Jane Schoenbrun Digital Horror Fairlands Reframe Online Youth Isolation

Jane Schoenbrun’s 2021 Sundance breakthrough We’re All Going to the World’s Fair reframed cyber-horror by abandoning slasher clichés to dissect teenage isolation in the algorithm age. Centered on a lonely teenager named Casey who joins an immersive online horror challenge, the film captures the tragic intersection of digital dysphoria, internet folklore, and youth loneliness.

The Architecture of Creepypasta and Screen-Mediated Identity

When We’re All Going to the World’s Fair premiered at the virtual Sundance Film Festival in January 2021, cinema audiences were already submerged in an unprecedented era of screen dependence. Director Jane Schoenbrun did not treat the computer screen as a gimmick or a gimmick-laden device like earlier screenlife horrors. Instead, they recognized the glowing monitor as a sanctuary, a confession booth, and a mirror for deeply internal existential terror.

The film opens on protagonist Casey, portrayed with extraordinary vulnerability by Anna Cobb in her debut performance. Casey sits alone in her attic bedroom, lit solely by the blue hum of her computer display. She initiates her participation in the titular World’s Fair Challenge—a fictional online alternate reality game (ARG) reminiscent of real-world internet phenomena like the Ice Bucket Challenge, Slender Man mythology, and the infamous Blue Whale game. Casey repeats the eerie mantra: "I want to go to the World’s Fair." She draws a drop of blood from her finger with a lancet, clicks upload, and enters a shadowy ecosystem of viral horror videos.

Traditional horror treats the internet as a weapon wielded by external killers. Schoenbrun turns that dynamic inside out. The horror in World’s Fair is not that an evil entity escapes the screen to murder Casey, but that Casey is so profoundly disconnected from the physical world that online ghost stories offer her only sense of belonging and transformation. Her bedroom walls, decorated with glow-in-the-dark stars, feel less like a childhood sanctuary and more like a tomb lined with silicon and glass.

The Voyeuristic Paradox of Online Connection

As Casey posts increasingly bizarre vlogs chronicling her alleged dynamic transformations—claiming she is turning into plastic or losing sensation in her limbs—she draws the attention of JLB, played by Michael J. Rogers. JLB is an older, isolated man hiding behind an anime avatar who monitors Casey’s channel with a mix of genuine concern and predatory fixation. Their relationship forms the unsettling narrative engine of the film, operating entirely through recorded video messages, Skype calls, and unvoiced commentary.

Schoenbrun uses extended long takes and minimal musical scoring to force viewers into a uncomfortable position. We become passive lurkers in Casey’s digital routine, sitting alongside JLB as he refreshes her feed in the dead of night. The dynamic raises uncomfortable questions about digital intimacy: when we broadcast our pain to anonymous strangers, are we seeking help, performing identity, or building an architecture of personal mythology?

For transgender and queer audiences, Schoenbrun’s narrative resonates on a profound metaphorical frequency. The desire to participate in a ritual that fundamentally alters one’s body mirrors the internal conflict of gender dysphoria and the desperate search for online communities where one can reshape selfhood outside physical constraints. Casey’s obsession with turning into wood or plastic becomes a poignant metaphor for wanting to shed a human form that feels incorrect or painful.

From Sundance Debut to Camp Miasma

With Schoenbrun’s latest cinematic work, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, currently drawing widespread theatrical attention, revisiting We’re All Going to the World’s Fair highlights the foundational thesis of their artistic body of work. Alongside their 2024 film I Saw the TV Glow, Schoenbrun has established a distinct cinematic subgenre: media-obsessed existential terror rooted in nostalgia, isolation, and bodily dissociation.

Where mainstream Hollywood cyber-thrillers rely on rapid cuts, pop-up text graphics, and high-stakes police chases, Schoenbrun leans into slow cinema, ambient sound design composed by Alex G, and long stretches of silence. The horror comes from the stillness—the quiet realization that thousands of kids across suburban neighborhoods sit alone at 3:00 AM, looking into glowing screens for evidence that they truly exist.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the World's Fair Challenge in We're All Going to the World's Fair?

The World's Fair Challenge is a fictional online alternate reality game (ARG) in the film where participants repeat a mantra, draw blood, and upload vlogs documenting physical or psychological transformations. It mirrors real-life internet creepypasta phenomena like Slender Man.

Who directed We're All Going to the World's Fair and what other films have they made?

The film was written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun. They later created the acclaimed indie horror films *I Saw the TV Glow* (2024) and *Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma*.

Who plays the lead role of Casey in the film?

Actor Anna Cobb plays the protagonist Casey in her feature film acting debut, delivering a haunting performance largely delivered alone in front of a webcam.