I want to go to the worlds fair

Hihi! After five years I’ve decided to revisit this site, and thus put it to use! This is a reupload of a substack article I posted, but it’s me sharing my appreciation of the film We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021). Mild spoilers ahead, read at your own risk.

We’re All Going to the World's Fair is a surreal and psychological horror film about a young girl named Casey, who, amidst a time of apparent isolation, participates in an online role-playing game called the World's Fair. 

In one of the first scenes, we watch as Casey stares idly into the computer screen, eyes vaguely looking into the camera, yet she still feels somehow far off. An eerie score plays idly in the background of the shot, and we watch as she succumbs to the world's fair. The shot is filmed, with only her computer screen casting a faint glow of colors, as if for a moment she’s in the video too, under the same light. 

The movie continues through ominous and melodic lulls that are at times oddly comforting, like flashes of familiarity through the discomfort, a moment that particularly followed this, was one in Casey's shed, where she begins to watch an ASMR video on a projector, seemingly at put at rest, until the video ends and is abruptly replaced with an eerie message, along with a distorted image of Casey’s face. 

In one scene, Casey goes on a walk, and we watch her amongst an empty environment that, in a way, feels almost post-apocalyptic. She is completely alone and disconnected from herself and her surroundings. It’s interesting to see Casey in this scene. In the sequences where we view her through her recordings, we feel trapped, claustrophobic, but when we’re out of them, we feel alone and consumed by emptiness. I imagine this was both intentional and reflective of Casey’s own perspective.

For the entirety of the film, we only ever see her interact with two other people, her father and JB. However, she only ever meets JB online, and we only hear her father scream at her once. We never see him, but we know he’s there, just not enough to be of any significance to Casey or us. Just an angry man living amongst her. It seems the lack of connection in her life is one the main contributing factors to her deteriorating mental state.

On her call with JB, we realize more about said deteriorating mental state, and as we watch her face contort into anger at the accusation of being unwell and not realizing the world's fair was, in fact, never real. She loses her sense of defense, a reason for the inexplicable feelings of not being in control of herself. We realize now more than ever how her perception of reality has been skewed and watch as she begins to further unravel. If the game was never real, why does she feel like this? 

Later, we watch JB as he stresses himself over Casey, his back to the camera as he observes her through only video, yet his hand finds the screen as if he’s trying to reach out to Casey. JB is a fairly weird character; his fixation or concern for Casey teeters into disturbing territory. His worry is warranted, but why is JB, a grown man online,  interacting specifically with Casey, a clearly mentally unwell teenage girl? Even after two watches, I cannot for the life of me tell you, but as a person who grew up online interacting with many a weird man, it’s hard not to consider his motives likely being something perverse.

When I first watched this film I was going through one of the worst depressive episodes I’d ever had, and was on the verge of falling asleep less than ten minutes in. I can’t really explain what it was that kept me awake, but I literally could not bring myself to turn it off. 

I’d never felt both so seen and so confused at the same time. At the end I was brought to tears, and I couldn’t even process why. Upon further observation, I think it was just seeing a film where a teenager is so isolated, and uses the internet as a bandaid for their loneliness felt profoundly personal to me. I remember feeling exactly like Casey the entirety of quarantine; weird pervy men included, and much worse might I add. I was constantly trying to escape my own reality, and felt out of control. I don’t think I’ve seen a film that has managed to make me feel so understood since.

There is something otherworldly about this film, something out of body and unexplainable; it’s both bittersweet and cathartic. It’s more of an experience than it is a film. It’s everything and nothing at the same time, and I love it beyond belief.

If you made it to the end thank you for reading. Good and constructive feedback is always appreciate, and let me know if there’s any other films you’d like to hear me ramble about! 

Letterboxd;weirdgrrl

Substack;weirdtvangel