Isolation, Alienation, and Escapism: Observing Two Thriller Narratives: Background information when reading The Night Guest

It's 2024. COVID-19, while still dangerous, is no longer the unknown factor it once was, and extended quarantines are no longer mandated as in the earlier days, pre-vaccination. Though the world has never stopped talking about what isolation has done to our collective psyche, I think it's only this year that we're starting to see some of the most uniquely relevant narratives about how it feels to be utterly lonely. Not all these narratives are set since the pandemic; for some, the experience has dredged up past feelings, others have had to sit with their overall relationship to being alone. Global isolation has forced us to confront these emotions; at the same time, many have turned to escapism to cope. Two thriller narratives that came out this year and feel emblematic of how people grapple with isolation and alienation are the film I Saw the TV Glow, written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, and the novel The Night Guest, by Hildur Knútsdóttir.

Set in 1996, I Saw the ...