It’s Jane Schoenbrun’s World, We Just Live In It: The Evolution of Schoenbrun’s Feature Films

Auteur director, Jane Schoenbrun, treats their films and characters with a surreal tenderness that forces the viewer to be swept up in the empathetic and fantastical world’s they create. No one is making films that can pick apart the culture of fandom, queerness, and sensual fantasy in a modern and real way like Schoenbrun does. They are truly one of the most original directors currently working and we have to talk about their new meta-slasher, "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma", starring Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder. I had the pleasure of seeing it in June at the Providence International Film Festival complete with a Q&A from Schoenbrun, so I can confidently say this is their best film yet. 

This might turn into an article just praising Jane Schoenbrun because they just keep feeding us thirsty film queers, but I’ll try to stay analytical. To better understand their style let’s first take a look at their other two feature films; "We’re All Going to The World’s Fair" and "I Saw The TV Glow". 

Schoenbrun’s first feature, "We’re All Going To The World’s Fair (2021)" follows a teenager, Casey, who fully immerses herself into an online horror role-playing community. This film is very different when compared to I Saw The TV Glow and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, but it sets up the framework for understanding how Schoenbrun thinks about internet/fandom culture and the horrors of growing pains. Casey becomes so enthralled in the online horror game, The World’s Fair, that she seems to lose herself to it and begins creating her own story and projecting her own need for change into the game. 

We're All Going to the World's Fair. Directed by Jane Schoenbrun, performances by Anna Cobb and Michael J. Rogers, Utopia, 2021.

After she begins the game, we see her waiting for the game to change her mentally and physically. Her gimmicks for the sake of keeping up with the game become more extreme until someone she meets on the game, JLB, tells her none of it is real and there will be no changes from the game. This shatters Casey’s illusion of safety within the game and it becomes something she doesn’t recognize. Her expectations are not met and she moves on. 

This is all a gritty metaphor for the resistance and loneliness of not understanding how to change but desperately wanting to. Casey knows something has to give at some point and we’re taken on this tense journey of self-discovery with her. There’s a sense of loneliness and shame that haunts Casey’s narrative. The audience never gets to see what happens after she quits the game which really cements the idea that self-evolution is going to happen regardless of how one gets there. She is changed but not in the way she was hoping for or in the way she expected. "We’re All Going to the World's Fair" is a hate letter to growing pains and has a distinct message about fandom culture becoming what you make it.

Schoenbrun’s second feature, "I Saw The TV Glow (2024)", is a nightmarishly surreal coming-of-age/not-coming-of-age masterpiece that explores the horrors of belonging and identity. The film has a lot to say about fandom as a means of escapism, community, and finding yourself. "I Saw The TV Glow" is where we really see Schoenbrun’s cinematic style forming. The surreal and metaphoric elements are key to understanding this film. 

Schoenbrun, Jane, director. I Saw the TV Glow. A24, 2024.

As a child, the main character, Owen, finds friendship with Maddy and she introduces him to the show, The Pink Opaque. They project themselves into the show, becoming the characters, and it’s this fantasy of safety and pretending that allows them to safely explore their gender identity and preferences. Their friendship and fanatic love of the show grows as they age, but the childhood whimsy of the show becomes in direct conflict with conformity of adulthood. 

We see Maddy free herself from the chains of conforming to a society that doesn’t serve her interests, and she leaves to find community that suits her. She urges Owen to come with her and embrace his trans and queer identity instead of continuing to live a life that he doesn’t fit into. He has forced himself to repress all of these facets of his identity so as not to disappoint his family and the society around him. There’s a palpable air of shame and repression that follows Owen and those moments where we see him free of it are so refreshing. This film has a bleak ending as we see Owen grapple with the fact that he’s wasted his life living as someone he’s not.

This film is an allegory for coming out as queer and/or trans. The characters use fandom space to freely express themselves and once accepting the truth within them they must decide how to proceed. Owen’s story of shame and painful repressing of his true identity is devastating for him and the audience. The term “I Saw The TV Glow” even became a trend of social media with people saying they saw the TV glow and either turned it off like Owen or turned up the volume like Maddy. The metaphorical TV Glow is a cultural statement for embracing one’s trans and/or queer identity and choosing to live that truth freely. 

Despite the bleak ending, "I Saw The TV Glow" was my favorite film by Schoenbrun until I saw "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma". This film completely blew me away. Schoenbrun filmed it on 35mm and there are some incredible old school painted backdrops which just make Schoenbrun’s love of film so palpable. The filming and set just help to amplify the tender nature of the film itself. Once again, themes of queerness, shame, and fandom are broached but in a much more uninhibited way. Schoenbrun themself introduced the film as having a happier ending than their previous two which I was thrilled about. A moody and ambiguous ending is always fun because one can interpret their own meaning, but the closure and joy at the end of this film feels so refreshing. 

Schoenbrun, J. (Director & Writer). (2026). Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma [Film]. Mubi.

"Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026)" is like a breath of fresh air in the Schoenbrun trilogy. The film is a meta-slasher that takes on the summer camp genre.  It follows a filmmaker, Kris played by Hannah Einbinder, who connects with the final girl, Billy played by Gillian Anderson, of the original slasher horror film series she is making a reboot of. Her goal is to have a new, more “woke” spin on the film since the original films are transphobic in nature. This reminds any horror fan of films like Sleepaway Camp and Friday the 13th.

However, Kris’s journey of making a new film is interwoven with her discovering her sexual desire and learning how to find “the little death” aka an orgasm. Little Death, played by Jack Haven, also happens to be the “villain” of Camp Miasma that rises from the lake to seek retribution on the campers for their wrongs. In Camp Miasma, Little Death seems to attack those who are the most sexually free. Kris wants to obtain the thrill that Billy felt in the first Camp Miasma film, in which she had sex then was subsequently hunted by Little Death. Kris, with the help of the gorgeous and enigmatic Billy, is able to rediscover her desire and shed the sexually repressed part of herself to become free. 

Kris’ obsession with the fictional film, Camp Miasma, is once again the means of her exploring her sexuality in a safe space before truly coming to terms with what she wants and feels. Fandom as a means of exploration and escape- Schoenbrun loves this trope. And I love them for it. In this film we are able to see our main character freed by the discoveries they've made while immersed in the Camp Miasma fantasy. Of course, who wouldn't come when Gillian Anderson is the one doing the... nevermind.

Again with the metaphors, Jane! I’m obsessed. FLESH AND FLUIDS, we all chant in unison. This film is so fun and colorful and tender and sapphic. After Schoenbrun’s somewhat bleak previous films, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma stands as a breath of fresh air as the shame that clings to us from the last two films is finally shed and we are free. Free of shame, full of love, and most importantly the Gillian Anderson girl-kisser agenda is alive once again. THANK YOU JANE, WE LOVE YOU JANE!

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma premieres in the US on August 6! I can't wait to see it again. Get your ass to the theatre, you don’t want to miss this!