning. It appears as hollow and juvenile. She’s forgotten who she is and she’s forgotten she is dying.
Referencing 3.
I took it to be that overall the sentiment was that Mr. Melancholy had trapped Owen in 'The Midnight Realm' and altered the the original show when put on streaming platforms to be yet another form of psychological torture from Mr. Melancholy. Stripping away the last piece of nostalgia so that Owen could no longer relate to the media he enveloped himself in as a form of escapism. I can also see an undertone of things being warped by commodification and commercialization. It is when it comes to a new corporate entity on a streaming platform the original idea and message are warped. As well, Owen is looking back on it with a different perspective having repressed his identity and followed the 'normal' and accepted life path rather than accepting his identity he ran from it and thus is no longer able to relate to the show in the same way that he did before.
I had a theory and I can't find it anywhere. Could Mr. Melancholy be Owen's present self? The voices seemed similar and it's like Mr. Melancholy is surprising the girls' identities/feelings. I could be completely off track but I had that thought.
In the zoom in shot where adult Owen is watching the bad pink opaque on his couch, his face looks a lot like mr melancholy. He has become the one keeping Isabel in the midnight place …
I thought that was it! I have not seen anyone talk about that at all and I thought I was going crazy. My husband watched the movie with me and I told him my theory (btw, he LOVED LOL).
3 - Most of his memories of the show were formed through Maddie. Remember, she would send him VHS tapes but would also give him interpretations and details. When he watches it years later, he’s seeing it much more as-is.
1. at my screening the director explained that Maddie and Owen are meant to represent two halves of the same person or an internal struggle. this sequence seems to represent some sort of new light being cast in his situation after losing Maddy or that part of him again. 2. those are the original actors from the Nickelodeon show “adventures of Pete & Pete” there are a number of references to them and their show throughout the film. it’s just a moment where something that should be warm and comforting is skewed to be scary and unfamiliar. 3. The show was better when he was more in touch with himself and could enjoy it more for what it represented to him as a closeted queer person. After he represses it and loses Maddy he is embarrassed to look back and see it from a straight nuclear family perspective. I’m mostly spitballing here but this is what I assumed
Yes! I love your points! To add to the second question. 2) I took them as being Mr. Melancholy’s henchmen. There was a like a flash of the henchmen and then the two guys. So I took it as them being like henchmen of the patriarchy or societal pressures to conform or Mr. Melancholy’s.
[удалено]
Asexuality is hinted at, but it’s also suggested that they’re trans; living in this false world as a man despite in the real world being a woman. They’ve been assigned male, struggling with a closeted identity with their real self repressed and slowly dying as that identity is denied.
I think this tracks with the writer/director's experience of being trans. Owen's early asexuality wasn't necessarily a choice, but more of a numbness to an identity. Owen was later told he was the girl in the show, and we see him wearing a dress (not that any of those things define trans, but we can take them as hints).
asexual is still under the queer umbrella, although the movie suggests transness much more explicitly than asexuality
Why is asexual queer?
because queer is an umbrella term for like all the gender/sexuality variances
I see, you think it’s possible that Owen was just nervous for him to say that he is asexual?
personally i dont think owen was asexual, i think owen is pretty explicitly trans, and that one line used to say owen js asexual is just a symptom of dysphoria that i too have felt.
I had a similar question about when Owen is watching the Pink Opaque on Netflix; were the main characters younger in the rewatch? It looked like the cast was all pre-teens, I assumed this was Owen rewatching the show and seeing them more as kids instead of peers but I wasn’t sure.
I could be wrong but I took it as at that point the reality had swapped already. Watching the movie literally and not for its many allegories and metaphors there is a mystery to it. Owen definitely sees the show differently, having a vast connection to something that almost was your entire life now being older it doesn't have that same click. Simultaneously though Owen and Maddie were the characters in the show and Owen is choosing to avoid becoming Isabel the person he clearly wants to be and being avoidant of that has changed the show completely. It follows up in the arcade like everything is taunting him all the games are named after stuff from The Pink Opaque like he is living in a fever dream world where nothing is quite right. If Owen would have "buried himself" then the show would go back to normal and season 6 may finally happen. I like this theory I saw that once Owen see's the telephone line in the street he reads a burnt copy of the episode guide maddie was reading talking about season 6 episode 1 the midnight realm, which the show never got to season 6 so what we the audience are watching from that point is season 6 episode 1, which is Owen being stuck in his false reality and not coming to terms with who he really wants to be, which is continuing to make him suffocate as Maddie said it would cause. I typed way to much but I really love just talking about this movie, hopefully this answered something related to what you asked.
Wow, those are all great details, and confirms my ideas about it. And now I can’t wait to watch this again!
Great concept with the season 6 starting at the electric wire scene. In my last rewatch I noticed that scene particularly and I took it as hope that s6ep1 happens. You don’t know Owen’s predicament yet but you’re about to. And it starts with confirmation that Owen eventually gets out. He eventually succeeds at starting the next season.
It's crazy you mentioned this because i saw it with a friend last week again and we both had this thought. But I still believe this is more of a sign from Maddie. Especially since Maddie returns very soon after this and confirms to him if we want it to continue you have to bury yourself. Film is great because there is so much to really look into. Literally and Metaphorically.
Every watch through gets better. I can’t believe how in my head I was when I saw it in theatres I didn’t even notice that Owen was in the snow globe at the season 5 finale. It’s so obvious now. I thought maddie might actually be just crazy 🙃
From my perspective, the show has changed because Owen has become so repressed over time. While the show is real, in the midnight realm it’s only as real as Owen and Maddy’s connection to it. Throughout the movie, Maddy maintains a stronger connection to The Pink Opaque, to the point of understanding it is not just a show but who she truly is. Owen wasn’t able to do this. The show he watches at the end is what the show has become for him in the midnight realm. Another way to think of this is Isabel has lost all sense of herself and what is real. Her only connection to her true self takes on the feeling of being false and is stripped of meaning. It appears as hollow and juvenile. She’s forgotten who she is and she’s forgotten she is dying.
Referencing 3. I took it to be that overall the sentiment was that Mr. Melancholy had trapped Owen in 'The Midnight Realm' and altered the the original show when put on streaming platforms to be yet another form of psychological torture from Mr. Melancholy. Stripping away the last piece of nostalgia so that Owen could no longer relate to the media he enveloped himself in as a form of escapism. I can also see an undertone of things being warped by commodification and commercialization. It is when it comes to a new corporate entity on a streaming platform the original idea and message are warped. As well, Owen is looking back on it with a different perspective having repressed his identity and followed the 'normal' and accepted life path rather than accepting his identity he ran from it and thus is no longer able to relate to the show in the same way that he did before.
Do we think that Owen's dad was Mr. Melancholy?
I had a theory and I can't find it anywhere. Could Mr. Melancholy be Owen's present self? The voices seemed similar and it's like Mr. Melancholy is surprising the girls' identities/feelings. I could be completely off track but I had that thought.
In the zoom in shot where adult Owen is watching the bad pink opaque on his couch, his face looks a lot like mr melancholy. He has become the one keeping Isabel in the midnight place …
I thought that was it! I have not seen anyone talk about that at all and I thought I was going crazy. My husband watched the movie with me and I told him my theory (btw, he LOVED LOL).